doubts on publications and opening a self publishing unit

[rathankar]

I have started to write a book and would also like to publish it. many publishers just offer a mere 10% as royalty and hence iam not interested. but at the same time i would like to open my own publishing company. i need clarity over certain things:
1. if iam having a publishing company, should i get any permissions from the governement
2. i am typing my book using MS-Word and shifting to any other software at this juncture would be quite difficult for me. but the printer guy suggested me that i should have the work in a photoshop format. how do i now convert my word format to this new format. are there any softwares
3. what is the general cost of printing 200pages of a book(no color pics or text in the book)
4. what are the different sizes i can print my book in to. which format is best suited for printing.
plz reply Delete Comment

[CinnamonTeal Print and Publishing]

Hello,

A publishing company may require more introspection but it is definitely do-able. Meanwhile,
a. No, you do not require any special permission from the government except those that may be required for any service
b. What most publishers prefer is a pdf format. There is software available that should help you convert your MS Word files into pdf. That alone should suffice.
c. That depends on how many copies you wish to produce in a single run, the size of the book and the number of pages
d. Most novels are published in 8"x5" or 9"x6" formats. Workbooks and manuals normally are in A4-size formats.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Leonard (@CinnamonTeal)

[rathankar]

what is the general cost of printing 200pages of a book(no color pics or text in the book)

i would like to publish a total of 500 books in a single run. how much does it cost

[CinnamonTeal Print and Publishing]

Request you to please direct specific questions related to prices offline. If you wish to publish your book using the services of CinnamonTeal, you can email contactus|at|cinnamonteal|dot|in

[Manoj Vijayan]

Hi Rathankar

There's a freeware called PDFCreator--just install that and you should be able to convert your Word manuscript to PDF without any problems.

Best
Manoj

[Katherine W. Prawl]

A publisher does much more than just produce copies of a title. Writing a book is itself enough work without also becoming a publisher, although of course some people do accomplish that. Here's a few of the things publishers do that most authors I know would rather not have to mess with:

* project management - publishing a title requires a lot of steps and many different skills. Keeping it all organized can be a full-time job.
* rights management - registering a copyright, researching any potential copyright infringement on others' works in the title, obtaining permission to use other copyrighted materials (e.g., illustrations)
* obtaining an ISBN (necessary if you plan to sell through a distributor, and helpful for marketing)
* editing & proofreading
* book design - choosing the type face(s), paper, cover type, book size, layout, format for ebooks, etc.
* contracting - with the author, with illustrators & cover designers, with printers, with distributors, with publicists
* marketing

Ten percent royalties sounds low, but considering that many distributors only pay a publisher 45%, plus shipping, minus returns, and the overhead involved in running a business and doing all the things mentioned above, 10-12% is actually not that unfair, especially if the publisher also gives you an advance. On the bright side, ebook publishers sometimes pay much higher percentages than print publishers; I've seen some deals for up to 25% of sales to reflect the fact that electronic publishing has a lot of cost savings and not as many risks, but it's also a fact that ebooks do not typically sell as many copies as print at the present time, so I don't know how much better the author does in those cases. It may be possible to get a split-royalty contract, with higher rates for ebook editions vs print editions.

While it may be discouraging, this might give you some appreciation for what you get for the difference between your royalties (and any advance) and the publisher's gross income from sales of your book.

Regards,
Katherine

[Bill Gough]

Hi Rathankar,
From my own experience - the ISBN may be obtained free of charge (at least for writers in Canada. One registers the book at an on-line site and the ISBN is issued. At that site I enter as a publisher - which I am :) and obtain my ISBN. That then becomes the operative ISBN at the POD. Usually, they provide them - but I have done everything for free so far so I haven't accessed that feature at most POD sites. I used www.lulu.com where they offered a free ISBN & that's what shows up at Amazon.

2/3: I've written all my files in the Mac version of Word and it converted perfectly. I used the lulu site for their conversion from Word to PDF and it works out well as a PDF. I do have somewhat limited experience in this - so someone else may have more ideas. I do observe that at Lulu (especially with current exchange rates that the US dollar pricing has driven my book prices up - and I'm now looking at POD in India.

4: Using the old measurements a format of 9 x 6 inches was the best choice for value. I'm told by bookstores that this is the most popular format. It also works out as the cheapest format.

5: If you're using a laminate-type cover, I'd check on that if books are to be distributed in humid locations. I noticed that when I live in a dry climate the plastic-infused covers tend to stay flat - in humid location, however, I've found the covers tend to warp. I'm not sure if others have found this to be true - but I'd add that to my list of questions.
Cheers,
Bill

[Jasha M. Levi]

My memoir, The Last Exile, just got published at 224 pages and b/w pictures, cost me about $1600. I used booksurge.com, which is affiliated with Amazon. Get their literature and it will answer most of your questions. They give authors a 35% discount, and I think better that 10% on books they sell directly to the public or bookstores.
Jasha,

[CinnamonTeal Print and Publishing]

Back here in India, we offer print-on-demand services to help you publish your book. Our services include cover design, page layout design, copy editing and proof reading, online marketing services, ISBN services and copyright management.

For more details visit http://www.dogearsetc.com/cinnamonteal

Regards,

Leonard