Looking for a way to get in?

I am in the process of surveying independent booksellers to learn what they have to say about self-published books and authors. The early returns are very enlightening. Self-published books as a rule don’t sell well primarily because they are poorly illustrated (in the case of children’s books) or are in need of professional editing. Often the quality of the printing is amateurish and whoever lays out the book neglects to put the title, and author on the spine.

Does content make a difference? Yes, it does. The most likely self-published books to sell concern themselves with themes of local or regional interest. Sometimes a folksy, handmade quality improves sales on those titles, but don’t count on it.

Will bookstores buy self-published books? Not usually. Sometimes not at all. There are those who might consider a consignment if it fits their demographic and product mix. They may provide limited shelf exposure and if the book does well they could decide to buy that title in the future, but don’t hold your breath. Independent booksellers are aware of the plight of self-publishers because they too are often self-employed. They would be happy to see a S.P. author succeed, but they will not, nor should not, risk their businesses on the untried and unproven. I don’t blame them, do you?

Let’s examine some of those complaints further.

1. Poorly Illustrated. Just because Cousin Jimmy can draw pretty well, doesn’t make him a professional illustrator. There is a reason that illustrators, graphic designers, and layout artists are paid a lot of money. What they do adds value to the book. You may buy into the saying, don’t judge a book by its cover, but when considering a book purchase where do you start? Do you even pickup a book that doesn’t catch your eye? Have you wondered why traditional publishers are willing to spend so much money on expensive printing flourishes like foil stamping, embossing, and film lamination? Eye candy. Do you have to incur these expenses for your book? No, you don’t, but you may suffer fewer sales as a result. “The devil is in the details,” after all.
2. Lack of or Unprofessional Editing. Your third grade English teacher was right, how you say it is at least as important as what you say. In the book business grammar and spelling don’t count for part of the grade, they are the grade. Present a book to a bookseller filled with mistakes and it won’t take a minute for you to be turned down, and turned down flat.  Don’t say that colloquial authors like Mark Twain got away with it. First of all, you are probably not Mark Twain. Second, if you read beyond the dialogue you will see meticulous attention to spelling and grammar. And PLEASE don’t hire someone you know, or someone in the family to be your editor. You want the editor to take a hard-eyed look at your work and not be afraid to tell you where the bear went in the woods. The focus of a professional editor is strictly on the work and your tender ego isn’t a factor.
3. Book Layout. Are your even page numbers on the left-hand page and your odd numbers on the right? Do you start new chapters on a new page, and is it an odd numbered page? If your chapter ends on an odd numbered page did you leave the next page blank? Do you count blank pages as part of your total when seeking printing bids? If your book is soft cover, did you make sure the title and author appear on the spine? If your book is hardcover with a dust jacket do you have the title and author name on both the hardcover and the dust jacket?
4. Content. If the book is fictional does the story hold up? Does the plot unveil itself logically? If there’s a surprise ending, did you build a case for it throughout the book? Even some bestselling authors forget that rule. It is almost as if they get tired of the manuscript or their editor is pushing for more pages and they just wrap it all up with an illogical conclusion. One of my favorite contemporary authors, Stephen King, has been guilty of introducing a monster out of nowhere to conclude a novel. If your book is non-fiction, did you do your research, or hire someone to do it? You should be ready to substantiate every fact. If you are ever caught just-making-stuff-up you can say goodbye to your writing career, and do I have to say anything at all about plagiarism? Three words–don’t do it! If you quote someone, make sure you have their permission. The same goes for using trademarked properties, or lyrics, or anything proprietorial.
5. Ho-Hum Book or Premise. Let’s face it; a self-publishing author can’t succeed with a product that is as good as a traditionally published book. You will have to find some way to be superior to the other material on the bookshelf. I realize that is a heavy responsibility, but if you think about it you will know that it is the truth. There are other ways to market your book, but if you want to go through traditional distribution channels, be prepared to have your excellent book rejected. Make it unique. Make it stand out. Always keep in mind that the traditional publishers are very knowledgeable about all of the tricks. and anything you think of has probably been done before.

The Red Hen Association of Self-Publishing Authors, Inc. intends to assist self-publishers find ways into traditional distribution channels, but if the book is not good enough (see the 5 areas above) there is no way on heaven or earth that anyone can make it happen for you. You as a self-publishing author are your own Red Hen. You have to plant the wheat, care for it, harvest it, mill it, and bake it into bread, but don’t confuse that with editing, art, and layout. I plead with you to hire the right people for those things. It will cost more upfront, but will be well worth the expense if it opens doors for you.

What is a crossover? A crossover is an image that crosses over the center-fold in a multiple page product, like a magazine, or catalog. Your printer will try to explain the difficulty involved in producing crossovers, but until you’ve been up-close-and-personal with a project  where the crossovers failed, you won’t completely understand.

Why is that a problem? This would be easier to explain if I were face-to-face with you, but since I’m not I’m going to attempt to lead you through a little demonstration.

