It has been my experience that writers and authors tend to believe:
(1) friends, other authors, and colleagues within their own writing group or circle of friends,
(2) the best sales pitch with the least cost and biggest promises of success, and
(3) those offering facts and not promises which is the way I describe myself and other members of the INDI Publishing Group.

There is nothing wrong with believing whom you want to believe, however, if experience makes the difference, then you should be listening to those with the most experience with a solid background in New York publishing. I am not biased towards any form of publishing. For me and my clients, it depends on their personal goals, wants, hopes, and dreams. I pride myself on telling the truth and being honest to a fault. Sometimes writers don’t want to accept the facts.

My professional services and those of my group are not the least expensive and you shouldn’t expect that. Our combined experience is unparalleled in publishing. I don’t make wild promises or offer guarantees, I refuse to paint a rosy picture of the bookselling marketplace, and I absolutely will not associate myself or do business with anyone that is not above reproach. These are the rules I go by and if that fits your criteria then send me an email. I will do everything I can to offer you my expertise and guidance with the goal of making you a successful author.

Suggested retail pricing in publishing, especially the eBook is key to success. Unfortunately the print side of the business has such a rigid discount structure that under pricing the competition while covering the cost of printing low quantities of books makes profitability difficult, not so with eBooks. If a ground floor opportunity ever existed in publishing, this is it! Explore the possibilities; consider launching your publishing career in eBook format and wait for print. The cost of entry to the market is much lower and the possibilities are greater than print editions.

If you own the digital, electronic or audio rights to your print book you can create all sorts of products and set retail prices accordingly. The eBook market is small but growing and the marketing opportunities are endless compared to print.

There is more excitement among New York publishers about eBooks since Apple announced the iPad and I expect to see some innovative and impressive products coming from them in the very near future. Having the ability to slice a typical 50 or 60,000 word manuscript into several smaller eBooks is a marketers dream. This will change publishing as we know it. Print will not die, but the ability to download digital content onto an eReading device is nothing more than the goose that laid the golden egg for independent authors.

For new authors struggling to create an audience, why would you want to launch in print when the price of entry into the eBook market is so low? A writer can take a manuscript that has been professionally edited and create an eBook for a fraction of the cost of producing a printed book.

When publishing independently and working to stay within a budget for production and marketing, wouldn’t your money be better spent on marketing rather than print and production costs? If you already have a printed edition of your book, and you own the digital and electronic rights, why not add an eBook to your product mix? Times are changing, markets are shifting, the eBook is fast becoming a viable market for selling content.

The method of eBook distribution is patterned after the print distribution business which means you need a publisher or distributor to gain access to the marketplace. Print is not going away but more consumers will be moving to the eBook because of price and wider availability of eReaders. If you have interest in exploring the market for eBooks, please contact me through this web site.

* It is estimated there are 350,000 new titles published every year in this country,
* That breaks down to more than 950 new titles published each day,
* The major New York houses publish approximately 35,000 new titles each year,

* There are 6 major publishers in the US of which 5 are foreign owned,
* All six major publishers represent about 95 percent of total books sales in the US,
* It is estimated there are over 70,000 small and niche publishers,

* There are around 6,000 traditional main stream booksellers in the US,
* Large mega-bookstores typically inventory about 125,000 individual titles, and
* The only number that should matter to an author is their percent of sale, and that benchmark is 60 percent.

If an author under contract to one of the large New York publishers and sells at least 60 percent of the total number of copies shipped, they can have a very nice career as an author.

Now you get a picture of the competitive nature of book publishing.

You may have heard the old saying “there are good lawyers, and there are cheap lawyers, but there are no good cheap lawyers.” This is definitely true for publishing, you can publish professionally or you can publish cheaply, but you cannot expect to have a professionally produced book for a few hundred dollars.

If you invest countless hours writing then the least you can do is have your manuscript professionally edited and produced. Your book is your resume; make it the best it can be. All the marketing in the world will not help you sell a poorly written or produced book.

Let’s examine some facts about the independent or self-publishing marketplace.

(1) The success of many self-published titles such as THE SHACK indicates there are good books that started as independently published. However, this book would not be on The New York Times bestseller list without the help of a corporate publisher who bought the book after it had sold over 300,000 copies.

(2) A recent article in Publishers Weekly titled “Big Houses Benefit from Savvy Self-Publishers clearly indicated that the success of a handful of self-published books that made it into the hands of the big corporate publishers has made that New York publishing world take notice.

(3) According to statistics provided by Ingram Books, the owner of Lightening Source, the self-published market will grow at 15-20% each year for many years to come. This of course crowds the market, but creates opportunities for authors who are self-promoters and write really good books.

(4) As the corporate publishers sell fewer copies each year, retail booksellers will search for new opportunities to sell a variety of new categories, and will welcome new unproven authors. If the New York corporate publishers won’t do it, then it’s time for a new publishing model to be introduced to the market.

For authors who want control over their writing, the ability to retain all rights, realize a royalty payment much greater than any corporate publisher would offer, and be willing to take suggestions on how best to package and price their book to maximize its potential in the market, then your time is here. This new hybrid publishing model is ready and available.

Authors have told me time and again that going back to correct the little things in your writing is a never ending process. The manuscript will never be as good as you want. That is why you need an editor, someone who can help you with the process of laying the manuscript out in a logical sequence and help with character or story development.

If you’ve never worked with a true professional, then you need one. Editors help writers establish their voice and improve their writing, self-editing is a long road that never ends.

The reason is lack of editorial control which results in a negative perception of all published books by a POD. These companies publish anything that comes their way. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as the writer understands the limitations before they sign a contract and pay money to publish. POD’s are in the business of printing books for their authors and they do not control the editorial quality of the authors they print. They make money by selling products, services and programs to large quantities of writers and not upon selling books. This is the problem with print-on-demand as a publishing model.

The technology is wonderful, allowing authors and publishers to print small quantities of books in an instant to meet market demand. The problem is market access and the negative perception of the quality of the content based solely on the publisher. Until a company using print-on-demand technology as a form of printing exercises some editorial control over what they publish and not accept anything that walks in the door, the marketplace will continue to turn their back on these books.