The Purely Accidental Publisher
By Jean Sheldon

Six years ago, a client/friend or maybe it was a friend/client said: "I want to publish a book."

"You and the rest of the world," I replied dismissively.

"No, I'm serious. Can you do that?"

I didn't know anything about running a legitimate publishing company. I had self-published a few things over the years mostly because I was a graphic artist and could do the typesetting and cover and text design without having to pay anyone. I agreed to look into it, but before I had a chance to do the research, she began sending chapters. Had I forgotten that I committed to do this, or was she still the aggressive, 'let's do it', kind of person I'd always loved and admired? It didn't matter. It appeared that I was going to start a publishing company.

I came up with a name—Wellworth Publishing. That seemed okay. I believed her books were worth publishing. I applied for a DBA license and sent for my list of ten ISBN numbers. I learned about Library of Congress Catalog Numbers a little later.

One of the very best things I did was to join PMA, a wonderful organization for small publishers and associated industries. (An aside, Jan Nathan, a woman who did a tremendous amount of work to help the little folks, passed away earlier this year. It was a loss for all of us.) PMA offers programs to help get your books into places like Baker & Taylor and Ingram. They also offer cooperative catalogs and other advertising along with online courses. They do much more and that's quite a bit of help for $100 a year.

In this particular case, the marketing wasn't really an issue—thank heavens. My client travels around the country doing health seminars to educate nurses. She hauls boxes of books and sells them. She is not only a ball of educational energy; she is also brilliant at what she does. With little help from her publisher, she's sold over ten thousand books.

Quite honestly, since she did most of the work, I never considered myself a publisher. I was still a graphic artist with a few extra duties. That was until three years ago, when I started writing mysteries. At first, I didn't intend to publish any of my own work through Wellworth. I wanted to write and didn't want to give up any of my time to publishing. I quickly learned you don't write a book and find someone to publish it, except, of course, for my friend/client.

It was during this crisis that my brother came to visit. He's also a writer, published through a 'real' publishing company. He looked at my wall of book covers, which I design for every book I write. He asked me if I thought I could get into Baker & Taylor or Ingram, and I told him I was in B&T and, of course, on Amazon.com. He asked me what the printing cost was per book and I told him that for a run of 1,000 it would be under $3.00. Then he looked at me as though I were a brick short of a load and said, in a tone that only a sibling could get away with, "what's the problem, publish them."

In a way, I was glad for his suggestion, because now when I find myself beating my head against my desk, I blame him, even though I had been coming to that conclusion myself. I created Bast Press as a fiction imprint of Wellworth Publishing. The challenge for me was something I never had to face with Wellworth, something they call marketing. I won't burden you with my marketing shortcomings, instead I'll present a list of some things I learned I needed to start a small publishing company.

Create a name and register the business
You'll register the business according to state and local laws. Check with your city ordinances and licensing codes.

Apply for ISBN numbers
To acquire your publisher prefix and ISBN numbers go here: www.isbn.org/standards/home/index.asp

Bowker Books in Print
Register your company and books on Bowker Books in Print.
www.bowkerlink.com/corrections/common/home.asp

You can find more information at their FAQ page: www.bowkerlink.com/corrections/Common/LearnMore.asp

Apply for a Library of Congress Catalog Number
Self-publishers and publishers with the works of fewer than three different authors are ineligible for the CIP program. You can apply for the Preassigned Control Number Program: http://pcn.loc.gov/. It is free and relatively painless. If you hope to have your books in libraries, it's important.

Join an organization for support and information (join more than one if you can afford it)
The Independent Book Publishers Association: www.pma-online.org/

Small Publishers Association of North America: www.spannet.org/index.htm

Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network: www.spawn.org/

Prepare your manuscript
Write a book and have it professionally edited. There are many sources for editors if you don't already know one, but I find it best to look locally. (Did you notice how I slipped in 'write a book' as if it were a minor step? When you're doing all this other stuff, it will feel that way, but you know it was, and is, the most important. Otherwise, why bother with anything else?)

Design a cover, or have one designed
You must have the ISBN bar code on the back cover. If you lack the software to produce the code, you can find a list of some barcode suppliers here: www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/barcode.asp

Typeset text pages
If you're adept with your word software and can turn it into a PDF file, most printers can handle it. If not, you'll need to have it done. Some printers offer typesetting and cover design services. You'll find Novel Type & Design one of the most reasonable agencies around.

Deciding on digital or offset printing
Most writers have limited funding. If you decide to start with only a few hundred books, keep in mind some of the hurdles. Offset printers have a five hundred minimum press run, many a thousand. You will pay more per book to print a smaller amount, but sometimes not selling two hundred books is cheaper than not selling a thousand. I don't mean that to sound as though not selling is a forgone conclusion, but you have to be realistic, or you waste money that could be better spent somewhere else. For me, a big problem with printing more is storage. I've handcrafted most of my furniture from boxes of books with a blanket thrown over.

What is the difference between digital and offset printing?
As far as the text pages, the quality get's closer everyday. The problem with digital printing comes because the printing process heats the paper to such a high temperature that it changes it chemically. That change doesn't affect the printing, but there are still some bindery problems in digital printing. I suspect it won't be long before they work those out. Our industry, and by that I mean the trinity of publisher, writer and reader, will soon demand more responsible handling of the vast amount of paper used and often discarded. I am a firm believer in the future of print on demand. I'll bet that we can iron out all of the kinks when we can no longer justify reckless overruns. We shouldn't wait for that to happen.

Get print quotes
Your page count will have to be divisible by four. Some printers demand it be divisible by eight. Remember if you have front pages, count them as text pages.

Contact potential buyers
Call that cousin in Illinois that you haven't talked to in twenty years and remind him or her of who you are—an almost famous author works well. Anyone you can think of goes on your list.

Obviously, this is not a 'how to become a successful writer and publisher in thirty days' story. Rather, I presented a small collection of things I've encountered on my journey into publishing. I wish I could tell you that everyone will be helpful and want your success as much as you do. That isn't what I've always found, but I have learned by my successes as well as my failures, probably more, by my failures.

I haven't mentioned 'PublishAmerica', 'Lulu', or other's because if you choose to publish with them, most of this information isn't relevant, but they are viable options to mainstream publishing.

If you think you'll give up, don't start. You'll put an amazing amount of time and energy into this, and life is too short to spend it on things you believe are destined to fail. Personally, I don't believe in failure and I'm not good at giving up. I like to think of it as resolve rather than stubbornness, but I'm not sure there's a difference. I suggest you write a list of reasons why you can't or won't publish your books. Then, write the longest, pie in the sky list of reasons for doing it. Don't stop until you've written every reason you can imagine. If somewhere on that list it says 'because I can', my suggestion is—"publish them."