Far From The Madding Crowd

Here is a story that could be of extreme inspiration for Indians seeking to save a lost part of their heritage. It is the story of Jose Freeman, descendant of the Salinan tribe of California who made it his mission to track and record for posterity the lost languages of the North American continent.

The first time Jose Freeman heard his tribe’s lost language through the crackle of a 70-year-old recording, he cried.

“My ancestors were speaking to me,” said Freeman of the sounds captured when American Indians still inhabited California’s Salinas Valley. “It was like coming home.”

While the last native speaker of Salinan died almost half a century ago, more and more indigenous people are finding their extinct or endangered tongues, one word or song at a time, thanks to a late linguist and some University of California, Davis scholars who are working to transcribe his life’s obsession.

Driven to record the native languages he saw disappearing all around him, John Peabody Harrington spent four decades gathering more than 1 million pages of phonetic notations on languages spoken by tribes from Alaska to South America. When the technology became available, he supplemented his written record with audio recordings - first using wax cylinders, then aluminum discs.

Most people who decide to self-publish do so because they wish to rid themselves of the hassle of pursuing publishers requesting them to publish their book or because they feel they will do a better job publishing their own book themselves. Most often, though, self-publishers are looked down upon as people who had their manuscripts rejected by publishers and therefore had to publish their own book. They are called “vanity publishers”, although the term is misleading but more about that later.

For those of you who are seriously considering self-publishing rest assured you will be in good company. Some famous self-published authors include Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, E.E. Cummings, William Blake, Edgar Allen Poe Benjamin Franklin and India’s very own R.K. Narayan, just to name a few. In fact John Grisham sold his first book “A Time to Kill” out of the trunk of his car after having published it himself.

Among the many options available for self-publishers, improved connectivity and easy access to the latest technology make Print on Demand (POD) the most preferable method. POD has virtually eliminated the need for self-published authors to print and buy up to a thousand copies of their own book up front. Books can now be printed as they are ordered and shipped directly to the customer, thus eliminating the possibility of having unsold books lying around.

Here is how a traditional publisher works. The publisher has a set budget for each year which translates into how many books they will publish each year and more importantly, how many new authors they will accept. If a publisher has room in their budget for six books next year and are under contract with four established authors who will deliver one completed manuscript each, then they can only accept two new authors. So if five thousand manuscripts cross their desk they will only choose two. This implies that 4,998 authors will not get published by this publisher. So they all dust off their manuscripts and ship them off to the next publisher or, worse still, inform the author with “deep regret that the manuscript cannot be published at this time”. Now most major publishers only accept manuscripts by invitation or from established literary agents. The Catch-22 is that to get your work noticed and recommended by an established agent or by a publishing house worth their salt you usually need to be published and have a book deal in the first place.

So why go the self-publishing route? Although that is a question you have to answer yourself as an author, self-publishing allows you to have complete control over the content and design of your book and, as importantly, dictate how much royalty you wish to earn off each book that is sold. And, you also like to work hard. The following steps enumerate the processes along the self-publishing route.

Step One: Have your book ready before you start worrying about the publisher. Think about what it is you want to write about and how you are going to write it. Be realistic about the time you are going to take to write the book and how much time you need to set aside for the task each day. Remember that once the book is written you still need to edit it, rewrite it, reedit it and rewrite it again. After you’ve done that you will need someone with excellent editing skills to go over it for you. If your book needs research and travel, set aside time for that too. Be realistic about the time it will take you to complete the manuscript.

You will also need a computer to type your manuscript into. You don’t have to necessarily own one as you can spend time in a cyber cafe writing your book. Be sure to always back up your work. Having your own computer, though, allows you to have software installed that you are comfortable with and allows you to set your own schedule.

For your book, you can use software that is freely available, yet legal, and meets all your needs. Assuming you are a Windows user, you can use Lyx for type setting your manuscript. Scribus is another good alternative for this purpose. You can design your cover and draw any illustrations you need for the book using Inkscape, freely available software that is comparable to Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw.

Step Two: Now you are ready to find a POD publisher. There are several types of POD publishers out there. Some have you go through a submission process, which you will almost always pass. They will publish your book for a fee, which is often exorbitantly high. They are called “Vanity Publishers” because they are paid by the author to get the book published and sold; the book is not sold on its own merit. These publishers will take your book to book trade shows and shop it around to distributors and wholesalers. So you do get some value for your money.

