Publishing a book, a new experience!

By bogaert
Writing a book was a major challenge (see previous blogpost). After an endless number of iterations the content and layout was completed and ready to be printed for distribution. Initially, I though that this part of the job would be a piece of cake. The first discussions with publishers were very hopeful, after losing several months in the mandatory qualification process I made it to the final contract discussions. The surprise came when discussion these fine details of the contract. I though the role of a publishers would help the author to make the publication of the book a success, as I assumed that their success is directly related to my success. However, after several months I concluded that publishers don't think primarily about the success of the author, seems they see the author as a customer something they can sell to.

Cloud Content Contention

Book cover
Herewith three lessons learned from the discussions with two major US publishers and one major European publisher:
The first remarkable discussion-point was about the publishing rights. All publishers wanted to own the exclusive right to publish the entire book and also for individual small parts of the book. This would mean that I would be unable to re-use fractions of the text in other publications, such as papers or interviews, without being in breach with the contracts. In particular this could lead to discussions with my employer, as re-use of my work and knowledge in my professional environment would lead to endless problems.

The second remarkable discussion-point was about the unquantified costs for the author. I had my script completely ready, including layout, all tables such as table of content, table of figures, and index. I even ordered a proof print from a local print-shop to ensure there would be no surprise when printing the PDF version. In the proposed contract are several open clauses, where the publisher can charge the author for necessary services to complete the script for publication, such as rework on the layout, creation of indexes, etc. None of the publisher could tell me how much I would have to pay, or were willing to limit the clause, although I gave them a fully checked version of the script. I interpreted these kind of clauses as signing a blanc cheque, not acceptable by me.

The third discussion-point was on the initial sale, or the commitment on a minimum order quantity. It turned out that I had to find the first customer willing to buy the first bulk of books. Typically this would be an organizer of a conference, my employer, or myself. If no initial sale would be possible then the alternative would be to pay for the initial stock of typically 300 books, which would be reimbursed by royalty payments. Actually, I had the impression that the publishers tried to use me as a salesmen or saw me as a customer. Of course, when making the calculation this would be a very profitable scenario for the publisher.

Finally, I took the conclusion to stop all these endless discussions and publish the book on my own. Instead of spending further time in the negotiations I started to compare the different options for self-publishing and print-on-demand. I have been going through hundreds of recommendations and discussion fora on the internet and made up my mind. So far, the experience of self-publishing is positive. The initial expenses were reasonable,and fully controllable by myself. In the next step I manage the marketing costs carefully. Maybe this way of working is a bit slower compared to engaging with a large publishing company, but I have a good feeling and that is what counts for me. The distribution is now slowly expanding which makes my work available in different countries.

With proud I can say that my book is out, and the fact that sales is picking up rapidly gives me more confidence then before on my decision.

Thank you very much publishers, I have learned a lot! .... and maybe you could learn something about new media in the cloud from reading my work :) ... check out here or directly order at Amazon