PR 104 - Selling your Print on
Demand Book at CafePress
I originally posted this on the
CafePress
forums ... liked it so much I figured I should archive it here. If
you are looking for a POD publisher,
check
them out.
Step
One:
Before you publish, unless you are a professional, I really do
recommend you have a professional editor go over your book. I have seen
a lot of dreadful self-published material go out. Your loved ones will
not
tell you it sucks, even if it's blatantly obvious. I recall the "iPublish"
forums where the point was supposed to be to critique each other's
material ... and the only posts were "I loved your story" ...
and about 99% of it was pure drek. Stories about old boyfriends and
abusive husbands and pointless diaries ... and lots of
awful
poetry. I did not dare to honestly speak my mind to these wilting
flowers. It would have killed
them.
*Get the right editor. I'm a professional reviewer, a PR copy-editor,
not a full-time book editor (though I am proud of my occasional efforts,
especially Controlling Others for Love and
Profit), which means I know a good book when I read one, and I
write an effective press release ... but the finer points of nit-pick
fiction grammar and style are not my forté. An independent editor may
charge upwards of $2,000. There are affordable online
editorial services. You should be able to get a book reviewed by one of
these services for under $100. I don't know what kind of quality they
can offer for that cost though. If you want them to re-write it though,
the cost is significantly higher - between 10 cents and a dollar a word,
which can be based on your word count, the final, or some combination of
the two.
*Pick an editor that is not related to a vanity publishing house. You
want them to only
be editing your book, honestly and without bias - not reviewing it, then
buttering your bread and offering to publish it for the low, low, price
of 3-4 grand.
Step Two:
Send a Press Release. I would not do this for a regular shop,
only
for a book or CD release (unless you have a newsworthy
comment product). And only for the first release or a
significant
upgrade.
*You can buy access to a newswire, but that is prohibitively expensive.
$300-600 depending on your coverage, and they don't target too well. Try
out PRWeb.com. It's free, and for
modest donations you can upgrade to get a good distribution.
*Target the release if you send it out to your own list. Do not send a sci-fi book to fantasy-only
publications or fantasy books to "Guns and Ammo". Trust me, I
have seen writers do this! Go to the library or one of the
mega book stores and thumb through the magazines. Look for publications
that do reviews of books like yours. Send them a press release, and
offer to provide a review copy if they are interested (do not send
sample books unsolicited). You'll have to pay for the book and postage -
it's expected. It is more than worth it if you get a good review. Don't
expect the book to be returned. I've done such reviews - I do not return
review material because I am sometimes asked for follow-ups.
*Don't gripe if you don't get a review or if the review is bad. Consider
it unpaid editorial advice, and thank your reviewer no matter what they
say. If you whine and gripe and get defensive, you will never
get another review, and they could very well
like
your next book.
*Time the release properly. Send it out mid-week, in the morning, but
you might want to wait to send it to local daily newspapers when there
is a related story. If you are doing a book on a local politician, time
the release for just before the next election, that sort of thing.
*If you are not a professional, either get a professional to write your
release (I do this, but the cost is close to equal with the distribution
costs cited above). At the very least get someone to
edit
it (about 1/3 that cost), preferably someone who is familiar with the
style of releases. A good PR writer will be honest and tell you if they
think you are wasting your time on a given release, but no-one can
guarantee you'll make ink.
*If you can't afford that, check through some of the releases at
PRWeb.com,
PR Newswire
or
Canada Newswire
and follow the style there.
Step Three:
Offer excerpts to smaller newspapers and publications, free of charge,
in exchange for a business-card sized ad that leads the reader to your
CP Site. You can offer shorter articles and excerpts to web sites in
exchange for links.
*You can find appropriate,
targeted
publications in Writers Market. This book is published annually, and
lets you know which kinds of publications may accept this sort of
submission.
*Format your submissions for print, have a ready-made
"camera-ready" ad included, but also include text-only and
Word versions of your submissions. Do not send any of this material in
advance - ask first if they welcome it.
Step Four:
Sign up for a few writer's mailing lists, and search their archives for
more advice. Just do a Google-Search on "Writer Advice" or
check out my writer's links.
Step Five:
I have a few more
writers
and
PR
links
on my site.
Step Six:
Approach a book distributor and see what the costs are in getting your
book into larger book stores. See
Wal*Mart's
supplier policies
for a good primer on what you'll need besides an ISBN to get into a
large chain. You'll need a barcode too, among other things.
*You can try selling to smaller local stores ... but you have to be
really gung-ho about it. They will want 2-5 copies at most, you won't
get priority placement, you'll probably sell more online in a week than
you will in a year in a bookstore ... and they will expect you to buy
back unsold copies (so will most distributors). You will have to allow
them up to 60% mark-up costs.
*See if you can get your book packaged in with a larger company's
product. If you have written a neat book on how to use a particular
computer program, you might be able to get a large bulk sale to a
computer reseller as "OEM" (Original Equipment Manufacture)
bonuses. Your profit margin will be low per-item ... maybe 25 cents if
you are lucky ... but you'll be selling thousands at a time. If you get
a buy like that it may not make sense to order through CP (though we'll
see ... depends what their pricing is like).
*You may have some luck selling copies at trade shows related to your
genre. Order enough books that sales will cover the cost of attending
the show. Price them a little higher than online - say by the amount of
postage. Give people a coupon where they can order them online and you
will give a discount for the cost of shipping. Or, find someone who does
such shows regularly, offer to work their booth for free, in exchange
for a small space featuring your books. Give away tons of flyers.
*Put your book cover-art on a CP t-shirt and wear it everywhere. Give
some to friends and loved ones.
