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| You know him but did you know he self-publishes? |
Read My Strong Opinion for Sure...
By Paul Kyriazi
Many business people want to have a book published to advertise themselves. I agree that a book is a great tool to give a business person credibility. But I have strong feelings about trying to get published. This is what will happen to you:
You will send your manuscript to publishers that you can convince to receive it. It will sit there for months, even years, and nobody will read it. And if they do, they will want you to completely re-write it. And then they will tell you, it's still not good enough to publish. I personally know of two people that happened to, both in Japan and the USA. Hah. Publishers are the same the world over, it seems.
Or if you are very lucky they will print five thousand copies, with a bad cover design, send you twenty copies, promise you a percentage of the profits, and then send you nothing but receipts for their expenses.
And then when you want to promote your book yourself, it won't be in the bookstores. And when you want your book back to put it out yourself, they will tell you that they own it and will not print any more or give it back to you.
I just talked with Paul Peterson (The Donna Reed Show) at a photo signing convention. He can't get his book back from the publisher, and they won't print more copies, so he has nothing to sign, except photos.
The worst story I heard was in Japan. Movie star Tatsuya Nakadai's wife wrote a book about her husband. She gave it to a large publisher. They held it seven years without doing anything with it. Seven years! When she died (young), they immediately published it that week to cash in on her death publicity.
Why go through all the above, when these days you can self-publish your book? (Not vanity press). You can design your own cover, get an ISBN number, and sell it on Authors Den, Amazon, and your own web sites.
And when you need more copies you can make a phone call to your printer and have them in two weeks. Your book will never go out of print. And you can revise it anytime you want.
These days you don't have to print thousands of copies. You can run 200 at most printers. And now there are web sites printing one at a time like lulu.com. They also have programs for your PC to lay out your book for printing.
And then you will have something to hand out to promote yourself or just to share. Something cheaper than cookies to give to your loved ones on Christmas.
And let me tell you it's a great and satisfying experience. And why wait like Nakadai's wife did? Why not enjoy having your book out now with the cover design, paper, and type style you like?
That's what Gene Simmons of KISS did. He first met with a publisher for his "Kisstory" book. But when he realized they would take him to the cleaners with their endless deductions he published it himself.
You probably won't make a profit. Or if you do, it will take time. But that's not the reason to have a least one book out that represents you, be it auto-biography, fiction, or whatever subject.
Just call up a printer and get the prices and facts. And get ready for one of the most exciting and satisfying times of your life. And then, the next time you go into a book store and see all those big books with cool covers, you'll think, "I've got mine too."
PS Design your own cover. That's a separate story.
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