First-time self-publishers often worry about copyright or that someone will steal their idea. This is typically the first sign of a novice self-publisher.
However, new and established authors might worry about someone stealing their books now that AI is here.
First, you should know that you own the copyright to your book at the moment of creation.
This is why it’s irrelevant for vanity presses to tell you that you keep 100% of your rights as a perk to working with them. You already have it.
But, if you want to take it a step further, you can obtain an official copyright through the US copyright office (copyright.gov) and receive a Library of Congress number, which allows librarians to catalog your book at LOC.gov.
Note: If you plan to request US Library of Congress (LOC) cataloging, be sure to assign the ISBN well in advance of publication to allow for LOC processing time.
Photo by lil artsy
Keep in mind that the ISBN has nothing to do with the copyright or the ownership of the work. It is also not connected to the Library of Congress cataloging. The ISBN is simply a number identifying the book and who published it.
It is important for self-publishers because we want to be listed as the publisher of record. That is why we self-published: to be in total creative control of the process and our own publishers.
Seeing the name of who published the book might not be a big deal to readers or authors who intend to stick to selling their books online, but for authors who wish to get the attention of booksellers or to sell their books in bulk to larger corporations, it is a bigger deal. Booksellers find it too inconvenient if the book is not returnable through Ingram (the book distributor, not IngramSpark the self-publishing arm). Although KDP’s extended distribution actually goes through Ingram, one of the main reasons why retailers don’t want to stock titles published by Amazon is that they are not returnable.
And Amazon is their biggest competitor.
Frankly, bookstores can care less about Amazon or that you are an Amazon bestseller.
Free ISBNs could also restrict your distribution options.
Distribution
Copyright is not to be confused with distribution rights.
Like traditional publishing, self-publishers want their books available through multiple channels. They want to control the distribution of their book.
In its simplest form, distribution rights is the right to make your book available to the customer.
When you are signed with a publisher, you must go through them to get copies of your book.
When you are your own publisher, you can order as many author copies of the book as you want and decide where your book shows up.
For print books, for example, it means going from your printer to a retailer or directly to your reader.
In the case of ebooks, this can entail sticking to Amazon exclusively or using an aggregator like Draft2Digital to make your work available at a variety of stores, including Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks, and Books-A-Million.
For distribution to bookstores,* small publishers and self-publishers do not typically have the manpower to use a full-service distributor like traditional publishers who can warehouse and distribute large book print runs. Thus, we usually opt for a wholesale distributor such as Ingram because it is best suited to print-on-demand (POD) printing.
*Having your book on Ingram Spark does not necessarily mean bookstores will order copies of your self-published book from Ingram.
The best practice is to self-publish through Amazon’s KDP for Amazon and then publish separately through Ingram and other platforms.
In other words, you don’t have to be concerned about someone stealing your book concept. Every book has already been written. Your perspective is the key ingredient. The way you write it is what makes it unique. Nobody else can write like you. Additionally, your book was already protected by copyright when it was written. For more security or peace of mind, you can also purchase a copyright through copyright.gov.
Draft2Digital is a gem. D2D is an aggregator that distributes your books to major retailers online, from Barnes and Noble to Apple iBooks to Baker & Taylor. They have merged with Smashwords and now also offer a paperback option. The upload procedure is simple and efficient. Your only issue is if your book still needs to be formatted. You should finish, edit, and format your text before uploading it.
I have only used their ebook service so I cannot comment on the quality of the paperback, but it is an option for self-publishers who don’t want to use Amazon. Also, the speed of making your book available everywhere online is top-tier.
Ingram is another option, although the upload process is slightly more complicated. However, it is set up that way because Ingram is a distributor designed to get your book into bookstores.
During the process, you’d want to think about things like your wholesale price (usually 40%), and you will need an ISBN. While Ingram does offer a free one, I highly recommend Indie authors own their ISBN.
Buying them in bulk (assuming you will self-publish more than one book) from Bowker can save a ton of money. I haven’t had to buy one in three years. I am using Ingram for the hardcover version of my book (which requires a different ISBN than the paperback), and I was able to use one of the numbers I still have left.
Note: Do not give away your ISBNs unless you are a publisher. Your number is like your book’s social security number and is attached to your name or the company you registered under. Thus, you will be the publisher of the record.
