Oh no – $13,000 and 8 months later still no book in sight!
Desperate to deliver on promises made to clients, equally frustrated that her money was lost, and felt that she had entered into a water-tight contract! Read how to avoid that with your book..
The Nutrition Coach came to me, an utter mess! She was desperate to deliver on sending out her book to clients, they had already paid for!
She was frustrated that her money was lost because she had entered into a water-tight contract with a well-known online publishing house, but her book was NOT published, after eight months of back-and-forth communication!
The Coach had already put her book up for pre order sales because the agent had told her the books were just a couple weeks away…. (they never came)
When she contacted me, she said that she needed help ASAP in order to get these pre ordered books to people as promised. We did it and the client was very happy!
Things can be done fast. It’s in the planning and knowing what to do.
What we can learn from this, there are (3) Ways to Publish your Book:
(1) You search, and search and search
SEarch until you find a traditional Publishing House that will offer you a contract to publish your book.
Traditionally, this meant you would get paid an up-front sum for your book in anticipation of sales.
This option has become a rare path for many because the publishing house wants the financial return first and therefore it is probably a good option for someone famous.
Someone who is already well known and setting up interviews to promote the book will be easy.
This is the worst option to take. A past client of mine, who insisted on this process has still not found a publishing house that’s accepted his manuscript. That’s now 5 years ago since he started submitting.
(2) You find a boutique publisher
There are many of these and for a price, your ready written manuscript will be edited and published. A convenient way as you do not have to do anything.
What you need to look out for are the details. Will you keep all royalties, or only a percentage?
Will your book be published online in both formats, print and kindle? Or will you have only the kindle version published online and receive a certain amount of the print version in hand?
One client of mine had her book published in this way and she did not realize how little control she had over her book, because when she came to me for marketing (her book was not marketing optimized) she had very little access and rights to her own book, with the publisher she’d chosen.
(3) There is the self-publishing path
There is the self-publishing path where you keep all the royalties, can use any marketing you wish and keep all the money you make with your book.
Often Authors shy away from this option for several reasons they:
- Don’t know where to start
- Don’t know how to go about it and what is involved
- Think self-publishing is less reputable
None of those reasons are valid when it comes to your reader. They want to read your message NOT know who the publisher is!
So, be clear on what outcome is important to you, and chose the right publishing path to achieve that outcome.
There are a lot of other examples of what to know and look out for when writing a book in my group, which you can join here: The Profitable Author Hub
