Copyright

Google argues its book database doesn’t violate copyright laws.
The company suggests it only shows short passages and
accompanies the text with ads showcasing where the full books
can be purchased. Of course, the ads are Google Adwords from
which the company makes a tidy profit.

On Tuesday, the search goliath rolled out stand-alone book
search services in 14 countries. The same day, the Text and
Academic Authors Association (TAA) became the latest publishers’
organization to call Google’s opt-out strategy backwards.

Authors, Publishers and publishing associations are not happy.
While Google only publishes the full text of books in the public
domain, it is still copying entire books for which it has no
permission. Google claims it can do this because the books are
being scanned from versions owned by public libraries. Fearing
an avalanche of lawsuits, Google backed off.

In August, Google stopped scanning copyrighted books in public
library collections. At the same time, it gave publishers the
right to submit lists of books the publishers didn’t want
scanned. As you can image, publishers still aren’t happy.

The Arrogance of Google

Once viewed as the underdog to giants such as Microsoft, Google
continues to act like the local school bully. In this case, the
company has taken such an arrogant approach that lawsuits are
inevitable. Google is going to take a beating in the lawsuits
and here is why.

Consider the neighborhood you live in. What if a local crime
syndicate informed every household it was going to steal
everything in each household. Undoubtedly, there would be calls
of outrage. In response, what if the crime syndicate then
suggested you could send a list of items in your house that you
didn’t want stolen? This is exactly what Google is doing.
Google’s decision to scan every book in the world is idealistic,
but laughably simple minded. At a time when the recording
industry is suing teenagers for file swapping, one would think
Google would get a clue.

Note: the following information was collected by posting many questions on forums for small publishers; in many cases it represents opinions and should not be taken as competent legal advice.

As a compiler of a book of quotations, I sometimes get questions like, “How do I get permission to quote someone in a book?” or “What do the copyright laws say about quoting someone?”

Here are a few things I learned while researching the subject for myself.

To start, if you want to quote someone, you need to get permission from the author or publisher. Consider it to be a necessary step in writing your book.

How do you go about doing it? I sometimes had success with sending the author/publisher a faxed agreement and having them fax back a signed copy. Other times they preferred to just send a quick email saying it’s ok, as long as I agreed to provide a “by-line” in the back of the book.

Let me say this: it is hard getting “permissions”. If you only have 1 or 2 to go after, it isn’t too tough. But in my case, with a book of quotes, wow…it was difficult.

Copyright law in this area is called “Fair Use”. Fair Use says that you can copy someone without permission if it’s for educational purposes or if they’ve been dead for over 50 years. Keep in mind that these two points aren’t exactly 100% fool-proof. You can still get in trouble.

In my case, at a late stage in the publishing process, I decided to re-compile my whole book using quotes from people all dead over 50 years. This was a bummer, since I had my heart set on a few really good quotations. Why did I re-compile the whole book? Because it just became way too hard to track down so many “live” authors.

Some people gave me permission to quote them, but other people flat-out said “NO!”

Before you can ask for permission to quote someone, first you need to find out who they are! How do you find out when they lived? When did they pass away? Google is great for this…especially if you type their names in quotes: ex. “John Doe”.

If you have a lot of people to track down, there are services that can do it…but I never found anyone who offered such a service. I called a few BIG publishers who said they have small departments that do this job. It’s tricky, so they themselves like to stick to long-dead people to quote.

Apparently, a lot of people do quote other people without permission. Will the copyright owners find out? Will they care? Will they be honored to be included in your work? Will they look at it as promotion or damage?

What if you can’t locate the owner and you really “need” to use that quote? When/if the copyright owners find out, will they take legal action against you for a small quote? And, what if you provide a generous “by-line” in the “Resources” section at the back of your book? Under Fair Use laws, they have to prove that your quote caused them financial damage. If it appears to have actually helped them, by referring people to their book/company/service/website, is that damaging? You decide.

Also, it appears that the courts will take into consideration how big your quote is in relation to the work as a whole. If it’s a small quote in a big book, some people say you’re “safer”.

If you can’t get permission, maybe you can find another similar quote, or perhaps you could reproduce/re-write the idea into your own words…without blatantly plagiarizing. Your last line of defense would be writers/publishers insurance…which can or can’t be expensive. Shop around. Spannet.org has some specials if you join their association.

As one last thing to think about: please don’t take my words as “Gospel” or competent legal advice. Check out publaw.com and ivanhoffman.com for some very good information on copyright law.

