Is Publishing a Printed Book Really Worth the Time and Effort?

Unlike eBooks or white papers or other digital information products, designing, publishing and promoting printed books can be a "stuffy" and time-consuming process. Thanks to centuries of publishing practice and establish standards, printed books have a set, defined structure, which you'll need to follow, if you want to be taken seriously as an author and a publisher.

Yes, preparing your information for the print world can be a real pain, at times. It takes days, even weeks, longer than cranking out digital products, and you may not make as much money on the finished product, thanks to competitive pricing that sets the cost of a print book dramatically lower than what is really cost-effective. In a way, the publishing industry maintains its monopoly based on unfair and unrealistic pricing structures, and it traditionally excludes authors and independent publishers who cannot afford to offer deep discounts for their works.

To some infopreneurs, the hassle and the lower profit margins may not seem worth it. But if you want your ideas to reach a wider audience, and you want your ideas to be taken seriously by the book readers of the world, all that effort is necessary, and it can really pay off. Indeed, how well you follow the conventions of print book publishing can mean the difference between being taken seriously by reviewers, interviewers, and your reading public, and being dismissed as just another wanna-be writer who got their hands on some advanced technology and a credit card. Well-structured sections in the front and back (called "front matter" and "back matter", respectively) like title pages, copyright statements, a table of contents, introductions... bibliographies, endnotes, and about-the-author information, can go a long way towards establishing a visual authenticity with readers, that you just can't get in eBook format.

Print publishing opens a whole new market for your ideas -- the millions of individuals who love to read books, and who prefer them to digital media. Not everyone has a laptop computer they can take with them everywhere, and not everyone likes to read 8-1/2 x 11 printouts. When your ideas are in print, they become instantly accessible to readers the world over, regardless of their technical skill or the availability of a computer. There are no batteries or power cords required, and when someone opens a book, they don't need to wait for it to start up, before they can begin reading.

Now, to many infopreneurs who are adept at creating eBooks and white papers, print book publishing may be something of a mystery. But it doesn't have to be complicated. If you're a fiercely independent person, and you prefer to do things yourself, rather than turn them over to others who may (or may not) be competent and as detail-oriented as you, learning how to publish a print book could be just the thing to take your writing and publishing efforts to the next level. You can extend the reach of your information product line, you can approach mainstream traditional media outlets for publicity, you can do live book readings at real-live bookstores, and you can take your book with you wherever you go, to show the world what you've got.

Writing and publishing isn't just about selling product. Yes, having a printed book opens you up to a whole new audience, but commercial profit isn't the only point of publishing. For you as an independent thinker -- a thought leader -- publishing is really about getting your ideas out there and making your mark. With the proper tools, an eye for detail, and the right information, you, too, can turn your digital information products into high-quality printed books that widen the reach of your ideas and speak to a larger audience in a whole new way.


Copyright © 2007 by Kay Stoner, All Rights Reserved


About the Author
Kay Stoner is a writer and independent publisher who has over 15 books in print today. Her books range from self-help to technical guides. Her website The Indie Publisher Fast Track (www.ipubfasttrack.com) provides resources to independent publishers. Her most recent work, Preparing Your Digital Information Products for Print Publication teaches eBook writers and publishers how to turn their ebooks, white papers and other digital information products into printed books for very low cost


Keywords:
publishing, books, eBooks, promotion, marketing, print, writing, self-publishing

Eleven Steps To Print Publication

Creating a printed book is a bit more complicated than creating a PDF eBook. More steps are involved, just by right of producing a tangible finished product that needs to be handled in the physical world (versus an electronic document that can be distributed by e-mail or online). The basic print publishing process for a print-on-demand publishing cycle for a book that will be sold online through the print-on-demand vendor's website (and/or other online booksellers like Amazon) breaks down as follows:

1. Complete your manuscript
2. Develop your cover concept (and do a trial run of a cover)
3. Format your manuscript for printing (the final product is called a "galley")
4. Complete your cover artwork (and proof it with trial runs of a cover)
5. Put your galley and artwork together
6. Create marketing collateral, press releases, etc.
7. Publish!
8. Receive hard copies of your book and send out review copies to press
9. Send out press releases and place advertising and line up interviews
10. Continue the marketing cycle to keep your book in the press
11. Track your sales and order more books for more publicity

I recommend printing out this list and using it as a project plan for your print publishing. And fill in the blanks in the process, where you know there are more steps involved in your own personal experience. Or follow the sample project plan immediately following this section. Having a checklist to follow can simplify what can be a complicated and sometimes confusing process.

