Self-publishing and cashflow

Still no feedback, but with it being a weekend and less than one week after I sent manuscripts out this is not a surprise.

So here I am blogging frantically to distract myself from nerves and chewed fingernails and wondering what else to add, when one other issue with self-publishing occurred to me.

Cost.

Yes, Lulu and POD is effectively free. However the cost per book is so high that it eats your profit and makes it hard to get distribution. When I did the small press route we went for small printruns (a few hundred) from a local printer, giving us books at less than 30% of the sale price.

That leeway meant we could go for distributors, which was invaluable in getting the books on the shelves across the country. We certainly could never have reached this far ourselves. And we sold out the first run, and then the next.

So what's the problem? Cash flow. With each book sold you make a profit, but that profit isn't realised until the book is actually sold. You don't swing into the black on printing costs until 30% of the print run has sold. Meanwhile, you are accruing other costs - conventions, webhosting (trivial but still a cost) marketing, review copies, and more.

And while this is going on, you're hopefully working on your next book, and this one also needs startup capital. So as the money comes in, do you spend it on a new run for the first book, invest in the second with all the costs of plates and set-up, or try and hold on to it so you can say you have a profit to show for all your work?

Well, we did six, so you can see where we put it.

On reflection, although I enjoy the convention circuit (and you meet some really interesting people!) now I'm a little older I think I'd prefer someone else to be doing the organising, printing marketing and worry about the cash flow. So hopefully if I can pick up an agent, I'll find someone who will just let me write, attend the occassional con and chat to interested and interesting people.

Wish me luck.

Self Publishing - the easy way?

Thinking about it, there is another reason to get an agent which I have not mentioned.

For some background, my first set of books were small press/self-published. This was a deliberate choice and an agent or publishing house was never considered, since in that niche everyone is. Entry is set-up your imprint, set up your ISBN, get books printed and you're in. A few years back before I was involved, all it took was a stapler and photocopier. My first book sold out two runs - about 600 books total even though frankly on a re-read it needs work. Later ones did better: 200 in one convention was our record.

So why don't I do this again? Self-publishing is easier now. Create an account with lulu, upload your Word file and done. Anyone can do it.

Except that's not right.

Anyone can do it badly. To do it properly you need a team:
A proof-reader - and not you! Authors normally miss their own errors.
An editor - I had two, who also contributed to the writing, while I edited them.
An designer or typesetter - to make sure the book is actually readable.
An illustrator - If you are illustrating a book then get a pro.
A printer - obviously!
A distributor - we got lucky and signed up with two.
A marketer - this was just us and a set of forums.

So why, with some small publishing success, do I want to go for an agent and a publishing house? To be honest because small press publishing done properly is a lot of work. It took nearly a year for that first book to go from concept to book to market.

And on consideration I want to write books, not do the support and logistics to print, distribute and market them. Let that be someone else's job, not only because they can do it as well as me, but because they can do it a whole lot better! Meanwhile I'll get back to what I am good at: writing.

Of course, I still own the imprint, the remains of my sheet of ISBNs, the printing gear and have access to my distribution network, so if I don't find an agent it might not be the end of the world... Just more work!

Cost of writing

Something else they don't mention is the cost. Sending out Royal Mail first class is between £2-3 per packet. Good quality envelopes that take synopsis, samples, query letters and (sometimes) CVs are not cheap - although this time I used Viking and bought in bulk.

A few random thoughts on submissions, and speeding the process.

1) Don't bother with proof of posting - since the agent isn't expecting it, they can't tell you if it doesn't arrive.
2) If you really want to make sure it gets there used signed-for. However, this might cause problems if the agent is not around to sign for it. I can't imagine many of them have the time to rush down to the local Post Office to sign for (heaps of) unsolicited queries.
3) Second class post is cheaper, but it takes longer and may not get there in as good a condition. A few extra days on a four week wait may not seem like much, but I'm impatient, and as time passes you'd be surprised at how long it can seem.

Return of manuscript is a tricky one. Some blogs recommend you save money by not including an SSAE, and just let them shred the work if they don't like it.

I have included it, for a few reasons. First, if you've used good paper and spent time on a decent printer creating your samples then depending on length it might be cheaper to get the pack back and reuse it for the next agent (and boy, does that statement make me sound confident in my work!). Second, if they are polite enough to send a rejection, they can use your SSAE for it which saves the agent time and cost. After all, they have spent their time reading your manuscript so making it easy to reply is only polite.

Third, because even a form rejection is better than dead silence at the other end.

on Edge

The quest for an agent is underway. I've got seven query letters sent out to agents who handle stories in that area, and now I just have to hope that one of them requests a full submission.