Tip #1 The first task to self-publishing is actually making a book out of your manuscript.

Here are just some of the decisions that go into transforming a manuscript into a book:

Cover design

Internal artwork and layout

Font, for example, Times New Roman or Arial

Type of binding, for example, spiral, ring, stitched, perfect, etc.

Hardcover or softcover

Book size (standard book size is 5.5″ by 8.5″)

Type of paper book is printed on

Color or black and white

Number of pages. It is generally easier for consumers to justify a book purchase if the book is over 100 pages.

While your printer can help you with a majority of these decisions by offering suggestions and examples it is helpful to go to a printer with a good idea of exactly how you want your book to look. Visit bookstores and find books that you want to model.

Tip #2 Understand the difference between publishers and printers.

POD Publishers

Unlike POD printers, POD publishers may take care of the extra costs of designing a book cover, editing your book, and obtaining an ISBN number. They can be a good option if you need less than 50 books because the price is generally lower than what you would pay for a POD printer. However, make sure that you read your contract carefully and that you fully investigate the POD publisher that you are considering. Some publishers require exclusive rights to your book.

POD Printers

POD printers are just that, printers. They do not invest in your product. They simply manufacture it. The cost can be a bit expensive and generally ranges from $5 to $10 per book, depending on your book’s specifics. POD printers can be a good and cost effective option if your book is nearing the end of its life yet you still have the occasional order trickling in. This way you can order one book at a time and it eliminates the possible expense of having to keep an inventory on hand. The print quality is usually good. Again, as with any company, read your contract carefully and make sure to investigate the company.

Digital Printers PQN, Print Quality Needed

This is a good option for the author that needs fewer than 2500 copies. It is cost effective, the print quality is good, and it normally takes less than two weeks to print.

Offset Printers.

When you need more than 2500 books, your best choice is offset printing. The cost will equate to about $1.25 per book for about 3000 books. However, the more books that you print, the less expensive your cost will be.

Tip #3 Don’t forget about distribution

The next thing that you will need to handle as a self-publisher is the task of distribution. It may actually be to your benefit to hire a distributor; however, most distributors take 65% of the profit. A distributor’s main purpose is to “sell” your book to bookstores and specialty stores.

Distributors also are able to sell your book to larger chain stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble. This can be to your benefit because it means that your exposure is much larger than sticking with smaller booksellers and specialty stores.

Tip #4 How are your customers going to order and pay for their books? Order

Decide how you are going to take orders by phone, fax, email, webstore, snail mail, or all of the above. Do you accept credit cards? How will you ship? How will you take returns, if at all? Mail order purchasing is an easy and efficient process once you have established a routine. However, shipping individual books can be expensive. Will you charge for shipping? Where will you store the books?

Tip #5 What are you going to call your publishing company?

The first thing that you will need to do, once your book is written, is to start your own publishing company. To accomplish this you will first need to decide on a name for your company. Experts recommend against placing your name in the title of the company because it makes you look like a beginner. Additionally, do you really want your name listed as both the author and the publisher?

Tip #6 How much are you going to charge? Pricing Your Book

Before you begin promotion, determine how much to charge for your book. The general rule of thumb is to charge 8 times what it cost you to produce it. Therefore, if it cost you $5 to produce the book, you’ll charge $40. However, you want to consider your market and how much they’ll be willing to pay for your book. It could be more or less than $40.

Tip #7 ISBN numbers. An ISBN number is not a requirement to sell a book yourself but it will make it easier to record your book with booksellers and it is a formal registration process that signifies that you are in fact a publisher. In short, it makes you look more professional. Additionally, most booksellers like Amazon, require an ISBN number.

Visit the ISBN website, www.isbn.org

Fill out the application. It costs $29.95 for 10 ISBNs and I have been told that it takes quite a long time to process, so have patience.

Tip #8 Library of Congress Number. This is a number that is assigned by the Library of Congress to a book. It can also be referred to as the Preassigned Control Number or PCN. Numbers are only assigned to books that will be added to the library. You can apply for a number by visiting www.copyright.gov.

Complete the application and then file for a number

Tip #9 Copyright Registration. The first step in registering your book is to print a copyright notice on your copyright page, usually the back of your title page. Your second step is to publish your book. Last, you will want to visit www.copyright.gov/forms/

Tip #10. Promotion tips. There are thousands of ways you can promote your book. Tackle them one or two at a time. If you jump in and try 10 different promotion methods/tools, things will get messy and you won’t be able to devote your full attention to each promotion method. Focus on one or two at a time.

