A Beginners Guide to Self Publishing

STEP 1
UNDERSTANDING
PUBLISHING
Editing the book
Cost 10,000 – 30,000 depending on
the length of the book as well as no. of edits / revisions. This will include
back cover blurb, verso page, contents page, and glossary if required. – Ideal
to have 3 sets of eyes look at it.
Book Designing
Cost 10,000 – 30,000 depending on
whether it is purely text or has pictures or illustrations, - save as single
page pdf file – Ideal to design it is standard sizes like A5 (approx. 6x8
inches, its exactly half of a A4 size paper), or B5 (approx.7x10 inches). That
way the printing cost is optimised. Typically, a soft cover fiction size should
not exceed 6x8 inches. And the usual fiction font size is 10. Unless it’s a children’s
book with illustrations or you specifically want a comfort read, then font size
can be 11. Only go to font size 12 for ages below 5 years. Once its final, get
a physical printout in the final book size and look at the font size and any
remaining mistakes. This will include front and back cover design.
Applying for ISBN
Free. Individuals or publishers
both can apply. Hard cover and soft cover of the same book will have different
ISBNs. So decide early what kind you want. Individuals will get 1 isbn.
Publishers can get 10 or 100…
Verso page – which is the page
with the copyright info, disclaimer, ISN no. And publisher details, as to be
uploaded to get the final approval.
Once isbn is assigned, barcode for
the same can be generated online.
Book Printing
Depends on Size, hard cover or
paperback, colour or black and white, paper quality and no. of copies printed. How
many copies are you confident of selling? Let us say 500. (It does not make
sense in terms of cost and price to print less than 500) Then what is the look
or quality of paper you want to print on, what size etc? Standard size of a
fiction / short story etc is 5.5x8.27 inches, and pages are less than 90 gsm. Let’s
assume the book has 100 pages. Let us say, the cost of printing is then Rs 100
per copy. So, for 500 books, it will come to Rs 50,000.
Press Kit
10,000/- This includes an
introduction of the book and Author bio, book summary and review, plus
marketing plan. Also includes content for social media promo / post, and
content for website listing etc with pictures.
Book Pricing
Your Total spend so far has been
approx. Rs. 1,00,000. So, that’s the cost of production / minimum amount that
you need to recover. This does not include marketing and promotion cost.
1,00,000 / 450* = 222. The usual
mathematics is to multiply it by 3 (min). So, the book should ideally be priced
between 666 to 750.
*(because approx. 50 books will be
free or used for marketing and publicity or books sold to author at cost price)
Royalty Breakup
Any brick-and-mortar retail book
store or online store like Amazon / Flipkart, will charge anywhere between 40-50%
commission on sales. The royalty given to authors range from 7.5 to 15%
depending on publisher and new author / established author etc… (If you were an established author, the
publishing house can give you an advance on the Royalty – that’s usually called
a signing amount – because they are sure of selling x no. of books. This is
then deducted from future royalty calculations.)
Now, assuming you sell all 450
books:
Option 1 – Regular Publisher:
So, 222 (production) + 300 (retail
commission@40%)) + 114 (publisher commission@15%) + 114 (author royalty@15%) =
Rs 750 MRP
The Author spends: 0 + Marketing
and Promotion
The author makes: 450x114 = Rs. 51,300
Option 2 – Self Publishing
through any other Print on Demand Publisher:
So, 222 (production) + 300 (retail
commission) + 45 (publisher earning@20% of profit) + 182 (author royalty@80% of
profit) = Rs 750 MRP
The Author spends: 30,000 +
Marketing and Promotion
The author
makes: 182x450 = 81,900
Option 3 – Self Publishing
Completely on you own:
So, 222 (production) + 300 (retail
commission) + 228 (author profit) = Rs 750 MRP
The Author spends: 1,00,000 +
Marketing and Promotion
The author makes: 750-300 (retail
commission) = 450. 450x450 = Rs 2,02,500
Option 4 – Self Publishing with
Of Indian Origin:
So, 222 (production) + 225 (retail
commission for listing on OIO@30%) + 303 (author royalty) = Rs 750 MRP
The Author spends: 1,00,000 +
Marketing and Promotion
The author makes: 750-225 = 525. 525x450
= 2,36,250 (if listing only on ofindianorigin.com)
PUBLISHING
WITH OIO
STEP 2
ACCEPTANCE
OF MANUSCRIPT – soft copy in MS Word with spelling and grammar check
DEDICATIONS
/ FOREWARD / NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR / ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BOOK NAME
STEP 3
CONTRACT
BETWEEN PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR
Apart from standard clauses,
should include the following:
Copyright, publishing rights, reprint
rights, sequel rights, movie rights, royalties, payment schedules, quantity of
free books for the author, discounted book for the author, free books for
promotion and marketing, and royalty effect on the same, stock ownership,
distribution and selling rights etc.
50% PAYMENT
STEP 4
APPLYING FOR
ISBN
APPLYING FOR
COPYRIGHT
STEP 5
EDITING OF
MANUSCRIPT
PHYSICAL
PRINT EDITING
STEP 6
BOOK
DESIGNING
FRONT AND
BACK COVER DESIGN
CONTENT AND
GLOSSARY
BACK COVER
BLURB
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
STEP 7
50% PAYMENT
SAMPLE PRINT
APPROVAL
PRINTING
STEP 8
ONLINE LISTING
PRESS KIT
PROMO
CONTENT
STEP 9
BOOK LAUNCH
PUBLICITY
and MARKETING
STEP 10
ACCOUNTING
For further queries, contact us at [email protected]
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