Certainly romance readers like science fiction readers are loyal to their brand, namely the author. However if your content is good and you have a professionally edited manuscript then publishing on your own as an eBook and priced below the market range may give you a better chance at success (selling copies). Self-published fiction has always faced hurdles however based on these romance sales figures it seems the eBook format will offer a better than average opportunity at reaching an audience.

If a self-published author has a hefty marketing budget of several thousand dollars they can spend to market and get publicity results, not the same as a traditional publisher but enough to hopefully start gaining momentum. Distribution and sales will never be the same as a traditionally published title since the big companies have strong relationships with booksellers of all types which a self-published title will never have. Even contracting with a commission sales group or hiring a traditional book distributor the results will never match what a large New York publisher can achieve for the same title.   

The cost of self-publishing will vary widely, from a handful of free programs to upwards of $50k. Most of the large print-on-demand companies will charge an inexpensive basic rate but the added products, services, marketing and fees typically end up around several thousand dollars. In the end you have a mass-produced book that looks and feels like tens of thousands of other titles printed by the same company. This in no way will identify you as a successful author. 

Anytime you are struggling with a decision on how to publish your writing the most important consideration are your personal goals as a writer. The choice is dependent on what you hope to achieve as an author and the plan you develop to meet those goals. There are many paths to success as an author, some easier than others but the basic consideration is the personal success goals of the author. 

Regardless of what choice you make or which path you take the bottom line is content. If your writing is good and well edited then you have a chance of being successful as an author.  Readers are fickle; those that love Harry Potter can’t stand Stephanie Meyer. Love James Patterson and hate Patricia Cornwell. This simply means you won’t please everyone except immediate friends and family but they are hardly the audience from whom you need approval. The consumer is the final judge of your content and they buy books and then tell their friends. 

Aaron Rosenstein is a Senior Marketing Manager for Amazon’s self-publishing division was recently interviewed for an article by Bernard Starr posted to The Huffington Post. When asked if he was uncomfortable with publishing junk through their self-publishing operation Mr. Rosenstein replied, “We’re printers.” 

This answer goes to the heart of the self-publishing problem, these companies are not publishers, they are printers. Their business model is predicated on selling products and services to writers and calling it “publishing.” Having worked for two large traditional New York based publishers I can tell you that self-publishing utilizing the service of these companies is not publishing, it’s book printing. 

The real question is would you rather work with a printer or publisher? Your choice will be equal to your opportunities for success as an author.

Most titles are unsuccessful for a handful of reasons—overpriced, bad market timing, unidentifiable package, poorly written, poorly edited and lack of appropriate marketing are the most common reasons. For the independent author is could be all of the above plus the method in which the title was produced and published. The marketplace for book sales is a tough one and one misstep can result in bad or nonexistent sales. 

Under the very best of circumstance book sales are unpredictable, combine that with a print-on-demand production process with a combination of bad decisions and the result is highly predictable. Failure to market is the single biggest reason why books fail to sell copies. Marketing a book is a difficult process and the only way to maximize the opportunities for any title is to work with a professional. 

Self-marketing without consulting an expert is tantamount to sailing around the world without experience in a boat. You won’t lose your life with a bad book but you can certainly put a hit on your wallet and sacrifice hours treading water. The price of a consult is much less expensive than any product or service you can buy. Starting with a basic consult will save money as well as time.

Once you complete that first manuscript and move on to the next step in the publishing process do not waste all of your time marketing and promoting your first work, begin writing your second and third. Once the first is off the computer and into the hands of professionals handling your publication the sooner you will need a follow-up. New writers without a few manuscript ideas ready to complete, submit and publish are seen as authors with less than stellar value. The more you have in the pipeline to publish the better. 

The business of publishing centers around books to be published, if computers could write bestsellers you better believe these big companies would be the first in line to sign them up. The author is secondary, your book comes first. You are a commodity and as long as you can submit consistent, predictable writing that has the potential to sell in incrementally greater numbers year after year the greater your value. Writers that can achieve that are the gold standard, they are the ones you never hear about but who earn a substantial living as an author.

Once the writing is complete and editing in progress, that would be the time to have a preliminary discussion about the next step. Once the revising and rewriting is complete and the manuscript is ready to go, then is the time to launch into the next phase. However that next phase is dependent on the personal goals for the writer and whether or not the manuscript is strong enough to meet those goals.  

