CREATE YOUR OWN INFORMATION PRODUCTS!
Millions and millions of full sized books and small booklets are
sold each year. Most are produced by the large publishing
houses. However, there are also several million books sold
every year by small, unassuming, one-person publishing
companies. Many of these one-person publishers operate from a
home-based office. And, surprisingly, some home-based publishers
earn excellent incomes. (What’s more, some are even becoming
very rich.)
In this report you’ll learn how to succeed as a home-based
publisher, producing books, booklets, reports and manuals on
nearly every subject imaginable. And, if you have no desire to
write your own material, you’ll learn how to get authors to
write for you.
Many authors have chosen to by-pass the usual publishing routes
and, instead, self-publish their own books. Admittedly, this
requires more work, but it could also mean more profits. There
are many reasons authors decide to self-publish, including:
1. It’s very difficult to get a manuscript accepted by the giant
publishing houses, unless you are a personality in some field,
or are already a successful author.
2. Often, the large publishing companies will want to edit a
manuscript in such a manner that is unacceptable to the author.
3. Often, the author can market his own book more effectively
than a large publisher will. This is especially true if the
material is of a non- fiction or of how-to nature.
4. Self publishing allows the author to keep all of the profits.
5. There is plenty of opportunity for the author/self- publisher
to set up other profit center products that are related to the
topic of the book.
So, as you can see, there are many compelling reasons why
thousands of authors have chosen to self-publish. Also, the
availability of low cost microcomputers have made
self-publishing much easier than in past years. This report will
give you a step- by- step approach to self-publishing your own
book.
Note: this report is not about writing. It is assumed that you
will write your own booklets, or hire a ghostwriter to do the
job for you. So the following information will focus only on
the steps you need to take to succeed (make money) as a self-
publisher.
HOW IT WORKS AND HOW TO DO IT STEP-BY-STEP
(1) Generate book ideas and proposals, either your own or by
hiring authors/ghostwriters.
(2) Evaluate these ideas and proposals as to the feasibility of
producing a valued book, and reaching a large group of
prospective customers.
(3) Evaluate the size of the market and determine how you’ll
reach that market. Also, research any competitive books.
(4) Consider various related products that you could sell to the
people who buy your book.
(5) Write and edit the book, pay royalties to an author, or hire
a ghostwriter to do it for you.
(6) Produce a camera-ready copy for the printer.
(7) Begin your marketing effort by designing ads and brochures.
(Often, this step comes before, or during, writing the book.
Your sales material can give you something to live up to.)
(8) Launch a full scale marketing and publicity campaign. (A
full-scale roll-out should follow a test marketing campaign.
You want to make certain you have a truly salable product, and
should spend little money to test the waters.)
(9) Get printing quotes and have the final version of the book
ready to print and bind as soon as you’re sure there will be
sufficient sales to warrant these costs.
(10) Sell follow-up products to your customers.
All of these steps can be carried out quickly. You could easily
have a fast-selling book on the market within 6 months, or less.
SELECTING A TOPIC
The best, and easiest, subjects for self-publishers to produce
are of the how to genre. Books, reports and manuals that tell
readers how to do something are among the liveliest sellers.
It’s very difficult for a small publisher to be successful with
novels, or poetry books. So this report will focus on how to
books. However, you can apply many of the techniques discussed
here to market other kinds of books as well.
To begin, you should publish material on topics which you are
most familiar. You should also have a market targeted and a plan
for reaching that market. Example: you may have in mind to
produce a book about how to make money with crafts — to be sold
in small craft shops, craft fairs, craft magazines and through
direct mail to people who make craft items.
It’s not necessary for you to be an expert on a topic if you
aren’t writing the book yourself. But you do need to be
knowledgeable enough to evaluate the book proposals that are
submitted to you. Otherwise, you’ll have to hire an expert to
evaluate the manuscript for you.
Most small publishers specialize in one general topic. For
example: crafts, income opportunities, computers, a particular
hobby, gardening, health and others. A home-based publisher,
like you, will then produce several books on the same subject.
Thus, greatly increasing sales because you’ll have related books
to offer to the same customer.