A true POD (Print on Demand) publisher will usually charge you nothing in terms of upfront fees or “set up fees”. They will also not pay you any amount as royalty till your book is sold. They make their money by taking a percentage of each book you sell. Because they have lesser costs and take a smaller risk, they also take a smaller percentage then do most traditional publishers. Note that the sales of your book are market driven; people are buying your book because the content of the book appeals to them. The only time you pay these publishers is when a book is ordered for sale. Then too, most preferably, it is your customer paying for that book.

While several such POD publishers are available if you search for them on Google, in India there are a few who offer POD in the true sense of the word. True POD publishers must be willing to print in runs of one (one copy at a time) and must be able to issue an ISBN for your book. Preferably, they should also be able to sell your book online.

You will have to do the research for yourself and determine which POD publisher works best for you. Visit their website and search for the information you need. Contact them by phone or e-mail, ask them for clarifications and even references of past clients so that you can ascertain the quality of their work yourself.

For the purposes of this article I am going to discuss CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Services. Based in Goa, they offer POD services as well as allied pre-press services such as editing, proof reading, page layout and cover design so that all services required for self-publishing can be availed of at one place.

Step Three: Once you have written your book and zeroed in on a print-on-demand publisher, there are a few things you need to do so that your book is noticed and bought. Engage the services of someone and get the pages laid out nicely and neatly, have illustrations inserted at appropriate places and get a suitable cover designed for the book. These are tasks you could even do yourself with the help of software that makes it very easy to do.

While designing the book cover there are certain aspects you need to keep in mind. You need to have an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) assigned and a barcode developed for that ISBN so that it can appropriately placed on the back cover. Most publishers in India, including CinnamonTeal, will issue you an ISBN (and the bar code) for no charge. Next, check with your publisher if the publisher’s logo must be placed on the cover and place it where needed.

Most importantly, price your book appropriately. Make sure that pricing is explained well by the POD publisher you choose so that there are no ambiguities as to the pricing mechanism. Once the price is fixed, this must be mentioned on the cover of your book. Also, enquire about the quantum of royalty you will receive from the sale of each book. While traditional publishers offer authors a royalty ranging from 6-10% of the price of each book, POD publishers offer authors up to 80% of the profit made on each book as royalty.

After you have completed all aspects of the manuscript, it is suggested that the manuscript, both the content as also the cover be converted to .pdf (Portable Document Format - Adobe®) before uploading. Conversion software is available for free. Once converted the manuscript may be emailed to the publisher.

At this point your book is available for sale. It is suggested that you order a copy of the book yourself so that you can see what it looks like and be satisfied with its look but that is a matter of choice.

Step Four: Once your book is available for sale, comes the hard part – marketing the book. You should spare no effort here - send it for reviews, offer it to book clubs, get as much press coverage as you can. Create a webpage and publish an excerpt there. You want people to know about your book so that they get interested in it so do whatever it takes to market your book. You have to promote your book at every chance you get. The more you promote your book the more you will sell.

Conclusion: Self-publishing is hard work. There is nothing vain about it. The reward is that you will keep more of the profits for yourself and have total control over your book. If someone tells you that self-publishing is for writers with no talent tell them that it certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. In fact, for those who are sure about their work, self-publishing is perhaps the best way to go.

Links:

CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Services:

http://cinnamonteal.dogearsetc.com

Lyx Publishing Software:

http://www.lyx.org

Scribus Publishing Software:

http://www.lyx.org

Inkscape Vector Graphics Software:

http://www.lyx.org

- Queenie Fernandes and Leonard Fernandes

Print-on-demand publication is a process that enables a publisher to produce books individually rather than in quantity. Instead of printing hundreds or thousands of books in advance, a POD publisher prints books only when they are ordered. The manuscript is stored as a digital file (usually PDF). POD books can be produced in softcover or hardcover, and some publishers also produce full-color books and picture books.

