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I'm wondering if someone with experience in self publishing or who has done their research can point out which services might let me print on demand through a storefront with the lowest possible price to quality ratio. Royalty isn't an issue as unless my manuscript out of the blue gets accepted by a publisher (and it won't) I am just hoping to let people who worked where the story takes place buy a physical copy without shelling out $20 for a paperback.
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Mar 4, 2022 18:56
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Leng posted:Where is that located and are you local to them? Because probably the cheapest answer is KDP with you ordering author copies and selling directly to them. But that will automatically distribute your book on the Amazon storefront. The place is Scotland. Presumably at least one or two friends back in Canada might also want a copy. That *would* make KDP a reasonable option especially since I'm guessing the books quality for Prime shipping. I did ask (and am still hoping someone has something up their serve that blowing KDP out of the water) as quick Google has a lot of complaint about quality. If I'm going to ask someone to pay more than 10 USD for anything it can't fall apart. e: Prior to asking here I tried to find blogs run by Goons to see how they are selling their books but came up blank. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 09:49 on Mar 5, 2022 |
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Mar 5, 2022 08:39
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Leng posted:[Lots of good material] The complaints were more about the binding or ink blogs. I guess it might depend on which printer they use for your book in particular? I am in a country with relatively cheap printers actually. Nearly all of the domestic books including those by small organizations or clubs are "Printed and bound in (here)". Your idea about offset printers makes me wonder if that might not be the way to go. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Mar 8, 2022 |
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Mar 6, 2022 09:04
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Almost finished my book. Is there any aggregator that lets you send coupon codes/free copies of eBooks to friends, family, and reviewers other than Smashwords via Draft2Digital? I know that I can always set the price to zero temporarily and then set it back. But that's hardly convenient. And sending a copy made using an eBook generator probably doesn't have the same feel as being able to download it from the store would.
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Sep 14, 2023 22:00
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Leng posted:Short answer: no. Thanks! Do you know offhand any other stores that let you either use to send the ebook for free or at least (and actually better yet) generate coupons comes to share? I tried Googling and it seems for certain on KDP you cannot do either (unless something has changed); for the rest I didn't find any info including when it comes to Google Play. Your suggested solution doesn't really work as well for me. Mostly because there are some people I'd like to gift it to or even feel the need to as they appear annonymously in it, with their permission of course, but they don't use social media very often and I'm unlikely to be able to talk to them all in the span of even of a month or two. There are also other reasons. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Sep 16, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 09:11
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Sorry about the typo. It was autocorrect but I could have previewed the post. Thank you for the suggestions Especially Apple and Google. I had forgotten Apple even had a bookstore. And Google I couldn't find information on while searching and still can't using what terms I was using; the key seems to be looking for 'promos' and not 'coupons'. Between Apple and Google I think I'd have most people covered. I knew about Smashwords obviously. And didn't even check B&N for the reason you give. As for KDP that link says you have to buy the books at retain; it totally escaped me that I could set the price to $0.04 and buy 100 then set the price to what I want. Too bad about the restrictions because there's only one person in the US and one in India I need to send it to. Also too bad Lulu and IngramSpark don't offer this for their own stores.
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Sep 16, 2023 10:30
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So I'm just now learning that most countries legally require publishers to deposit a copy or two with a national library or a designated university's library. I don't think there's an exception if you as the author are the publisher. At least I can't find one. Some charge for accepting and holding these copies. One country where I want to sell in it's free (aside from the costs of the copies and shipping them) but there are a lot of libraries to deposit with. Only two are phrased as 'You must send a copy to each of X and Y'; but there are about fifteen others noted as being 'entitled to two copies of any book sold in [country]'. I'm guessing that means if they don't ask for them you don't have to proactively send them anything. Which is nice because even with eBooks you have to register and verify new accounts on their websites. Guessing this isn't really taken all that seriously right?
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Sep 18, 2023 18:24
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SimonChris posted:I know am I required to submit two copies of each book to the Royal Library in Copenhagen - and I have dutifully done so - but I have never heard of that applying to every country where you sell the book. I am pretty sure it goes by the residence of the publisher. Do you submit two seperate files of an eBook  e: I mean actually there could be a benefit to two copies of a file in case one gets corrupted and the Royal Library really needs a working copy of Swordy Tales of Swords and Wizardy Wizards. But they can click 'copy here' themselves. Athough I can also see a national library want to keep a fun tradition, or on the less cool side have set rules and need to follow them regardless how silly. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Sep 19, 2023 |
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Sep 19, 2023 00:05
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SimonChris posted:Anyway, I checked and it definitely only applies if you are either a Danish publisher or a reseller importing the book into Denmark. Danes being allowed to buy the book on Amazon isn't sufficient. I assume other countries have similar rules. You also have to register your own publisher, of course. If you get a free ISBN from Amazon, presumably they are the publisher and required to fulfill all legal requirements. Hmmm. I guess even with countries that demand copies for just making a book available in their market... what are they going to do? They can't fine me where I am and I don't think it shows up at passport control if I ever visit lol. Also I don't think a self-publishing service that provides an ISBN becomes the publisher. Unless Amazon is different you're still the publisher and they are just the body that has the number designated to them. For obvious reasons they won't let you use it anywhere else, however. I have seen national ISBN agencies that offer to become the legal publisher. This costs extra and I'm not sure what the benefits would be. Being found on 'search catalogue by [publisher e.g. The Neilson Library or some such]? I was thinking there might be some joint liability for the printed material but that's doubtful since I don't think they read the book beforehand. On that note, I'm a little worried now. I can get free ISBNs from either of the two countries of which I'm a citizen. I did so. But that required verifying my identity and using my legal name as the publisher. Although I chose an imprint I am worried there's a way to look up either the parent publisher of a book or the owner of an ISBN. What I'm putting out isn't smut or libellous or disclosing state secrets but it could still be a massive headache for professional reasons if anyone found out.
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Sep 19, 2023 14:20
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freebooter posted:The Australian government can barely even do anything about the billions of dollars of tax fraud that waltzes out the door every year, I'm never going to bother with this outdated practice I've learned that just because the government won't go after the rich for breaking laws doesn't mean it won't go after regular people for breaking rules or just existing. One place where I've lived, in a first world country mind you, the service line for people on unemployment to e.g. schedule appointments or ask about re-application status was a premium number that charged by the minute. I'll send a copy to at least the national Library where it's being published. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Sep 20, 2023 |
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Sep 20, 2023 11:10
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SimonChris posted:I've been reading the self-publishing reddit and came across this post from a woman who claims to have made nearly 6k in the first two weeks by advertising on TikTok. I particularly like her advice on how to create video blurbs by describing the characters in a way that implicitly sets up the conflict Is that even feasible? Authors with traditional publishers whose books are in hundreds or thousands of bookstores, with an established fanbase, and on bestseller lists in their genre can sell just around 1,000 copies per week on a nice week. When BookTok propelled an author to 4,000 copies per week for a couple of weeks it made the news. So is she selling eBooks for $10 to ~450 people per week or making that much profit on ~300 print copies per week? I may be talking complete rubbish and actually hope I am. I'm phrasing it this way to be easily refutable if it can be refuted.
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Sep 21, 2023 20:25
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You might be getting tired of me but it's not in vain. The book is done, minus some minor tweaks to be made after reviewers get back to me on points of fact not style. So, two questions: 1) When IngramSpark says they distribute print books to Chapters and Barnes & Noble and Waterstones UK, does that mean they will actually offer your book for sale on these retailers' online stores and pod when someone makes a purchase? Or only that these retailers can buy the books to sell online, if they decided to do so? 2) Which, if any, conversion services are A. free or close to it, B. don't place their own logo on your front matter, and C. let you use the files outside of their own stores if they're also self-publishing platforms like D2D? I've tried a few I found Googling and so far did not have luck (e.g. Readsy places a highly inconvenient 'Made with Readsy. Convert your own eBook for free today on readsy.com' in a font size larger than anything else on the page. Which is a shame because the Readsy proprietary font is stellar.) I don't have the desire to make and then delete accounts on others fruitllessly before I've asked here. Free offline convertors either messed it up i.e. I didn't do it right and don't suppose I'll figure out how to do it right (Calibre) or did not work on my computer. Many thanks! Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Oct 3, 2023 |
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Oct 3, 2023 09:10
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Bright Bart posted:1) When IngramSpark says they distribute print books to Chapters and Barnes & Noble and Waterstones UK, does that mean they will actually offer your book for sale on these retailers' online stores and pod when someone makes a purchase? Or only that these retailers can buy the books to sell online, if they decided to do so? I got a response and it's the latter case. Self-publishing with IS doesn't mean your book will be available on e.g. Chapters' website. Just that these retailers can buy copies through IngramSpark distribution. Your IS book is not automatically reviewed by any of the retailers to see if it meets their standards. You must contact the stores directly and individually. So I guess now I'm just asking for that elusive free-ish ebook convertor without watermarks/tags or the inability to use the files created somewhere else.