Photo by Pixabay
An exciting thing about Ingram Spark is its choice of paper. As experienced self-publishers know, you can choose your paper, usually white or creme, during uploading on Amazon. However, with Ingram, you have another choice. You can select Groundwood, an eggshell paper typically used in traditionally published mass-markets.
Note: I recommend using Amazon separately.
Upload your files for ebook using Kindle Direct Publishing like you normally would to put your book on Amazon. Then, use the other programs for the other retailers. If you do this, do not check the expanded distribution box on Amazon.
Example: If using D2D or Ingram and your ebook is already published on Amazon, you do not need to check the Amazon box during set-up.
For independent authors who want to self-publish but don’t have the time to look for editors and cover artists, Bookbaby is a possibility. By offering you publication packages for cover design, ebook conversion, ISBN, and even marketing, Bookbaby serves as a self-publisher assistant or vanity publisher.
Any publishing that demands payment is regarded as vanity publishing despite being verified and far more professional. Pay attention to the features supplied with each tier when using Bookbaby because it is also rather pricey and not all packages include editing. Remember that even if they include books with each bundle, ordering your own books through Amazon’s KDP or Ingram will save you a lot more money.
I’ve seen from other authors that their print quality is pretty good. So, though I have not used them, and have my concerns about their prices, they are an option.
Lulu is a possibility. However, it’s not my first pick. Early on, I utilized them for The Stella Trilogy and my volumes of poetry. Your book can be distributed via Lulu to several online retailers. The pricing of the books is substantial, and I don’t like their customer support method. The paperbacks’ quality is great and solid, though. Additionally, their upload procedure is quite simple. Again, they are an option, albeit I wouldn’t make them my first pick.
Now 48 Hour Books is what I like to call a hidden gem. They are an organization that prints bookstore-quality books. They work as a book printer and offer book templates, editing resources, self-publishing, and more. Imagine if Amazon’s KDP went down; 48hr books would be a great resource for printing your books. They also sell ISBNs and Barcodes, though I only recommend buying ISBNs from Bowker.
I have not used them, but I want to in the future to investigate their quality. From what I see, the paperbacks are top-notch.
Remember that you are not limited to the mainstream or most popular option when you embark on your self-publishing path. You may always assess what best aligns with your vision and objectives. You are not constrained to a single viewpoint either. Whether you hire a publisher or outsource, you are free to publish your book however you see fit.
I read a book a couple of weekends ago. I feel it has the utmost potential. To be clear, this isn’t a book from my book review service. I read this book on my own time from an author I do not know. I enjoyed the testimony; I loved the cover, and I can relate to much of the information.
Unfortunately, the book was in such terrible need of editing and formatting that it was troublesome to get through, which broke my heart. I am not usually ultra-sensitive to typos and such when reading a book for leisure. I am only irritated when the errors are so bad I can’t enjoy or understand the story.
I could tell very little money went into this book’s production just from reading it.
That is when I knew what I wanted to write to you as we enter this new month.
I know because I have been here. I have published books written in a Microsoft Word Document, turned it into a PDF, and uploaded it. I have not only removed a lot of my earlier works, but I have risked book reviews taking books down to revise them for this reason.
As many of us do when we enter Self-Publishing, I learned the hard way that authoring a book takes more than uploading a Microsoft Word Document or PDF to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing or Lulu. The hardest pill to swallow is that it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, but it’s essential for new authors who choose to Self-Publish to be aware there are costs involved. Self-Publishing is not the easy route if pursued the right way. It requires both time and financial investment.
What Happens Traditionally:
I found it is helpful to understand what happens when someone publishes a book traditionally.
Traditionally, a publisher offers an author a contract. The author signs with the publisher who prints, publishes and sells the book through bookstores and other retailers. The publisher is buying the rights to the book and pays the author royalties from the sales.
Since this isn’t my area of expertise, I will leave it here. That’s the gist of it, but to learn more on Traditional Publishing steps, click here.
The most crucial part as it relates to this post is that the traditional publishing house “takes on the responsibilities and costs of designing, printing, distributing, and marketing the book.” (McLachlin)
Vanity Publishing
Vanity Publishing, the center of much controversy in the Indie world, is a publisher who publishes a book provided the author can pay for services. If the author doesn’t want to do everything independently and can afford to spend thousands of dollars to publish this book, a Vanity Publisher will gladly publish them.
