What do you guys think is the hardest part of publishing a book?

[dolit]

Hey,

I am new here, read through plenty of posts and really like this forum. I have a question and I basically just want to collect your opinions about:

What is the hardest part of publishing a book?

I have been writing my whole life and actually never thought about to publish my work. After some friends asked me about it I said it would be too difficult, without even knowing what the difficult part is. I hope to get some opinions here... Has someone already published a book, why didn't you, are you afraid that someone could steal your work!???!

I really hope to have a lively discussion about it!
dolit

[JBI]

Getting people to buy it. Second Editions are much harder than firsts.

[Bluenote]

Hey,

I am new here, read through plenty of posts and really like this forum. I have a question and I basically just want to collect your opinions about:

What is the hardest part of publishing a book?

I have been writing my whole life and actually never thought about to publish my work. After some friends asked me about it I said it would be too difficult, without even knowing what the difficult part is. I hope to get some opinions here... Has someone already published a book, why didn't you, are you afraid that someone could steal your work!???!

I really hope to have a lively discussion about it!
dolit



Ironic that this came up , I just got on this subject within another thread. As JBI pointed out , get someone to buy it.

If you have to go the "vanity press" route , don't bother. especially if they're going to send it offshore for actual production. If you just absolutely HAVE to go that route make sure you retain control and see di-luxs ( proofs) prior to rolling it , and proof read them *very carefully* , anything you sign off on will make it to final production , additionally you'll want some degree of choice in stock ( paper) ,cover and the control of it could become an issue , copyright first and of course nobody can "steal" your work.

If the actual production facility is in your area and you're paying vanity press prices you'll want to do a press check and sign off , if the cover is color you'll want to do a press check ON the cover at roll time and make sure it meets your expectations.

Oh and when the deliver the Dilux (proofs) it will come as a "dummy" copy
*check the page numbers* , make sure they back correctly i.e page 2 on the back of page 1 etc. , you'd be suprised how many times somebody paginates a book incorrectly and the mistake makes it all the way out the door.

All in all take JBI's advice get someone to buy it. What I've stated to you come from better than thirty years ( off and on , mostly on) in the craftsman production end of the printing trades and experience of everything from 10x15s to 60 inch 2 color harris's and 40 inch Heidelbergs in various configurations along with web-presses from Harris , Miller ,Goss and Man-Roland.

Conclusion: it will be a hell of a lot more trouble than it's worth to attempt to self-publish.



B.

[Bluenote]

Hey if you do this , feel free to drop me a line privately with a page count and the *piece* cost and type of stock and I'll be glad to give you an opinion as to whether you're getting ripped as regards the pricing structure.

Keep in mind that the longer the run cheaper the per-piece price gets i.e. running 25k will cost less per piece than running 5 k will.




B.

[JBI]

I don't think the original poster wants to self-publish, I think they want to get paid. If so, make sure your work is somewhat good, and shop around for an agent to represent you. There is really no other way to get your book published without it costing you anything, besides crappy print-on-demand presses.

[Iago]

From personal experience, I'd say that publishing a book is like starting a revolution....To publish is easy, to sustain is hard.

In other words, I wouldn't suggest it to anyone who can't/won't commit 100% to it (=neglect the other aspects of his/her life) ;)

[dolit]

I don't think the original poster wants to self-publish, I think they want to get paid. If so, make sure your work is somewhat good, and shop around for an agent to represent you.
No, I really have no clue what I actually want. Of course I wouldn't mind some money, but I honestly got curious about the whole "publishing a book thing" after my friends started talking about it. Would you ever post an excerpt or somewhat of your book to see if the people like it?

[LitNetIsGreat]

I haven't got much of a clue on this topic but I would have thought the next stage (if you have works completed obviously) is to start sending manuscripts out to publishers. Be prepared for thousands of rejection letters though but don't take it too personally - the odds of getting published is less than 1%.

[Bluenote]

As JBI stated , get an agent , it will help you to be taken more seriously and agood agents trade connections will be of immense benefit.

And take what Neely said VERY seriously , you'll get a great many rejections and it can be hard on ones psyche if one allows it to be.


