management lessons' - the self-publishing process
DESCRIPTION
This slideshow gives an insight into the self-publishing process for my book 'Management Lessons'. It covers: timeline and costs, self-publishing pros and cons, etc.TRANSCRIPT
Management Lessons: a self-published book
How? and Why?
Management Lessons is a self-published book for Business English. In this slideshow I show how and why I made the book.
To find out about the book itself, take a look at this promotional video:
http://www.paulemmerson.com/management-lessons-promotional-video/
My self-publishing timeline with costsWriting at home
(Jan–Mar)Opportunity cost: 12 weeks teaching not done - approx £5400
Piloting in class + revisions(Apr-Jul)
My self-publishing timeline with costsWriting at home
(Jan–Mar)Opportunity cost: 12 weeks teaching not done - approx £5400
Piloting in class + revisions(Apr-Jul)
Graphic design + Typesetting
(Aug)£1200
50 illustrations(Jul-Aug)
£2500
My self-publishing timeline with costsWriting at home
(Jan–Mar)Opportunity cost: 12 weeks teaching not done - approx £5400
Piloting in class + revisions(Apr-Jul)
Graphic design + Typesetting
(Aug)£1200
50 illustrations(Jul-Aug)
£2500
Proof-reading + final amendments
(Sep)£500
Set up online store(Oct-Nov)
£800
My self-publishing timeline with costsWriting at home
(Jan–Mar)Opportunity cost: 12 weeks teaching not done - approx £5400
Piloting in class + revisions(Apr-Jul)
Graphic design + Typesetting
(Aug)£1200
50 illustrations(Jul-Aug)
£2500
Proof-reading + final amendments
(Sep)£500
Set up online store(Oct-Nov)
£800
Total costs: £10,400plus … £???
My self-publishing timeline with costsWriting at home
(Jan–Mar)Opportunity cost: 12 weeks teaching not done - approx £5400
Piloting in class + revisions(Apr-Jul)
Graphic design + Typesetting
(Aug)£1200
50 illustrations(Jul-Aug)
£2500
Proof-reading + final amendments
(Sep)£500
Set up online store(Oct-Nov)
£800
Total costs: £10,400plus … my project management time
When will I recover my costs?
Total investment (from previous page):£10,400
Production cost of one hard-copy book:£2.50
Costs Income
When will I recover my costs?
Total investment (from previous page):£10,400
Production cost of one hard-copy book:£2.50
Costs600 PDFs @ £11 each with £11 profit = £6,600
200 Book+PDF combos @ £20 each with £17.50 profit = £3,500
Income
When will I recover my costs?
Total investment (from previous page):£10,400
Production cost of one hard-copy book:£2.50
Costs600 PDFs @ £11 each with £11 profit = £6,600
200 Book+PDF combos @ £20 each with £17.50 profit = £3,500
Income
So I need to have around 800 sales (mix of formats) to recover my original investment and start to make a profit
Physical production of the bookThis is the (really) easy bit:
Choose a print-on-demand (POD) printerI chose www.printondemand-worldwide.com They specialize in small print runs. 10 is fine. My first run was 500.
They give you an instant quote. You specify book size, type of binding, number of pages, quality of paper, etc.
Get an ISBN numberType ‘ISBN numbers’ into Google. In the UK it’s handled by Nielsen.
Nielsen also act as an intermediary between you (the self-publisher) and the book trade worldwide.
Physical production of the bookcontinued:
You give the go-ahead and they printI got the books by courier after another 10 days. The POD company also handles – automatically –
the legal deposits with the national library etc.
They send you a proof copy to checkMine arrived after about a week. It was fine.
Upload your press-ready PDF to the POD printer’s siteThey walk you through the process – it’s all very easy. They put the ISBN box on the back cover for you.
Self-pub: + and -
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.Material promotes my forthcoming elearning site (www.BEhereBEthere.com).
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.Material promotes my forthcoming elearning site (www.BEhereBEthere.com).Control of certain things, eg illustrations.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.Material promotes my forthcoming elearning site (www.BEhereBEthere.com).Control of certain things, eg illustrations.Time to market
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.Material promotes my forthcoming elearning site (www.BEhereBEthere.com).Control of certain things, eg illustrations.Time to marketHands-on ability to revise text frequently.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.Material promotes my forthcoming elearning site (www.BEhereBEthere.com).Control of certain things, eg illustrations.Time to marketHands-on ability to revise text frequently.
Big initial investment of time and money which may take some time to recoup.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.Material promotes my forthcoming elearning site (www.BEhereBEthere.com).Control of certain things, eg illustrations.Time to market.Hands-on ability to revise text frequently.