Once you have a few potential topics, these ideas must be
evaluated. The most crucial question is, can I sell a book
like this and, if so, how will I sell it? First, you need to
evaluate the size of the market. If there are only a few
thousand people who would be interested in your book, you may
want to reconsider.
Many small publishers recommend that you have a potential market
of at least 50,000 people who would be interested in your topic.
Next, you need to determine if these people are easy to reach.
Are there magazines, trade associations, or mailing lists that
you can use?
Example: Book — HOW TO USE LOTUS 1-2-3 SOFTWARE Market — 2
million owners of Lotus 1-2-3. How to reach — mailing list of
Lotus owners, special magazines for Lotus users, computer
bookstores
You’ll find that most self-publishers suggest that you find a
market niche that is not being adequately covered. Here’s a
sampling of marketing model railroading, self-publishers,
writers, Apple computer owners, computer programmers, gardeners,
health enthusiasts and hundreds of other narrowly defined
interests. Each of these topics may only have a potential market
of 50,000 to 200,000. But this is often enough for you to be
successful. It’s especially true if you have a good way to reach
these people, and if you publish several books about the topic.
Most publishers are recommending that you stick to special
subject books rather than broad coverage books. It seems as if
the day of the high page count, broad topic books are about
over. There are also many groups of people who are interested in
all kinds of narrow, specialized topics.
Other factors to evaluate include: are there any similar books
already on the market, how is your book different (more
valuable), are there people who really want your book, is your
information up-to-date and can you produce exciting promotional
material to sell your book?
It’s important to consider your book’s selling points. If it’s
easy, write an ad for the book, that is, your material has many
selling points, the book will be easier to market. More about
book marketing later.
BOOK TITLES
The title of your book can have a big effect on sales. A good
title will often result in increased interest as well as higher
profits. Example:
HOW TO GET RICH IN MAIL ORDER is much better than HOW TO GET
STARTED IN MAIL ORDER.
Here are a few more good examples of lively book titles:
HOMEMADE CASH, CASH FROM YOUR COMPUTER, IS THERE A BOOK INSIDE
YOU, QUICK CASH — (129 WAYS ANYONE, ANYWHERE CAN MAKE $200
RIGHT AFTER DINNER), HOW TO WRITE A MILLION- DOLLAR OPPORTUNITY
BOOK, WHY S.O.B.’S SUCCEED AND NICE GUYS FAIL IN SMALL BUSINESS,
CASH COPY, I’LL BUY THAT!, HOW TO MAKE PVC FURNITURE FOR FUN AND
PROFIT, CASH IN BY CLEANING UP, $200 A DAY WITH YOUR PICKUP, ADS
THAT SELL, HOW TO MAKE YOUR ADVERTISING MAKE MONEY, HOW I MADE
$1,000,000 IN MAIL ORDER, HOW TO MAKE MAXIMUM MONEY IN MINIMUM
TIME, SECRETS OF HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL MAILING LIST BROKER,
HOW TO WRITE A HIT SONG … AND SELL IT!, HOW TO ADVERTISE FOR
LESS THAN THE COST OF A POSTAGE STAMP! And so on.
A good book title should: grab the attention of the customer,
clearly reveal the book’s subject, arouse interest, define the
area covered by the book and promise benefits to the
buyer/reader. Many books also have a subtitle. The subtitle is
usually about 6 to 15 words long and should reveal even more
about the book. For example:
QUICK CASH! How Anyone, At Any Time, Anywhere Can Make At Least
$200 Right After Dinner.
One more thing about book titles: If you’re planning to produce
ads or direct mail pieces to promote your book, you should
consider a snappy, upbeat title which can be also used as your
headline. The above book title, along with its sub-title, in
national full-page advertisements has sold thousands of copies
of the book, Quick Cash. It’s attention-getting, informative,
captures the imagination of the proper prospect and offers a
benefit.
BOOK LAYOUT
There are several basic decisions you must make concerning the
layout of your book. These decisions will influence the cost you
pay for printing. For example:
(1) Stick with standard sizes — 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches or 8 1/2 x
11 inches. (Some printers may have slightly different book
dimensions.) But just make sure that you request a standard size
that your printer can easily produce. Odd sizes will increase
the overall cost of printing.
