[FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Sat Jul 4 16:31:33 EDT 2020

Another advantage of self-publishing is that you retain the copyright.
Ergo, you can license it to a publisher for an updated edition or just
distribution.
Tom

============================================
Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com
Institute for Analytic Journalism   --     Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
*NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org>
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On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 2:25 PM Jochen Fromm <jofr at cas-group.net> wrote:

> Thanks. Yes, self-publishing is an option. I am looking for an official
> publisher mainly for one reason, namely that other scientists and
> researchers can cite it, since I still cling to the illusion that someone
> would actually do it. Normally self-published texts are not considered as
> reliable or trustworthy sources. I didn't expect that finding a decent
> publisher would be so difficult.
>
> -J.
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Tom Johnson <tom at jtjohnson.com>
> Date: 7/4/20 20:10 (GMT+01:00)
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed
>
> Jochen:
> The deal being offered strikes me as a bad deal.
>
> Background:  I have been practicing and teaching about "Be Your Own
> Publisher" for nearly 15 years.  There are, in my opinion, some major
> problems with all publishers today.  It starts with control of the
> copyright.  I think YOU should want to maintain control of the copyright to
> your work.  It will depend on the contract, but many or most publishers
> will try to lock down the copyright in their favor for all -- ALL -- forms
> of your work in perpetuity and throughout the universe.  Sometimes quite
> literally.
>
> Second, you should assume -- especially with a small publisher and you,
> not being as well known  as Stephen King or Daniel Steele  -- the publisher
> will do little if anything to promote your book beyond a mention in its
> catalog and, maybe, some promotional links on Amazon.  Given that, a 5
> percent royalty should be seen as a con.
>
> Third, given your computing experience, you should find it easy to format
> and produce the book yourself.  I have used Lulu.com for years.  It is
> especially good if you want to have both hardback, paperback and PDF
> editions.  Again the advantages: you keep the copyright, you can set (and
> change) the prices and to a degree the royalties.  Also, Lulu and Amazon
> handle all the backend financial arrangements and administration and pay
> directly and quickly.  I also use a very good, high quality digital printer
> in Albuquerque for paperback editions.  It is Lithexcel
> <https://lithexcel.com/services/print.html>.  It handles all the printing
> (one copy to any number) quickly, along with all the fulfillment and
> accounting. The folks there will also, for only $25, set up your book in
> the Amazon inventory search engine.  Finally, there is Amazon's
> self-publishing arm
> <https://www.bookbaby.com/free-publishing-guides?utm_campaign=GOOSL31&utm_source=SITELINK&utm_medium=cpc&mkwid=sNzCXe5z8_dc%7Cpcrid%7C238281756657%7Cpmt%7Ce%7Cpkw%7Camazon%20book%20publishing%7Cslid%7CcWU1oXIv%7Ctargetids%7Ckwd-362938383597%7Cgroupid%7C48812614458%7C&pgrid=48812614458&ptaid=kwd-362938383597&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0YD4BRD2ARIsAHwmKVnFci42apQ6vWUruvHuYX-FOum9VCF7bx83c_tSMHGoby8yylL_RTMaAjOEEALw_wcB>.
> While Amazon might take a bigger slice, the control over all aspects is in
> your hands.
>
> Here's the problem/challenge with all of these.  *YOU* have to do the
> marketing/publicity/promotion.  But so what?  If you today sign with any
> publisher of any size you will have to do the same thing.
>
> Hope this helps.  Feel free to contact me with questions.  Also you might
> want to see https://bit.ly/2ZvihKc
> Tom
>
> ============================================
> Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com
> Institute for Analytic Journalism   --     Santa Fe, NM USA
> 505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
> *NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org>
> *Check out It's The People's Data
> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>*
>
> ============================================
>
>
>
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> On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 1:29 AM Jochen Fromm <jofr at cas-group.net> wrote:
>
>> At one end of the spectrum there are the 5 big commercial publishers
>> Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon &
>> Schuster. They only publish stuff their agents select to make a lot of
>> money. There are also the big academic publishers like OUP, CUP, HUP and
>> MIT Press, which preferably publish strictly peer-reviewed content from
>> professors at Ivy League universities who made their PhD at the age of 20.
>>
>> At the other end of the spectrum there are "predatory publishers" who
>> publish anything you submit as long as you pay enough money for it. Open
>> access books can also be very expensive. Publishing an "open access book"
>> at De Gruyter for example costs up to 8000 $. You pay for it so that other
>> people read it. It is basically some kind of advertising of your own work.
>>
>> For my own new book I finally have an offer from a small publisher in
>> Washington D.C. who is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. They are
>> really small and offer 5% royalties. Should I accept this offer or wait for
>> a better one? It is the only one from more than 25 publishers I have asked,
>> and the publishers at the moment are flooded with submissions. :-/
>>
>> https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/mar/26/novel-writing-during-coronavirus-crisis-outbreak
>>
>> -J.
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