Episode #238: If You've Seen A Publisher's Advert In CyberSpace, Just Lock Your Wallet

...Is the object that all writers want to be over with when their creations comes to fruition.

This post is more of a warning about those "publishing ads" that you see pop up {mostly} on Facebook either in your front page feed or your normal page feed(s), that promise you everything and only deliver a bold red negative to your bank account with nothing else to show for it.

So what we're going to do today is dissect one of those typical 'publishing ads" that have made their quarterly appearance in my feed, and hopefully by the end of this post, you'll be a more fully informed and just shade more cynical when it comes to the business side of writing.

First a brief writing update: I just finished transcribing chapters 96-98 of my four volume series with the working title of Hot Mess. This brings the total word count to about 479k+/-

Issue #1: they promise that your book can be on all kinds of national best sellers lists if you use their service. No, just no. Anyone who says that to you is outright lying. In order to get on a national best seller list (e.g. NYT, USA, Amazon or B&N), you actually have to work at your craft, build an audience and have people purchase your book, either day of or as a pre-order.

Issue #2: paying to get your book published. Again, just no. Most of these companies are offering packages that start @ $399 (the ad that I'm referencing has packages that start @ $4999, and a lot of what is included are superficial at best and rip-offs at worse. The concrete rule that you should always be aware of is that you do not pay a "publisher" to publish your book. You can actually publish your book for free on reputable publishing platforms (I'll elaborate further in a moment).

Issue #3: when the ad says they have years of experience, chances are excellent that they're lying. This is how you can tell: clicking on their FB page brings up an equal amount of likes and follows (usually starts at 4k for both types); clicking on the "about" tab brings up their page transparency info, which for this particular page that I'm using has a born on date of January 23, 2024, and that their page manager is located in Pakistan (Pakistan seems to be the new Philippines); and their business location is either in California or New York.

Issue #4: they answer your posted questions via a DM to your in box. It's usually a link to their generic website that has all kinds of expensive useless goodies that only help their bottom line and not yours. Let's look at their website, shall we?

Issue #5: their website is quite generic, the pictures look like stock images and the reviews are often five stars and months out of date. If you try searching the various links, you get lots of descriptions that are deliberately vague on details like cost. Which you have to contact them in order to find out the particulars. 

Issue #6: their company name is a borderline ripoff of actual reputable companies. You will find an ungodly amount of these "publishers" who use variations of B&N, KDP/Amazon or even the variations of the Big Five publishing houses as part of their company's names. Another concrete rule to remember is that no traditional/self-publishing platform will actually solicit for your business like that. It's more like you go to them.

Issue #7: is not really an issue but a reality check on how you should spend your hard earned money if you choose to go the self-publishing route {remember later? this is later}. Talk to any reputable writer that you know that happens to be either a true indie or a genuine hybrid (that is, publishes their work both trad and indie) and ask them for tips on what you need to do in order to successfully self-publish.

Most, if not all, will state that you need to spend your money wisely on a good/reputable graphic designer for your book covers (as in print and e-book) and other assorted essentials (e.g. actual usable marketing materials); a good formatter, (print, ebook & Kindle) if you don't fancy doing it yourself; and most importantly, a good quality editor, who specializes in most editing practices. A quality editor is well worth the price you pay for their services (most start around $450).

In general, these three major items should cost you roughly $1300+/- out of pocket. For reference, the company that I used for covers has base packages at $100, $200 and $400 (plus other tangibles that are well worth looking into); the company that I used for formatting has a fiction package deal of $300 for two e-book files and a PDF.; and the last time two times that I had used an editor (including this one), cost me $500 & $600 respectfully.

There are other tangibles where the cost is much lower: registering your US copyright starts @ $60. This is a fixed rate that US Copyright office charges; you can purchase ISBN numbers directly from the company that produces them, or you can use the FREE ones that each platform provides to you.

As for reputable publishing platforms, the king has been Amazon/KDP, followed by Draft2Digital, ITunes/Apple, and Ingram/Sparks to name a few. Their royalty splits, which is how they make their money, starts on a 70-30 split (that is 70% you and 30% them). The second one and last one mention provide distribution to other retailers, free of charge. And as always, read the ToS for each platform.

In essence, you shouldn't be paying any money to any of these so-called "publishers" because all you get is nothing in return. I haven't even touched up on other marketing aspects, because that's whole other animal, but some of the platforms mentioned, do allow you to market/promote your books for a modest up front fee. Even FB charges a modest starting rate if you wish to advertise with them.

What it boils down to is this: do your research on any ads that pop-up in your feed, because why should you throw away your hard earned money for an end product that could turn out to be garbage.

Have a fantastic week!

    

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved