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Why Net Vanity & Print-On-Demand Are Not Self Publishing
The primary purpose of Self Publishing (Desktop
Publishing) is to
control your own destiny – even if only to the point of being offered a
mainstream contract. The Internet vanity alternative does not serve this
purpose, and certainly does not make your marketing of your own book feasible.
That's why ours is not vanity publishing –
or Print-On-Demand, in which your cost-per-book is usually too high to
effectively market the book.
Again, the basic reason to Self Publish is to
maintain control, without which you can’t market your book. Despite outright
lies about “keeping all rights,” the author basically owns only the Copyright - which virtually all authors, whether through Random
House or any other book publishers, own. What controls the book is the ISBN
(International Standard Book Number), which determines to whom the sales revenue
will flow. This is invariably registered in the vanity publisher’s name, not the author’s. Since these publishers are footing the bill
for a portion of the production, they call the shots on just about everything.
The authors may get a cookie-cutter cover choice, but besides writing the book,
that’s the extent of their book publishing involvement. In fact, the next step is
to buy books from their
“publisher” - sometimes at a modest discount, sometimes not. Obviously, that
leaves little room for these authors to market their books, especially when
they’re paying an exceptionally high cost-per-book. Their only hope for profit
comes from bumping that price even higher…a self-defeating economic act.
To best illustrate that point, here’s a cost comparison
that shows marketability - or lack of - via either method, using the following
specs: A 120-page paperback with a full-color cover, Self Publishing costs based on printing 500 books.
| Method |
Initial outlay |
Cover price |
Your cost-per-book |
Sales to break even |
Potential profit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Net vanity |
to $1000 |
$13 to $20 |
$12 to $20 |
to 1000 |
$2 per book? |
| Self Publish |
to $3000 |
$10 to $15 |
$6 |
200 to 300 |
to $4500 |
In fairness, much comparison is necessarily of the
apples-and-oranges variety, and, consequently, no consideration is made for
other possibilities, like sales commissions.
But the bottom line is that there’s no marketing
potential via the Internet vanity route because:
(a) The
author must increase the sales price above his/her already inflated cost…on
which there’s an obvious limitation.
(b) The
only other source of revenue is a nominal percentage (6% to 10%) of the
publisher’s sales, if any.
Self Publishers alone can:
(a)
Sell the book at any price they choose.
(b)
Receive up to 100% of all sales revenue.
(c)
Control every phase of production, including cover.
(d) Reprint the book at 20% to 30% increase in
profit.
There’s only one catch: If you Self Publish, you can’t just sit there showing your book to
friends - you have to work at marketing it. Or sit back and let somebody else
make all the profit. |
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