There are Four Methods of Book Publishing.

This is an excerpt from my novel writing course at www.writersonlinecourses.com

Plots are difficult. All writers should take some time to learn what themes are, and moral lessons, before they start picking plots. Each genre has plots that are considered genre-staples. These plots fit the story lines readers want. When all is said and done, novel writing is about writing a book that people want to read.

If people do not want to read your book, then it is unlikely that publishers will want to accept it. Many writers write books that are never to be published. Some of them write healing books.' They spend years expressing their feeling and hurts. In the end, the book is finished and they realize that they never really wanted to be published.

Other writers are looking for a venue to express their artistic creativity. These writers do not want to be confined by rules or formulas. They want to write their story, their way.
Until recently these writers never had a chance of being published. Now, e-publishing is expanding the genres, and self-publishing is opening up opportunities. While these venues were considered not really published' five years ago, they are gaining respectability in the publishing world.

Traditional Publishers

The most difficult method of becoming a published author is the traditional route. These publishers receive the most manuscripts and reject the largest number of authors. It can take more than five years to see your book hit the bookshelves.

These publishers never put any money into promoting new authors. New authors are always started on the B list. If the author can sell enough copies of their book, then they are in a better position to negotiate with their next book.

The most important thing to remember is that an advance is only a loan, it is not a pre-payment for the book. Publishers often expect any un earned' portion of the advance to be repaid. This can be in the form of another book, or cash. This is why it is imperative that writers hire a lawyer to go over all contracts before signing.

Traditional publishers also short change' writers is by including a discount clause. This clause means that any book sold below a certain percentage does not earn the author royalties. However, new writers do not know that most books are printed, distributed, and returned to the publisher within six weeks. That means that 99% of all books are out of print within six weeks of release.

The author receives royalties for any books sold by bookstores, but the rest, sold at discount, earn the author no royalties even if the publisher continues to make a profit.
This is not the venue for writers who are not 100% devoted to getting published. The publisher's deadlines are not optional.' If the book is set to be printed in March, and the author is not ready, the publisher looses hundreds of dollars. They will either cancel the writer's contract, or they will remove the cost from royalties.

Traditional publishers are not the place for artistic, freedom lovers to submit. I know many writers who had their books torn to shreds, characters rewritten, and the book completely redesigned to fit the publisher's imprint.' Once the writer signs a contract, they have no right to complain or reject the editor's comments. They must comply or face breach of contract charges.

The last thing writers should be aware of is the rights they sign away. No publisher should ask for rights longer than three years. They should also stipulate whether they want print or digital rights. Also, never sign away the movie rights. The writer should receive at least 50% for any movie deals.

The writer should also know how long the book will be in print. Many publishers have a six week shelf life for the book, and B list books that sell out are not sent back to print. This means that the book writer cannot resell the book rights for another 2 5 years.
The writer should never sign away foreign book rights. They can often be more lucrative than American rights.

The fact is, many big publishers only earn $3 000 - $10 000 for writers. This is very poor compensation for the five years the publisher demands in return.

Small Publishers

Small publishers are easier to sign with. They receive fewer manuscripts and because they use POD printing, can often release more books in a year. The problem for writers is that many kitchen table' publishers are too small to distribute the book.

Never sign with a publisher whose print books are not available at Amazon.com and Barns & Noble. This is a dead give away that the publisher is too small to give their writers good distribution.
They also have creative' contracts. Writers should be wary of any publisher who asks for all rights, including undiscovered' rights. One recent example is MobiFormat ebooks. If an author had sold away all their rights, then they would not receive any royalties for ebooks that are read on cell phones. The publisher would receive all rights for cell phone, audio, digital, PDF, and print versions of the book.

They must also only ask for first rights.' Never sell anything but first rights, and never sign away serial rights.' Serial rights means that the publisher can resell the book over and over, without paying the author any royalties.

It usually takes one to two years to see a book in print.

E-Publishing

The e-publishing association asked 14 ebook publishers how much they made in the last three months of 2005. These publishers, only a small sample of the ebook publishers, made a combined 25 million dollars in those three months. While some authors feel that holding a book' in their hand is the only real publishing venue, it is obvious that many people want to read books from their computer screens and Palmpilots.

Self publishing was once for web sites with cheap ebooks, or professionals who wanted to write a book to sell at speaking engagements. Now, hundreds of self published authors are making more money than many published authors.

The main advantage of ebooks is that the book can be sold around the world, it several formats, and is in print' for the life of the contract. Many print publishers also have deals with book distributors and POD printing companies. They can help the author release their book in print for a nominal fee. Some publishers do this as a courtesy, others do it as a secondary publishing option.

When the publisher offers this option, it is important to determine whether the publisher or the writer owns the rights to the print version of the book.

Epublishers contracts must be read as carefully as other publishers. It is customary that books sold from the publisher's website earns the author 50% of the book's price.
It is possible to contract the digital version of a book to one publisher and the print version to another although this is rare.

