Basically, we are goddamn tired of getting bumped by the current publisher, and would like to get our art out in self-published books...... I'm not in a position to do things like send it to Hong Kong , as a matter of fact we would like it done here in the U.S. I believe some members might have done some self-publishing ? What are the pros and cons of doing books with those "We publish for you and sell them as the orders roll in" type outfits? Let's face it folks, we ain't exactly Taschen material...... ANY help and feedback will be appreciated.... Ace
One critique I found of value. Will the Publisher, or you, place books into shops where they can be seen seen, and have enough on hand to sell? The publish on demand effect is cutting back sales on some otherwise good work out there. No book to see, sorry! How can I the buy it?
The problem with this approach is if you're running low volumes, the per copy cost is very high. There are a lot of specialty publishers out there, and a quick web search should turn up a number of hits. Most will send you paper and print samples and a price schedule so you can get some idea of the cost. Plan on deliverying the finished files in print ready format or your cost will be significantly higher.
Self publishing is fraught with peril. Publishing at any level is a scary business. Most everyone that does it (myself included) ends up with 20 cases of books in their basement that aren't going anywhere. As much as we belittle these guys, they usually have a better finger on the pulse of the bookbuyer than we do. If you are getting bumped its usually a money thing. One of the real hellers is that the off-shore publishers usually do the work anyway, especially if there's a lot of color involved.
I get my masters picked up by my local guy (B&W, stapled paperback) and delivered, collated, stapled & boxed in a few days. Last one was about 67 pages, cost $4.40 each for 100 copies, sells for $19.95 + postage: http://victorylibrary.com/mopar/poly-book.htm Yes, it's much cheaper if you print 1,000 - but all the savings are tied up in the last 200... that sell in about 5 years. I edit and re-write the stuff constantly so I never do more than 200 at once.
Check out these sites. http://www.photoworks.com/ http://www.blurb.com/home/1/ My friend used Photoworks and recommends it.
Could you get a graphic designer to put it together, collect it and shoot it to a printer, then I think you'd just have to find a distributor?
Johnny hit me up. Lulu.com may be the answer to your prayers. I work for the online video portion of the company these days and I'd love to see you publish through them. The quality is outstanding these days. You can get and ISBN number so any bookstore can get it as well. Getting it into Borders and Barnes & Noble is really hard these days. But with an ISBN at least they can order it if someone asks.
Big thanks to all who responded here and PM'ed very detailed info and helpful advice. I do plan to take some of you up on your offers of further info and help.....there is alot of material we would like to gather and publish.... This issue has been a very frustrating obstacle for us, again-thanks for taking the time to respond.... Ace
I have a friend who is going to do this. He's planning on setting up a website to sell the books from. Getting the ISBN number would also be a help. Here was his thinking, and I can't argue with it: He's writting for Motorbooks and others, getting about 7-8 percent royalties. "If I do it myself, I have to sell 93 percent FEWER books to make that same money." That won't take into account the printing, but he's found a place that will print very cheaply--they're charging him for set-up and the first run, and then after that he can get very, very limited runs printed up anytime he wants, at a decent per-copy price. I think he said in quantities as little as 20 books. If you look at it like that ("I only need to sell 20 percent of the books MotorsBooks would have to sell to make the same royalty"), self-publising starts to look pretty good. -Brad
lulu.com you get an ISBN number, hard cover or paperback and they'll host you on amazon... can't beat them... flat rate, on low volume and you make the profit of whatever you set the price... its typically about $5 for a 250 page book your cost and their quality is really good. Turn around time is fast and you never need to stock them because people can order them right off their site...
You may want to check out the new Rodders Journal. There is an article about self publication in it. Issue 37 I think. I'm a moron.....and completely stubborn to boot. I self publish my mag, and wouldn't have it any other way. I don't sell advertising, have no distribution other than my site, and a few shops that found it though there. I address all the orders myself, hand number, drop them off at the post office before work etc. I don't even want to know what I make an hour on this deal. Thankg got for my day job. Don't forget you will need to give some away for publicity, and if a store orders some, they will expect to buy them wholesale (50 -60 percent retail). So long as I make enough to print another one, I will. Always learning how to make them better by upgrading to more pages, better paper, perfect binding......whatever. I will need to learn more about publishing, ISBN etc, when I decide to put put the first 5 or 6 issues in an ultra limited hard cover coffee table book. Coby carsnotculture.com
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