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The origin of the word antiquarian is derived from the word antique, which simply refers to something that is old, and from a former time. In it’s most common usage, it may refer to either a person who studies, or collects, or deals in old objects, or it may be used as an adjective when referring to the object, itself. For example, a collector of antique lamps, could be called an antiquarian, in general, or an antiquarian lamp collector, while the lamp itself could be called an antiquarian lamp.

For the purposes of this article, an antiquarian book is simply an old, or antique, book.

If you ask 100 people at what age a given object becomes an antique, you’ll probably get a 100 different answers. Exactly what constitutes old is up to debate.

When does a book actually become an antique ? I’ve seen books published in the 1950’s that were touted as being antiquarian, yet, to me that seems too current to be an antique. In my mind, if a book is still part of current, living history, then it shouldn’t be considered as being an antiquarian book. Of course, my living history would be different from the someone else’s living history, so.. the debate continues. (Of course, I have a personal bias here, because I don’t like the idea of something, anything, being classified as an antique, that was new in my own life time.)

For the sake of this essay, I have somewhat arbitrarily decided a book is an antiquarian book if it was published prior to 1923. In the year 2008, that would be about 85 years old. This date coincides with current copyright law that generally removes copyright protection from books published prior to 1923. Since the book protection is expired, I figure it must be old, and antiquarian.

That is not to say that there are no antiquarian books after 1922. There are plenty, I’m sure. For me, it would depend on it’s subject matter. For instance, a nonfiction book about astronomy would be outdated, and eligible to be called an antiquarian book; while a work of fiction would not.

A distinction must be made between books that are collectible, and antiquarian books, in general. Collectible books are not necessarily old books. First editions, signed editions, rare books, often fall far short of being old enough to be called antiques.

Antiquarian books can also be collectible books, too, for a variety of reasons, but they are also collectible for simply being antique. Like so many antiques, their value is in the eyes of the beholder. In order to understand their value, or even the desire to own any antique, per se, is not clearly understandable unless you-yourself like to have antiques.

Generally speaking, antiquarian books really aren’t practical antiques to own. They are usually delicate because of their age, and are often not really suitable for reading, per se. Mostly, they are meant to sit on a shelf, and to be relished by the owner. In some cases, they do require special handling, and environmental storage to maintain their condition, and prevent further deterioration. Obviously, this would apply expensive books.

If you own a very old book, you probably won’t sit down and read it for fear of destroying the book; they are not sturdy enough to read. I speak from experience. I have several books that are over 200 years old that I only occasionally peruse; I would destroy them if I were to sit down and read them.

Even a moderately aged antiquarian book in good condition, with sturdy binding, and pages, will wear quickly when they are opened, and read. Pages tear easily when they are approaching the 85 year old mark. A book in poor condition, such as might have been a library copy, will wear-out much faster.

Are Antiquarian Worth Reading ?

This is actually the subject of another essay in itself, however, in brief, many antiquarian books are still valuable sources of information, and enjoyment. Many of our classical fiction books are antiquarian books. They have been reprinted and repackaged into a more modern form. Many fiction works are in the Public Domain, i.e., their copyright protection has expired, so publishers are free to reprint, and sell them as new. And many have been digitized, and are available as electronic books, i.e., ebooks, for reading on your computer, and various other devices.

Non-fiction books are less likely to be reprinted, though there are many that have been reprinted. It depends on the subject matter. For example, American era history books with subjects such as history of the Civil War, or World War I, etc, would be good antiquarian history books to reprint, or recycle. Since the history of War doesn’t change; the information in the older books are just as valid as a newer book. A good example is the antiquarian book The Civil War Through The Camera, by Henry Elson. The fact is, many current history books rely heavily on antiquarian books as resources.

Generally, antiquarian books that are reprinted are meant more for general public use, rather than for students. For instance, I am a history buff, particularly American history, and American era History, but I’ll read almost anything that is non-fiction that suits my interests. In my opinion, many of these books could serve as text books suitable for students, at a substantial savings in costs, yet they are largely ignored by educators.

The Now and Future of Antiquarian Books.

In my opinion, right now, antiquarian books, are an excellent investment if they were published before 1923. Many of these books are in demand by collectors, and publishers who would like to use them for commercial such as reprinting and selling them, or producing movies, or creating ebooks, etc.

