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]