Now, one thing you may notice, is that I have listed marketing after the actual publication of your book. I strongly recommend waiting till you have a finished, published book in hand, before you start sending out press releases and generating interest. I've had international press people contact me within 24 hours of sending out my press materials, but I had no hard copies in hand to send to them, so that pretty much derailed the opportunity I'd created for myself.

In the traditional publishing world, it's customary to publicize a printed book at least three months in advance of publication. This gives the press time to review bound galleys and work your publicity into their own production schedules. Now, for traditional publishers who have full staffs and plenty of money and connections and the machinery for publishing, that's fine. They can pretty much guarantee that a book will come out exactly the way they say it will, exactly when they way it will. But when you're on your own, it's a different story. Anything could happen along the way. You could experience delays with the printer. You could experience personal complications. You could find yourself stalled by artwork that didn't come out the way you wanted... any number of things can go wrong, when you're on your own.

So, it's prudent to be a bit more conservative about marketing a book you're working on. Even if you're 100% absolutely positively unwaveringly convinced that your book will come out in three weeks, anything can happen in that time, that can hold you up or wreck your carefully laid plans. So, don't make any promises you can't keep to the press. It will only work against you.

All this might sound a little daunting, but if you're reading this, you're probably an independent type of person, so the inherent risks and dangers will trouble you a lot less than someone who's never published before and is nervous entering uncharted waters. Certainly, going it alone as an independent print publisher can take a lot more preparation and organization, than operating solely in digital formats. But it's also very satisfying, to have a book in hand that you can give to friends, families, reviewers, and others who say, "So, you're a writer?"

And if you format your book well, your work can be indistinguishable from the work of other writers published by mainstream publishing houses. You can get your own ISBN, your own professional-looking cover, a great looking interior, and all the marketing collateral you could ask for... without spending a small fortune. All it takes is determination, the right information, some creative inventiveness, a keen eye for detail, and a willingness to keep going, no matter what.

With a little extra care, some advanced planning, and an eye for detail, you can turn your eBooks or white papers or other digital information products into printed books -- and not drive yourself crazy in the process.

Copyright © 2007 by Kay Stoner, All Rights Reserved


About the Author
Kay Stoner is a writer and independent publisher who has over 15 books in print today. Her books range from self-help to technical guides. Her website The Indie Publisher Fast Track (www.ipubfasttrack.com) provides resources to independent publishers. Her most recent work, Preparing Your Digital Information Products for Print Publication teaches eBook writers and publishers how to turn their ebooks, white papers and other digital information products into printed books for very low cost


Keywords:
publishing, books, eBooks, promotion, marketing, print, writing, self-publishing

Why Publish Your Writing in a Printed Book?

Why would anyone want to create a printed book, when then can create eBooks a lot more easily -- and cheaply? Why would anyone want to get mired in the process of printing and shipping physical books that take time to deliver to customers, when they can deliver a digital information product immediately, with no additional production or shipping costs? What's the point of having a tree-killing artifact of yesteryear in your creative portfolio?

Well, like it or not, a lot of people still prefer printed books to eBooks. They like -- no, they love -- the feel of a printed copy in their hands. It gives them a sense of well-being and solidity, to have a physical work they can carry with them and put on their bookshelves. They're "old school" and they like it that way. Or, they just never warmed up to eBooks or digital media.

I had a conversation with an international television reporter about one of my books that was coming out soon -- I didn't yet have the printed version in my hands, but I had a PDF eBook I could send him. He said many times over that he hated to read eBooks, but that was all I had at the time, and so I sent it to him. It would have been a whole lot better if I could have sent him a printed copy, instead. Of course, I made do with what I had, but if only...

Now, there's a very good reason some people like printed books better than eBooks -- they can read them anywhere, anytime, without needing a computer to do it. For all the talk about "portable media," these days, a book is really the ultimate in portable media! It fits in your hand, it doesn't require batteries, and there are no complicated instructions to figure out! As advanced as our technology may be, there's nothing like a book to truly "transport information" quickly and efficiently, across the bounds of time and space.

Ironic, isn't it, that the ultimate medium for portable, instantaneous information sharing is just the thing that a lot of us thought was on its way out, with the advent of the internet!