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Oct 3, 2023 18:39
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In lieu of lack of leads I ended up brute forcing my way through ebook creators to find one that met that criteria of free, without tag text, and giving you the file to do what you like with it. Took a while because I didn't have my hope in Amazon being that last one, but Kindle Create does all of this and didn't even require an Amazon account to boot.
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Oct 5, 2023 21:44
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If anyone is comfortable sharing their books2read universal link I'd appreciate being able to see it. Doesn't have to be your own, actually. Any universal link for any book. I'm having a hard time locating an example of how it looks as Google just shows me pages talking about b2r universal links and why you should have one. Can't find anybody just like 'Check out my universal link on books2read here:'. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Oct 8, 2023 |
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Oct 8, 2023 16:53
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Thank you. I don't think I would have found these otherwise. I like them. They're clean.
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Oct 8, 2023 17:17
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Leng posted:But you can ask for the info to be suppressed for privacy reasons. So. Both agencies have now gotten back to me. One told me that my address and phone number and email can be suppressed and in fact that is the default for books marked 'I am the publisher as a private individual or sole propriety of a firm of which I am the only employee'. But like you say they cannot supress the name of the publisher or let me use the imprint as the publisher of record. They have to list the parent publisher and as a self-publisher that has to be, with them at least, my legal first & last names as appear on the government ID I showed them. The reasons they gave are e.g. if I libel someone, or write inflammatory hate speech, or if my book is a runaway best seller then the offended party, police, and tax authorities respectively need a clue as to who to seek out even if it's only a name. (Why they can't just release that information only in those cases isn't clear to me. Maybe they don't just don't want to get involved and have to make decisions on what counts as a valid request.) Canada however told me it's fine to use an imprint as the publisher of record and that's what they'll list. The owner of the imprint won't be publicly available although (obviously) it will be in their system. However if I am publishing as an entity even if an ad hoc, non-incorporated one they must list my address, telephone number, and email. Oddly enough the person responding to my emails told me it's fine to enter any made up address that the system recognizes as valid, and enter any phone number that likewise the system thinks is real (although I was told, needlessly in my case, that I should be polite and not use someone or something else's real number). The email has to be real, kinda, because people can complain to them about not being able to reach the publisher at the provided email unlike the provided telephone number, but that it can be a Gmail or Outlook.com address. edit: They told me that the main purpose of an ISBN is so that others can confirm whether a book was published in Canada by a Canadian publisher, everything else is an afterthought. Leng posted:It is searchable on the global ISBN database as that's the entire point of an ISBN. I haven't dug into it to see if all of those entries are the publisher and not just imprints if that's what the agencies provide them. But it does seem there are different purposes of the ISBN system and different agencies prioritize them differently. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Oct 13, 2023 |
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Oct 12, 2023 20:58
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I'm staying out of this except to point out that the whole 'other humans are the real monsters' usually have the human baddies show up midway through without much warning even if not entirely unexpected. And the human baddies aren't already people every reader instantly identifies as being terrible. If this was realized before, carry on. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Oct 15, 2023 |
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Oct 15, 2023 14:26
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I'm not too sure there is an easy way to successfully circumvent the conventions regarding the introduction of human baddies to a sci-fi scenario. i.e. They are to show up in the second act, and do so without much foreshadowing (even if everyone knows where 'Lets head north! The army base there will surely feed and protect us!' is heading. On the other hand the conventions about commoners saving the nation/continent/world/galaxy should be disregarded at every opportunity. You know the ones: 1. A commoner cannot be the proximal cause of saving everybody from an existential threat unless it turns out that they are actually descended from royalty or very, very high nobility or marry into it. 2. Proximal. The poacher's daughter can lead the princess through the forest filled with the death cult invaders. She can acquire the crystal needed to banish them. She can place the crystal in the exhausted princess's hands. But unless she is actually her long-lost sister, or they eloped before the final battle, the poacher's daughter CANNOT be the one to use the crystal. 3. A nomad chieftain is not royalty even if they are called a king or queen or prince. However marrying the chieftain's son or daughter does make a person from a settled civilization royalty. In a parallel, becoming the leader of a sovereign aristocratic order of knights or wizards also makes the character royalty, even if they started out as a blacksmith. But they have to work their way up. Starting the story as the grand master does not count. 4. Rules 1-3 only apply to saving a whole country, continent, world, or universe. A commoner who for instance is born with a special talent or was trained by a legendary order, may save the city.