In the past, before the copyright laws were revised, new books would enter the Public Domain every day. Now, because of revised copyright protections there will be few new books entering the Public Domain, for many years to come.

This is not absolute; there will be some books entering the Public Domain, but, because of the complexity of the laws, you need to research each one on a case-by-case basis; the point is, prior to the revision of the laws, many more books would have entered the Public Domain on a regular basis, than now; that will not resume until approximately 95 years after 1923, or about 2017.

More and more antiquarian books are being digitized, and reformatted, and therefore becoming available to the general public. Digitizing antiquarian books, i.e., creating ebooks, has many advantages, such as:

1) Cost and availability. Antiquarian books will no longer be hard to find, or rare.
2) You can actually read them; they won’t be destroyed by using them.
3) Obviously, they won’t wear-out, or degrade with time.
4) They are easy to store.
5) Their information is still valuable.
6) The original printed book version can be enhanced with modern multimedia effects.
7) Readability is enhanced; and the publication can be colorful, and soundful, and printable, and bookmarkable, and searchable. It can include slideshows, and music, and video, and audio, and can include additional information and resources.

The cost of an ebook, whether antiquarian, or newer, can vary widely. There are many antiquarian books that are free. Others, while not free, are still much lower in cost than most printed books.

Of course, there are always disadvantages to ebooks. For example, you need a computer, or some kind of electronic device to read the ebook. If your ebook is designed for a computer, then you need to read it at a desktop computer, or a laptop. Unless you have a laptop, it would be difficult to sit in your easy chair and enjoy your ebook.

There are handheld electronic devices for reading ebooks. Some are designed specifically for ebooks, while others are for more generic personal devices. These are convenient because they can go wherever you go, much like a printed book. These are not portable computers, and do not have all the capabilities that a computer-based ebook has, therefore, they are only suitable for certain types of publications; for example, a fiction book would be a good candidate because it is text-only. In my mind, a major drawback is the size of the text, and the readability.

Computer-based ebook publications are better suited to books that contain multimedia enhancement capabilities, rather than text-only publications. For example, a publication with 100’s of images could include slide shows, and captions, music, videos, audio, etc. While handheld devices are better suited to text-only applications, such as novels, or news feeds, contracts, etc.

I’m sure in the future their will be an electronic device that has all the multimedia capabilities of a desktop computer, packaged in a device that can be easily accessed while you’re sitting in your favorite chair, or sitting on an airplane, etc.

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As previously mentioned, a big advantage of having an antiquarian book in an ebook format is that you can, in fact, read the book without damaging, or destroying the book. And the ebook is preserved for many years to come; you’ll never have to worry about the pages fading, or curling, or becoming damaged, etc.

I am a History Buff; a permanent Student; I love to read about history. When I read history books, I love to study the associated pictures, and illustrations, and photographs, etc. Ebooks allow this with ease; the text is easier to read, and I can jump to associated images/pictures, with captions, and then easily return to the text.

I can bookmark as many pages as I like, and return at a later time. And, I can word search the publication, and then jump directly to a desired page; a researcher, or a student would find this a valuable tool. And then, once found, the information can be easily printed; this is a very handy feature for the researcher.

The Future is heret for Antiquarian Books

The future is here, and bright for antiquarian books. I don’t think it is outrageous to predict that, eventually, every book that was ever printed will be digitized, and therefore will become readily available to anyone who has access to our growing knowledge base.

I would image that many of these books will be translated into other languages, opening-up yet another source of antiquarian books for the masses.

The computer age, and digitization and creation of ebooks has extended the life of every book ever written, and will become an important resource of the future.

Digitization of antiquarian books is the Gutenberg Press of the current era.

The End

In September 2008, a New York judge handed down a decision in favor of author J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros. who own the film rights in the Harry Potter books, in a literary and copyright law case involving a fan website that was planning on publishing a reference book on the Harry Potter saga.

What the ruling determined was that the reference book simply copied too much of the Rowling books to be considered fair use. The fact that what was copied was creative material as opposed to factual material, also hurt the website’s case as creative material enjoys a higher level of protection.

What the ruling does is to reiterate the rule that for a derivative book to enjoy the fair use protection under the law, it must be very transformative. It must create something else. Instead, the judge found that the reference book copied Rowling’s distinctive style and words in excess of what would otherwise be legitimate to create a reference guide.

The ruling does nothing to dilute the right of parody or literary criticism to be protected by the fair use doctrine. Rather, the ruling may elevate the importance of the “market impact” factor in the four part standard used by judges in evaluating fair use.