Books are not "reserved" for the technologically gifted. They're not available only to people with a computer and a broadband connection. They're easy to use, easy to transport, and -- unlike some of the cutting-edge entertainment technology available today -- everybody understands what they're all about.

When you publish a printed book, you level the playing field for potential customers, and you make it possible for a wider variety of people to access and enjoy your work.

Another reason to create a printed book, is for credibility. With a printed book in hand -- especially one with an ISBN -- you can approach magazines and newspapers and radio and television hosts and have something in hand to talk about with them. You can mail your book to reviewers and reporters, and you can hold up your creation for the camera, when it comes time to tell the audience what all the excitement is about. And when members of your audience go to their local bookstore to see if they carry your book (depending on what service you use to publish your book), they can put in a request for the book from the bookstore, and potentially help you get it stocked on the bookshelf stores. (Though you may already be convinced, like many other infopreneurs, that bookstores are not the place to sell books, still, it doesn't hurt to see your book on the shelves of a brick-and-mortar store.)

Probably my favorite reason to publish in print, is how it can take your ideas to a whole new level and get you the kind of exposure once reserved only for the connected elite. Having a book in print has a way of instantly establishing you as an expert, in ways that producing (even getting rich from) digital information products can't, in the "real world" offline. When people hear you've written a book, and they see that book in your hands, a connection kicks in, somewhere inside their heads, that says you must be pretty smart. Chances are, it's true -- you are! But the perception of others that you must be one smart cookie, since you've written this book, usually doesn't get so far as to delve into the nature of your book, if it's any "good," or if your work is widely accepted and respected in academic or commercial circles.

Everyday folks have an innate respect for people who can write down enough coherent thought, and organize it completely enough, to produce a book. An awful lot of people never get that far. Some may think about it, but never do it. As a published author, as far as a lot of folks are concerned, you're in a league of your own. And that's a pretty good feeling!

I've gotten a bit of practice having that feeling. To my friends and family, I'm "just Kay" and that's fine with me. All that fame business just kind of gets in the way, when it comes to my personal relationships. But to people who read the international press in the areas I publish in (technology and cross-cultural concerns), I have a somewhat different persona -- I'm a published author who has caught the attention of folks from Asia and Europe with a controversial and rabble-rousing work that hit the presses in the fall of 2006. It's pretty cool, to come across people from far away, who have read reviews of my books in magazines and newspapers I've never heard of. And I've got some pretty cool clippings of articles that mention me -- and my book -- exclusively, or in passing. That was all possible, because I published a printed book. It doesn't matter that I have eBook versions of my works available for instant download. Most of the time, that's not even on the radar of the mainstream international press. In fact, if anything, they kind of turn up their noses when I mention my eBook. But my printed version of that same book... well, that's another story.

Publishing a printed book widens the reach of your ideas in ways that digital media can't quite do. You open up your ideas to a whole different audience, and you get the chance to make even more of an impact with your concepts and your unique "take" on the world... taking a position of true thought leadership in a hurting world that's sorely in need of fresh, new ideas. In fact, now is really the perfect time to be stepping out as a innovative new author in the print publishing world. The old formulas and the old ways of seeing the world and talking about it and conceptualizing it and relating to it, are pretty tired and worn out. We need fresh new ideas, brilliant new insights, and innovative ways of thinking about our world. You may have distilled everything you know and popped it into an eBook, but the print world offers you yet another medium (or "channel," if you prefer marketing lingo) for your ideas.

My favorite reason of all for publishing a printed book, is the profound satisfaction that comes from holding a real, honest-to-goodness tangible book in your hands. I've been a book reader for over 30 years, and I've never lost my love for the sight of words on a printed page. All the better, when those words are mine! Some would call it vanity, but I call it doing my talents justice... and having something to show for all my work, all those live-long years of writing, writing, and writing some more, against all odds, hope against hope. I'm a very tactile person, when it comes to words, too, so I like to have something to hang onto. Digital is great -- it's my medium of choice, these days -- but I can't flip through the pages of a PDF quite the same way I can thumb through a book.

It really is an incredibly exciting time to be a writer and independent publisher! I'm so deeply grateful to have been born at this point in history, with my love of language and books -- and the ability to put that love into manifest product. The possibilities really are endless... provided, of course, you know how to explore them. And that's what this guide is about -- getting you, an infopreneur or digital product creator, the tools and the skills and the orientation you need, to turn your digital content into print format, so you can reach a wider audience and more firmly establish yourself in your own niche of thought leadership.

