There are 3 main vanity or self-publishers: Xlibris, iUniverse, AuthorHouse. Read online material comparing them. They also in passing mention Booklocker which I have not looked up yet. Watch out for extra chrges if you sign up with anybody, as some try to charge extravagantly for things no writer needs etc. We gotta bug the published writers' group and find out what they did...
Hello. I get a lot of questions about how to get a publisher. I have strong feelings about this. This is what will happen to you:
You will send your manuscript to publishers that you can convince to receive it. It will sit there for months, even years, and nobody will read it. And if they do, they will want you to completely re-write it. And then they will tell you, it's still not good enough to publish.
Or if you are very lucky they will print five thousand copies, with a bad cover design, send you twenty copies, promise you a percentage of the profits, and then send you nothing but receipts for their expenses.
And then when you want to promote your book yourself, it won't be in the bookstores. And when you want your book back to put it out yourself, they will tell you that they own it and will not print any more or give it back to you.
I just talked with Paul Peterson (The Donna Reed Show) at a signing party. He can't get his book back from the publisher, and they won't print more copies, so he has nothing to sign, except photos.
The worst story I heard was in Japan. Movie star Tatsuya Nakadai's wife wrote a book about her husband. She gave it to a large publisher. They held it seven years without doing anything with it. When she died (young), they immediately published it that week. (I get angry every time I type this part)
Why go through all the above, when these days you can self-publish your book. (Not vanity press). You can design your own cover, get an ISBN number, and sell it on Authors Den, Amazon, and your own web site.
And when you need more copies you can make a phone call to your printer and have them in two weeks. Your book will never go out of print. And you can revise it and anytime you want. Why wait like Nakadai's wife?
These days you don't have to print thousands of copies. You can print 200, or 100 or now there is even printing one at a time at sites like lulu.com. They also have programs for your PC to lay out your book for printing.
And then you will have something to hand out to promote yourself or just to share. Something cheaper than cookies to give to your loved ones on Christmas.
And let me tell you it's a great and satisfying experience. And why wait like Nakadai's wife did? Why not enjoy having your book out now with the cover design, paper, and type style you like?
That's what Gene Simmons of KISS did. He first met with a publisher for his "Kisstory" book. But when he realized they would take him to the cleaners with their endless deductions he published it himself.
You probably won't make a profit. Or if you do, it will take time. But that's not the reason to have a least one book out that represents you, be it auto-biography, fiction, or whatever subject.
Just call up a printer and get the prices and facts. And get ready for one of the most exciting and satisfying times of your life. And then, the next time you go into a book store and see all those big books with cool covers, you'll think, "I've got mine to."
PS Design your own cover. That's a seperate story.
Three of the authors I've illustrated for have used lulu.com very successfully. It's a relatively simple process as well, you just import your msword document, upload your cover art, and then it's available on Amazon.com.
DO NOT DESIGN YOU OWN COVER... that's like a dentist filling his own teeth. Besides folks like me gotta eat too! I now have twelve covers on bookshelves, and am always interested in catching the eye of consumers. Remember you say the 10,000 words... I do that one picture that exemplifies them!