Those four factors are first, the purpose and character of the use (is the new work transformative into something different – in this case use of material from two companion reference books of Rowling made the website reference book less transformative). While another part of this factor is whether the use is commercial or noncommercial, most uses are for profit. Another part of this factor is whether the infringer acted in good faith or not.

The second factor is the amount and substantiality of the use, i.e. whether the amount of the use by the infringer is reasonable for the transformative purpose. Here, apparently, it was not.

The third factor is the nature of the copyrighted work, creative works being given much greater protection than factual works.

The fourth factor is the harm to the market of the original work by the infringing work. Here the court found that while the website reference book might not harm the market of the Harry Potter novels, it might very well harm the market of Rowling’s companion books.

Consequently, the New York judge issued a permanent injunction against publication of the website reference guide. The decision may be appealed and it is possible if the website reference book were edited, it might pass muster. But in this copyright lawyer’s opinion, the success of an appeal or an edited book to pass muster as being fair use is unlikely under these circumstances and as a result of this ruling infringers in California and the U.S. will now have an even harder time trying to make a profit off of another writer’s work.

If you have a publishing, literary, or copyright infringement law issue in San Diego, Newport Beach, Irvine, Orange County, La Jolla, in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Palm Springs or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your Malibu Copyright Lawyer and your Palm Springs and San Diego Publishing Attorney. Be sure to hire a California law firm with literary and copyright infringement law experience who can serve areas such as Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Anaheim, Irvine, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fullerton, Del Mar, San Diego, Orange County, San Luis Obispo, Buena Park, La Jolla, Oxnard, Ventura, La Quinta, and Santa Barbara so you are properly represented and get the compensation you deserve.

If you have a publishing or copyright law issue of any kind, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com  and learn how we can assist you.

Even very obscure and specialist subject audio books can be located with relative ease – If you know how top go about it…Interviews with ex slaves from the post US Civil War south…Yes, they are there and you can get them if you want to listen in. By comparison mainline romamtic fiction, thrillers and business audio books (for example) are dead easy!

25 years ago if you were searching for a particular book you’d have had to visit a book shop or Library and might have spent hours searching through a huge collection of books, files and catalogues especially for rarer titles – with no guarantee of finding it, even with the assistance of the shop assistant librarian. And if it wasn’t in stock then hard luck you’d just have to wait.

BUT THOSE DAYS ARE GONE! Now you can simply use the Internet to find whatever information you want.

If you are looking for a particular audio book, you can just visit any of the major search engines like Google and type the book title you are looking for with the word “audio book” included. This will immediately steer you in the right direction.

Alternatively, you can get the particular audio book you are looking for by going directly to bookstore websites. Some of the best bookstores on the Internet include: Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble and franchisee’s of audio books to download specialist SpokenNetwork.

These online audio book stores have special facilities on their sites which will enable you to find the specific title you are searching for.

The procedure is very similar to using the search feature on your favorite search engine. However it is more focused and way faster, as it is searching only the database of the particular bookstore rather than the wider and less focused search across the entire database of websites.

To try it just visit any of these online audiobook stores and enter the title and/or author name you are looking for. If the site is one that does normal books and CDs etc. Also, if they sell products other than audio books be sure to include the term “audio book” in your search query.

If you exhaust these options and are unable to find that audio book that you are looking for, visit one of the many book forums on the Internet and ask for the advice of other book enthusiasts.

Or try communities like Squidoo, Hugpages and LiveJournal where enthusiasts for just about anything you can bimagine hang out and share..well anything! You’ll be astonished that there are many people out there who know a lot and are willing to share.

Going deeper than this there are also huge numbers of specialist websites with audio books, samples, interviews, spoken word and poetry on a simply giant range of subjects.

The example I gave at the start of interviews with slaves does exist. Others include out of copyright audio books, political transcripts by the million and endless amateur recordings of popular works some of which are superb. There are thousands of these sources and I have listed many on my site.

This guide explores; Publishing thorough an Agency, Mainstream Publication, Self Publishing, Local Publishing Companies and eBook Publication. It furthers to explore life after your book has been published. So whether your interests lie in large international exposure for you book, or self publishing, simply read on for a detailed tour of the publishing industry.

Option 1) Publishing through an Agency

The Process

The first step to saving time whilst publishing is making sure that you avoid writing something that will never be read! My advice to anyone who aspires to publish something is to find a literary agent . This is a great time saver as, when you have an agent, you will never again waste time writing something that may be defined as ‘unmarketable’. To further explain – the literary network is very closely knit i.e. in order to have your book published; you would need to go through specific channels. A strict system has been designed to maintain a sense of order in the realm of literature.

