So you wrote a book. So, what? Does anyone really care?
Today, writing a book simply isn't enough. I can remember when I finished my first memoir. It turned out to be around two hundred and fifty pages right at the time of publication. A week or so later, a proof arrived in the mail and I could not believe it. I had written and published a book! It may have been the first thing that I had seen all the way through in my entire adult life, I was so proud of myself.
When I spoke to my father a few weeks later he was a little less ecstatic.
"Aren't books kinda going obsolete?" he asked dryly, in his 'call me when you're successful' tone.
That was more than ten years ago, and since that time, I have written and published more than twenty books of my own and hundreds for clients across the globe.
Looking back, I think his statement was far from the truth, but his tone, perhaps, was spot on.
If I had a nickel for all the people I have met who 'have a book they're writing', I would probably not have to publish for supplemental income. It seems everyone is an author these days, and just as many people who think they can write (decently) think they can handle the task of publishing their book, as well.
Who can blame them? With all the point and click self-publishing services, easily found on the internet, it's no wonder that everyone is a publisher. But that doesn't make books obsolete; neither does it make publishers useless.The allure of simple publishing is a trap that early writers fall right into while they rush to be the next 'published author'. Books come out made of cheap materials, full of errors, wrapped in ridiculous covers, and extremely expensive. Self-publishing companies have no standards when it comes to who they publish or what, so any book, coming off of their press, is imprinted with their ISBN and off it goes into slush-pile heaven.
What is worse, for beginning authors, is that self-publishing is sometimes the only place to turn. After multiple rejection letters and little input from agents about where they are going wrong, an offer finally comes through for a contract offering little to no advance and tiny royalties. It can be insulting, and instead of taking a ludicrous deal, self-publishing seems the only way to get their material in front of readers. I've been there.
What happens next is, the author then has to decide whether they are going to pay astounding prices for freelance designers, editors, advertisers, and consultation, to get their book anywhere fast, or go about the arduous task of learning the self-publishing world of Adobe Acrobat and Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Illustrator, HTML, and Copyrighting procedures. The act of trial and error, to get anywhere near a professional product, can take months if not years. By that time the author who is just starting to get good and comfortable in writing everyday has spent their valuable time on publishing rather than writing. And writers who don't write, don't become better writers—the same goes for publishers.
I understand this better than anyone, because that is exactly what happened to me. Shortly after the publication of my first book, I ran into a person who was self-publishing their own book and had been quoted seven hundred dollars to get their manuscript in order. I helped them out for free. That client relationship began my long journey to full-time professional publishing.
What I found, time and time again, was that greenhorn authors, all over the world, were getting ripped off by self-publishing organizations and freelancers. Business was easy to find, because prices were always easy to beat. Plus, I had a conscience, so I was opening up royalty accounts in the author's names, rather than my own. I thought to myself, "Why am I going to keep royalties on a book that someone else wrote? All I am doing is publishing it, and then I will never see it again." It seemed more fair to them to charge for my labor and educate them on how to use their own accounts.
That worked well for six-years. Customers were happy and writers were spending more time writing.
Halfway through my publishing experience, I attended a few classes on marketing and boy did that open up my eyes to the benefits my self-published authors were missing out on. So, I spent the next few years redesigning my business's publishing platform to include everything a new writer needs starting out on the road to success.
Bookflurry Inc. is an all inclusive design, publishing, and consultation firm that openly and honestly advises new writers about all of their options when it comes to getting their book noticed.
We start by reading your manuscript and deciding if it is a good fit for our bookstore and community. If so, an offer is extended for an open-ended, royalty paying, publishing deal. If not, don't worry, we still want to work with you! We will offer you a multitude of options to either get your book up to standards, or guide you through the self-publishing process, being sure that you avoid any pitfalls which might stunt your growth in the future. Then, once we get your title ship-shape, and off to the publishing platform and printer of your choice, we will even consult you on how to best launch and market your book for success!
