Book Publishing Strategies and Q&A
Geno Scala
Exec. Director of Academy Awards; "The Script Mentor"; "Ghostwriter to the Stars"; Creator of "The 20 Day Screenplay";
Are you REALLY a successful author if you’ve written ten novels, had them published for FREE through Amazon KDP, and have sold less than 20 copies of the $0.99 eBook?
Prolific? Yes.
Author? Yes.
Successful? I guess it depends on your definition of “success”.
Are you a successful screenwriter if you’ve written 10 screenplays, received a handful of professional feedback for each- none resulting in anything other than a “PASS”; entered a handful of screenwriting competitions and never getting beyond the Quarterfinals?
You haven’t sold or optioned any; in fact, you haven’t received a single response from the hundreds of query letters you’ve sent out.
Worst still, the reams of paper for these screenplays printed out are- right now- sitting on top of your desk!
Again- if this is your definition of “success”, then you have achieved your ultimate goal.
My definition for success in both situations is far different.
The TRUTH of the matter is that when you do something “on the cheap”, it’s almost ALWAYS going to look like it. Amazon KDP publishing IS free- but is it the best choice? I have seen hundreds of KDP books, and they look awful. If they look awful, they’re likely going to read poorly, or that’s what most people are going to believe.
You need THREE things when you are trying to “sell” your book and/or screenplay (and for the sake of clarity, we’ll only discuss books for the purpose of this article):
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A. GREAT PRODUCT
I don’t teach "how" to write a novel (but if you can't write it, I will), and that’s NOT the purpose of this article. Let’s assume you already KNOW how to write a novel, and your concept is a unique and compelling subject matter that should attract buyers.
It takes, on average, 6-12 months to complete a 350-page novel of 80,000- 100,000 words. Why would you take a year of your life to write your life’s work, then use a FREE publishing service that gives poor book cover choices, poor formatting, standard AI editing, and no marketing help?
This decision is counterintuitive to your need to have a great selling book on your hands!
You post this eBook on your social media, totaling 5,000 "followers" across four or five platforms, but you’re not getting 5K sales from this. You’re not even getting 500 sales.
You’d be happy with 50 units sold in a year. ?
Now, you want to make it a movie, and producers look at the sales numbers and realize “There is no audience here.”
With a FREE publisher, you are getting what you paid for.
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B. KNOWLEDGABLE AND PROFESSIONAL EDITOR
Your editor MUST be someone other than the writer- for practical purposes.
Again, this SOUNDS a lot easier than it is, but I have been contacted by numerous people in the middle of self-publishing their projects, stuck on trying to lay out the formatting better.
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C. GREAT MARKETING STRATEGY
We have mastered the art of marketing for years through our screenwriting business, but now, we’ve taken it to another level.
I won’t speak about OTHER publishing houses, self-publisher businesses or “hybrids”, but I CAN speak intelligently about TSM Publishing and Marketing Services- a new subsidiary of The Script Mentor screenwriting service (The Script Mentor) and Shark-Eating Productions (Shark Eating Man Productions).
At TSM, we have a multi-pronged approach to “marketing” one’s book and “branding” the author, including-
*More posts and more weeks available for additional charge.
?FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. How does the process produce the return on investment?
TSM: The ROI comes from books sales. The publisher receives a 25% royalty on all book sales, and you as the author will receive 75% of the total royalty on each book. We will be looking in the future into getting the author 100% of the royalties. This will require us to change our process slightly.
Q. How are the books printed and how many?
TSM: Once the book is in the retailer’s inventory, we call stores starting in your region (Barnes and Noble, aka "BN", Books-A-Million, etc.) to ask that they start with a few copies on the shelf. Once these are sold a couple of times, the stores try to increase the level of inventory. You’ll notice famous authors (Lee Child “Reacher”, for example) may have multiple shelves containing multiple copies of all 28 of his books, in hardcover and in paperback. We work with several distribution sources who will send a report of royalties each month. When a Barnes and Noble store decides to order several copies of your book, they order from the distributor, and royalties are accumulated at the time they place the order. Online sales are generated as sold directly to the consumer through that website. Additional online sales are generated through the AUTHOR'S personal website that is set up for eCommerce (which we can do for you).
Q. What does “...the shelf-space placement” mean specifically?
TSM: In the standard transaction of publishing a book, the most difficult part is obtaining “shelf space”. We pitch your book for “short listing” shelf space initially, and based on prior working relationships, we’re able to obtain some ideal shelf spaces.
?Q. Who does the printing, how many are printed and how are they distributed to retailers?
TSM: The author can order books at author’s copy cost upon request to our editor. The estimated print cost (author’s copy cost) is $7.00 a copy and will print reports of all this as well as retail pricing and a list of royalties per distributor.
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?Q. Do stores keep stock on hand to sell?