Now, an agent can help you weave your way through the system – especially if you are a first timer. An agent is an individual who is able to help you through much of the information filtering process. A recommendation from an agent almost guarantees that your manuscript will be read by a publishing house. Essentially, the role of an agent is to read and approve your manuscript or any ideas that you may have i.e. queries and proposals.

The agent will then decide whether your venture could be successful. If so, the agent will further to draw up a contract with you. Contracts of this nature usually express the agent’s promise to use his/her best efforts to get your manuscript into a publishing house – the exchange is usually about 15% of the entire deal. Your new agent will then work extremely hard to sell your idea.

Agent Hunting

There are usually 2 types of agents – those who work with fiction and those who work with non-fiction. The easiest way to find your match is by paging through a publishing guide/directory, which lists the functions of a variety of agents in great detail i.e. ‘Guide to Literary Agents’. It is important to take note of any previous books that have been published by the agent/s that you are interested in – usually an agent will take interest in a particular theme, and stick to working with ideas along its lines.

Contacting an Agent

Once you have compiled a list of potential agents, feel free to start contacting them. The best way to do this is via a query letter. In essence, a query letter a short introduction of yourself and your idea – it should feed the agent enough information to arouse interest, but not too much to bore him/her. This is a suggested letter structure:

The Teaser

Your introduction is usually the aspect of the letter sells you – so make it an attention grabber. Ideally, you would want to describe the compelling fit between the person that you are and your idea for a book.

Develop Your Idea

Use your next few sentences to explore your idea, explaining what it is that you want to write about. Feel free to add in a snip-bit of your writing that best exemplifies your idea.

Self Description

Your third paragraph should be based on you. Try to reiterate the connection between you as a person and your idea. You should also feel free to show-off your academic or intellectual achievements.

Wrapping Up

Be sure to personalize your concluding sentence- making the agent feel unique and valuable to you in your selection process. Conclude by sharing your contact details and preferred method of communication.

Remember, this letter is merely an ‘appetizer’ so keep it short and simple.

Proposal Preparation

After sending your initial query letter to an agent, he/she would normally follow up by requesting a proposal. Essentially, your proposal is a document that accurately outlines an idea for a book. Here’s idea of what your proposal should contain:

The Overview

The first 2 pages of your proposal should contain a broad summary of the book. Non-fiction: Explain your intentions in terms of contents and topics. Fiction: Provide a general outline of your plot.

Target Market

Your next 3 pages should contain a description of your prospective target market. You should define this in terms of; age, socio-economic, and educational characteristics of you potential audience.

Market Threat and Competition

This section allows you to define what type of threats your book may face in terms of competitors and other books that cover a similar topic. Be careful to do all your homework here, because this section is really important to an agent as it dictates your books marketability.

Authorship

Use this section to write up a brief description about yourself and your co-authors, if any. Take this opportunity to brag as much as possible, as this section will help your agent convince a publishing house to pay you for your idea.

Summary of Chapters

This should be the largest part of your proposal – it contains an outline of what you intend to cover in each chapter of your book. Non-fiction: Provide a minimum amount of information i.e. outlines. Fiction: Provide definite samples of your writing.

Delivery

This section is relatively small – it simply contains the number of words you think your finished book will contain and the approximate time you will take to write it.

Contracts

Happy Day! So your proposal finally earns you a thumbs up…now what? It’s time to get into some paper work. The best part about this section is that you are not bearing the work load anymore. Your new agent will now send you a contract. These contracts are usually short documents that you can probably work though on your own, so no need for an attorney.

You just need be careful about two things – firstly, that your agent is not looking to exclusively represent you for over 12 months, and secondly that you are not going to billed for the cost of office overhead if your book does not do well on the market.

Once the contract has been signed, your agent will send you a copy of your original proposal with a few editorial suggestions. As soon as you finalize your proposal’s contents, your agent will start pitching your idea to the ‘big boys’ i.e. publishing companies. Once you get the go-ahead as well as the funding, feel free to start writing…Microsoft Word will be your new home!