If you absolutely MUST self publish , keep this foremost in your mind , within the context of the Litho trades you get what you pay for , pay the extra money to have your text produced in a quality manner by folks who know what they're doing , and who will keep you informed step by step of the process.

Horror stories abound within the vanity publishing market. You don't want to spec out 10 point Palatino and have the book come back in 6 point Times/Roman , you don't want to spec 80lb Quintessence cover for the cover and have it show on 60lb Tahoe Gloss.

My recommendation would be to entirely ashcan the idea of self-publishing.




B.

[Emil Miller]

Hey,

I am new here, read through plenty of posts and really like this forum. I have a question and I basically just want to collect your opinions about:

What is the hardest part of publishing a book?

I have been writing my whole life and actually never thought about to publish my work. After some friends asked me about it I said it would be too difficult, without even knowing what the difficult part is. I hope to get some opinions here... Has someone already published a book, why didn't you, are you afraid that someone could steal your work!???!

I really hope to have a lively discussion about it!
dolit

Quite simply finding a literary agent, as publishers will not take on anything except through an agency. It is important to remember that with the advent of word processors, it is now possible for almost anybody to write a novel and agents are literally swamped with manuscripts. Also worth remembering is that publishers and agents are out to make money and are not interested in good writing so much as what has the greatest selling power. Even if an agent agrees to consider your work he will be looking for the next Harry Potter or Twilight and if it doesn't fall within that genre of writing it will be dismissed out of hand. Those writers of merit who do actually get published are usually people with connections to the publishing world.
If you decide to self-publish you will find it a time-consuming and expensive route, although there are some famous writers who had to self-publish before they were taken up by genuine publishers. Once a publisher accepts a book, it is in his interest to advertise it in the various trade magazines, but if you are self-publishing you will have to pay a good deal of money for even the smallest exposure; whereas large publishing concerns, which have virtually wiped out small independent firms, will be able pay for maximum coverage to their wares: hence book criticism in the national dailies or huge posters on the underground ( subway) and elsewhere advertising trashy but lucrative detective novels etc.
In short, there is very little chance of getting anything published unless you know somebody in the business or your very first sentence reminds the agent of Boy wizards, Vampires, Holy Grails etc. etc.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Quite simply finding a literary agent, as publishers will not take on anything except through an agency. It is important to remember that with the advent of word processors, it is now possible for almost anybody to write a novel and agents are literally swamped with manuscripts. Also worth remembering is that publishers and agents are out to make money and are not interested in good writing so much as what has the greatest selling power. Even if an agent agrees to consider your work he will be looking for the next Harry Potter or Twilight and if it doesn't fall within that genre of writing it will be dismissed out of hand. Those writers of merit who do actually get published are usually people with connections to the publishing world.
If you decide to self-publish you will find it a time-consuming and expensive route, although there are some famous writers who had to self-publish before they were taken up by genuine publishers. Once a publisher accepts a book, it is in his interest to advertise it in the various trade magazines, but if you are self-publishing you will have to pay a good deal of money for even the smallest exposure; whereas large publishing concerns, which have virtually wiped out small independent firms, will be able pay for maximum coverage to their wares: hence book criticism in the national dailies or huge posters on the underground ( subway) and elsewhere advertising trashy but lucrative detective novels etc.
In short, there is very little chance of getting anything published unless you know somebody in the business or your very first sentence reminds the agent of Boy wizards, Vampires, Holy Grails etc. etc.

So true and so sad.

[subterranean]

copyright first and of course nobody can "steal" your work.
B.

Just curious, how do you do this? I mean to get a copyright for your work.

[dolit]

Thanks for your input guys! But would you ever publish some of your work just to see if people like it?

dolit

[JBI]