Vanity Presses can look like Traditional Publishers to the untrained eye, but there’s a significant difference. The Vanity Press does not get paid royalties from the sale like a Traditional Publishing House. The Vanity Press gets paid money upfront from the author to publish them. The author is paying to get their book published. As you now know, this is not how traditional publishing works. After the Vanity Press publish the book, some allow the author to own the book and keep the profit from sales, but some Vanity Presses do not.
Why VP’s charge
Image Cred: Reedsy
Newbie authors get excited to be “signed” with Vanity Presses under the presumption they are like traditional publishing houses. They are not. VP’s charge authors to publish them because, without paying for services, there are no services. Vanity Presses have a bad reputation for outsourcing to mediocre editors and designers, so authors spend thousands of dollars (sometimes upwards of $5,000+) to receive poor editing and crappy formatting and graphic design.
Take Rocket Science Productions / RSP Marketing Services, for example, where “Phase One” of this publishing scheme involves a $595 payment for copyright registration and an ISBN. (ALLI)
Self-Publishing companies that promise you can keep “100% of your copyright” promise the new author something they already own because the work is under copyright from the moment of creation. If the author wants to go the extra mile and register it, they can do that for $45, according to the .gov copyright website here.
ISBN’s are expensive, but you can purchase a block of TEN from Bowker (US) for $295.
That’s TEN ISBNs for TEN separate books (or multiple versions of the same book) as opposed to paying almost six-hundred dollars for ONE.
Morgan James Publishing is another example, a vanity press that profits by selling books to their authors rather than readers. (ALLI)
Author Solutions and anything under Author Solutions and Xlibris are also Vanity Presses to watch out for.
The only people who get paid in this situation are the publisher or company offering the services. There are tons of people making six figures off green Self-Publishers. If I charged eight thousand dollars per author, I’d be a millionaire too.
The primary way to identify a Vanity Press is to understand one simple fact:
A traditional publisher pays the author, not the other way round.
But the traditional publisher also owns the rights to the book, which is why many choose to Self-Publish.
Self-Publishing
With Self-Publishing, you pay to produce, market, distribute, and warehouse the book. This investment can get expensive, which is why I understand why writers fall for vanity presses. Suppose you pay $2,000 to get a book edited (which is not out of the ordinary for skilled, professional editing depending on the editing needed) and still need a decent cover and everything else. Why not pay $5,000 for a team of professionals to do everything for you?
The problem is that the books these “professionals” publish are low in quality, and sometimes the author doesn’t maintain the rights to their book even after paying so much to get it published. If you charge someone $5,000 to publish their book, it should look like it, and the author should own the rights to the book. There is no excuse for charging this much money to upload a poorly edited and formatted text with a generic cover to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and then call yourself a publisher.
Why Self-Publishing Can Be Free But Isn’t If You Do It Right
With Self-Publishing, you do not sign with a publisher, so there is no one to cover the cost of book editing and cover design. You are the publisher, so the financial responsibility is yours.
It will cost you nothing to upload a manuscript to Amazon’s KDP or Kobo or iTunes or whichever platform you’d like to use. You can take your Word Document or PDF and create an account with that platform and upload it. You can also go wide using Draft2Digital to make your book available on other ebook platforms like Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and iTunes.
But, if you want to produce a high-quality book, there are costs involved in getting the manuscript ready for publication.
You are not paying someone to publish your book, or I should say, upload your manuscript to KDP. You are investing in producing a quality product.
Technically, you do not have to pay anything to publish a book, but it will look like it.
You OWN your book, which places you in great authority, and with eminent authority comes greater responsibility. If you don’t want to be responsible for everything, then Self-Publishing might not be the route for you. It may be best to look into Traditional Publishing.
Again, it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to publish a book. There are many great pre-made cover designs, for example, that are cheaper than custom made covers, and editors who have great deals.
This post’s purpose is not for you to think that paying a lot of money will make your book great automatically. No editor, despite how talented, can make a crappy story great again.
The purpose of this post is to inform those of you new to Self-Publishing that if you want to be an Independent Author/Publisher, you will have to invest some money in publishing your book if you want it done right.
Indie Author Basics with EC exists because after Self-Publishing my books, I quickly realized the lack of information available to Indie Authors. Sometimes the only way to learn is through experience, and I have discovered some ups and downs that I think will help those who are just beginning. I do not present these as concrete, guaranteed solutions, but I hope new authors can use these tips to better the Self-Publishing experience and make it less confusing.
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