Print-on-demand or publish-on-demand (POD) is a printing technology in which a copy is not created until after an order is received. Print-on-Demand Publishing uses digital printing technology to produce a complete book. This digital technology provides a way of printing items for a fixed cost per copy, irrespective of the size of the order. While the unit price of each physical copy printed is higher than with offset printing, when setup costs are taken into account digital print-on-demand provides lower per unit costs for very small print runs than offset printing methods.

While the unit cost of a book or print produced using POD is usually higher than one produced as part of a longer print run, POD does bring some key business benefits:
1) large inventories of a book or print do not need to be kept in stock,
2) the technical set-up is usually quicker and less expensive than for offset printing and
3) there is little or no waste from unsold products.

These advantages reduce the risks associated with publishing books and prints and can lead to increased choice for consumers. However, the reduced risks for the publisher can also mean that quality control is less rigorous than usual. POD offers a tremendous advantage over traditional print subsidy publishing, which generally costs thousands of dollars, offers pitiful royalties, and often imposes restrictive contracts on the author.

Here are just some of the advantages to you, as a writer who uses print-on-demand publishing:

1. You have total control over your book. No one is going to edit your work and take out your personal “style” or omit sections you know to be important.

2. Your book is available for sale within 90 days or less if you assist with the design. Compared to the “old time” methods of publishing, even if a publisher accepts your book, it normally is not available for sale for almost a year or later. The whole world could change in that length of time and you would still have to wait a year or more before you got paid for your hard work. Your book gets published on your timetable, not the timetable of a traditional publisher who may or may not have your best interests as a writer at heart.

3. You can make up to 80% for every book you sell. Compare this to traditional publishers who only pay the writer an 8% to 10% commission. This means that you can set up a web page to sell your book, take orders and purchase the amount of books your need to fill the orders. This option is not possible with standard publishers who purchase the exclusive rights from a writer, thus not allowing the writer to sell their books on their own. You retain 100% of the rights to your book. You own the copyright, not the traditional publisher. You choose what you want to make for royalties rather than having to negotiate this with a traditional publisher.

4. Your POD vendor will also edit and market your book for you for a small fee and help you market your book yourself through blogs and such.

5. You choose what you want for the cover art of your book, you don’t have to rely on someone else’s idea of what artwork best describes the contents of your book.

6. Your book gets printed only if someone orders it, you don’t have boxes of your book sitting in your basement or attic getting eaten by moths or mice or destroyed by mold or mildew. Thus, you don’t have to put out a large amount of money printing copies of your book.

Here are just some of the disadvantages of print-on-demand publishing:

1. You are 100% responsible for marketing your book, no one else will do it for you, including your POD publisher. So, you must be willing to educate yourself on the finer points of marketing a book both on and off line. However, at CinnamonTeal, we will introduce you to marketing agencies who will provide you with services that fit your budget.

2. You are responsible for providing review copies of your book to reviewers, and to getting it to the reviewers within their time frame. Some will only accept copies of books that are about to be released, or have been released within the past three months. And some will only accept a print version rather than an e-book version.

3. You are responsible for setting up book signings, and other such events. If you want to add these kinds of events to your marketing plan, you have to be willing to approach bookstores and other places that sell books and be confident in selling yourself and your book to the people in charge.

4. You are responsible for creating, designing and printing your own marketing materials such bookmarks, business cards, brochures etc.. However, at CinnamonTeal Publishing Services, we will help you design and print all of these marketing materials for a reasonable fee.

If you are someone who doesn’t mind spending some money on your book for marketing, and education and you want to have total control of your book then POD can be a great solution to getting that completed manuscript out of your drawer, box, or computer and getting it out to the world. With POD, you also need to be totally involved with your book, especially when it is being written. No audience will take to typographical and grammatical mistakes too kindly.

Before you decide to publish your book using the POD format, ask yourself what you hope to achieve through publication. If your goal is to produce an attractive, professionally produced book, POD technology can provide it. If, however, your goal is to see your book on bookstore shelves and in the hands of thousands of readers, POD is probably not the way to go. POD is a relatively inexpensive way to get your book in print — but the rest is up to you!

