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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. 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.
Sponsored Publishing -- the main
emphasis at Pawpress...Usually we publish new sponsored book titles
through our classes, but we are open to submissions if accompanied
by sponsors to defray publishing and promotion costs
In sponsored publishing, the publisher is funded either by
individuals or organizations -- not the author -- to produce books.
Funding may come through grants as well. As the Pawprints
Literacy Plus program grew, Pawpress began to publish limited
editions of students' work, subsidized by organizations and then
individuals. Children's books, both stories and illustrations, are
done in color to give them the benefit of the look the children
created.
Adult stories are printed in the Stories From The Heart
series, in trade paperback (perfect bound) books, with full color
covers and black and white interior pages (photos/drawings are done
in gray scale). These are collections of both memoirs and fiction.
The second in the series, Volume 2, was named an Amazon.com Top
Seller. The third, with the subhead, More Enchanting Tales and
Imagination Tools to Help You Write Better Memoirs, is a
companion to Hillebrandt's, How to Write Your Memoirs...Fun
Prompts to Make Writing...and Reading...Your Life Stories a
Pleasure!
For services our sponsored publishing offers to authors, please
see the list detailed below in the discussion of subsidy publishing
-- we offer virtually the same range of services to insure our
sponsored books are finished and distributed professionally.
As with submissions to any publisher, the categories Pawpress
specializes in are important to consider in making submissions for
either sponsored or subsidy publishing. If your book does not fit in
with our other titles, it most likely will not be a good fit for us.
We offer books in the categories listed below.
Pawpress Book Categories and Examples
Memoirs, Animals/Pets/Environment, Entertainment, Humor,
Self-Enrichment/Self-Help, Creative Writing, Literature & Poetry,
Short Stories, Education, Literacy, History, Spirituality
What do we publish? You can see many of our titles by clicking
Pawpress Books. Coming winter-spring, 2008 are:
- An elegant museum quality book with color photos about a
leading light in Los Angeles history, Mrs. Paquita Machris, with a foreword by Art
Linkletter. This is the life story of a woman who was not cut
from ordinary cloth, unless you consider shooting in the house
with your father, and hitting your (unfazed) mother with a stray
bullet, ordinary. We are sad to say this truly remarkable lady
passed away recently. A woman who lived life to the fullest,
Paquita was a wit and party giver extraordinaire, a big game
hunter and conservationist, and gave to numerous organizations
most generously. She and husband Maury contributed thousands of
species to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, and funded
many scientific studies in addition to mounting their own
safaris to collect specimens. Their goal was to provide a place
where future generations could learn about the many
animals around the planet. She will be sorely missed by all who
knew her. An obituary notice can be found in the
Los Angeles Times.
- "The Angel Chronicles," a murder mystery with a connection
to another plane, by J.K. Johnson. The author is a lady who
served 6 years in "the slammer," is now a roofer, with a heart
in art and writing. And a lot of information to share about "the
other side." A book with romance, humor, mystery and
spirituality. It will be coming to you in a hardback, with a
full color jacket. Look forward to a well-spun yarn.
Subsidy publishing at Pawpress...Begun
in 2005, and expanding 2007-2008
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 subsidy printing
may be for you. In subsidy publishing, the author pays for print and
other costs 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 have
decided to expand our services in the subsidy publishing arena.
What services are available to authors
from Pawpress in subsidy publishing?
- 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
- Hiring and 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)
- 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. You will be distributed by 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.
You do not have to spend a fortune. We have
had the good fortune to meet Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of
two excellent books on tackling book marketing in an economical
way. One is entitled Frugal Editor, and the other
Frugal Book Promoter, both available at Amazon.com. Her tips
can save you lots of money, and we are happy to pass along the
news, and work with you on money-saving alternatives. You can
also check her website
http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com.
At Pawpress, we do require the following of potential subsidy
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.
The pros of selecting Pawpress for your
subsidy 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 thirteen 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 next to impossible to get reviews from the big reviewers if
yours is a subsidy book. However, 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.
Interested? Please contact us. We'll be
happy to discuss your project and needs.
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