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Pawpress Publishing
Options for Authors
Traditional Publishing at Pawpress
What is traditional publishing? The publisher contracts with the
author to pay for book writing services. Typically the publishing
company seeks material that falls within its catalog's book
categories (ex., biographies, fiction, etc.). Some publishers
contract with known authors to write on particular topics.
Publishers typically provide an upfront fee, or advance, against
future sales, though this is becoming less common, particularly if
the author is an unknown. The author is also given a small share of the
proceeds, or royalty. As an author, you can negotiate for subsidiary
rights, such as publishing in foreign languages, movie rights, etc.
Pawpress started as a traditional publishing company. Our founder
published Ina Hillebrandt's first book, Pawprints. We were
thrilled when it became an
Amazon.com
bestseller, and the foundation of a literacy program,
Pawprints Literacy Plus, building literacy skills and kindness
to animals with children grades 1-12, and life enrichment to seniors
through
writing and Spoken Word performance. Though we are planning
to develop more traditional projects, with funding partners in
future, we are not seeking to fund more traditional books in 2008.
Please do not submit to us if you are looking for such a contract.
Self publishing at Pawpress...Since 2005.
Update 2016.
The stigma of self-publishing is really much less than it used to
be, with famous authors choosing to go this route. An author does
need to lay out the upfront costs, but ultimately stands to make a
much higher profit. If you have tired of trying to find a large traditional
publisher, or are unwilling to wait the long amount of time it can
take to get a project approved via traditional means (finding an
agent, having the agent find the publisher), then self publishing
may be for you. In this type of publishing, the costs initially for
the author include print, editing, design and
other items needed to publish his or her book. Turnaround time is
relatively quick, depending on how much editing and design work
needs to be done. Costs vary depending on how finished the project
is when it is submitted. As more authors with such needs have approached us, we decided to expand our services in the
self-publishing publishing) arena.
What services does Pawpress offer authors
who wish to self-publish? We offer the services below to those
wishing to publish using our imprint or preferring to set up their
own press.*
Editing
Scans (photos or other graphics)
Layout and design of interior of book
Cover design, including attention to marketing detail
on front and back cover as well as spine
ISBN numbers (to be able to list in Books in Print,
so that people around the world can find your book)
Preparation of content about your book and you for
listing in Books in Print (BIP); doing the actual
uploads to BIP via our Pawpress account
Bar codes (so that resellers can stock and sell your
book) -- if you decide to publish as an individual, you can
usually obtain the bar code free from the printer. Be sure
to ask!
Library of Congress (LOC) number and catalog
description (content is accessible to librarians and
booksellers around the world, helping them to place your
book among their other titles appropriately, and helping
establish your credibility as an author). Note: as an author
of only your own book(s), you will be able to get a Library
of Congress number, but not a catalog classification
Prepress -- preparation of interior and cover for
printer. Requires time and attention to much detail to
insure layout, any graphics and copy are properly printed,
at the right resolution, so that the look is professional
Overseeing of print production process, including
going over proofs (you will also see proofs to be sure
everything you wanted is as you wanted it)
Conversion for eBooks -- Kindle and other eBook
sellers.
Marketing and distribution: Even if you have been
published by a large traditional publishing house, almost
all authors find that not only do they have to spend time
marketing to sell their books, they also have to spend money
of their own.
At Pawpress, we will work with you to define potential audiences
for your book. We will also produce, as noted above, targeted
content for listing in BIP. In addition, your title will be made
available to customers by Amazon.com and other online resellers,
and eBooks for Kindle, iTunes and other eTailers. You will be
represented by wholesaler Baker & Taylor and in some cases
Ingram. We will be happy to talk with you about specialty
markets if these are appropriate to your books. This could be an
advantage to you in many respects over bookstore marketing -- if
usually means buyers pay for your books outright, and there are
no returns.
We also will put your book up on our website,
which gets over 100,000 hits per month.
"One sheet" -- this is a page used to promote your book in our
catalog and at trade shows. You will get copies to hand out to
your friends to help promote your book. We can also work with
you to create bookmarks, postcards and other marketing items to
help you sell.
Press release: we can produce press releases for you and you can
send them or hire a PR person to do so, or we can do the whole
process for you. This is a fee-based service, depending on your
budget and needs.
* If
you wish to publish under our imprint, we do require the following of potential subsidy
or self-published authors:
The book is a quality project, good concept, written well
The book fits in with our titles...we might consider another
category, but we prefer the books fit with the rather large
number of categories Pawpress currently represents
The author is committed to the project.
This means you are willing to print enough books to give you
a chance of success in the market, which means some are reserved
for promotion. Exact numbers can be discussed.
It also means you will put time, and if needed, budget into
promoting your book. We have experience in marketing (Ms.
Hillebrandt was a Fortune 500 marketing/strategic planning
consultant for more than 20 years.)
You are willing to accept that the first run, which costs
more than subsequent print runs, may well not net you any
profit. Where you can look to generate income is in repeat runs.
The out-of-pocket costs that are not repeated include editing,
design of both interior and exterior, costs to create BIP
listing and Library of Congress designations, creation of
original press release and design of collateral marketing
materials such as bookmarks. Even setup fees at printers are
much reduced and sometimes nonexistent on subsequent print runs,
once the initial steps are completed in the first print run.
While it is true the the first runs don't usually net
profit, we are very proud of first-time author J.K. Johnson, who
has proved to be a dynamo at marketing her first, hardcover
book. In its first few weeks after coming out, she sold several
hundred copies, estimates a sizeable profit after all expenses,
and a second trade paperback run in January.
*The pros of selecting Pawpress for your
book project
Pawpress is run by an author, Ina Hillebrandt, with an
author's sensitivity and understanding of what you are going
through in navigating the publishing waters.
We now have fourteen titles in print, two of them subsidy
books, with two more subsidy books due for release winter-spring
2008. We also have several others in the pipeline as sponsored
or traditional projects.
Hillebrandt's own book, Pawprints, achieved
Amazon.com top seller status. The second in the series of
collections of her students' works, Stories From The Heart,
Vol. 2, was also named a bestseller by Amazon.com. Obviously
we cannot guarantee either numbers of sales or such ratings, but
at least we made it twice so far!
We also will put your book up on our website, which gets
over 100,000 hits per month.
We have experience with producing books in a variety of
formats. Our upcoming subsidy books will be done in high quality
offset. One will be black and white interior pages, full color
cover, hardback with jacket, with a planned first print run of
1500 books. Our other new subsidy book will be done in full
color, large format, soft cover with French flaps (folded inside
front and back 3" flaps); it will be done in a museum quality
finish.
We also have print suppliers who can produce top quality,
highly professional books, both POD (Print on Demand) and offset
printing. We will be happy to discuss the pluses and minuses of
various printing options with you. Questions include how many
books to print, depending in part upon cost vs. realistic retail
sales price, and in part upon potential markets for your book.
The cons of going with any subsidy
publisher
It is harder to get reviews from the big reviewers if
yours is a subsidy book. However, with more and more established
authors self-publishing today, you can still get persuasive
reviews that can be put on your book and in marketing materials. We
can advise and sometimes help with such reviews.
* We will never publish or share your material or personal information without your signed agreement. Please check our
privacy policy.
Pawpress is proud to announce our new baby -- You Are Who You Eat. Illustrated by
the delightful Dedini!
On sale June 8. Pre-order now!
PRE-ORDER BONUS: We'll sign
you up on our VIC list (Very Important
Cannibals). You'll get tastes of cannibal jokes
and cooking tips from the book before it's
available to mere mortals. And pre-ordering
assures your baby will ship on launch day!