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Oct 16, 2023 19:06
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Submitted the manuscript to Draft2Digital for a launch in early November. Hopefully I'll get an ISBN assigned in time to edit the file and put it on the copyright page. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Oct 20, 2023 |
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Oct 20, 2023 16:43
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Leng posted:If you bought your own this should be pretty much instantaneous. Nope! I posted a little about how I did get free ISBNs from the national agencies in my two countries of nationality, but wasn't able to 100% withhold personal details and stay anonymous. So I went with the D2D provided one. Not sure if they tell you what it is before the book goes live. I hope so, because I literally left ISB-13: ... on the copyright page. And It's too late to use one of my own.
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Oct 21, 2023 07:41
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Captain Log posted:Just going to ask a quick survey question - My first work isn't published yet but it has chapters. A title alongside a date and location if appropriate. But no numbers. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Oct 23, 2023 |
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Oct 23, 2023 18:58
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Book has been published and has even sold a copy or two. Thank you for all the assistance! I ended up going with the Draft2Digital provided ISBN rather than take the tiny risk of someone finding out who I am through my own. It wasn't a hard choice given how I'd read a few articles about why it might actually be better to do this than provide your own. But then more recently I've actually come across articles suggesting just the opposite. Usually the reasons are vague e.g. 'Providing your own ISBN leaves no doubts about what rights you have as the publisher' (but the self-publishing services explicitly disclaim both rights and liabilities for your book?) or 'Your own ISBN looks more professional and this won't on its own determine whether stores carry your book but it can be the deciding factor' (really?). One specific claim was that the IDPA's checklist for what is a "professional" self-published book lists that the ISBN is provided by the author and not the service. But I can't find this on the checklist.
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Nov 4, 2023 17:49
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Sorry to hear. And I don't suppose IngramSpark is the one with proper customer service who will make everything right? Gaah. I think it was the IS blog that made me really confused when trying to learn how to publish my first book. There were so many discrepancies in terms of advice. One or two posts said that you should go for the free ISBN provided by the service. Another two said to always get your own numbers, one for the semi-vague reason that 'It looks more professional and retailers might reject your book if the ISBN is ascribed to IG or D2D' whereas another said even more vaguely that 'Using your own number is the only way to unambiguously retain all your rights to the book.' When it came to self-publishing a book to get the attention of traditional publishers, the blog was outright contradictory. One post said it's a fine path to take as publishers want to see you that what you put out is bought by readers and liked by them and just needs better distribution; that this can not only get you a deal but a better deal than if you came in naked. Another post however said this is an absolutely terrible plan as it is hard enough to get publishers to look at authors who've self-published let alone an actual title that has already been self-published; that if your goal is to ever publish traditionally you should stay away from self-publishing. (Why IG would post someone saying this is a little beyond me even if it were true.) Overall I feel like I've become quite comfortable with the process of publishing a book through IS or D2D in a basic way, but actually more confused about optimizing your output than I was before I started reading about it.
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Dec 7, 2023 14:45
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