The publishing and book selling industry has been changing at lightning fast speed in the past few years. Every day, a new technology, new court ruling, or new trend is impacting our industry.
Watch this video by publishing house Berrett Koehler for a great overall synthesis of the many changes and trends that are impacting both the publishing and the selling of books.
I am a book person. I know book publishing. Once in a while, as the Director of Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA), I get inquiries from individuals and companies who are looking to branch into magazine publishing. These people want information and resources related to publishing magazines. For the most part, I really can’t help them.
The little I know about magazine publishing can be put into this blog post. I won’t bore you with it. However, as with books and newspapers, the trend with magazines is also going digital. Magazine publishers can’t seem to sustain enough print subscribers to justify the cost of large print-runs. When you have dwindling print subscribers, the math stops adding up to a profit.
Ingram’s newest program may be the answer for some magazine publishers. The Ingram Content Group Inc. recently announced the launch of a print-on-demand program for journals (fancy word for magazines). Contending that this new program will “reshape the traditional supply chain” in journal publishing, Ingram is now extending its print-on-demand services for books to journals.
Under this new program, Ingram provides publishers with the tools to manage their print journals from file set-up to print-on-demand to delivery. Using a website, publishers can upload and manage content and subscription lists, designate fulfillment requirements, and place print orders for direct delivery to their subscribers.
Here is the neat part. Using POD for magazines can provide many of the same benefits the process does for books, eliminating overprinting and warehousing, reducing overhead, and providing improved inventory control.
Ingram’s new print-on-demand for journals program will begin this month. If you publish a magazine, you may want to check out Ingram’s new program.
Best-selling Christian author and founder of the Christian Writers Guild, Jerry Jenkins, has recently announced that he has launched a self-publishing company.
For many years, Jerry Jenkins has discouraged new writers from self-publishing, but in a recent about-face, Jerry reports that too many good new authors are ignored by Christian royalty publishing houses because they are unknown. To help this problem, Jerry has launched Christian Writers Guild Publishing.
However, I question Jerry’s real motives. I think he is out to make money and a lot of money.
The article I recently read in Publishers’ Weekly stated that if an author is accepted by Christian Writers Guild Publishing to have a book published, they must pay $10,000 – yes, you heard that right. The $10,000 fee includes a six-month writing course and mentoring by a published author.
Folks, I have one warning for you: BEWARE.
In today’s day and age, you do not need to go into debt or sell your car to publish a book. Really! No book is ever going to recoup you the $10,000 you pay to get it printed (okay, there have been a few, a very few, exceptions to this rule).
Before you spend this kind of money on self-publishing a book, I encourage you to do your research.
The most affordable way to publish a book (other than finding a royalty publishing house to produce it) is to do it yourself. Purchase an ISBN, then hire an editor, a proofreader, a typesetter (check out Crest Publisher Services), a cover designer (or use a software program like BookCoverPro Software), and then use a print-on-demand service such as Lightning Source, Snowfall Press, or CreateSpace to print and distribute your book. This can all be done for much less than $10,000.
If you truly don’t want to do all the work yourself, there are other more affordable services out there. Some of the member publishers of Christian Small Publishers Association offer authors self-publishing options. For example, Halo Publishing offers self-publishing packages that range from $800 to $5,000. Truth Book Publishers offers book publishing packages that run from $800 to $2500. These services help authors bring their book to print at a much more affordable price.
Of course, whatever route you choose, to sell books, you must market them. The marketing will be your responsibility. If that is the case, I encourage you to arm yourself with knowledge in this area. Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace (which won an award and was brought to print for less than $1,000) was designed to help you do just that.
No one should have to dig themselves out of a five-figure hole just to publish a book. God does not sanction debt.
Dear CREST Publications:
I had your Baby Bible Board Books when I was a baby. Then I read them to my little brother. Now I read them to my ten-month-old brother…
So began a recent letter that my publishing company, CREST Publications, received from an 8-year-old girl.
That is what I call success—a family that has read, and re-read, and re-read our set of four board books to each family member.
Too often, we define success in numbers. A book that sells 5,000 or more copies is considered a best-seller. Yet, studies show that the average nonfiction book (counting self-published and royalty published titles) sells about 250 books.
So then, how are we to define success?
I think anytime we follow God’s prompting and publish a book that draws people toward a deeper relationship with their Creator, we can consider that a victory. For, we have triumphed over the evil one and his desire to thwart our purposes to lead people into a relationship with their Creator.
If your books are not selling as well as you would like, reconsider. Then, go to God in prayer and ask that he would put your books into the hands of those who need your message the most. That His word, which you have published, will not return void, but will accomplish the purpose for which he sent it out (Isaiah 55:11).
The New Year is here and it is time to get serious about implementing those new professional and business goals you have set for yourself and your business.
I am not calling these goals “New Year’s Resolutions”, because that is not what they are. What I am referring to are the goals, strategies, and new directions you have set either for your publishing business or your professional writing.
A National Small Business Survey by Staples found that 80 percent of the 300 small business owners they surveyed did not keep track of their business goals. Interestingly, 77 percent of these businesses have yet to achieve their vision for their company.
The value of goal setting is that it steers a business in the right direction. The direction is set by the vision of what the business wants to achieve. Goals help keep a business on track.
Experts have defined four areas for business goals. They are:
At Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA), we are regularly evaluating what we offer our member publishers and setting new goals to improve our services.
For 2013, CSPA is rolling out a new website design this week. You can check out our website facelift at www.christianpublishers.net. We are also adding a couple new services (in addition to the already great line-up of marketing services) to help our members better market their books to Christians.
As for my personal writing goals, the task of heading CSPA has consumed most of my time, and so writing keeps getting put on the back burner. I have decided to set a goal to update my book Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace this year. The first edition was released in 2006 and the second in 2009. It is time for the third edition, although the task will be time intensive. The publishing industry has changed more in the past three years than it did in the previous three between the first and second edition of the book.
What about you? Do you regularly set goals for your business? What do you hope to achieve in 2013? I would love to hear from you.