It's surprising how long it takes to prepare the packets to go out. Step one was looking up all the relevant ones from the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, then checking them out on Preditors and Editors to make sure they aren't a scam, looking up their own sites for current submission guidelines and then finally making up a lot of different packs for varying requirements.

Also while many writing sites tell you to send a synopsis, they don't mention you'll need more than one: a one page, two page and for some even longer versions are requested. Of course the bit that really threw me was the CV request. What I do for a living has nothing to do with my fascination for heavy engineering, aircraft, railways, steam etc. so if they read the CV and expect a techno thriller, they're probably going to be disappointed. (I live this stuff, it's boring and I don't want to write about it!)

And I suspect I had better get on with finishing no#4 since my beta officially thinks I'm rotten - I left two would-be astronauts stranded halfway through a tricky re-entry for six weeks while I finished tweaking no #3.

Why an agent?

With novel number #3 going out to agents, the question that comes up is why? Why use an agent? Why not publish small press as I have before?

I'm confident enough in the story to know I could publish it small press. I've published books before with small press (ignoring the freebies on lulu, there are also six formally published with ISBNs) which have sold successfully. Between connections, conventions and more, I could confidently say I would sell between 500 and 800 copies - not bad for a small press run in an area I don't usually write in.

So why try to go mainstream now? A mix of reasons:

The traditional reason, to get your name in print, really doesn't hold. I'd rather use a pen name; I'm better known under my pen names, and more importantly I've already got books in print (just not novels).

Fame, fortune? Again, not so much. After my rant about online privacy it should be obvious how I feel about fame, and as for fortune? I'm actually happy where I am right now.

On consideration I think it's mainly curiosity: I'd like to see how one of my books does with some actual backing. Rather than just me and my informal network, how they do on a book store shelves, whether it stacks up against commercial fiction, and whether I can in fact break into a new area.

With #3 there is a strong story with more mainstream interest than many of my other works, which makes it the one with the most potential for this test and the highest chance of success. (#1 has issues, #2 is too focused on one interest and #4 is incomplete and produced in haste for NaNoWriMo, so it gets a sanity check before it goes anywhere!).

So, I have a manuscript with potential, the London Book Fair is in April, and most agents have a long turn around on whether they are or are not interested. Sounds like a good time to send it out.

Fingers crossed.

Mixed feelings

Well, I suppose this is the definition of mixed feelings. I just got an email from someone who liked the Lens Companions I did. In fact, they liked them enough to download the free version, print it out, staple through to make a spine and make little books for their history class - about forty copies of each...

Why is this mixed feelings? Well, on the downside, forty seperate downloads would have done a lot for the e-books' stats although I can understand why they only got it once. Also, if you are going to mass-produce it anyway, there is already a bound paperback version available which might be a bit more hardwearing.

On the upside, I wrote the book to try and build interest in the topic, which it has apparently succeeded at. I made it available for free, precisely so people could do what they wanted with it once downloaded. And frankly it's always nice to know someone likes your writing.

On balance, I think I'm thoroughly flattered.

Issues with blogger

And having had three updates show up in the wrong blogs (they all seem to default to this one) I'm straightening things out. Please bear with me.

Blue box and charity choice...

And a blue box magically appears on Squidoo!

Which leaves me with a fairly large amount to give to a charity, and no charity to give it to. So if anyone knows an aviation charity looking for cash, please let me know.

Otherwise it might be a case of sticking a pin in everyclick, and I really don't want to do that.

Everyclick - a privacy issue?

I have just heard back from everyclick, and unfortunately with regard to online privacy it s not good news.

Now that their new website has gone live, there are no user privacy settings. This means that if you choose to use everyclick to raise funds, your name will be displayed publicly on their site. If you had a private page previously it is now publicly viewable.

The suggestion they have made is to change the contents of the name field to junk. It is a suggestion I have taken them up on. For users with similar concerns I would suggest doing the same before the page is archived or cached, as Date of Birth is also available though your settings and name and DOB can be used for a lot of malicious damage.

ID Differentiation online

I find it very interesting how many people assume that a person can only have one interest or hobby, that they can only do one thing. To me this seems very limiting.

For example, as one of my interests I write. I write articles, poetry, stories, games, books and now novels. And this apparently causes a problem. I have been told outright that I should stop writing the award-winning steam train articles simply because I don't work in the field, that a thriller publisher won't pick me up because my name is linked with horror, etc. The obvious solution to this would be ID differentiation: writing under different names on different subjects.

Unfortunately the web now appears to be trying to make everything about one person be under one ID. The trend is to link everything up. This can make life tricky for anyone with more than one interest, or people who want to work in more than one field. It can also make it difficult to keep work and social life seperate.

And I find this trend very odd.

