5 Shocking Truths About Publishing a Book That Publishers Don't Want You to Know!

There are five things book publishers don't want you to know - mainly because they will be losing a whole lot of money if you found out. I learned early on with publishing a book that you DON'T NEED A PUBLISHER to become a successfully published author. My aim is to expose the truth about publishers and how they are either ignoring or totally ripping off new and experienced writers by keeping them in the dark about how easy publishing a book really is.

You are an artist and creator. You came up with an awesome idea all by yourself; you created scenes, characters, and a killer plot. You did extensive research so your story would be as accurate as possible. It doesn't matter what genre of writing, you do all of the work. You spend hours upon hours writing and rewriting your story, adding details and depth so that it contains hundreds of pages of great literary art. Now you are ready to submit your manuscript to a publisher.

Submission is free, but if you are an unknown or new author, nine times out of ten with a major book publisher, no one will ever even read your synopsis or query letter. So, after several rejection letters or no responses, you decide to move onto smaller publishing houses. For a large fee, they will gladly publish your novel. Yet, you never seem to break even after your book hits the shelves.

Sorry to break this to you, but publishing a book shouldn't cost a dime. Well, I mean no more than the cost of your computer and some computer software. Let me explain.

A publisher should be paying you to publish your book since they will be making the most money off of your book after it is published. In fact, most major publishers collect 70 to 80 percent of the royalties off the top while you only get 10 to 20 percent.

Most small time publishers make you pay to publish a book because they are trying to get their money first (in case your book fails to meet the sales required to cover the cost of publishing). They tend to give you a little more royalties, maybe 20 to 50 percent from every sale. They don't really care if your book sells because they already made their money from you.

The bigger publishers generally give you an advance up front (which is essentially paying you what they estimate publishing a book will make for them) but keep all of the profits from sales until that advance is paid for. Then you only get a 10 to 20 percent royalties thereafter. A little better deal in this case because they are actually paying you first, but you are still not making very much royalty per book sold.

If you were to publish your own book in hardcover, you can keep 75 percent of the profits or more (after the cost of the book is taken out of the picture). If you publish your own eBook, you can keep 100 percent of the profits since it doesn't cost anything to create an eBook. Can you see why a publisher wouldn't want you to know about this little truth? Computers and awesome publishing software has given EVERYONE an equal opportunity at writing and publishing a book and this scares the publishers to death!

It's no wonder it is so difficult publishing a book through a book publisher. It's all about the money. They have a simple check list they look at when a new manuscript runs across their desk. It says "Does anyone know this author?", "Is this type of book in demand?", and "How much money can we make from this book?".

A publisher's main concern is if the money they advance to you will be covered by future sales. A small time publisher that you pay to publish your book is not so much worried about making a whole lot of money off of you because they already got their money. Any sales are just extra profit to them.

Why are these two types of publishers different from one another. Well, a big named publisher banks on you and your book's popularity over other authors' work. They take a huge risk fronting money to an author, especially if the author is unknown and the book is a flop.

And yes, you do have to pay back the advance regardless of whether you sell any books or not, but per contractual agreement. In other words, if you don't make the publisher the amount they advanced you in say 2 years, then you must pay them what ever is left to be paid off in full at the 2 year mark.

Small time publishers don't really care who you are as long as you can afford their services. They will be publishing a book for you, but if your book doesn't sell, they don't lose any sleep over it.

The only one who is going to look out for your best interests is YOU!

Most of the major publishers are looking for an author who is going to sell at least 1,000 books on the first run. If the book sells well, they will run a second publishing known as a mass publishing. Now if only 10 percent of the authors sell 100 books, then there aren't too many that qualify for major publishing. They may give you a small advance and roll in the cost of 1,000 books that you also have to pay off before you get any money.

Thus comes the smaller publishers. These companies say they are publishers, but most of them don't do the entire job of a publisher; they are simply a label for your book. They are interested in the other 90 percent of the people out there struggling to sell 100 books. Remember, they get paid to help with publishing a book, so they make their money that way. So these writers don't even make their money back half the time.

When you self-publish your own books, you make 100 percent of the profits, minus a few expenses here and there, but you don't have to stay in the red very long. Publishers are banking on the fact that you don't know their job so they will take advantage of you. With this knowledge alone, you can now outsmart them.

Continue reading 5 Shocking Truths About Publishing a Book That Publishers Don't Want You to Know on the next page and discover the last 2 shocking truths that are even more nerve racking.

© 2005 to 2012 Copyright by Jason W. Moser! All rights reserved.



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