Copyright © 2007 by Kay Stoner, All Rights Reserved


About the Author
Kay Stoner is a writer and independent publisher who has over 15 books in print today. Her books range from self-help to technical guides. Her website The Indie Publisher Fast Track (www.ipubfasttrack.com) provides resources to independent publishers. Her most recent work, Preparing Your Digital Information Products for Print Publication teaches eBook writers and publishers how to turn their eBooks, white papers and other digital information products into printed books for very low cost


Keywords:
publishing, books, eBooks, promotion, marketing, print, writing, self-publishing

Before You Turn Your eBook into Print -- Read This First!

Are you considering turning your eBook into a printed book with one of today's convenient and cost-effective print-on-demand solutions? Before you do, you should consider some important aspects of your new venture, to make your print book the best it can be.

Creating a printed book is somewhat different from cranking out information products, because there are certain time-honored conventions to laying out and structuring a book. First of all, you'll need to be cognizant of your page numbering and what pages your chapters begin on, you'll need to pay attention to things like "widows" and "orphans", and you'll have to pay attention to how your pages flow within the context of your book.

For example, it's customary to have all first pages of new chapters begin on the right-hand (odd-numbered) side of the book.

You'll also need to include things called "front matter" and "back matter," which you may not have much of (or even need) in an eBook.

Front matter appears in the front of your book, prior to the content. It includes your title page, copyright notice, dedication, forward, preface, acknowledgments, illustrations list, abbreviations,introduction, table of contents. Blank pages are used as "filler" to take up space between front matter that needs to appear on the right-hand (odd-numbered) pages.

Back matter appears in the back of your book, after all the content. It includes endnotes, bibliography, glossary, index, information about the author, ordering info, forms and/or coupons.

The front matter and back matter are very important for a printed book. They also follow certain conventions for which page they appear on. Pick up your favorite book and take a closer look at the front and back matter. Chances are, you've never given it much thought, but you should start thinking about books a little more carefully, to fully appreciate how they're put together.

Just keep in mind, not all eBooks or white papers or PDFs lend themselves well to book conversion. If your eBook PDF is only 20 pages in length with wide margins to begin with, you probably don't want to go the printed book route. Shorter works won't "translate" well, as their page length doesn't provide enough width in the spine to hold the glue evenly. A book of about 30 pages which is perfect bound (the pages glued together with the cover at the spine), can end up with lumpy glue and an uneven finish. Even the best printers can have difficulty making a thin volume look good in perfect binding. And a lumpy, clumpy binding on a thin book makes a lousy impression on reviewers and interviewers, not to mention your reading public.

Of course, you can always make your margins super-wide and your fonts super-large. I'll discuss those options later on. Or, you can put in the extra work to expand on your content and fill it out for print readers. That may be a good exercise, in any case. But no matter what you decide to do, you definitely want to produce a book of a reasonable length -- no less than 50 pages, with a minimum of 100 pages being ideal (in my opinion, that is). They don't call it "book-length" for nothing!

Now, structuring and formatting your content for print publication can be a very different story from putting it into digital format. First of all, there are the popular conventions of book layout which have been standardized over centuries of book publishing. And then there's the basic physical fact of accommodating a certain paper size and setting font sizes and margin widths so that the book is readable. Whereas you can type your content into a word processing document, add graphics, and export it to PDF -- and voila! -- you have an eBook, creating a printed book takes a different kind of focus.

Whereas eBooks may be hastily constructed digital products which are put out for sale before they're polished to a shiny gleam, a print book requires closer attention to certain details. A print version of a work may need to have a more "solid" tone, a more staid approach, than its electronic "sibling" eBook. White papers have certain conventions, such as using the passive voice to sound more professional, but that may make a book version sound stuffy, so that writing style may need to change, as well. Think about how other books similar to yours do it -- and copy their approach. "Talent copies... genius steals," says the adage. But in this day and age, when plagiarism is so strongly discouraged, you may be better off aiming for talent, than aspiring to genius. Bottom line is, other people have paved the way with book production -- corporate people, rich people, highly literate and connected people. You can learn a lot from their examples, so study others who have written print books like your eBook or white paper, and make your edits accordingly.

