Are you writing a book? Or planning to write one?

May be you have written a book already! You're proud, but now you want to hold it in your hand - in print, with a nice cover, neat and pretty - and your name is on it, for the whole world to see. Who wouldn't?

You have something important to say ... but now you cannot find a publisher to accept your book and make your dream come true.

This is not so much the author's fault, it's the publishing system : established publishing houses only accept books of which they expect to sell a lot of copies - so this is not really a matter of quality, but primarily a matter of popularity.

Even today, the desire to publish a book in print is greater than ever - at a time where the electronic media dominate our world of text and image. As a matter of fact, there is a steady increase in the number of books being published in print every year. There are two reasons for that :

• Technological progress has made it easier and cheaper to print books, and

• Due to the flood of electronic publications, serious book-authors want to stand out from the crowd because the printed word carries more weight than the electronically published one, let alone the spoken word.

What are the advantages of publishing your book yourself?

You can do that, you know : you don't necessarily need a publisher. There are book-on-demand services on the Internet, of course, but they are suitable for private purposes only, really. There are two vital advantages to publishing a book professionally yourself, even if a big publisher would take it on :

1. You keep all the legal rights to your book, and
2. You keep all income from your book.

Did you know that the author of a book usually only gets 5 - 7% of the revenue of book-sales from the publishing house? And that most unknown authors normally concede all consequential rights like for audio books and filming to the publisher?

That's the price you pay if you cannot, or don't want to look after the production and marketing of your book yourself.

That's the decision you have to make, even if a renowned publishing house agrees to take your work and run with it.

What do you have to do to publish your book yourself?

Let's go through the development of a book - what are the stages most books go through, starting with the idea up until the printed copy is being sold?

You ...

• ... write the manuscript, preferably in a word processor on a computer in electronic format
• ... create the blurb and a text-brief about the author for the cover
• ... have the manuscript proofread, i.e. checked and corrected by a lector for typing-errors, syntax, grammar, verbalization and punctuation
• ... possibly have the book revised by a copy-editor for content, structure, consistent design, fluent presentation and clear choice of text
• ... have an attractive cover designed bya graphic designer
• ... apply for and buy an ISBN-Number
• ... have a Layout done for all pages of your book (possibly including images) in a professional computer program : Adobe 'InDesign' is the industry standard
• ... find a printer and give him a ready-to-use PDF-file for digital print
• ... have a big celebration when you hold the first copy in your hands
• ... send the mandatory copies to the national library in your area
• ... register your book (for an annual fee) with the Register of Available Books so that it can be found by all bookstores on request
• ... offer your book at prominent online bookstores
• ... provide a simple and efficient infrastructure for orders and payment
• ... possibly appoint an independent literary- or book-agent for advertising and marketing your book in lectures, at book fairs etc
• ... offer your book to a targeted readership in your professional and private environment personally at readings, on websites, weblogs, forums, newspapers, magazines, trade journals, authors meetings etc

With the exception of the first item, a good well-known publishing house will offer you all these services, finance the whole process, charge about 95% of the book's earnings ... and invariably secure the consequential copyrights which can be marketed very lucratively when the book is successful ...

... if your manuscript is accepted! Well-known publishing companies receive bucket-loads of unrequested manuscripts every single day and cannot possibly read them all, let alone assess them competently.

The result?

You only have a chance if, for some reason, you have a famous name or your briliant stuff is discovered by accident ... for its potential in popularity that can be sold in sufficient quantity to justify the expense of publishing it and make a good profit.

This is quite legitimate and necessary from a commercial point of view. Only, it doesn't help you much if you absolutely want to see your book in print!

Many authors that are famous today have therefore published their work on their own - at least in the beginning - to make a name for themselves. Others often just want to reach a small and select group of readers, or publish for reasons other than making money.

You can also publish your book in print on your own ...
... with a little help!

Perhaps you cannot, or don't want to do every single step yourself on the way to your book in print, as described above - but maybe some of them.

That's where I offer my help : for all those steps that you can not do yourself. No pushing, no package deals at a fixed price, no complex long-term contracts - just those tasks which you'd rather have done by somebody else, very individual jobs.

A graphic design for an attractive cover, perhaps.

Or the layout for your book, ready to go to print.

Proofreading? Translation into English?

Sure, that needs some expertise and it will cost my time and your money ... how much of that entirely depends on your personal requirements. In return, however, the professional result is your very own and you can do with it as you please.

I won't finance your project then, but what I will do is help you as a service provider to publish your book on your own in print.

Drop me a line from here to let me know what you want to do, what you need help with - or give me a call and ask for advice free of charge : I am always glad to help.

Best do it now! Fly with us.

If you keep doing what you always do,
you'll keep getting what you've always got.

Do something different. Anything.

Do it now! Fly with us.