(2) Number of pages — All book printers have optimum number of
pages that they can produce. These are usually increments of 4,
8, 16, or 32 pages. You’ll want to make sure your book falls on
these increments or you’ll pay extra for blank pages. The page
count does not include the cover. Example: It may cost 10% more
for a 161 page book than it does for a 160 page book. Therefore,
you’ll want to reduce your manuscript by one page.
(3) Typeface — This is the style and size of the letters that
make up the text. The most used typeface for books is Times
Roman at 10 point size. If you use 12 point size, more pages are
required, 8 point size will require less pages but will be
harder to read. Don’t use some offbeat, out of the ordinary
typeface. Make your book easy to read.
(4) Type of cover — You can decide to use a plain, one- color
cover or a glossy, 4-color cover. If you’re planning to sell
through bookstores, you’ll need to design a fancier, eye-
catching cover. For mail order sales, customers are buying
information, not a pretty cover; so you can put less emphasis on
cover design.
(5) Other factors that you may need to consider are: pictures,
photos, an index, size of chapter headings and subheadings.
You can explore various book layouts simply by examining
different books. Pick one that you like and discuss it with your
printer.
TYPESETTING
Once the book, or booklet, is written and edited, your first
concern is to prepare a camera ready copy for the printer. The
printer must have a good master copy of your book in order to
prepare plates for the printing press. The pages of this master
copy must appear exactly as you want the final copy of the book
to look. In other words, it should contain: headlines, subheads,
margins, justified text, any graphics or pictures and, ideally,
proportionally spaced letters (typesetting).
The only way to get all of the above features is by having your
book typeset. Unfortunately, typesetting can be expensive. You
may pay $20, or more, per page if you hire a commercial
typesetter. However, microcomputers can reduce the cost of
typesetting. Here’s what I mean:
(1) Produce the book on computer and deliver a floppy disk to a
typesetter who can typeset from your disk. This saves the cost
of having the typesetter key in your book’s text, word by word.
(2) Send the disk to a computer owner who has a laser printer
and desktop publishing software and have him/her typeset the
book for you. They will often do this for a reasonable fee of $1
to $3 per page.
(3) Use a modem to transfer the text of your book via a
telephone to a typesetter who can handle modem transmissions.
(4) Buy your own laser printer and desktop publishing software
and typeset the book yourself.
If you already own a computer and are going to publish several
books, then option #4 is the best way to go. This gives you
complete control over the typesetting. It also allows you to
perform editing changes quickly.
There are two other options for typesetting your book. The first
is to use a high quality typewriter to produce the text. You can
also use the rub-on headline type that can be purchased from any
office supply store. Unfortunately, this will not produce a very
good looking book. And, with today’s competition and readily
available desktop publishing systems, this approach will leave
you a step behind other publishers.
A slightly better option is a computer system together with a
high quality (24 pin) multi-mode dot matrix printer. This will
produce near letter quality text, justified margins, columns and
proportionally spaced text. These are features you cannot get
with a typewriter. So you’ll end up with a fair quality book
(but not near as good as that produced with a laser printer).
My advice is to get, or rent, a full desktop publishing system
to produce several books. However, if you just want to
self-publish just one book, then consider using the services of
a commercial typesetter. Or hire someone who owns a desktop
publishing system. This will allow you to produce the best
master copy for your printer. And will result in a professional
looking book. At a minimum, you’ll want the book’s cover to be
professionally typeset.
BOOK EDITING
There are two phases of book editing. The first step is to edit
the book before typesetting, and before a printing master is
produced. This step is designed to eliminate the majority of
errors.
The second phase is to complete a final editing of the book
after a master copy has been typeset. The purpose of the second
phase is to eliminate any remaining errors. A second purpose of
this step is to cut out or add material and to adjust the length
of the book, if necessary.
You may also wish to adjust the length of a chapter so that each
chapter will begin on a right hand page. You may wish to adjust
the length of the book to save printing costs. For example: as I
mentioned earlier, most book printers operate in set increments
of pages. Many offer 16 page signatures. Therefore, a 160 page
book would take 10 signatures. A 164 page book would take 11
signatures and cost extra because of those additional pages. So
if you can eliminate 4 pages, you’ll save printing costs.