Option 2) Mainstream Publication

The Process

This option is slightly similar to the first; however the two do have a few minor differences. The primary difference is that the ‘middle man’ or agent is no longer involved i.e. the first step that you need to take in the field of mainstream publication, is directly locating a publisher. Once again, you can feel free to look through a publishing directory or make use of a search engine. This way, you can choose a publisher, that best suits you. As soon as you have made contact with a publishing house and managed to spark a bit of interest, you might be requested to ‘pitch’ your book to the company in person.

The Pitch & Self Marketing

Now if consider yourself to be a great public speaker, this could be your moment to shine – if not, just remember that you will only be speaking to a few suits! The pitch is almost a verbal explanation of everything you would express in a proposal – if you happen to be unfamiliar with the guidelines for a proposal, simply follow the outline mentioned in option 1.

If you choose to publish via mainstream publication, it is important to note that you must be able to market yourself. Even if you do get lucky and a publishing house chooses to publish your book, you will still have to do a major part of the marketing – keep that in mind when it comes to your budget as it will help to have some additional money to use for publicity.

Risks/Benefits

The obvious benefit of publishing via a mainstream company is the possible exposure that you and your book could attain. On a large scale, the scope of various mainstream publication houses extends from local to international. The greatest risk involved in using this method of publication, is the risk of rejection. You may even be rejected before publication as well as after. It is not often that a well-known publishing company would risk a dollar on an unknown author – so prepare yourself for possible rejection after your pitch. Even if your book does get accepted for publication, rejection is still a factor in terms of your book’s marketability and it is highly unlikely that your publisher will pick up the bill should your book not be successful.

Option 3) Self Publishing – (POD) Print/Publish on Demand

The Process

This option refers to printing a book at the time of purchase. It is an innovative method of publishing books that saves money, time and supplies. The printing industry is ecstatic about this method of publication as it means that books no longer need to be warehoused until purchased.

This method of publication allows you to handle the design work of your book or opt for a service/package that offers cover design, formatting and editing. Various companies offer these services. These companies will assist you in the areas that you may need help – from the time that your book has been ordered to the delivery. The POD will actually help you list your book on Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and other major bookstores by hooking you up with an ISBN. Here’s how the process works:

Submit the final draft of your book to a company that offers POD. Make sure your draft is formatted in the way that you want it to look in its final publication.

You will be requested to wait until your file has been added to the data system of that company.

The printing company receives an order for your book according to its ISBN.

An operator at the printing company accesses your file in their system. Ensuring all editing and formatting is correct; the book is released to the printer and binder system. Your book is printed in less than 5 minutes.

Your book is then packaged and addressed to the customer. It is then sent directly to the customer. This entire process takes approximately 10 working days – thus your book can hit the market as soon as possible.

Budget

While this type of publishing has become increasingly popular in the industry, it is important to note that it requires you fork out a bit of your own money – each book will cost you approximately $5.

Risks/Benefits

This option has various benefits. Firstly, most of the companies involved will accept any type of work, no matter who you are – so rejection is not something that you will have to worry about. Secondly, if you are involved with the design and formatting personally, your book automatically will gain a unique edge. Finally, the POD handles distribution and order fulfilment. This means that when you book has been ordered; the POD will print a copy of your book, ship it and pay you a royalty of approximately 30% of the purchase price – leaving you with less grey hair! With regards to the risks involved, it is important to note that the owner of the ISBN also owns the book’s copyright, so be careful with that and make sure that you purchase your book’s ISBN under your name, not the vanity publisher.

Option 4) Local Publishing Companies

The Process

Local commercial printing companies use the same technology as PODs. Feel free to browse through a publishing directory or just your local directory for a list of companies that offer publishing services. Your next step is to contact the publishing house that you have chosen.

Budget

While prices may vary, expect to pay 3 cents per black and white page i.e. a 200-page book could cost you approximately $6.50.

Print Style Options

Your first choice in terms of printing style is between color printing and black & white printing. This will dictate the cost that you will need to budget for. Most companies offer digital printing, so you can choose the amount of copies that you want printed at the time of publication. In terms of cover design, you are only limited by your own creativity – once again you are free to take charge of your own design. Binding on the other hand, will be handled by the company and is included in the original price per page.

Risks/Benefits

When you publish through a local company, you must take note that the printer will print precisely what you send – this is without any revision or editing. It is crucial that your book is proofread before submission. Also with this option, you will still have to promote your book, fill and ship all orders.

Option 5) eBook Publication

What is an eBook?

An eBook is an electronic copy of your book that may be purchased, downloaded and read immediately online. It can serve a variety of purposes i.e. advertising, the gathering of potential customer’s information and the generation of interest. Not only does this option provide the media for a sample publication of you incomplete book, but it also allows for full publication of your book once it is complete – thus you can sell the electronic version of your book, as if it were a hard copy.

