| My visit to Published by Westview proved to be a | | | | book and republish them. I don't want to self-publish |
| great learning experience. While I'm accustomed to | | | | because I don't want to handle distribution this time. I |
| how the publishing industry operates, I did not know | | | | thought I would go with a publish-on-demand |
| much about the printers that publishers work with. | | | | company so the books could be listed in Ingram's |
| Lightning Source, In (LSI) is probably the most | | | | catalog. |
| popular printer for books. Having LSI print a book | | | | That's when I started my research with Published by |
| means automatic distribution through Ingram. That | | | | Westview. Mary Catherine walked me through my |
| doesn't mean your books will be on the shelves at | | | | options. I could print with LSI for about the same |
| your local bookstore, but it does mean that the store | | | | price as I could print with another company. |
| can order your book for a client because it will be | | | | However, LSI does not offer glossy pages; the other |
| listed in the Ingram catalog. It also means your book | | | | printers do. LSI offers Ingram distribution; the other |
| will be available through This is something you may or | | | | printers do not. The drawback is that my book will |
| may not want. Let me explain. | | | | be listed on You may not think that is a drawback, |
| During the first printing of the Sid Series, I discovered | | | | but if you consider that Amazon purchases your |
| that color pages are about three times more | | | | book for 55 percent off your list price (bookstores |
| expensive to print than black and white pages. But, I | | | | only charge 45 percent), you will make no money in |
| couldn't offer a children's picture book and not have it | | | | the transaction. Let's say your book retails for $15 |
| in color. The heavier, glossy paper I used for the | | | | and Amazon buys it from you for $6.75. It cost you |
| cover cost extra and so did having them stapled in | | | | $9 (plus tax and shipping) per book to print in |
| the center. Had I selected a non-standard size for my | | | | paperback (hard cover would be $10 per book), so |
| book, that would have cost more too. There were | | | | you just lost 75 cents on that paperback book sale. |
| about eighteen to twenty pages in each book, so | | | | If you price the book at $20, you would break even |
| my first print cost me about $6 per book. I could not | | | | on a softcover. If you go much higher on the retail |
| justify selling such a small book for more than $7, so | | | | price of your book, you lose your market because |
| I ended up losing money on them by the time I paid | | | | no one wants to pay much more than $20 for a |
| tax and shipping. I kept the stock in my office closet. | | | | 48-page book. I can't keep Amazon from selling my |
| Because these books were self-published, I had to | | | | book. They can even offer it in e-book format for |
| manually create mailing labels and stuff envelopes | | | | their Kindle Reader. If I don't go with LSI, I get to |
| whenever a customer placed an order. The books | | | | pack and ship my own books again. What's an author |
| were only available on my Web site. | | | | to do? |
| When I sold out of the first print run, I did not | | | | First of all, more research is needed. Therefore, I'm |
| reorder because I had written another nine books for | | | | going to a used and new book store to compare |
| the series by then and I couldn't afford individual | | | | paper, finished size, and average price for this genre, |
| printing of all twelve books. So, I offered the stories | | | | and to see how certain bindings hold up after use. |
| as e-books and put the project on hold until I could | | | | Afterward, I should have a better idea of which |
| get all of the stories illustrated. | | | | route to go and whether or not the market will pay |
| Now that I nearly have all of the stories illustrated, | | | | enough per book to cover my expenses and perhaps |
| I've decided to put all twelve stories into one print | | | | allow me to make a profit. |