Quite simply finding a literary agent, as publishers will not take on anything except through an agency. It is important to remember that with the advent of word processors, it is now possible for almost anybody to write a novel and agents are literally swamped with manuscripts. Also worth remembering is that publishers and agents are out to make money and are not interested in good writing so much as what has the greatest selling power. Even if an agent agrees to consider your work he will be looking for the next Harry Potter or Twilight and if it doesn't fall within that genre of writing it will be dismissed out of hand. Those writers of merit who do actually get published are usually people with connections to the publishing world.
If you decide to self-publish you will find it a time-consuming and expensive route, although there are some famous writers who had to self-publish before they were taken up by genuine publishers. Once a publisher accepts a book, it is in his interest to advertise it in the various trade magazines, but if you are self-publishing you will have to pay a good deal of money for even the smallest exposure; whereas large publishing concerns, which have virtually wiped out small independent firms, will be able pay for maximum coverage to their wares: hence book criticism in the national dailies or huge posters on the underground ( subway) and elsewhere advertising trashy but lucrative detective novels etc.
In short, there is very little chance of getting anything published unless you know somebody in the business or your very first sentence reminds the agent of Boy wizards, Vampires, Holy Grails etc. etc.

That was always the case. I think something like Frankenstein was only published because of Percy really, and even then, it made virtually no money, and was printed by a minor press.

Periodicals are probably the best place to start, I think, especially literary ones, if that is one's objective - to be a literary writer, which, by the way, generally means that if one is a success, they make enough to pay the rent.

Once one has had their name in periodicals, then I think it becomes easier. I wouldn't dream of starting off as a novelist, and shopping books around mass-market presses. Literary books require somewhat of a literary agent behind them, and generally don't make much money if they are successes anyway. To get that exposure, I think you either need to know someone, or to write for periodicals. I don't think someone can really just get up and publish a novel with much ease, and actually sell anything.

[Emil Miller]

Thanks for your input guys! But would you ever publish some of your work just to see if people like it?

dolit

Absolutely. I wrote a book simply because I wanted people to read what it had to say; some may like it, others may not. I have no intention of making money out it, whatever I make will be less important than that people read the book. In fact I will go so far as to say that books that are written purely with a view to making money are generally not worth reading.

[Amylian]

Well, I did not get the full picture here about self-publishing. Does it mean that I must print my novel in an A4 paper and distribute it to people I know, university, for example? In fact, I presented my novella to my professer and was gotten back to me with few, yet positive highlights.

Anyway, please, tell me about this self-publishing thing. I may consider it, really.

[Emil Miller]

Well, I did not get the full picture here about self-publishing. Does it mean that I must print my novel in an A4 paper and distribute it to people I know, university, for example? In fact, I presented my novella to my professer and was gotten back to me with few, yet positive highlights.

Anyway, please, tell me about this self-publishing thing. I may consider it, really.

There are two ways to self-publish. the first is to contact a general printing company that prints books, pamphlets and other printed matter. Those that specialise in books only, are not likely to take orders from a private individual as they rely on publishers for their orders. Once you have decided what you want the printer to do, you must specify exactly the size of the book, kind of lettering, type of paper etc. You must obviously give the printer the number of copies you want. There is usully a minimum number of, say, five copies and the larger the number ordered the cheaper it will be. Once you have the printed copies, you will have to take them to bookshops and persuade the store to stock some sample copies.
If the book sells, the bookshop will ask for more. This is obviously easier said than done.

The second way to self-publish is through an internet publisher; using Google, you will find a number of them on the net. They will take on anything that isn't illegal, and although they will tell you that they are keen to promote writers, they are only interested in getting as much money from you as possible. For a standard fee they will publish your book, but having done so, they will charge heavily for any promotion of the work in trade magazines etc. Although your book will be picked up by Amazon and other internet book sites.
They will not proof read and will charge a standard fee for any alterations you may make before going to print; which can be any number you want no matter how small or large. With desktop printing these days, the book can be printed on demand.

There remains the problem of the cover design:you will either have to design it yourself or pay a professional designer a large fee to do so. With the availabily of photographic and other pictorial material on the internet, it is cheaper and not too difficult to design your own cover.

Having said all that. It must be said that there is no cheap way of self-publishing but, in terms of quality printing, the first way is better.

[Bluenote]

Well, I did not get the full picture here about self-publishing. Does it mean that I must print my novel in an A4 paper and distribute it to people I know, university, for example? In fact, I presented my novella to my professer and was gotten back to me with few, yet positive highlights.

Anyway, please, tell me about this self-publishing thing. I may consider it, really.



Bluntly. How much are you willing to put out financially? Most aren't ready for the associated costs of printing and distribution. Most folks have no real concept of the most basic costs *just for the stock*.


