Self-publishing

Self-publishing

Self-publishing:
backgrounder

Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
www.yournickelsworth.com

Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
Elizabeth
Sawatzky

• Editing (substantive and grammatical)
• Research
• Page design/layout
• Cover design
• Imaging (scanning, image correction
and alteration)
• Liaison to print company

COSTS
Each book is a custom project
$40/hour

WHY SELF-PUBLISH?
• Control over the process and outcome
• Retain bigger piece of the pie
TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING
– Standard author royalties are 10% of cover price.
– If book retails for $10, author receives $1.00
– If book is children’s picture book, that $1.00 is divided
between both the author and illustrator (5% each).
– First runs of books in Canada tend to be between
1000-2000 copies.

Books are sold to bookstores at a
wholesale price of 40% of the cover price
(some retailers take more).
For that same $10 children’s picture book,
the self-publishing author would receive $6
for every copy sold.
To set retail price, roughly double the
production costs and add 40%.

Pros & Cons of
Traditional Publishing
• Author gets to work with a
professional team whose
goal is the best book
• Publisher covers costs of
publishing & printing
• Publisher handles
marketing, distribution &
warehousing of book,
including all sales
materials
• Might take a long time to
find a publisher
• Publisher might take a
long time to print (two
year schedule)
• Author signs over control
of title, illustrator, cover,
number of copies printed,
advertising (when, how
and how often)

Pros & Cons of
Self-Publishing
• Author has final say on cover
design, text, layout, font,
illustrator, with input from
experts
• Book can be produced as fast
as printer schedule (and
publisher schedule) will allow
• Client receives 60% of retail
price vs. 10% and receives
payment when books are sold
as opposed to one royalty
payment per year
• Author is responsible for costs
associated with publishing,
printing, including illustrator
fees
• Author is responsible for
marketing, distribution and
warehousing of book, including
sales materials
• If author doesn’t seek
appropriate expert advice,
book might be perceived as
“vanity press”

Self-publishing allows you to test
sales potential with a low
volume print run.

THE METHODS
Print on Demand (POD):
• Trafford Publishing in Victoria, B.C.
• BlitzPrint in Calgary, AB.
(read the fine print of any contract)

POD Kids’ Books
• www.tikatok.com allows kids (and parents)
to write, illustrate and publish their own
books.
• Hardcover $18 US, softcovers $15. Digital
downloads are only $2.99

Cloud Publishing
Book Oven

eReaders & e-books
2010 e-book sales: $119.7 million
(6 million eReaders sold)
2013 projected eReader sales: 19.2 million
By 2013 the total eReader market is projected to be 72
million users
2018: projected eReader sales: $9.6 billion
You can imagine the demand for content.

Espresso Book Machine

Self-publishing assistance in Saskatchewan:
• Benchmark Press
• Driver Works Ink
• Purpose to Prosperity
• Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
• Saskatchewan Publishers Group

THE PROCESS
1. Know your market

THE PROCESS
1. Know your market
2. Don’t be your own editor. Ever.

THE PROCESS
1. Know your market
2. Don’t be your own editor. Ever.
3. Don’t be your own designer…unless you
ARE a designer.

THE PROCESS
1. Know your market
2. Don’t be your own editor. Ever.
3. Don’t be your own designer…unless you
ARE a designer.
4. Do the research on design, paper and
binding.

THE PROCESS
1. Know your market
2. Don’t be your own editor. Ever.
3. Don’t be your own designer…unless you
ARE a designer.
4. Do the research on design, paper and
binding.
5. Get your print quotes.

THE PROCESS
1. Know your market
2. Don’t be your own editor. Ever.
3. Don’t be your own designer…unless you
ARE a designer.
4. Do the research on design, paper and
binding.
5. Get your print quotes.
6. Cost it out. Look for possible grants.

THE PROCESS
1. Know your market
2. Don’t be your own editor. Ever.
3. Don’t be your own designer…unless you ARE
a designer.
4. Do the research on design, paper and binding.
5. Get your print quotes.
6. Cost it out. Look for possible grants.
7. Take the plunge.

THE PROCESS
1. Know your market
2. Don’t be your own editor. Ever.
3. Don’t be your own designer…unless you ARE
a designer.
4. Do the research on design, paper and binding.
5. Get your print quotes.
6. Cost it out. Look for possible grants.
7. Take the plunge.
8. Get the word out!

So you want to write a novel…
by David Kazzie