Editing a book takes a considerable amount of time. There are
many things to check for, including: spelling errors, sentences
that are too long, misuse of words, punctuation errors, capital
letters, nonsense sentences, factual errors, omissions of vital
material and so forth. Eliminating spelling errors is usually
the easy part. If you have a computer, you can use a spell
checker program to catch most mistakes.
I usually make about three passes through the entire book
looking for errors. When an error is found, I’ll mark it with a
red pen so it is easy to find. When the entire book has been
edited I return to the computer and make the necessary changes.
Then I’ll print the book one final time and again check for
errors. Finally, I’ll have another person make a last check for
me. Having another person make a final check of the book can be
beneficial. They will look at the book with a fresh view and
catch errors that you may have overlooked.
One of the most important parts of editing is to check the
book’s facts, and its completeness. You must make certain that
the book contains no factual errors and that it adequately
covers the topic. If your book falls short in these two areas,
it will most likely be a failure and a waste of your time and
money, as well as a waste of your reader’s time and money. So
always double check each fact and make certain that all of the
important facets of the topic are discussed. In other words,
make sure that your book has something informative to say …
and that it’s said correctly.
After the book has been typeset, you can make one final check to
look for small errors. It’s almost impossible to catch all
errors, but you’ll want to remove as many as possible. (Note:
there are minor errors in this report. See if you can find
them. It’ll be good exercise.)
PRINTING THE BOOK
Costs to print a book can vary widely, depending upon many
factors and upon the printing company that you choose. Examples:
(1) The type of paper used in the book and on the cover. There
are many different grades of paper from which to choose.
50-pound offset paper is commonly used for the interior of most
books.
(2) The book’s dimensions and number of pages.
(3) The number of books printed.
You’ll pay a much higher cost-per-book if you have, say, 1,000
copies printed rather than 5,000 or 10,000 copies printed. But
the number of books that you produce should also depend upon how
many you think you can sell within the first year of marketing.
You can always order an additional printing, if your book proves
to be a fast seller. The price-per-copy usually decreases at
about 2,500 to 3,000 copies.
You’ll want a sufficient number of pages in your book to
adequately cover the topic. Don’t write in a too wordy routine
just to add extra pages. Make sure that you have something worth
saying … then say it succinctly. How-to readers dislike
rambling prose. So leave all fluff out of your book and get to
the point.
At the same time, you’ll want enough pages in your book to
suitably impress the reader that it contains an adequate
coverage of the topic. You can’t completely cover a wide
ranging subject in less than 100 pages. You may need 200 or 300
pages. However, some narrow topics can be nicely covered in 10
to 50 pages. (This booklet is an example.)
It’s often acknowledged by self-publishers that page count
determines the price you charge for your book. But, in general,
I disagree. To me, it’s the value of the information you provide
that should determines price. For example, if you have
discovered a unique, fast, easy, low-cost way to make fuel for
automobiles at home, and can relate that information in 6 just
pages, you can most likely sell your report for a very high
price. Who cares how many pages it takes? It’s the how-to
information that’s important.
Once you have the complete specifications of the book, it’s time
to get printing quotes. You should contact at least 4 or 6
printers for these quotes. Too, many printers will give you
samples of their work.
Here’s a typical request for a book printing quote:
Please quote prices for the following book, Cash From Your
Computer.
120 pages, trim size 8 x 10 inches, 2 color glossy cover,
perfect bound, printed on 50-pound offset paper.
Quote prices for 1,000, 3,000, and 5,000 copies, including
delivery price. This book is to be finished within 30 days of
receipt of camera ready copy.
Before you choose a printer, be certain to check on reliability,
quality and length of time to produce your book. Ask for a few
customer references and don’t be bashful about checking with
them about the printer’s reliability and qualifications.
You don’t always want to go with the cheapest price. For
example, you may find a nearby printing company that will print
your book at a slightly higher price than a far away competitor.
But you can pick up the books yourself, thus saving the cost of
shipping which may lower the overall cost. The most important
thing you can do is to find a printer with whom you can easily
work. A printer who will readily work with you can provide a lot
of help getting your book ready for printing, thereby saving you
time and money. While price is an important factor, I look for
reliability, honesty, speed and service first.