How does the Bookflurry Inc. community work? When an author gets a deal with our firm, they become an integral part of our community. We find it important to publish books to an extremely high standard and sometimes that takes a lot of work for our writer/publisher partnership, but the payoff is extraordinary. Why? Because, writers like to read as much as they like to write, and if they can't read our books, then why would they want to publish with our store to begin with? It would be like working for a restaurant when you secretly hate their food.
Our writers read and review our published titles, and our readers write and publish theirs. That's how it is done. Round and round it goes in an upward spiral to success.
When I spoke to my father a few weeks later he was a little less ecstatic.
"Aren't books kinda going obsolete?" he asked dryly, in his 'call me when you're successful' tone.
That was more than ten years ago, and since that time, I have written and published more than twenty books of my own and hundreds for clients across the globe.
Looking back, I think his statement was far from the truth, but his tone, perhaps, was spot on.
If I had a nickel for all the people I have met who 'have a book they're writing', I would probably not have to publish for supplemental income. It seems everyone is an author these days, and just as many people who think they can write (decently) think they can handle the task of publishing their book, as well.
Who can blame them? With all the point and click self-publishing services, easily found on the internet, it's no wonder that everyone is a publisher. But that doesn't make books obsolete; neither does it make publishers useless.The allure of simple publishing is a trap that early writers fall right into while they rush to be the next 'published author'. Books come out made of cheap materials, full of errors, wrapped in ridiculous covers, and extremely expensive. Self-publishing companies have no standards when it comes to who they publish or what, so any book, coming off of their press, is imprinted with their ISBN and off it goes into slush-pile heaven.
What is worse, for beginning authors, is that self-publishing is sometimes the only place to turn. After multiple rejection letters and little input from agents about where they are going wrong, an offer finally comes through for a contract offering little to no advance and tiny royalties. It can be insulting, and instead of taking a ludicrous deal, self-publishing seems the only way to get their material in front of readers. I've been there.What happens next is, the author then has to decide whether they are going to pay astounding prices for freelance designers, editors, advertisers, and consultation, to get their book anywhere fast, or go about the arduous task of learning the self-publishing world of Adobe Acrobat and Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Illustrator, HTML, and Copyrighting procedures. The act of trial and error, to get anywhere near a professional product, can take months if not years. By that time the author who is just starting to get good and comfortable in writing everyday has spent their valuable time on publishing rather than writing. And writers who don't write, don't become better writers—the same goes for publishers.
I understand this better than anyone, because that is exactly what happened to me. Shortly after the publication of my first book, I ran into a person who was self-publishing their own book and had been quoted seven hundred dollars to get their manuscript in order. I helped them out for free. That client relationship began my long journey to full-time professional publishing.
What I found, time and time again, was that greenhorn authors, all over the world, were getting ripped off by self-publishing organizations and freelancers. Business was easy to find, because prices were always easy to beat. Plus, I had a conscience, so I was opening up royalty accounts in the author's names, rather than my own. I thought to myself, "Why am I going to keep royalties on a book that someone else wrote? All I am doing is publishing it, and then I will never see it again." It seemed more fair to them to charge for my labor and educate them on how to use their own accounts.
That worked well for six-years. Customers were happy and writers were spending more time writing.
Halfway through my publishing experience, I attended a few classes on marketing and boy did that open up my eyes to the benefits my self-published authors were missing out on. So, I spent the next few years redesigning my business's publishing platform to include everything a new writer needs starting out on the road to success.
Bookflurry Inc. is an all inclusive design, publishing, and consultation firm that openly and honestly advises new writers about all of their options when it comes to getting their book noticed.
How does the Bookflurry Inc. community work? When an author gets a deal with our firm, they become an integral part of our community. We find it important to publish books to an extremely high standard and sometimes that takes a lot of work for our writer/publisher partnership, but the payoff is extraordinary. Why? Because, writers like to read as much as they like to write, and if they can't read our books, then why would they want to publish with our store to begin with? It would be like working for a restaurant when you secretly hate their food.
Our writers read and review our published titles, and our readers write and publish theirs. That's how it is done. Round and round it goes in an upward spiral to success.
Publish a five-star in hurry, without the worry, at Bookflurry Inc.
Contact us today!
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