Possible Uses of Print-On-Demand

a. Translation of works from regional languages to English and vice-versa

b. Books with (limited) regional appeal, for reaching new markets with new and niche content

c. Publication of out-of-copyright works that are difficult to obtain

d. Personalized gifts for your loved ones e.g. a smartly-produced collection of your dad’s poems

e. An album to preserve and showcase cherished photos and mementos

f. Customized/personalized business presentations

g. An easy way for publishers to ensure that backlists remain “in-print” without having to invest in costly inventory

h. Publication of theses by graduate students

i. Bound manuscripts that novelists could use to show agents and editors.

j. Compilations - of recipes, essays, weekly columns, short stories or poems.

Queenie Fernandes and Leonard Fernandes are founders of CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Services, India’s only print-on-demand service provider. The website is http://www.dogearsetc.com/cinnamonteal

Print-on-demand is being increasingly mentioned nowadays, mostly as an alternative to large print-runs and expensive inventory-carrying costs. For first-time, amateur and self-publishing authors, the benefits are fairly obvious. However, companies, small and large, too can benefit from print-on-demand and realize a significant reduction in their administrative costs. Some of the organizations that can benefit from print-on-demand are:

a. Schools and Educational Institutions: Students now expect to be spoken to and print-on-demand allows that. By tailoring college admission forms and prospectuses, students can be made to feel that the college actually cares about them. Placement brochures can also be developed according to the company being targeted - having profiles of only the interested students. Back in the classroom, professors have taken to compiling notes, that can be updated each time advances in the particular field occur or changes need to be made. Professors may also choose to compile their lecture notes into a convenient text book to be distributed only among students.

b. Small and Medium Enterprises: SMEs stand to benefit for many reasons, particularly due to the fact that their budgets are small. Print-on-demand allows SMEs to personalize their marketing campaign brochures and pamphlets, designing a different one for each customer. It affords SMEs the professionalism of handsome looking financial reports and user-manuals without the (financial) burden of large print runs. Most print-on-demand companies, including CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Services, also offer delivery as part of their services and this allows SMEs to outsource this mundane, yet time-consuming, task. These benefits can be accrued by NGOs too.

c. Large Enterprises: Large enterprises can do well to rid itself of the costs of having a small print shop within its four walls by engaging the services of a print-on-demand provider. Such an initiative allows corporations to have their many documents printed, handsomely bound and dispatched without having to worry too much about the logistical and administrative aspects of the tasks. Such corporations can also endear themselves to new employees and their families by developing material handed over during induction that is more personalized than just “Hello Vinay”. Personalized literature may include a photograph of the new employee along with his/her personal information and benefits.

d. Publishing Houses: Print-on-demand can help make available backlists, out-of-print, and “Long Tail” content. In a country like India, this is especially significant as information can be disseminated according to its relevance to a particular region. Publishers can use print-on-demand to print copies of books when individual or small batch orders are reported, or when it appears that there is renewed interest in a title. The publisher can do this without having to invest time and money in large print runs and expensive storage, thereby betting against uncertain demand.

e. Libraries and Bookstores: Many libraries have taken to print-on-demand to meet the need for books, especially those out of copyright. Instead of ordering for copies of a book and, perhaps losing a customer, print-on-demand seems a better option to instantly gratify the customer. The same holds for bookstores too, legal issues notwithstanding.

f. Marketing Agencies: Print-on-demand allows marketing agencies to deliver very personalized messages to prospective customers. These messages could have information tailored to ones tastes and preferences as well as reflect regional conditions. Marketing material such as brochures for an apparel firm could, therefore, market a different set of clothes line for customers living in Chennai and a different set for customers living in Jammu.

Print-on-demand is also about being responsible about your investments and thinking strategically about areas where savings can be realised. To see how print-on-demand can help your company, do write to us at editorialservices@dogearsetc.com or visit our website at http://cinnamonteal.dogearsetc.com. CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Services is a print-on-demand service provider, the only one in India that publishes any number of copies, from 1 to 1000.

This article by T K Kenyon introduces authors of fiction to some avenues they can pursue, primarily on the Internet, in order to market their book. Like Mr. Kenyon says, “writing, especially fiction writing, is a tough business to get into and a tougher one to stay in”.

This article might make the staying easier.

We have launched The Publisher’s Post, a place for news about the book publishing and book selling business. We hope you will find The Post informative and also find it worth your while to contribute to it. We will, nonetheless, continue to blog here, albeit sporadically.

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