You are being sent this week's tip 2 days early in order than I might have a little time to prepare for Thanksgiving. I would like to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving- we have a LOT to be thankful for this year! TIP #367 - SO YOU WANT TO PUBLISH A BOOK - CONCLUSION. This is where the rubber meets the road as they say. It's do or die from here on out. You have your book all ready; now how can you get it published without pawning your children and old Fido? In the past, authors and compilists were forced to hunt for a publisher. Great fun, long time, high cost and many rejections. Today is the age of the self-publisher and it has saved many of our necks. There are several ways to approach the publishing. Our outline is: V. Publishing A. Private publishing 1. Benefits 2. Disadvantages 3. B. Publishing Company 1. Benefits 2. Disadvantages A. Private publishing. No matter which direction you go in publishing, there will be advantages and disadvantages. I private publish. The benefits: 1. I control how many copies to run. I have my own office-sized copier and a spiral book binder. By self-publishing, I can print off my master copy from the computer, then make a copy whenever I have a sale. I have no storage problem - just my original print off and a copy for my bookcase. If I catch an error, I can always bring up the file on my backup disks, make the correction, re-print that page. I don't have to order 500 copies of a book that I think will be the next Gone With the Wind novel only to find out that no one's interested! 2. I don't have to deal with a middle-person (have to be politically correct, right?). No payments to anyone else. The disadvantages: 1. Must have a copier or a do it yourself or go to a copy shop. Copies are not cheap, but save me money in the long run. I pay a very low maintenance contract fee which is so much a page for every time the little meter goes click. The contract covers all the toner, drums, repair etc (the latter being up to $150.00 an hour - I'm in the wrong business! ) I buy my own paper wholesale. I lease my machine so it sits there counting sheep all the time, I'm still paying for it. By using a copy shop, my price per page sometimes doubles, even triples and I'm at their mercy as to when they get it done (hoping they do it right!) But if having a copier is out of budget, the copy shops normally do a great job - just be sure they know exactly how you want it! 2. The books are spiral bound, soft cover rather than in a hard cover format, which is much more expensive. Some people don't like spiral bound books but ..... I have a book binding machine, now 11 years old and still working like a dream. Spirals are not that expensive. You can obtain them at local office supply stores, but I prefer to order them from a wholesale company that is quite large and gives overnight free delivery! They come in all sizes and colors, the machine is so easy to work that a child can do it. I prefer black spirals as they do not yellow over time. Some complain that the spirals break and crack after usage; most of mine have been very well used and show no signs of distress. B. Professional Printing. There are companies that will do your book up to look like a million. Good hardbound copies or glued covers. Advantages: 1. They look more professional Disadvantages: 1. It costs a lot. If funding is no problem, there are good and reputable companies that specialize in publishing your books. Some will just provide the copies, some will even sell for you. (To be discussed later). But, normally, you have to order 200, 500, or 1,000 copies at a pop. How big is your family? If you can find a company that will give you good price on 10, 20 or 50 copies, and the price is right, go for it! If you chose to let someone else do your publishing, i.e., putting it into book format, it must normally always be "camera ready." That means crisp typing, every page is exactly as you want it, pages numbered and divisible by four (this allows the back and front pages to come out evenly so blank pages won't be included to get it to "balance." Normally, they prefer original photos and some charge extra for making a camera ready picture off your picture. Many publishers prefer that you submit your data on a computer disk. This is fine for all but the photos; if you don't have photos, this works well. They will tell you which format to use. If you chose a company that will also distribute and sell your book, it is on a commission basis. When you get an order for a book, you send it to them, they sell it. If you want copies on hand to sell yourself, you have to buy your own copies. You are then paid a commission on each book sold. Finally: VI Publicity A. Where? B. Cost? Maybe you have no desire to sell your book - it's just for the family anyway. But, if you'd like to get a smidgen back of the money you have invested (and believe me, you will never be paid for your time and effort), you might consider selling the book to others. A. Where do you advertise? Don't spend a lot of money advertising. There are several different outlets: 1. Word of mouth. You know genealogists like to talk, tell people about the book. 2. Historical Societies. If you donate a copy of your book to your local historical society, most of them will review the book in their quarterly. 3. Web advertising. No, not spamming on a lot of lists. Rootsweb offers a nice free site where you can advertise your book. 4. Kentucky Explorer Magazine - a wonderful magazine - will accept books about Kentucky families and review it for you. I don't spend much in advertising. I maintain a low-key sales page on the web, and other than that, will occasionally pass out sales lists at meetings with permission. But - it's not a high priority. If you just have the one book, be inventive. A note to the local paper, to family associations (WITH permission) ... the word will get out! I hope this series has been helpful and I want to close with just one more topic: Copyrighting. Get your book copyrighted. I cannot afford to copyright all my materials the "normal" way; I have 270 books or so in print and do it all myself. So I have been advised on two ways to do it which is just as legally binding: 1. Mail yourself a copy of the book. When it comes to you in the mail, DON'T open the package. OR 2. On the inside (or the cover of your book) put: (c) Copyright (date), your name, All Rights Reserved. There are many web sites that explain copyrighting, this is just a quite two-liner. Works are protected for many years, don't infringe on the works of others. The rule of thumb is a quotation from another source (if still under copyright); not the whole thing! Your work is considered copyrighted from the time you think of it, during the time you're working on it, through it's completion and beyond. Public domain records are not able to be copyrighted; only your presentation of same. Have fun and give it a try! (c) Copyright 20 November 2001, All Rights Reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements, Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ SCKY resource links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html < >< God Bless America ><>