BOOK MARKETING
Book marketing efforts really begin before the book is even
printed. You must define and identify your most likely
customers, determine why they would want your book, design
benefit laden ads and brochures and direct your ads toward the
most likely place your prospect will see it. It can also consist
of developing a wholesale program to dealers, wholesalers and
bookstores.
Other marketing methods include: sending publicity releases,
mailing review book copies to editors of appropriate
publications and, perhaps, appearing on radio or TV talk
shows. There are literally hundreds of different ways to sell
your books. One self-publisher sells 30 to 40 books every day by
hawking them on the street! Imagine … no ad costs, no direct
mail costs, no discounts, no postage … just pure profit.
Some publishers go so far as to design an ad, or direct mail
piece, for their book before they even write it. If they have
trouble writing a hard-hitting ad, they would probably have
trouble selling the book. Too, a pre-publication ad can give
you something to live up to as you prepare your book.
All book ads, direct mail pieces and brochures should focus on
the benefits that the book will give the customer. These
benefits include: more money, a better job, health, happiness,
knowledge, love, luck, personal improvement, and so on. Your ads
need to convince your prospects that they’ll enjoy these
benefits by buying your book. Therefore, your ads must be
eye-catching, descriptive and inspirational. If you don’t want
to tackle writing your own ads, hire a direct response
copywriter to do it for you. The really goods ones can often
bring you more business than you can handle. Look in direct
response trade journals such as Direct Marketing magazine and DM
News for copywriter listings.
Another important factor to consider is the overall appearance
of your ads and brochures. Simply put, they should look
appealing and be easy to read. Make sure that you follow the
rules of typesetting, proper graphic techniques and, most
importantly, employ a stop-the- readers-in-their-tracks headline
and use well written, compelling ad copy.
Many self-publishers who sell by mail order offer some form of
money back guarantee. Most offer a 30 to 90 day refund for
returned books. Owen Publishing always gives a full year. A
good, reliable guarantee will definitely improve sales of your
book.
Mail order book sales can also be increased by adding incentives
such as: 10% discount when buying before a certain date; free
report with each purchase; buy four books get the fifth one
free; or some other low-cost freebie. A bonus for promptness
almost always increases book sales. But remember, when you’re
mentioning your bonus, relate the benefits derived from that
bonus … not just the bonus itself. If you intend to sell your
book via mail order, observe the ads used by other booksellers
and take time to read several books about mail order techniques.
One of the lowest cost ways to sell your book by mail is called
the two-step method. Using this strategy, you place low- cost
classified ads to obtain inquiries for your book. You then send
to each inquiry a packet of information, including an effective
sales letter. Most often, you’ll want to send a follow- up
mailing to those who didn’t buy. And offer an additional
incentive.
This two-step method is the lowest cost way to start. It’s used
by some very successful companies, and has led many self-
publishers to success. As time goes on, and your experience
increases, expand into display ads and direct mail campaigns.
OTHER SELLING TECHNIQUES
One way to promote your book is by making personal appearances
at book stores. You can arrange a book signing party with the
book store owner or manager. The book store orders 50 or 100 of
your book and advertises the party. The author personally
autographs each book as it’s sold. Some authors go on national
tours that encompasses autographing parties, talk show
appearances, speeches, seminars and trade shows.
It should be mentioned that this way to sell your book is, in reality,
difficult. Getting book store owners or managers to agree to
book signing events takes some doing. Your topic must be very,
very interesting and you must be convincing enough to get your
foot in the door. It takes work, but it can be a lucrative way
to sell books.
The dealership selling method works well for many self-
publishers. There are many mail order book sellers who may be
interested in selling your books for you on a dropship basis.
The mail order book dealer advertises your book(s) in his
catalog and when an order arrives, sends you 50% (or whatever)
of the retail price along with a shipping label addressed to the
customer. You then ship the book directly to the buyer.
This method works very well if you have camera-ready advertising
brochures for the dealer to insert with his catalog or other
mailings. The dealer will put his name and address on the
brochure and have several thousand copies printed. He then
distributes these brochures along with his other sales
literature or, perhaps, even runs ads for your book.
Dealers can be found by placing small, inexpensive ads in the
opportunity-type magazines, and by adding the tag-line Dealer
Inquiries Invited to the bottom of your own sales materials.
