Press This! Part 2

In Part 1, I describe the Pro's of using a Press to publish your book. This post contains the Con's. The big Con for me is that they don’t do any marketing. I didn’t realize marketing was such a HUGE part of having a book for sale. I know, gullible me. Create it and they will come. Not! Anyway, I paid them an extra $300 for a Press Release that got me only scam-type phone calls and emails. And another $300 to take my book to the New York Book Expo. They said I would get the poster that was used at the Expo to use for my own events. I never got the poster. I’m not sure there ever was a poster. 

In addition, as part of my package, they had sent me wonderful sample letters with addresses and even names of who to contact at major bookstores for me to send my books to request to be placed in their stores. Only Barnes & Noble replied and said they couldn’t take my book because it didn’t have the title on the spine. I almost spit nails! Why would this Press not tell me that the book is too small for a title on the spine and send me names of places to request my book be placed when there’s no way that it would be accepted? I was really devastated. 

Also, their minimum order of books was 250 for me to purchase upfront and sell at local events. The cost for that order was $1200. You can quickly add up how much I’m in this for--$4300! You can guess that I haven’t made that money back yet.

So, I was gullible yes, but they did deliver on a quality product that I could not have done on my own. I had no connections to other authors, no local groups, no online groups. I needed help and help they did give. Had I stuck with the original plan of $1776 with no additional add-on’s, except editing but they should edit your book for $1776, just saying, and if there was no minimum order so I could have ordered maybe 50 books, this would have been a more affordable option. I would have been in for under $2000. Still expensive but not break the bank, expensive.

However, once I had that book in my hand and I began networking, I found all sorts of helpful authors and groups and can now bring a professional book to market for under $1000, sometimes under $500 (depending on how much editing and formatting I do on my own). 

So, in conclusion, the con’s are that it is very expensive (especially when there’s another way to do the same thing) and if you’re not careful, you can be taken for even more expenses than are necessary. And please, do NOT ever pay a Press to market your book. They don’t really care about marketing your book. They only want what's in your pocketbook!

I don't want to leave you thinking all Presses are bad; they most certainly are not. Some local small presses can be wonderful. They tend to have more reasonable prices and they are people you can see and meet with which makes them much more accountable to you. Also, they do care about your book sales because if your book does well, so do they. 

So, in the end, it's really about finding the right people to do all the different parts of bringing a book to life such as creating a professional cover, professional editing/proof-reading, and formatting. Or, of course, you can learn to do some of these things yourself. I know a few authors who create their own covers and do their own formatting. It is recommended to have a professional edit your manuscript, so I wouldn't try to get along on my own with that. 

Bringing a book from your mind to real life is a wonderful process and now with all the access to self-publishing, it's easier than ever to make that happen. Think through your options, network locally, do your research, and make the choice that is right for you to publish the book that is in your heart!

Wanda Luthman has her Masters of Arts in both Mental Health Counseling and Guidance Counseling from Rollins College located in beautiful Winter Park, Florida. She worked at a local Community Mental Health Center for 10 years before transferring to the Public School System as a Guidance Counselor. She’s worked at a High School for the past 18 years. She has also been an Adjunct Professor at the local Community College and worked with teens who had lost a loved one through Hospice. She has always loved reading and writing and wrote many books and poems as a child growing up in Missouri. She presently resides in Brevard County Florida with her husband of 21 years and 2 dogs. Her daughter is away at college. You can follow her on her blog at www.wandaluthman.wordpress.com



To read Part1 - the pros of using a Press - click the link:
Self-Publishing – Press This! Part1