In addition to stylistic changes, you'll need to make physical changes to the layout of your work. You'll need to put in blank pages to make your different book elements be properly ordered. It's a good idea to add "fluff" like dedications and acknowledgments and references, for the sake of looking more formal in print. Studying the books on my bookshelf, I'm always amazed at how much "stuff" they include in the front and the back of them. Tables of contents, dedications, testimonials... glossaries and bibliographies and auxiliary information, oh my! You, too, can load up your book with lots of extras that make it look like a big press put it out. Especially if you've got testimonials... you can load them up at the beginning of the book (just make sure they're really yours, not automatically generated "testimonials" that some software programs will crank out. Remember, when it comes to print, credibility is everything. A little extra work, filling out your book with "extras" like the big book boys do, can go a long way towards making you look good in print.

Now, making all sorts of amendments to your eBook for the sake of getting into print might seem a bit daunting. (Rewarding, but daunting.) But really, I think the hardest part of the process is figuring out what you need to do, and how you'll need to do. Actually doing it is the easy part.

Yes, thanks to the internet and high technology in general, the tools you need to make your print publishing adventure not only exciting, but cost-effective, as well. I've been creating my own books since the late 1980's, and I've done a lot of research and exploration over the years about what it takes to get a book into print. I've tried everything from cutting and pasting typewritten pages onto hard-copy galleys and standing over the photocopy machine with paper towel to wipe off the leftover spots left by my white-out... to typing up my work on oddly organized half-folded sheets of paper, and carefully collating the end result... to printing out pages on a dot-matrix printer (I know, I'm dating myself, but it was high-tech at the time!) and reducing them to fit on half-size pages down at the copy shop... to using Adobe PageMaker to layout and format and generate printer-ready proofs for commercial printers... to sneaking print jobs to the laser printer at the office where I worked, so I could get a decent print quality without needing to hire my own graphic designer or buy my own expensive equipment... to finally (at last!!!) finding Lulu and their totally self-sufficient print-on-demand solutions that really, truly are a dream come true for a fiercely independent culture creator like me.

In my own personal and professional experience, the process has come a long way, in the past 20 years, and print-on-demand technology now makes it easier and more affordable than ever, to get your words into a printed book. In fact, with some of the most recent online services today, there's literally no reason why any writer who has the creativity and determination to write a book, can't publish it, as well. I just find it so incredibly ironic that for all the work that goes into writing a book, publishing it (which is really the creatively simplest, albeit the most logistically complex, part of the book creation process) has been kept out of writers' reach for so long.

I really think it's a throwback to the days when the only people who could publish books, were folks who were wealthy enough to be literate and rich and connected enough to own a printing press and materially comfortable enough (or trades-educated) to fritter away their days setting type and pressing sheets of printed material, one at a time.

Now that's all different. Computers have changed everything. That's a fact.

Now, the game is completely different. Writers of any ilk, if they can work a word processing program and follow simple instructions on the internet, have the means well within their grasp to turn their publishing dreams into reality. What's more, as more and more people turn to writing as a way to not only express themselves, but start to earn a living through the creation and sale of information products, there's an abundance of digitally published works "floating around online" which could easily become printed products, as well. And for less money than you probably think. Even if you don't write a book yourself, there's nothing to keep you from snagging a public domain work that's downloaded from your favorite website (or given away by an infopreneur as an added bonus for folks who order their products), and turning it into a printed book you can sell, give as a gift, or speak about publicly. Just make sure you publish something you're allowed to publish! The last thing you need, is to have your reputation sullied as a "plagiarist". The whole point of print publishing is to establish your reputation more firmly, not undermine it!

So, as you're considering transitioning your digital assets to print, keep in mind the differences between the new medium and the old. With forethought and planning, your digital assets can become high-quality printed products that not only expand your product line, but help establish your thought leadership position with a great look.


About the Author
Kay Stoner is a writer and independent publisher who has over 15 books in print today. Her books range from self-help to technical guides. Her website The Indie Publisher Fast Track (www.ipubfasttrack.com) provides resources to independent publishers. Her most recent work, "Preparing Your Digital Information Products for Print Publication" teaches eBook writers and publishers how to turn their ebooks, white papers and other digital information products into printed books for very low cost.

Keywords:
publishing, books, eBooks, promotion, marketing, print, writing, self-publishing

Copyright © 2007 by Kay Stoner, All Rights Reserved