It normally takes 18 months to see a book in print.

Self Publishing

There are two methods of becoming self published. The most common is to go to a vanity press who offers to put the book out for a fee, usually more than $1000. - $5000.00. This is usually the worst way to go.

If a writer needs help, they can go to a place like www.guru.com or www.ifreelance.com. These places can put writers in touch with editors, layout, and cover artists. A good editor, with book experience, can edit an entire book in less than 50 hours. If an editor claims they need more time, then they are not true professionals.

A book editor will cost about $200 - $500. This varies. If a writer has a good writing style, and a well structured novel, editing is not a big expense.

Book cover artists charge $200 - $1500 for a good cover. I don't see any advantage to paying more than $300.

Layout is usually $0.50 - $1.00 a page. Do not pay more for a book, especially a fiction book.

Distribution is usually easy. Submitting to Booksurge, Lulu, or going right to the source, lightiningsource POD printers, costs about $100. Ingram's book distributors will charge $50 a month to keep the book listed.

In the USA, ISBN numbers cost money, so does copyright. This can add another $100 to the cost of self publishing a book.

In total, an author can have their book ready for bookstores for $800 - $1500.00 and distributed into bookstores. This makes the Vanity Press route not only expensive, but a disservice to their clients because they rarely sell more than a couple hundred copies.
There are two free methods of getting a book into print. Lulu.com and Cafepress.com will print one copy at a time, and do not charge. Cafepress.com only charges the printing fee. Lulu.com adds 20% to the cost + profit (royalties) of the book.

However, the author retains all rights. This means that they can have the book published around the world, sold through international distributors, and promoted in niche markets, earning more money than they would ever see from a traditional publisher, and keeping their books in print forever.

It normally takes two to six months to see a book in print.

Royalties

This is really where the choice of a publisher matters. While traditional publishers offer writers the least freedom and self publishing the most, royalties are where the real difference lies.

A writer can be published with a traditional publisher and sell 20 000 copies of their book, earning $1000.00. That book then remains out of print until the end of the contract. That same writer can earn $500 - $1000 from an ebook publisher every year for the term of the contract. The same book can earn $50 1000 in five years from a small press. Or, the book can only sell 2000 copies and earn the author $10 000.00.

Royalties are calculated in two ways. They calculate a percentage of the net or retail price. Beware publishers who calculate on net. This can mean that they take the retail price of the book and subtract editing, cover, layout, distributor's listing fee, shipping, bookstore returns, and promotion. Or, it can mean they calculate the total cost of the office expense, book conventions (that have nothing to do with the sale of a particular book), travel expenses, association fees, office supplies, insurance, all the way down to the cost of hiring a cleaning company and the office coffee pot.

Some authors who sign contracts that pay on the net' find they are making less than .05% of the retail price of the book. The publisher usually says they offer 10% of the book's net price, but it is really a price gouge. If the publisher has this type of contract, make sure that it clearly lists the expenses the publisher will deduct.

Most publishers offer about .05% of retail cost of the book. This is much less, but the author knows how much they will receive. If the book is sold at a discount, the author earns less.

Almost all contracts have a clause that states a book will earn no royalties if the book is sold at an extreme discount, usually less than wholesale, or 55%. The publisher still makes money, but they can clear out' old copies without loosing money. This causes a problem when the author only sells a few hundred copies from the initial six weeks, and the rest of the books go to a clearance warehouse. The publisher never looses money, only the author does.
This also explains why publishers do not promote books. It doesn't matter to them whether a book is successful. They will earn back their investment.

Ebooks are slightly different. If they are distributed through a book distributor like Ingrams, then there is a short discount' and the author earns a small royalty. Books sold from the publisher's website earn 50% royalty. Even though the book is an ebook, the author is not permitted to freely distribute copies.

Bookstore Returns

This is the hardest part of the publishing world for most authors to understand. In the last world war the government wanted to protect the publishing industry. To protect the nations intellectual and social wealth they created a system where bookstores could return books to the publisher at the publisher's cost. This system was suppose to stop after the war, but never did.

Now, publishers expect an average of 20% bookstore returns.

To compensate they hold back 20 50% of author royalties for up to one year. Some small publishers hold this back long after the contract expires, so writers should make sure the contract outlines how and when held back' royalties should be paid.

Most bookstore returns are trashed. Many stores are indiscriminant about ordering books. They may order 100 copies of a book for a window display, knowing they will only sell ten.

Writers need to prepare for this, especially self published writers, because if they use Ingrams, they will be subject to bookstore returns. This means that their books will be available in bookstores, but they will need to cover the cost of printing and shipping books that will be returned.

However, Ingrams does allow self publishers to refuse to enter into a bookstore return arrangement. This drastically reduces the book's exposure, but protects the writer from loosing money.