Final marketing, publishing and distribution decisions are highly dependent on the strength of the writing, genre and current market conditions. It might mean writing the query letter and shopping to agents or making independent publishing decisions. However none of that should happen before the manuscript is complete, done, over and finished. I’m all for getting an early start but not too early, the writing comes first.

Writers value their work and that is understandable but at some point reality needs to set in and they must understand they are producing a product to be marketed and sold. That product has value, the writer is a commodity. There are tons of writers that can produce valued content however the market is only so big. It can accommodate only so many books. There is not an unlimited market for quality content. 

As the business transitions the model under which publishers can work will change. There is little time now to nurture authors who need their hand held through the tough times. Resources are limited and the new publishing model will require authors to have a basic understanding of the market. There will be no more hand holding or nurturing through poor sales. Start now, learn the market, and get smart about your business or else you will be destined to become a former author.

First is Random House, Inc. is a division of Bertelsmann AG, a German Corporation. They are the world’s largest general trade book publisher with some seventy imprints, including Crown, Doubleday, Knopf Group, Pantheon, and Random House. They also own the Literary Guild.  Second is The Penguin Group is owned by Pearson, a company based in the United Kingdom. They are the second largest publisher in the United States and Canada. Their imprints include Berkley, Putnam, and Viking. 

Third comes Simon & Schuster, Inc. is a publishing division of Viacom based in the United States. They publish Pocket Books, Scribner and Simon & Schuster. Fourth is Harper Collins is a subsidiary of the News Corporation Limited which is headquartered in Australia. They are a Rupert Murdock company with annual revenues of over $1 billion. Its imprints include Harper Collins, and William Morrow. Its Zondervan unit publishes Bibles and Christian books; they also distribute Hyperion, and Miramax. 

Fifth is Hachette Book Group USA formerly Time Warner Book Group Inc. is a French company which owns the Book-of-the-Month Club and the imprints Grand Central Publishing, Little, Brown and Company; and they distribute Time-Life Books, and Microsoft. The sixth and final major publisher is Macmillan a German company with imprints Farrar, Straus & Giroux, St. Martin’s Press, Tor, Henry Holt, Macmillan Audio, Picador, and they have a huge college division.

Books with low expectations are not the problem, the real trouble starts when your publisher is deciding how to market and sell your book. If as an author you do not understand the nature of the issue then you have a real problem. This means your publisher will never spend time or money marketing you and your book which hinders your ability to have a high sell-through also referred to as percentage of sale. Titles with low expectations but a high sell-through will survive to see another day. 

If your book falls outside of the 10 percent range and you are one of the 90 percent of authors whose books generate approximately 10 percent of the revenues, this only means you have to be much more proactive and understand what goes on behind the scenes and how you can impact the decisions made about your book. Being outside the 90/10 range is not important, it is about your sell-through or percentage of sale that matters and the higher the better.

For example, if a bookseller receives an order for 1000 copies from the publisher or distributor and is only able to sell 600 copies to consumers, the 400 remaining copies are called “returns.” In this case the author’s sell-through would be 60 percent. If 300 copies were returned the sell-through would be 70 percent. Sell-through, also referred to as percent of sale, is the key to a successful career as a writer. The higher the sell-through, the more likely any writer will have a bright future as an author. 

For published authors it should never be about the total copies out in the market rather the placement of those copies and their potential to sell is the key. Higher sell through or percent of sale is preferred over the number of net copies sold. The higher for both the better, be smart about the business and you have a better chance of continuing as a publisher author.

Bookstores started as small independent stores offering new titles to locals and regular customers. Over time the big chain stores launched to massive inventories and larger than life shelves stocked with every imaginable title. These became a publishers dream come true. As times have changed so has the impact of the mega store. No longer are sales growing or inventory turning, the retail sector has evolved. 

As the mega chain bookstore diminishes in importance the small independent bookstore that has managed to survive is finding a new audience that prefers local shopping to spending money in big corporate stores. It appears the next step for the retail bookstore will be the disappearance of the chain store and the emergence of the smaller boutique shops where consumers are willing to pay the higher prices for the latest hardcover. 

Publishing is truly in a transition from print to digital and the retail bookstore has come full circle—from small independent to large mega chain store back to the small independent. In the final analysis this may actually grow book sales, let’s all hope that more people start reading.