How to Publish a Book: a Case Study

The Villain of Steam ProjectAnna Martin, Project Manager,

Talk to Cambridge Library Group 22/10/2015

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http://www.slideshare.net/TyndallScientific/images-from-villain-of-steam-48695166

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Slideshare presentation of the images in the book

Who?

• Tyndall Scientific

• Marlinspike publishing

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Tyndall Scientific

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Pre-talk Activity

Look at the books in the display.

Which is: Commercial publisher (professional, established systems, little author control, few returns)

Learned Society pays and publishes

Indie publisher breaks even

Author self-publishes

Author pays a third party such as Matador5

Aims of the Project

• Increase public awareness of the history of science and technology (as part of a larger project)

• Increase understanding and experience of the publishing process

• Personal and career development of author

• A mode of networking

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Targets

• Produce a marketable book

• Sell the book in the Trinity College Dublin bookshop, Amazon and highstreet bookshops and in Kindle and emobi formats

• Raise awareness of Lardner at Trinity College Dublin

• Gain media publicity

• Network7

Evaluating the Project

Viability: minimum viable short run is at least 500 copies

Market research: Saleability of author: reputation, network and past performance,

Saleability of subject: performance of similar competition, market niche, (figures from Nielsen)

Budget and funding8

Infrastructure: WebsitesUse of Wordpress, Studiopress templates,

Fasthosts webhosting

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Infrastructure : Other ConsiderationsBank accounts

Registering for tax

Email accounts

Social Media accounts

International considerations

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Authors Responsibilities

• Produces a draft (Word/ Latex, InDesign or Publisher)

• Does indexing work?

• Manages Footnotes (Zotairo, bibiliographical management)

• Gets images, pays for images and permissions

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Editors vs Book Designers

Editor edits the manuscript / Book designer designs the book (chicken and egg)

Two types of editor: copy editor and commissioning editor

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Researching the Market and Process• Attended courses in publishing and in self-

publishing

• Talked to people, go to Author talks

• Read books on publishing and watched videos

• Researched similar products: mentors and role models

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Deciding on a Publishing Model

Commercial publisher (professional, established systems, little author control, few returns)

Learned Society pays and publishes

Indie publisher breaks even

Author self-publishes

Author pays a third party such as Matador

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Deciding on a Publishing mode

Print on demand?

Considerations: credibility, availability in bookshops, online access, cost, transport

US market?

English or Irish printers

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Createspace

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Lulu (print on demand facility)

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Lightning Source / Ingram (Books in print connection)

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English Short Run Printers

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Chosen Process

• Narrator.me.co.uk

• Imprint Digital (printers, Devon) deliver free to:

• Distributors Central Books

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Production Process

Apply for ISBNs, (includes information about the distributor,

Turn number into barcode (free programs)

Pricing,

BISAC code

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Completing the Manuscript

Foreword

Bumph

About the author

Proofreading (turns to pdf format)

Getting it perfect

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Some Copy Editing Considerations

House Styles and Style Guides / Manuals

Curly quotes vs. inverted commas,Hyphenation,Standardization of numbers, spellings and treatment of references.N dashes vs M dashes and hyphensFont, Justification of textStyle and placement for running headersTreatment of quotes, subheadings, lines around pictures

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Preparing for the Launch

Launch: venue,

Catering, music, photography, timing, availability of copies, who will sell the books? Who to invite?

How will people be expected to pay (card reader? Bank account?)

Will there be a photographer?

Who will say and do what? (speeches)24

Production Process: ISBN

About the book information and cover upload,

Title editor, look inside.

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The Cover : Artwork

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Typesetting

These days typesetters lay out the book and advised on style and format. They produce the results as a print-ready pdf.

If you want to change anything you have to go back to them.

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The Printing Process

Instructing the printers (payment in advance)

Getting a proof

Getting it perfect and quality control issues

Transport to the distributors

Sending out frees and review copies

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Other Formats

Creating Kindle and emobi versions,

Ebook distributors,

Uploading an ebook to Amazon Direct

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Marketing and Publicity

Historians review book

Publicist Graham Keal to write

articles,

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Marketing and Publicity

Postcards ordered from Moo or printing.com

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Marketing and Publicity

Lifesize cutout

Photography by Will Tupman

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The Launch

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Book Signing

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Meeting the Public

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Matters Ongoing

Market to societies and railway shops

Continue to give talks and market,

Ongoing accounts with distributors and outlets, tax returns, website maintenance,

Collecting payments

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Assessing the Project

• Was it worth it? - Finances

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Expenditure considerations For 700 copies For 300 copies

Images £300 £300

Author (gets 100 free copies)

Editor

Design

Proof reading

Website/ email £20 per year running costs

£20 per year running costs

Marketing and promotion £130 £130

Printing £2,500 for 700 £1,500 for 300

Distribution £2 per copy? x 600=£1,300

£2 per copy? x 200=£400

Launch (venue, food, photography)

£300 £300

Total £4,550 £2,650

But: Transport and postage and packing per copy and Amazon discounts Or:

£7 Per copy £7 Per copy

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Potential income 700 copies 300 copies

£13.99 x copies – 50 review copies/ ignoring author frees

£9,093.5 £4,197

Minus expenses £4,550 £2,650

Total £4,543.5 £1,547

But: Transport and postage and packing per copy and Amazon discounts

Up to £7 Per copy - £2 saved on distibution =£5 x 650=£3,250

Up to £7 Per cop- £2 saved on distribution= £5 x 250=£1,250

Total £1,293.5 £1.120

Contingencies?

Total

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A Note on Amazon Advantage

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Some Issues

Dangers of distributing directly

Advantages / disadvantages of using a distributor

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Goals Met- Book in Bookshops

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Goals Met- Book Available Online

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Goals Met- Public Awareness

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Goals Met-

• Community Understanding of science and technology heritage grows (as part of larger projects)

• Community tradition of publishing continues

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