Sometimes it doesn’t pay to take time off because when you return you have twice as many emails and phone calls to return. Your work doubles and the days off fade from memory all too quickly.

I’m often asked a variety of questions regarding publishing, marketing, and book sales. The common theme among all the writers and authors who contact me is the same, “who do you believe?” That is a difficult question to answer since I have my own perspective (25 years in New York publishing) and opinions (based on 5 years in the self-published market).

It has been my experience that writers and authors tend to believe
(1) friends, other authors, and colleagues within their own writing group,
(2) the best sales pitch with the least cost and most promises, and
(3) the voice of publishing reason, which I describe as myself.

There is nothing wrong with believing whom you want to believe, however, if experience and results make the difference, then you should be listening to the voice of publishing reason. I am not biased in any way towards any form of publishing. For me and my clients, it depends on their personal goals, wants, hopes, and dreams. I pride myself on telling the truth and unfortunately for some that is hard to accept.

My professional services are not inexpensive, I don’t make wild promises or offer guarantees, I refuse to paint a rosy picture of the bookselling marketplace, and I absolutely will not associate myself or do business with anyone that is not above reproach. These are the rules I go by and if that fits your criteria then send me an email, I will do everything I can to make you as successful an author as possible.

It’s interesting to note that many of the self-publishing mills that are springing up offer writers a menu of options for publishing their manuscript. The question I have is, how can any writer know what is best for their future book? Success in publishing is selling books, there is no other gauge. In order to sell copies, you need to know the market. In my opinion, you cannot make the right publishing decisions if you order your trim size, cover design, interior layout, price and page count from a menu of options. Your newly published book must fit the market, and especially the category under which you are publishing. Can you get that information from a menu? I don’t think so, not if you expect success, which translates into selling books.

It was a beautiful bright sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. The boardroom was crowded for an important meeting when there came a knock on the door, it opened slowly and the announcement came, “A plane just flew into the World Trade Center!” Shock, pandemonium, crying, screams, after a minute of complete shock, we turned on the television and watched in horror as the second plane flew into the second tower. We stared motionless, speechless, not knowing how to react or what to say. For the next hour we all tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Finally, the President of our company stood up and suggested we all get back to work since “we have a very important meeting we need to conduct.” As if robotic we all sat down in our chairs, gathered our notes and tried as best as we could to resume the meeting, when soon after another knock and another announcement, “A plane just flew into the Pentagon!” This time, everyone scattered as quickly as possible, not certain what to do we all retreated to our offices. I sat and stared and tried to understand what had just happened, not only to New York and Washington, but to my company?

How could anyone sit in a meeting and discuss anything of relevance after what had just happened to the citizens of this country? I pondered, and decided at that moment, there had to be something else, something better! This was the beginning of the end for me, Tuesday September 11, 2001 a defining moment. Less than seventeen months later I left New York for good. We will never forget.

Let me share some numbers to illustrate the competitive nature of publishing in the US: 292,000; 800; 45,000; 6; 70,000; 6,000 & 60%.

* It is estimated there are as many as 292,000 new titles published every year in this country,
* That breaks down to 800 new titles published each day,
* The major New York publishers produce approximately 45,000 new titles each year,
* There are six major publishers in the US which represent about 95% of the main stream book sales in the US,
* It is estimated there are over 70,000 small publishers,
* There are around 6,000 main stream booksellers in the US, and
* The only number that should matter to an author is their percent of sale, and that benchmark is 60%.

If an author under contract to a big NY publisher sells at least 60% of their books, they can have a very nice career as an author.

Now you get a picture of the competitive nature of traditional main stream publishing.

There are more opportunities to publish a book than ever, and the cost is going down. However, I’m not sure this is a good thing.

You may have heard the old saying “there are good lawyers, and there are cheap lawyers, but there are not good cheap lawyers.” This is definitely true for publishing, you can publish professionally or you can publish cheaply, but you cannot expect to have a professionally produced book for a few hundred dollars.

If you invest countless hours writing then the least you can do is have your manuscript professionally edited and produced. Your book is your resume, make it the best it can be. All the marketing in the world will not help you sell a poorly written or produced book.

There are lots of good books that are self-published and many more that use the print-on-demand technology. No doubt, if you take the entire self-published, vanity press, POD community and read all the books available, you would find vast amounts of titles that would not only hold their own in sales but had the potential to become bestsellers if displayed and merchandised in bookstores. The problem is, there is little or no ACCESS to the bookstore market. Not yet.

Let’s examine some facts about the self-publishing marketplace.

(1) The success of the self-published title THE SHACK, currently atop the New York Times bestseller list, indicates there are good books that start self-published. However, this book would most likely not be on the Times list without the help of a corporate publisher who bought the book after it had sold over 800,000 copies.

