Subsidy Book Publishing Vs Self Publishing And Traditional PublishingIt is not easy for new authors to get their book published. Often, if traditional commercial publishers will not buy your work, book authors will turn to self-publishing their work to get it on store shelves. The internet has definitely boosted this phenomenon. There is a middle ground; known as Subsidy Book Publishing. To begin with, a commercial publisher distributes books under name. It purchases manuscripts from authors, and handles the cost of producing those manuscripts itself. The author is not expected to pay any of these costs of producing, distributing, or marketing. The books are owned by the publisher and remain the publisher's possession until sold; the author in return, receives a portion of sales in the form of royalties. When someone self-publishes their work they pays for the cost of designing, printing, and distributing his or her book. Frequently, the author invents and registers a publishing "imprint," or name to publish under. Self-published books are the property of the author and generally remain in the author's possession; all sales proceeds belong to the author. In subsidy book publishing, a publisher also distributes books under its own "imprint" or name like a traditional publisher. However, it does not purchase manuscripts, but instead asks authors to pay for the cost of publication. With the exception of certain types of publishers such as university or academic presses, any publisher that requests a fee from the author is a subsidy publisher. As with commercial publishers, the books are owned by the publisher and remain the publisher's property until sold; authors receive royalties however. A "printer" or "book producer" is a firm that works with self-publishing authors to produce professional-quality books. To confuse the issue, some printers will call themselves "publishers," but are not practicing subsidy book publishing in the traditional sense of the term. Instead, they offer a range of book production services such as design, typesetting, and printing; and may also offer marketing, distribution, warehousing and/or fulfillment services. Fulfillment includes order processing, book shipping, and customer invoicing. Financing your book publishing is never a decision to be made lightly. Unless you have money to burn, it should never be done simply because of a desire to see your name in print. For those who have studied the market and developed a professional product, however, "doing it yourself" has often proven an effective and profitable method to success as an author. Subsidy book publishing can be a good "middle ground" to attaining this. |