There are many self-publishing groups that work together in
co-op marketing, either through book shows or by direct mail.
You may want to take advantage of these co-op efforts. Also,
there are many book shows going on all the time throughout the
country where you can exhibit and sell books directly, or make
contact with wholesalers.
ADDITIONAL INCOME
Here are a few other ways your book can produce money for you:
selling through book clubs, selling subsidiary rights, movie
rights (wasn’t there a movie called How To Make Love To A
Married Woman, or something like that, based on a how-to
book?), or by selling foreign rights.
Anyway, all of these methods can produce some excellent profits
with little extra work on your part. It is suggested that you get
involved with a local self-publishers or writer’s group where
you can develop different ways to make money with your book.
One of the best ways to produce additional income from your book
is by selling products that are related to the book’s topic. If
you’re selling a book about making money with computers, for
example, you should include a catalog other computer books or
shareware software.
When you get an order for your main product (your book), you
ship the order along with a catalog of your other products.
Since the customer has already expressed an interest in your
topic by buying your book, a certain percentage of those buyers
will also be interested in your other related products. That is,
of course, assuming that your customer was satisfied. You can
get these other products by developing them yourself, or by
acting as a dealer for other companies. Some self-publishers
make more money from these bounce back catalog sales than they
did from the original book sale.
As your sales increase, you’ll need to keep a customer mailing
list. You can then mail catalogs or information on your latest
book throughout the year to your buyers. Whenever possible,
you’ll want to include discount coupons or other sales material
in the book itself. Why? To capture many of the names of people
who buy your book through bookstores or from dealers. You’ll
notice that many smart publishers include sales literature or
catalogs on the last few pages of the book in order to generate
additional sales.
Another important aspect of marketing is the manner in which you
operate your business. You should always bend over backwards to
treat the customer respectfully. Answer all complaints and ship
all refunds promptly. Process all orders fast and reply to every
inquiry the same day, if possible. You want to develop a good
reputation for your company, if you ever expect to harvest
repeat orders.
INCOME POTENTIAL
Many self-publishing authors have become millionaires. Most make
an above average living. Writing and marketing your work, the
essence of self-publishing, takes learning, practice,
perseverance and determination. The work is easy. It’s not
like mining 16 tons of coal. But your brain must be engaged at
all times and you must constantly seek ways to better market
your book. About 5% of your efforts will be tied up in producing
your book … the other 95% will be marketing.
Understand this: No matter how good your book is, now matter how
well written, no matter how timely or interesting the topic,
nothing will happen until you lead your proper prospect to the
point of taking out his or her checkbook and actually buying.
So keep in mind that, not only must you prepare a salable book
or report, you must begin to master the techniques of marketing.
The two skills, writing and marketing, can be easily learned.
And, as you progress, you’ll discover pockets of profit that can
send your earnings sky high.
The potential for earning is staggering.
SOURCES
Writer’s Digest magazine at your newsstand
How To Write How-To Books & Articles by Raymond Hull Writer’s
Digest Books
Writer’s Resource Guide Edited by Bernadine Clark Writer’s
Digest Books
Writer’s Utopia Formula Report by Jerry Buchanan TOWERS Club USA
PO Box 2038 Vancouver, WA 98668
How To Make Your Advertising Make Money by John Caples Prentice
Hall
Ads That Sell by Robert Bly 174 Holland Ave. New Milford, NJ
07646
The Secrets of Mail Order Unlocked by Ed Simpson Owen Publishing
Company Battle Ground, WA 98604-0010
The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter Para Publishing PO Box
4232 Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Publishing Short-Run Books by Dan Poynter (address above)
Plus, you’ll need a good dictionary, thesaurus and a book on the
elements of grammar.
CONCLUSION
Self-publishing your own book, like most worthwhile endeavors,
takes some amount of preparation. You can hire experts to do
part of the work for you (design covers, typesetting, editing,
indexing, ghostwriting, etc.). It is recommended that you do much
of the work yourself in order to save money and to help you
learn the ins and outs of book publishing.
You can save yourself some problems by preparing an overall plan
for producing and marketing your book. You’ll also want to
gather additional products related to the book’s topic that you
can sell for additional profits.
Thousands of successful authors have found that self-publishing
is the only route to take. Why not you?
