Things You Should Know About Writing a Book - Our Journey (Part 3)

By: Stan Washington
Date: February 22, 2015

Did you ever have that feeling that you forgot to do something very important when you left the house? Was the oven left on? Did you forget to close the garage? Well, that nagging feeling is how we felt as we continued writing our books. We had left the house and were well on our journey, yet something bothered us. Then is hit us... We were writing a book to self-publish and had not done the research into publishers.

Sit down this is going to be a long one.

Looking into self-publishers can be another daunting task, especially when you rely on the internet.  Here is our research:

Self Publishing Resources	About	Cost	Book Size & Print Color
Createspace Our price $12.97	https://www.createspace.com/	$260	6" x 9" / B&W / White pages
	$43 for shipping URL for Book Quantity Costs & Royalty Calculator: https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/#content7 Cover Specs: https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/CoverPDF.jsp	Quantity 100	$2.60 / book
Outskirts	www.outskirtspress.com	$699
	Because we have our own cover we have to use the Ruby or above package. Couldn't find the cost for authors to purchase additional copies.	Quantity 6
Lulu	https://www.lulu.com/	$525	6" x 9" / B&W / White pages
	Holly used Lulu and said it was ok and they were charging her $8 a book.	Quantity 200	$5.25 / book
Lightning Source	https://www1.lightningsource.com/default.aspx	$378.99	6" x 9" / B&W / White pages
	$46.38 for shipping and $1.50 handling fee. Holly switched to Lightning from Lulu and was paying $4 a book. Also recommended by Kelly Epperson.	Quantity 200	$3.32 / book
48 Hour Books	48hrbooks.com	$760	6" x 9" / B&W / White pages
		Quantity 200	$6.08 / book
Greyden Press	http://www.greydenpress.com/	$1,200	5.5" x 8.5" | B&W | Color Cover | Paperback
		Quantity150	$8.00 / book
United Graphics	http://www.unitedgraphicsinc.com/

We chose CreateSpace.com because it was easy to use, had a ton of instructions and their pricing / royalty structure was great. They have a royalty calculator and resources for creating your own cover.  For eBooks we chose Amazon Kindle. Their process was step by step and intuitive. If you have a book in your head, consider self-publishing on CreateSpace.

Here are a few things to know: We chose our own ISBN company, we did not chose KDP select and we skipped the CreateSpace.com protection. We did all of this to maximize flexibility. 

We also chose SmashWords.com to make sure we could reach the iPad and Barnes & Noble groups. We had to create an account on each of the platforms. You should be ready to publish when you create your accounts. WARNING!!! Smashwords.com's eBook structure is different than that of Kindle so watch their tutorial. (This will take a while but it will save you time!)

More to come in part 4!

Our books have been featured in Small Business Trends!

Blessings to you!

Is a BOOK in your future in 2014?

By: Stan Washington
Date: November 22,2013

Continuing on trends for 2014, one that seems to be emerging is picturesque cookbooks with easy to follow steps.  I remember the cookbooks of old... full of words and expectations that I had knowledge of how to turn on the stove.  Today this could be further from the truth. People want pictures.

Check out this article from Entrepreneur Magazine

Publishing Trend for 2014: A New Demand for Eye-Catching Cookbooks

Technology Relating to Book Publishing
What does this have to do with technology you ask? I decided to investigate and found some interesting sites that you may use to self-publish your book. In fact with a few clicks, you are a published author on Amazon!

I looked up some sources for you


Kindle Direct Publishing
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin
This relatively easy process takes minutes to set up and you can publish any book any subject.  Please keep it professional! I suggest hiring an editor.










25 things you need to know about self publishing
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-10119891-82/self-publishing-a-book-25-things-you-need-to-know/

CNET has some great tips regarding self publishing.








CreateSpace
https://www.createspace.com/

Yes this is Amazon again!  They are going to own the world one day. They aspire to be all things "books" and they purchased BookSurge and CreatSpace and merged them under the CreateSpace brand.  Again, very easy to publish!



Lulu
http://www.lulu.com/
Lulu has been around for a while.  They have great resources regarding writing that book and self-publishing. They even challenge you to think e-book!



In all cases the first thing for you to do is start!  You have had the idea cooking for a number of years, so why not write it down and publish it?



Career Coach Office
http://www.careercoachoffice.com

When you self publish your book why not let everyone know about it using E-Mail marketing?  This is the most cost effective way to directly tell them about your great book.