And then you have the fact that distribution systems are inherently controlled by those who wish to make a profit on each and every volume distributed. There is no real profit in distribution at the 5000 copy level ( that's of course a for instance) , you could well end up taking a significant loss on each and every individual volume.

Best way to go with a novella would be to submit it , and hope that it gets picked up for production in an anthology of novellas.

There's a good reason why the price of the printed word at Barnes and Noble is so high. That $8.95 paperback costs 4-5$ in basic production costs at the 200,000 and above level.


B.

[Bluenote]

There are two ways to self-publish. the first is to contact a general printing company that prints books, pamphlets and other printed matter. Those that specialise in books only, are not likely to take orders from a private individual as they rely on publishers for their orders. Once you have decided what you want the printer to do, you must specify exactly the size of the book, kind of lettering, type of paper etc. You must obviously give the printer the number of copies you want. There is usully a minimum number of, say, five copies and the larger the number ordered the cheaper it will be. Once you have the printed copies, you will have to take them to bookshops and persuade the store to stock some sample copies.
If the book sells, the bookshop will ask for more. This is obviously easier said than done.

The second way to self-publish is through an internet publisher; using Google, you will find a number of them on the net. They will take on anything that isn't illegal, and although they will tell you that they are keen to promote writers, they are only interested in getting as much money from you as possible. For a standard fee they will publish your book, but having done so, they will charge heavily for any promotion of the work in trade magazines etc. Although your book will be picked up by Amazon and other internet book sites.
They will not proof read and will charge a standard fee for any alterations you may make before going to print; which can be any number you want no matter how small or large. With desktop printing these days, the book can be printed on demand.

There remains the problem of the cover design:you will either have to design it yourself or pay a professional designer a large fee to do so. With the availabily of photographic and other pictorial material on the internet, it is cheaper and not too difficult to design your own cover.

Having said all that. It must be said that there is no cheap way of self-publishing but, in terms of quality printing, the first way is better.



Very , very nice capsule synopsis. However , as goes *quality* you are somewhat incorrect. If one is willing to lose money on a per piece basis or make a minimum profit , one can put out the time and effort to to find a quality craftsman oriented Litho house that will deliver very high quality , bit it IS expensive.

To put it simplistically , when I was still running as a master pressman , if I was rolling something printed in a pms 434 grey ( use this as example since of course 4/c process , 2/c and 3/c butt fit , wet trap , dry trap etc would necessitate explanation) the *every* sheet delivered to the customer would be a color match for the aforementioned pms 434 grey.

And in these modern days craftsmanship is expensive and there are fewer and fewer competent craftsmen left to do the work.

And stock (paper) costs have risen dramatically in the last decade or so while stock quality has declined equally dramatically.

And the very best craftsmen houses available are running sheetfed , *NO* webhouse can compete with the individual sheet quality coming from the quality sheetfed houses , but the sheetfed houses cannot possibly compete pricewise with the webhouses.Not once you get above the 20k or so run levels.

It's the proverbial "catch 22" situation , do you sacrifice quality for price or vice versa.

And speaking from a craftsman's view , desktop is often of substandard quality.

B.

[Bluenote]

Well, I did not get the full picture here about self-publishing. Does it mean that I must print my novel in an A4 paper and distribute it to people I know, university, for example? In fact, I presented my novella to my professer and was gotten back to me with few, yet positive highlights.

Anyway, please, tell me about this self-publishing thing. I may consider it, really.



By the way , A4 is a *size* not a specific paper stock. As an aside I noted that you're in Bahrain. That *may* be a positive aspect in that a great many high quality sheetfed presses ( older 40 inch multi color Heidelbergs , Miehles Harris's and the like) are being sold off to the middle east as folks attempt to keep up technology wise in the markets where flooring costs are rising dramatically and profit from the individual press must be maximised , for instance if you're flooring two 4/c 40 inch Heidelbergs you've got a minimum of a 5 million investment sitting on the floor if they're in quality running order ( and that's USED). And that's without taking into account space costs and the associated support equipment and personnel costs.

So you inevitably have to keep that press rolling at least two shifts a day , if a press is idle it's not making money.



B.

[jekan blazer]

i think the hardest part is writing it in the first place...