Strangely I might not want my pre-teen fans who are largely engineering nuts (Hi guys!) to find my horror work if they look me up online.What you say in a discussion for adults might not be what you say in one for kids, or simply not said the same way - A frank discussion of Incan sacrifical practices comes to mind. What I say to a client professionally has nothing to do with what the horror fans like, and I really would not want a horror fan looking me up through my work*. Also what I do out-of-hours is none of a clients' business as long as it would not adversely affect their reputation, which it does not.

The problem with using different names to seperate work and social - or even work and hobbies - is that Twitter and others now insist you have to give your real name and can only give one email address. More than one such service limits you to one account. This leaves people with multiple interests in a bind. Do you lie on your application or link all the content to one name and lose the different groups?

This to me is symptomatic of a greater issue: the increasing belief that I have encountered that people can only be good at one thing. I find this limiting and disappointing. One of the highest achievements for an individual used to be to be a polymath - someone who excelled and made notable contributions in multiple fields. Now it seems to be that once you've worked in one field, you are not supposed to have any interest in anything else and to me this sells people short. I'm old-fashioned.  I think that everything can be interesting and narrowing yourself to finding enjoyment from one narrow activity is doing yourself a disservice.

After all, as they say, only boring people get bored.

Rant over, and on to ways to manage this:
Multiple accounts are the simplest. This can be tricky to manage, but if you have access to multiple web browsers, each can be configured differently. (e.g. I use Firefox for article-writing, Opera for games interests etc.) with different bookmarks etc.

Some services can handle multiple accounts, so with those you are OK. With others it might be harder, and leave you looking at different services that do the same thing. You can also change what it says under name once the account is set up e.g. my Twitter account.

How would you manage it?

A rant about privacy

I like my web ID. I've been using it for twenty years or so. I use it so I don't have to use my name online.

It's not linked to my real name or career because frankly, what I do in my day job (consulting) is not something I want to do online after hours. I've got other interests.

So why on earth have places like Yahoo started displaying real names on profiles? I've wiped my Yahoo profile after getting work requests when I wrote about steam trains, for heaven's sake! Then you have to deal with some idiot saying that your answer must be wrong because of your nationality/ background/ job/ whatever... rather than checking the facts. When my career is linked I also get people I don't know, with no interest in what we were discussing, asking me to help them get jobs, provide confidential contact info for companies and so on.

Here's a hint. If I wanted to talk work I'd do it on the work boards. If I want to talk about my hobbies and interests, and the things I'd like to do I'll be on a private board and not using my work-name. Getting hit up to do work for free or hand out contacts does not impress me.

Remove anonymity and I'll leave your site because I keep my personal life strictly seperate from my professional one.

The worst offenders so far are everyclick and yahoo, but it seems to be a trend. I don't know what's behind it but I am really, really, sick of it.

That's my personal complaint over with.

And my professional view? With the increasing concerns over ID theft, I find it very, very, odd that companies holding personal IDs seem to be going out of their way to make it easier for the thieves and not harder.

I would not be writing if I had not just run into this professionally. One notable case (details fudged) was a recent client who found her address, date of birth and full name displayed on the homepage an ISP had thoughtfully created for her, gathering information from the various online services she used. Of course, as they had created it automatically they had not bothered to put the privacy settings up and made it open for public view. She had never agreed to this and they did not tell her they had created it until after the fact.

This kind of irresponsibility bugs me. Once the information is out there there is no way to get it back, and she's the one who had to call me in to track it down and help her block her credit report and other details because of their carelessness. Protect yourself online: If you are using such a service, do check what they have made available to general viewers and also what is on any homepages for online services like yahoo, facebook etc. You may be surprised.

And that's the last crossover between professional and personal you should see on this blog.

For the record:

• I consult in IT, which I am good at.
• Tirial writes about planes, trains, and interesting stuff, which I enjoy.

Rants about Identity differentiation (required by some professions e.g. writing, and an increasing problem to achieve online) may follow tomorrow.

A busy start to the year

Well, my e-commerce game business which I had been letting quietly atrophy (it was by now largely a shell to collect royalties and manage licences) appears to be taking off at the start of the year. I'm not one to waste an opportunity, so we're setting up a few new stock suppliers and will have to see how it does.

On the family front I have had some bad news, so updates may be erratic for now.

Aims for this year:
Finish "Into Flight", my Nano-novel, after getting complaints from the beta-reader that I could not just drop it.
Finish editing the novel I was working on before, for publication.
Get some more articles and lenses written for charity.
Win the lottery (well, why not add something I won't manage in four weeks?)

And I am looking for a new aviation charity to support/promote this year so if you are interested or have one I should consider, please let me know.

And according the Unicreatures test I count as Flarius. Why not try it yourself?