Big initial investment of time and money which may take some time to recoup.Some project mgt stress re managing other people: deadlines, quality control, etc.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.Material promotes my forthcoming elearning site (www.BEhereBEthere.com).Control of certain things, eg illustrations.Time to market.Hands-on ability to revise text frequently.
Big initial investment of time and money which may take some time to recoup.Some project mgt stress re managing other people: deadlines, quality control, etc.Fulfilment is literally ‘in-house’: order processing, packing, dealing with couriers.
Self-pub: + and -
New challenge; fun; new roles.Get to keep all the sales income myself.Be free of waiting for a publisher’s phone call.Position myself for an increasingly digital, post-print world.Material promotes my forthcoming elearning site (www.BEhereBEthere.com).Control of certain things, eg illustrations.Time to market.Hands-on ability to revise text frequently.
Big initial investment of time and money which may take some time to recoup.Some project mgt stress re managing other people: deadlines, quality control, etc.Fulfilment is literally ‘in-house’: order processing, packing, dealing with couriersMarketing issues compared to a big publisher:
- No local sales reps. - No catalogues sent to mailing lists. - No stands at conferences. - No marketing budget. - Etc.
Some decisionsQ: A:
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Some decisionsQ: Should I have professional illustrations / design & typesetting / proof-reading?
A: Yes – book needs to have high ‘face value’ and not look like a Word doc saved as a PDF
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Some decisionsQ: Should I have professional illustrations / design & typesetting / proof-reading?
A: Yes – book needs to have high ‘face value’ and not look like a Word doc saved as a PDF
Q: What about production and distribution via Amazon CreateSpace or Lulu?A: No – I want people to visit my site to buy the book; and I want to keep 100% of the income
Q:A:
Q: A:
Q:A:
Some decisionsQ: Should I have professional illustrations / design & typesetting / proof-reading?
A: Yes – book needs to have high ‘face value’ and not look like a Word doc saved as a PDF
Q: What about production and distribution via Amazon CreateSpace or Lulu?A: No – I want people to visit my site to buy the book; and I want to keep 100% of the income
Q: What formats will I sell?A: Hard copy for photocopying; PDFs for printing/IWB; but not Kindle – the tables and charts don’t work in Kindle,
and anyway it’s not how this kind of material is used in class
Q: A:
Q: A:
Some decisionsQ: Should I have professional illustrations / design & typesetting / proof-reading?
A: Yes – book needs to have high ‘face value’ and not look like a Word doc saved as a PDF
Q: What about production and distribution via Amazon CreateSpace or Lulu?A: No – I want people to visit my site to buy the book; and I want to keep 100% of the income
Q: What formats will I sell?A: Hard copy for photocopying; PDFs for printing/IWB; but not Kindle – the tables and charts don’t work in Kindle,
and anyway it’s not how this kind of material is used in class
Q: What about DRM (Digital Rights Management)? A: I have a simple password to open the PDF each time, but more than this is too user-unfriendly
Q: A:
Some decisionsQ: Should I have professional illustrations / design & typesetting / proof-reading?
A: Yes – book needs to have high ‘face value’ and not look like a Word doc saved as a PDF
Q: What about production and distribution via Amazon CreateSpace or Lulu?A: No – I want people to visit my site to buy the book; and I want to keep 100% of the income
Q: What formats will I sell?A: Hard copy for photocopying; PDFs for printing/IWB; but not Kindle – the tables and charts don’t work in Kindle,
and anyway it’s not how this kind of material is used in class
Q: What about DRM (Digital Rights Management)? A: I have a simple password to open the PDF each time, but more than this is too user-unfriendly
Q: What about pricing and discounts?A: Around half the price of a big-name publisher, with good discounts for Ts in low/middle income countries
Where next?
(Possibly) other books/digital products, including by other writers… but just one or two a year
… and coming to me ‘already written and 80% ready’
Deal for other writers: 50/50 after direct costs (design + production) simple contract based on trust
For www.PaulEmmerson.com
Where next?
(Possibly) other books/digital products, including by other writers… but just one or two a year
… and coming to me ‘already written and 80% ready’
Deal for other writers: 50/50 after direct costs (design + production) simple contract based on trust
late 2012: start work on my elearning sitelate 2013: launch?
For www.PaulEmmerson.com
For www.BEhereBEthere.com
That’s all, folks!
To see sample pages of the book, watch my (funny) promotional video, etc. visit my online Store
http://www.paulemmerson.com/store/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=4