Self publishing - a few thoughts!

[John Jarrold]

Originally Posted by garycompton

Thanks John

I wouldnt have thought there would be much profit in a book for the publisher at 10,000 books.

Assuming there is about £5-£7 per book gross profit: £50,000- £70,000 wont go very far allowing for marketing, distribution and taxation costs. And then their is the authors advance also to come out of the profit also.

I thought there expectations would have been higher for their projected sales for a new book.

If you pay an advance of £3000 you can make it work. Publishers have been doing these sums for many years, and they don't take books on unless they work financially. They also know that, occasionally, one of the books they take on for a small advance will become a bestseller. Not because of marketing, but because of word-of-mouth, which is still the most important sales tool of them all.

And the other thing most UK publishers insist on now when acquiring a debut novelist is taking on World rights, so they can sell the book in the US, Europe and elsewhere. They pay more for that, of course, and the author receives a high percentage of the deals done in various other territiories - and it allows the publisher to spread the 'risk', and involve other areas of the company in the author's success, thus making them more important to the company as a whole, not just to the editor and the UK sales, marketing and publicity team..

[gary compton]

£3000 doesnt seem much, it wouldn't finance you being a full time author thats for sure - would the publisher expect you to be full time?

Also how much royalty would an author on that level of advance receive per book and presumably if his manuscript became a bestseller would he get payments on all sales?

As i have said before I was inspired to start writing when I watched a BBC documentary on Sheila Quigley in 2004 I think it was, she was with the Darley Anderson Agency. Her advance was for £300,000 - how did she get so much? is it to do with the genre she is writing in?

[John Jarrold]

A publisher does not pay an author what they need to live - they pay what they believe the book is worth to them in terms of expected sales. Around 80% of the authors with whom I've worked also have day jobs. Anyone expecting to make a living from writing should leave the room now!

Royalties kick in after the advance has earned out - they are usually something like 10% of the cover price on hardbacks and 7.5% of the cover price on paperbacks (although there are other arcane percentages involved too). And yes, once the advance has earned out, the author gets a royalty on every sale.

Sometimes a publisher sees a book that - for whatever reason - they believe is truly wonderful and one of the most commercial books they've seen for years. That's when large advances start to be discussed. Sometimes, one publisher wil make a very large offer to the agent to stop others getting involved - this is a pre-emptive offer, which they hope will be accepted immediately. At other times, more than one publisher loves the book and an auction ensues, which also pumps up the price of the book, of course.

It can happen in any genre. But it happens very, very seldom. I would say that 90% of published authors do not make a living entirely from their writing. Sheila Quigley is very much the exception, not the norm. I left London publishing in 2002, and I was paying authors advances of £10,000 and less per book far more often than I was going above that level. That has not changed since.

[John Jarrold]

Incidentally, we should take this to another thread, since it has nothing to do with self-publishing - let's use the 'Personal Questions to John Jarrold' thread, okay?

[Praetar]

Hey Steve,
I have

[John Jarrold]

I suspect that post was an error!

Hello Praetar!

[Doctor Sax]

flash haiku?

[John Jarrold]

You only live twice.

Once when you live and once when you die...

[gary compton]

thanks for your reply john... I will move my questions to another thread.

[Steve S]

Not sure if this will be of interest but a transcript of my interview on BBC Radio is available on my website by clicking here (transcript available in a PDF format in news item 21/04/2008). Hopefully this might give an indication of the sort of questions you may be asked during an interview (this one was done live, challenging but fun!).

[John Jarrold]

Good one, Steve!

[Karen Dales]

Originally Posted by Sassysara

I am looking for a self-publisher at the moment and I am torn between Lulu and Authorhouse. While Lulu seems to have lower start up costs Authorhouse seems to offer more of a marketing package and distrubution package. I wonder if anyone has had any experiance of using them? And for a marketing amataur, can anyone suggest the best way to get my book out there! Not planning to make a fortune but would be nice to sell at least a 100.

I've checked into Authorhouse and Lulu, but there's one that hasn't been mentioned that I think should be - iUniverse. This is the one I'm considering if I have to go that route as they can get their self published books on the shelves of Barnes and Nobles in the USA and Indigo and Chapters in Canada. I've managed to buy one of their published books at the Indigo near my home, so this strikes me as a possible good place to consider for self publishing. I don't know what presence they have in the UK. I guess that's something that should be asked of them.

Karen