Raise Your Hand If Youd Consider Giving Up The Rights To Your Book Forever

If Random House pulls up to your house with a U-haul filled with millions and wants to buy your book, maybe you'd consider giving up the rights forever. But, let's come back to the real world. In the real world, many authors find that the best way to launch a writing career is to essentially self-publish by using a print-on-demand (POD) publisher.

The problem is that the POD buffet is filled with the equivalent of healthy choices (publishers who charge low or no publishing fees and allow authors to terminate the contracts at anytime) and unhealthy choices (publishers that charge exorbitant upfront fees and lock authors into contracts for years). Often the writer's eyes are bigger than her stomach - she makes a move for the first publisher who tells her that her work is great.

Signing a POD contract impulsively is always a mistake. Unless you are trained as a lawyer, deciphering a POD contract can be tricky since many POD publishers have paid some hefty legal fees to have attorneys sculpt contracts that could easily crush an unsuspecting author.

If you can't afford to hire a lawyer to review your POD contract you need to arm yourself with some knowledge before signing one. In my book, The Fine Print (www.book-publishers-compared.com), I take the legalese commonly found in most POD contracts and explain it in terms that will actually make sense. I also tell you the types of clauses in a POD contract that should cause you to run away from a publisher as quickly as possible.

If you don't want or can't purchase The Fine Print, here are three tips that may help you avoid a bad publishing experience.

1. Never pay more than $500 in up front POD publishing fees.

The most reputable POD publishers charge between $300-$500 for the publishing package which should always include customized cover art, formatting, placement of your book on Amazon, etc.; and ISBN number, bar code, and a sales page on the publisher's website. If you are paying more and not getting at least the services mentioned above, you are getting taken.

2. Only Sign a Contract That You Can Terminate When You Want

The best contracts are those you can terminate at any time (usually by giving 30-90 days notice). Some POD publishers that don't charge or charge very little for their services require a longer commitment on your end (1-2 years) before you can terminate. Because they have money invested in you this is understandable. Never sign a POD contract that you can't get out of easily. Some POD publishers require that you give them the rights to your book for the term of the copyright. When you see this run fast! The term of the copyright is for the life of the author, plus another 70 years - basically forever.

3. If the Publisher offers less than 30% Royalties on the Gross Sale Price Find Another Publisher

The royalties paid should, at a minimum, be 30% of the sales prices of each book. Be wary of contracts that give you some high percentage of the net sales price. This is where fuzzy math can creep in and take away almost all your profits.

The factors you should use to determine whether or not the proposed royalty is acceptable are:

? Whether it is based on the gross or net sales amount (and if based on the net sales amount, the calculation must be on hard numbers (production costs, credit card processing fees, etc.) and not vague items ("administrative costs", etc.);

? The actual production cost of the book (Production costs on POD books should be between $3.50 and $5.50. Anything higher than that and you can bet that the publisher is padding this amount to lower your actual royalty);

? The size of the publisher's distribution network and traffic to the publisher's online store (the more places your books are for sale, the more chance people have to find them); and

? Marketing efforts the publisher engages to inform readers of your book (if a publisher actually spends money to help sell your book, a lower royalty is not out of line).

? Whether the publisher treats itself like a third-party retailer (e.g. Amazon.com) and gives itself a trade discount to sell you book (For example, for a $15 book, Amazon gets $7.50 for each book sold, then the remaining $7.50 is divided between the author and publisher based the royalty agreement. Some publishers give themselves a trade discount so in effect they end up making 80% of each sale for a book that you paid them to publish!)

Again, these are just the basics of the basics, but they provide the building blocks of the foundation of knowledge you will need to have before you sign a POD publishing contract.

Book Events - Make Yours Successful

A book event (a book signing) is a popular way for authors to create awareness for their work. Most large publishing houses require authors to participate in a 10-city book tour, at the minimum. For self-published authors, it's a good idea to arrange as many events as your time and budget allows. But, no matter who's making the arrangements, there are five key ingredients to making the event a success:

1. It is very important to plan your book event carefully. This means knowing exactly what you're going to say and how you will say it. Some authors believe that they can just wing it, relying on the audience to provide questions for discussion. Leaving the content to the audience to define is a poor idea. The author should take the lead. Audiences are there to hear more about the book, usually before they buy it. Have a plan for what you are going to say. You'll feel much more confident, and then if the audience is familiar with you and your writing, you will have that much more to enrich your talk. Remember the purpose of the book event: you are there to convince people to buy your books. Be prepared, and don't leave things to chance!

2. Keep it interesting, build a relationship with the audience, and leave them wanting more. More, is for them to purchase a copy of your book. If you've written a book, then you have a story to tell. Connect with the audience, take them into the palm of your hand, and make them want to hear the end of the story.

3. Practice so you are natural, be consistent with who you are as a person. Even the greatest speakers practice their speeches before they give them. Have you ever watched the Oscars and cringed at some of the acceptance speeches? Have you ever been captivated and want more from the actors? What's the difference in those speeches? The amount of time and care that went into practicing what they were going to say, and to whom.

4. Keep to the time frame. Tell your story, but don't overstay your welcome. Practicing your speech allows you to time your speech. That sense of time makes it possible to shift naturally from building a relationship, telling the story, and moving to the business portion of the book event.

5. Allow time to tell people about the book itself, what it contains, and how it completes the story you just shared with them. And don't forget to tell people how they can own a personal copy! After all, that's the reason you are there in the first place.