In a world inundated with ads, business owners are clamoring for a way to rise above
"noise" of advertisers and bring customers flocking to their door. One way to do this is by writing a book. Too overwhelming you say? Well, consider this. People value experts and no one is more of an expert on your topic than you. Books are a credential builder and they are a 24/7 way to advertise your business without cost of ads. Books are also a way to introduce someone to your services who might not be ready to commit to a package or service. If you're hesitant to endeavor to write a book, perhaps consider a twenty-four page booklet instead. These are a quick summary of tips and helpful advice that can easily be compiled and put together in a saleable format.
So, let's say you're going to write a book. How would you go about getting it published? Well, how about "print-on-demand" or POD. So what is print-on-demand? Essentially it's a way of printing books as they are needed making bulk and huge print runs unnecessary. Think of it as self-publishing with a twist. It used to be, if you wanted to circumvent traditional publishing houses, you had to tackle everything from printers to cover designers, ISBNs (International Standard Book Number) to distribution. Feeling dizzy yet? Sure, there were also self-publishing houses called vanity presses. They churned out about 6,000 titles per year and author paid anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 to publish his or her book. Cost alone was usually enough to discourage anyone who had not spent a great deal of time in industry. Options were pretty limited, until Internet explosion occurred. Enter on-demand publisher. Now, for a minimal fee (usually from $159 to $1,500), you can see your book in print. Essentially, what you're doing is hiring a publisher to publish your book. They take care of cover, book interior, ISBN, and distribution. They are compensated for this by receiving a portion of profits every time you sell a book. You are compensated through royalties and while these do vary, they typically fall somewhere in 18-20 percent range per book. The great part about POD publishing is that "on-demand" part enables them to print books as they are needed, meaning that someone (probably you) won't get stuck with a garage full of books you can't get rid of. If you only sell 100 books, that's what they'll print. There are no minimum orders, and your book will always stay in print.
To give you an idea of scope of on-demand publishing industry, consider this: typical big New York publisher prints about eight hundred new titles a year. At last count, some of print-on-demand publishers were doing five hundred a month. Early estimates indicate that POD publishers printed around half a million books in 2001. This year, there are indications that this industry will hit $78 billion market. These indicators tell us that POD industry is growing at a pace no one anticipated. Why? Because traditional publishing field is narrowing. Only one percent of books published each year are by unpublished authors. Does this low number tell us that there are fewer new authors out there? Absolutely not. What it tells us is that publishing houses are cutting back, merging and no longer willing to take chances on untested material.
The challenge with this industry is that you can't get published unless you're published it's a cycle from which we all aspire to escape. Now, we can. And for very little money, entrepreneurs and small business owners can have a marketing tool like no other. Not only will a book help to leverage your credibility in industry but have you ever tried getting a speaking engagement without a book? Not easiest thing to do, is it?
So, how do you find these on-demand publishers? A list of some I've worked with follows this article, but who you pick will depend entirely on you and needs of your book. For some, it’s turnaround time; for others, it’s whether or not they can print in hardcover. Generally, though, final product should be your first consideration; distribution or shipping time should be second. Once you've narrowed your publishers down to two or three, a good idea would be to order a book from each of them. This will tell you two things. First, you'll get a sense for their ordering process and how quickly they ship book to you, and second, you'll get a firsthand look at quality of their books.
