Q. What’s an equity publisher as compared to other publishers?
A. First, understand there are four types of publishers: traditional royalty publishers, vanity publishers, self-publishers, and equity publishers.
- Royalty publishers acquire your work and hold it as their property. Of course, you have to convince them (usually through a literary agent) that your work is worth something. Because they are investing their resources, they make virtually all decisions regarding your book. Royalty publishers can take 12-24 months to get your book to the marketplace. They also decide when to withdraw it. You get paid a small percentage (usually 8% to 12%) of sales. These checks are issued only after any advances paid to you are paid back through sales. Royalty checks are typically issued no more than twice per year. Most authors are required to purchase their own books for resale at a 40% to 45% off the cover price. They are not “given” to you to sell on your own. While royalty publishers have their own publicity and promotion departments, they “invest” those resources on well-known, higher profile authors that have a proven sales record. New authors must invest their own resources if they want their books to succeed.
- Vanity publishers publish any and everything as long as the author has enough money to pay for it. Seldom does the work have to meet any qualifying criteria. Most vanity publishers are well known in the publishing trade and distributors, as well as book reviewers, tend to avoid books published by vanity presses because there is no quality control. Just like royalty published authors, those who choose this route must also spend their time and money in publicity and promotion.
- Self-publishers, as the term implies, publish self-written manuscripts. Authors who choose this path create small publishing companies, then do everything it takes to publish and market the stuff they write. They do this primarily for two reasons. One, they want to maintain control of their project. Two, it’s much quicker than the time it takes royalty publishers to get the book to the marketplace. Those who think self-publishing is the least expensive alternative to royalty publishing are often only looking at dollars and forget to include the cost of time, energy, frustration, project co-ordination, paperwork, distribution, marketing, and sales. Many famous authors began as self-publishers whose work sold well enough to get the attention of traditional publishers, so this is certainly a viable option for the author who can meet the challenge successfully.
- Equity publishers offer the best of all worlds. Equity publishers have the infrastructure in place so you don’t have to start your own publishing company. They take care of the paperwork, the management, and the production of your project. They draw on their team of professionals to offer you choices That means you remain in control of your book. They work with distributors, fulfillment houses, and they can provide other services authors need once their books are published. Options include publicity, promotion, and marketing plans. As the publisher of record, they can handle the sales calls for your book. Since equity publishers do not purchase your manuscript as a property, you retain all rights to your work. You also retain all monies generated from direct sales because your expenses are paid up front. The reputation of the equity publisher is on the line, so they scrutinize every phase of the publication process.
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Q.How long will it take to get my book published?
A. Royalty publishers can take a year at the minimum to publish your book. However, royalty publishers may change their mind and not publish your book even if you have a contract and have been paid an advance. Several things enter into their decision, including receiving a better manuscript or having something either change or become obsolete prior to publication. Expert Publishing, Inc. plans for a six to twelve-week turn around, depending on how much work the manuscript needs before it can be published.
Q. Do you require your authors to use your editors or can they use their own?
A. We expect every manuscript is edited before it is submitted to us for consideration. Once we agree to publish it, we require our authors to use one of our editors to assure the manuscript adheres to the industry standard, Chicago Manual of Style. If your editor uses Chicago, we anticipate our editorial charge will be minimal.
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Q. What will having you publish my book cost me versus publishing it myself?
A. Most of our authors are professionals, speakers, and consultants. If they self-publish, they must form their own publishing company and do the work themselves. If they work with us, we offer the publishing company infrastructure and we manage the project. If you value your time at $125 per hour and spend 80 hours (the equivalent of only two weeks) on self-publishing, you’ve invested $10,000 in your book. You still have to add in the costs associated with publishing the book (editor, designers, printers, paperwork filing, etc.). Self-publishing costs more than dollars. It costs time. It costs opportunity. When you add the value of your time and missed work to the out-of-pocket expenses, you’ll see that working with Expert Publishing can actually save you money.
Q.
Do you have national distribution?
A.
Yes, we have accounts with national wholesalers, including Baker & Taylor and Partners, so your books are available to chain booksellers, independent booksellers, online booksellers, and libraries. While we will never promise a bookseller will decide to carry your book, we assure you that your books are available to them if they choose to order or carry them in their stores.
Q.Won’t the distributor handle my promotion once they accept my book?
A. The short answer is,”No.” Distributors let bookstores and wholesalers know they carry your book, but they do not create a demand for it. You must do that yourself. If the public doesn’t ask for your book, the bookstores and wholesalers won’t take up precious space stocking it. You must create the “buzz” that gets people asking for your book.
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Q. What sort of sales support will you offer?
A. As the publisher of your book, we’ll get inquiries about your book and its availability. We’ll help you get your book into the hands of those who want it.
Q. Why should I have Expert Publishing publish my book?
A. Since we only work with people who want to position themselves as experts (or are experts already), being published by Expert Publishing, Inc. shows that you offer a quality book you can be proud of. We’ve limited our focus so we can attract the best. We also allow you, as author, more control than royalty publishing and less work than self-publishing. Publishing is unlike any other business. It’s competitive. It’s complex. It’s demanding. You can go it alone or you can have us guide you. Our goal is to create a positive publishing experience that will keep you coming back to us for a long time in the future.
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