(2) An article in Publishers Weekly last month titled BIG HOUSES BENEFIT FROM SAVVY SELF-PUBLISHERS, clearly indicates that the success of a handful of self-published books that made it into the hands of the big corporate publishers has made that New York publishing world take notice.

(3) According to statistics provided by Ingram Books, the owner of Lightening Source, the self-published market will grow at 15-20% each year for many years to come. This of course crowds the market, but creates opportunities for authors who are self-promoters and write really good books.

(4) As the corporate publishers sell fewer copies each year, retail booksellers will search for new opportunities to sell a variety of new categories, and will welcome new unproven authors. If the New York corporate publishers won’t do it, then it’s time for a new publishing model to be introduced to the market.

For authors who want control over their writing, the ability to retain all rights, realize a hefty royalty payment much greater than any corporate publisher would offer, and be willing to take suggestions on how best to package and price their book to maximize it’s potential in the market, then your time is fast approaching. This new publishing model is about to be unveiled. You will find the announcement here first!

I’ve been fortunate to have toured with lots of authors and I was always fascinated with how they wrote. How they created stories, and characters, and pulled together the information for their books. The one constant that came from these discussions was the fact that self-editing is a very slippery slope.

Authors have told me time and again that going back to correct the little things in your writing is a never ending process. The manuscript will never be as good as you want. That is why you need an editor, someone who can help you with the process of laying the manuscript out in a logical sequence, help with character or story development.

If you’ve never worked with a true professional, then you need one. Editors help writers establish their voice and improve their writing, self-editing is a long road that never ends.

Nothing! There is nothing wrong with print-on-demand as a technology. Unfortunately for those who use POD publishers, the traditional marketplace will not accept your books in their stores on a national basis. What this means is that corporate and large independent bookstores will not purchase books for display in their stores that are printed by a print-on-demand publisher. That is not my rule, but the rule of the marketplace.

The reason is lack of editorial control, POD companies have a tendency to publish anything that comes their way. There is nothing wrong with that either. They are in the business of printing books for their authors and they do not control the editorial quality of the authors they print. This is the problem with print-on-demand.

The technology is wonderful, allowing authors and publishers to print small quantities of books in an instant. The problem is access and acceptance. Until a publisher using print-on-demand technology as a form of printing exercises some editorial control over what they publish, the marketplace will continue to turn their back on these books.

Many of my blogs have to do with “so-called experts” who try and secure money from unsuspecting writers and authors. As much as I wish could write about more positive, constructive things, it becomes necessary for me to warn my readers that there are lots of people calling themselves “publishing experts” who are nothing of the kind. I find it once again important to give you some advice, and that is - ask the tough questions.

When someone tries to sell you a product or service, ask them about their success rate? Ask them to give you references? Go to their web sites and locate authors and titles, then do your best to inquire about the product or service? Network with me, with others on this site, with members of your writing or critique group. If you cannot find authors, titles, or anyone who seems to know anything about the product or service, then you really have to be careful.

The second thing you should inquire about is the person or companies background, experience, and qualifications as an “expert.” When someone tells you they have been in publishing for 20 years, does that really qualify them to sell you something? You need to dig deeper and find out the names of the companies they worked for? In what capacity, what was their job? What were their responsibilities? What were their successes in the business? Let them give you the names of the authors and titles with which they worked. Again, if this information is unavailable, then are they really experts?

If you dig deep before you buy, complete your due diligence with regard to the product or service, and ask for proof of the success, then you stand a good chance of saving lots of money and plenty of time. Ask the tough questions and it will serve you well, don‘t allow yourself to become a victim of these “experts.”

One of my readers sent an email asking about the book distribution program. He wanted to know if it was a scam? He quoted from some article he read where it talked about a distributor that went out of business trying to distribute books for small publishers. He said the article described bookstore distribution as a scam. There was in fact a small book distributor that went out of business because they didn’t understand what they were doing, which often happens to businesses with a bad plan.

When a small company of any kind, distributor or publisher, enters the world of big-time bookselling, they better understand the rules of the market and how to compete with the big corporate publishers. That is especially true when it comes to book distribution. One of the reasons for launching my book distribution program is it gives small and micro-publishers an opportunity for exposure in the marketplace. This is a program that is two years in the making and I would not even attempt to launch if I didn't feel it was viable and could be competitive against the corporate companies.

Book distribution into booksellers for small and micro-publishers is not only possible, it will happen. Those that want to throw stones at the idea just doesn’t understand the market. They know how to make money by selling unsuspecting writers and authors products and services that don’t work. In turn they want to attack those that are trying to make the Independent market a better place for all the small and micro-publishers around the world.

Truth is the best policy, that is what you will read here, my perspective based on 25 years in corporate publishing. I will continue to tell the truth and expose these scammers and their schemes. Book distribution is not without risks, but if done properly, it is a viable opportunity for some micro-publishers.