The Process

This option may be deemed the most convenient and economical way to publish a book. Here is a basic outline of the process:

The Final Draft

To prepare you book for eBook publication, you have to format it exactly the way that you want your readers to see it. This will be easy if you are using a word processor such as Microsoft Word.

The Format

Unless you know exactly what you want in terms of formatting, I suggest that you stick to a standardised type of book formatting – the outline of a manuscript format is included later on in this article.

Proofreading

Sorry to say, editing will be your worst nightmare – just when you think that it’s over, go back and proofread again and again. Also try and get others to read your final draft too. Don’t skimp on the quality of your writing simply because you are publishing electronically.

Copyrighting

Copyrighting your book is your next move. Don’t stress out too much about the ISBN, as you are actually the publisher now, so you will be in charge of the distribution and price setting.

Designing the Cover

If you happen to have an arty side, this is your chance to bring it out! Feel free to extend your creativity but remember to keep your design, appropriate with regards to your book’s contents. You can also make use of external services should you need help i.e. graphic designers do freelance their services for this type of thing.

Publication

Now it really gets interesting…There are various programs available that generate self-executable eBooks. It is however important to note that most people are cautious when it comes to downloading new programs. I therefore recommend that you publish your eBook in plain old .pdf format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is a well established brand which is both safe and also free for anyone to download. Visit Adobe Online and register for their online PDF Creator to publish an ebook or feel free to do a Google search for a few more eBook publishing programs.

Your Account

Set up a business account with an ecommerce site like PayPal. You will then have to add your book’s ISBN to your ‘product list’. PayPal will then generate an html code that you can copy and paste where ever you would like to promote your eBook. You will in turn be notified via email, when someone purchases your book. Your last move is to reply to that email by attaching the .pdf of your book and sending the mail directly to your customer…and voila! Your first eBook is sold.

Risks/Benefits

There are various benefits related to this new wave of publication. Firstly, it requires you to spend little to no money out of your own pocket. Thus, there is very little financial risk involved. Secondly, your book can be published from the comfort of your own home…a few clicks here and there is all that it takes. Finally, from a marketing perspective, an eBook opens up various avenues for advertising – it allows you to add links within your book, directing the reader anywhere that you would like i.e. this gives you a chance to expand your business network. Once again, you must remember that you are in charge of your book’s marketing.

Irrespective of the method of publication that you choose, you will need to master manuscript writing…Here’s a handy guide on how to correctly format your manuscript.

Try to make use of this type of formatting prior to submitting it to an agent or publisher. At first glance you may think that these standards may not be aesthetically pleasing, but don’t stress, your publisher should send your original manuscript to a ‘formatter’ that standardizes the format during publication.

Basic Formatting Rules

Use 1 inch margins around all your text – repeat this on each page.

Double spacing should be used throughout your manuscript. This type of spacing enhances your manuscripts readability and makes it easier to edit.

If you want to italicize something, don’t do it now. Only highlight this before the final version is published – anything that you want in italics should be underlined in your manuscript.

All numbers should be spelt out i.e. type out four instead of 4.

Most symbols should also be spelt out i.e. don’t use the ‘%’ sign, instead type out ‘percent’.

Life After Publication

Even though your book is now on its way to mass production, you need not let your relaxation period be short lived – don’t become overridden with anxiety about publicity, marketing and even worse, sales!

For a stress free way to boost sales and keep abreast of your new book’s performance you should consider subscribing to a promotions and sales tracking company.

With modern publishing methods, like self-publishing and eBook publication in mind, it is easy to understand why sales tracking has become a common pastime for most writers. Because most publishing options force you to take charge of your book’s marketing, it may be a good idea for you to make use of an online service to help you track the sales of your book and handle do a bit of book promotion on your behalf.

Taking this into consideration, let’s take look at the sales ranking and promotions company, RankTracer. This company will do some online promotion and track your book at the same time – giving you on-the-hour sales rank information, graphs, reports and actual sales estimates.

With an external company tracking your sales and offering you a bit of extra help with book promotion, you are left with more time on your hands to use as you please – feel free to explore book-signings, tours, public talks and even blog about your new book!

So now you know! I trust that you found my walk through the publishing industry informative. Hopefully it has answered a few of your publishing queries and has helped you find the perfect publishing fit for you. Good luck and happy publishing!