1. Get a piece of paper, size doesn’t matter, but make sure you can fold it easily.
2. If your paper is the standard 8 1/2″X11″ fold it in half so it is now 5 1/2″X8 1/2″.
3. Keep the fold at the top and fold in half again to 4 1/4″X5 1/2″.
4. This particular fold would result in an 8 page form.
5. Now with the folded form, keeping the fold at the top, begin numbering the lower right hand corners–1 through 8.
6. Be sure to number both sides of the paper or you’ll only have 4 instead of 8. If you don’t get 8 you’ve missed something.
7. Open your sheet of paper.

Notice that on one side the page numbers are 1, 4, 5, and 8. On the other side the numbers are 2,3, 6, and 7. Now notice where the numbers are in relationship to one another. Numbers 2 and 3 are on opposite sides and so are 6 and 7. Are you with me so far?

Refold the paper along the original creases. Take a pair of scissors, or hand rip the folded top off. What you have is a little booklet with all of the pages numbered consecutively, but it wasn’t that way before you took of the top fold was it?  The only pages on the flat sheet that were next to each other were pages 4 and 5, which is what we call the center fold. The center fold is a breeze, but it is the other pages 2 & 3 and 6 & 7 that cause the problem. If the press operator is unable to make a near perfect color match from one side of the sheet to the other pages 2 & 3 for example when brought together for the final product will look very odd. One page could be more blue and the other more yellow. That would be an unfortunate look for a landscape, but a total disaster for a portrait. Color shifts are very visible in flesh tones.

If you look at the double-truck catalog spread example below you will notice a definite color shift in the background.

Assuming that this all made sense, what can a designer do about crossovers?

 Question: If I order a reprint will the price be the same?

This came up recently when a customer realized that the address on her business stationery was out of date. You’d think a question like this would require a simple yes or no. You might think that, but you could be wrong. There are several variables that would affect the reprint bid, here’s some things to consider:

• The price might actually be less!

If the job was completed recently enough that the factors going into the bid hadn’t changed, your price could be less. Printing bids consist of two parts, fixed costs and variable costs. The fixed costs include prep work, press make-ready, overhead, and such. Every printing  job needs some amount of pre-press preparation to get the files ready to plate. If your job is an exact reprint, with emphasis on the word “exact,” a reprint could cut out some, if not all of the pre-press work, thus saving the printer and you money.

• What if I want some minor type change?

A minor change probably won’t cost as much as a major change, but unless your printer is willing to throw it in for free there should be a charge.

• How long ago was the job printed?

If it was last printed two or three years ago, they may no longer have the files and will have to start over. I work with a graphic designer who had purged her files on a five year old project. Without warning, her customer came back after five years and expected a reprint. I was called, and happily, I keep my records for seven years. To be perfectly clear we are talking about my job files, not customer art files. But because I was able to provide the specifications from the previous printing we were able to accommodate their request by recreating the original art. We did have to choose a new vendor because the previous one was no longer making that particular product. A lot changes in five years, you know.

• What about paper cost increases?

Paper and other supplies are not static. When paper, ink, plates, or other materials increase those increases must be passed along at some point. What makes commodities go up? Supply and demand is the easiest answer but not the most complete. There are a whole host of reasons that affect pricing and that’s why god made economists. Let’s just say that if paper takes a 6% bump (which is not unusual), you will see it in your bid.

• What else could increase cost?

Every business faces increases in operating expense. Good employees need to be rewarded with pay raises. Equipment breaks down and must be repaired or replaced. Insurance, taxes, and licence fees go up.

• The printer bid it wrong last time.

Printing is custom manufacturing. Every job the printer does is a custom job. When estimating a project the printer has to take into consideration the costs of materials, time, labor, overhead, and profit. With all these variables in play it is easy to make a mistake. When there is an error in the bid, the printer is often made to hold to the original bid price. Most printers, if the difference isn’t too onerous, are willing for the sake of goodwill.  If you don’t know this by now you should know that printers as a group are very helpful and understanding. I’ve seen them go much further than they should to please a customer. If you feel you are being treated unfairly by a printer, step back and ask yourself if that is really true. Maybe the fault is somewhere in the middle. And perhaps, perish the thought, the blame is more yours than theirs. The bottom line is that if the job was mis-bid last time, for whatever reason, you can’t really expect the same price on a reprint–can you?

• Did the printer have an advantage?

Maybe the printer bought some paper on a closeout discount, or ordered enough “house” stock to get a price advantage. Maybe an ink company made an offer that couldn’t be refused. There could be a thousand different reasons for the printer to have a better price one time and one not as good at another. Printing is a VERY competitive business. If you don’t take every opportunity to best the competition with wise buying you’ll lose. So if you see a reprint bid that is 30% higher than the previous one, it could be that they don’t have that advantage any more.

I’m sure I’ve missed some reasons in this list, and if anyone would like to add to it just let us all know by adding your comment.