Stumble It!
To Formally Publish or Not To Formally Publish
Let’s get into the idea of formal publishing and how to make use of it without losing your shirt.
Your goal is to help as many people as possible with your material and to make as much money in the process as possible as long as making that money does not stop you from helping as many people as possible with your material. What a great concept!
“But what about traditional publishing?”
Remember – most authors get their credibility from their bookstores sales, but make most of their money with their online sales. Personally I like to have books which are sold both online and off, but not at the cost of forfeiting the massive amount of money that online sales generate.
Let me explain…
It’s been my experience that most publishers will tell you one thing when you speak to them – then try to get you to sign a contract which is completely different than what they promised you verbally.
REMEMBER ONE THING
It doesn’t matter what you agree to over the phone. The only thing that matters is what you commit to in writing.
Most publishers are ethical people, but like anyone else, they want to get everything they can from each deal. They will all initially try to get you to sign a contract which grants them the exclusive rights to your work (in all it’s forms), and many will also make you guarantee them either the rights to your next pieces of work, or at least the ‘right of first refusal’.
Before sealing the deal with ANY publisher – no matter how highly recommended they come - make a list of every profit center you can think of. Then put a check mark next to the profit centers in which you want to keep all the profits to yourself.
Click here to download a re-printable, full size version of the Profit Center List.
Fill out the list above and decide which of these profit centers you want to keep and which you are willing to negotiate with a publisher.
Do this BEFORE you go to a publisher.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
So you self-publish first before you even try to go to a publisher? Of course, unless your already famous. That makes sense!
May 4th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Before you sign a contract with a publisher, or indeed a contract with anyone for anything, you should read all the fine print and make sure you understand what you’re giving up. The first time you might want to have a legal person, or at least someone with experience in book contracts, go over it with you. A lot of the terms are thes same from publisher to publisher, but there can always be something unexpected. And you especially need to watch out for the rights to electronic versions of your work, now that so many publications appear online.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:33 am
I think it’s smart not to get carried away with the thrill of actually getting published and choose carefully, like Chris has detailed, what rights you want to keep and what you’re willing to give them.
At the back of your mind, especially if you’re unknown, nags the thought that they’ll not take you on board if you don’t agree to giving them absolutely everything they ask for. That’s simply not the reality obviously.
Thanks Chris for highlighting a very important point and especially the importance of doing it before signing anything!
May 15th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Personally, I am writing a graphic novel. Now, I have my own website, and would like to build on it, offer excerpts and sample pages and such… but I wonder, if I chose to take it to a publisher, would this affect my chances of having it published? What about self-publishing? Would this greatly affect my chances in the future?
May 20th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I agree that it is important to have a written contract when it involves anything of value. Making sure you read the contract is also very important as many people do not and then realize they have made a very big mistake.
Whether you decide to publish formally or not is up to you. However the amount of people you reach will be effected by your choice.
May 20th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
This is very true. A lot of authors do not realize the potential behind online marketing and this is an unfortunate truth. It has come to the point where a lot of people do all of their shopping online. In the past, people would stay at libraries for long hours. Now any research for books can be done online. Hopefully, the authors of the younger generation can realize this fact and take advantage of it.
May 29th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I’ll be honest that this is a rather new concept for me. I hadn’t really considered all the different things a person needs to look for. It is definitely something to think about.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 am
I heard that the traditional publisher only accept 1% from all the manuscript that they got. So its clear that online marketing is easier and you can also get more profit. We must spend some time to take care the promotion, but sometimes the publisher do it for us. And we can focus on writing the sekuel.