TSM: Each store operates a little differently, depending on size and space. The distributor provides book to retailers in their system (ordered directly to distributor). Books may be ordered this way for shelf space, or they can be provided on consignment. Most, including BN, can order straight from the distribution source.
Q. Also one of your attachments had bookstores contact info for initial contact.? Who does this?? Are Barnes and Noble individual stores contacted vs. national office?
TSM: We target areas closest to the author’s home for the most part. Normally, the author has a home base surrounded by business associates, friends, and family, so marketing close to this location is the priority. Once the books are there, the stores that you can travel to like when you can go in and sign your books. They then put a sticker on the book to show that it’s a signed copy. This is a good marketing opportunity for you to go into the store and take a photograph with your book, and let people know that your book is there. All books are available online, too.
Q. So, when I order author copies through editor, who prints it??
TSM: We order the hardback (or paperback) copies direct from the distributors. We order the requested amount at the print cost from the distributor, who fulfills (prints and ships) the order. When hardback cover copies or paperback copies are ordered online, all the fulfillment is done on the retailer/distributor end. The only time we would need to order "author copies" (copies available at the cost of printing) would be if a smaller retailer wants to sell them on consignment or if you prefer to take your own copies of your books to a book signing event. As mentioned at a book signing with Barnes and Noble, for example, they usually order the books directly and if the retailer works with the distribution source (as most of them do), they will order books for shelf space and book signings.
Q: Is there a company who prints hard copies and sends them to the distributor, or somehow does the distributor print them when ordered by a retailer?? Is production based on demand rather than printing a set number of copies (say 5,000)?
TSM: Production in the warehouses of the distributor is based on demand. Once they see sales generating in stores, they will have more in the various warehouses for when the retailers order them. Prior to this, it will be based on demand. As they see an increase (books being sold in store), they begin to ship more to the warehouse. Even before this, the books can always be ordered. It's the distributor who prints and assesses how many to print in advance.
Q: How are the printing costs absorbed??? My reference point is from a manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer cycle, and the book process may be different than I'm used to. Say as example - Production/Printing cost is $7.00; distributor buys for $10.00; sells to retailer for $13.00, and retailer sells for $20.00.? Each step is basically a 25-40% profit for each party involved in the process.? Is this how it goes or is it different?
TSM: All of the costs for printing and fulfillment for both in store retailers or online, is deducted out of the retail price. What we are concerned about is the total royalty received. We will be sending screen images of how much of a royalty is earned per book (for each format; various distributors), based on the retail price and taking out the cost of printing and fulfillment. The distribution source automatically calculates this after the pricing is set.
Q: Who are the distributors? How many will there be in our marketing process??
TSM: We have multiple distribution sources, based on where we have retail agreements in place. We have one that specializes in extensive electronic book distribution (Apple, Kobo, Baker and Taylor etc.); one that specializes in retail distribution (Ingram Lightning Source), and Amazon.
Q: Who pays the royalties and to whom?? Is the following correct, the distributor pays the publisher (you) and the publisher in turn pays the author (me)?
TSM: We’ll receive a report from each distributor monthly, and our publisher will forward this report and pay your royalties each month (75% to you) in the form of a check. It has the number of eBooks and print books sold per distribution source so we can see how you are doing. Each distributor pays the publisher, who then pays you 75% (maybe 100%) of total royalties received each month from the sale of your book.
Q: Are royalties based on retail price or wholesale or something else?? Basically, what is the formula that determines royalties (to arrive at the 100% that is then split 25/75 publisher/author)?
TSM: The royalty amount is auto generated when the publisher finishes the file per distribution source. The publisher sets the pricing at a competitive level for the book genre; your eBook is set at $6.99; the print paperback will be about $18.00; the hard cover will be a bit more. Once the files are finalized, each distributor takes out the print, marketing, and fulfillment amount, and will let us know what the royalty price is based on the sale price per format. If the pricing remains the same, that royalty amount will remain the same also.? You will be receiving the screen images that show exactly what the royalty is (per distributor/per format) and what the total royalty amount is.
Q. How is the retail price of the book established? Is it subject to change based on sales or is it static?
TSM: The retail price per format is based on the competitive market value for your book’s genre, as well as other factors. You’ll want to maintain receiving a decent royalty for your book, so you’ll want a good price point to drive sales. It's finding the right balance of the two. The stores don't like it very much when the sale price changes. Most of these decisions are derived through industry formulas. Once on the shelf, the pricing for the books in the store usually does not change. In terms of online pricing, it is easier to change pricing in that regard. Typically, it’s set from the commencement of sales, however, if there is a valid reason to change it, we can.
You may want to consider offering signed copies direct from YOU or through your website, as your profit margin is greater in this capacity. YOU can sell these for $25.00-$35.00 a copy, compared to a book that retails for $18.00 (with a print cost of $7.00 and a $11.00 profit margin per book), but the royalty for the same book online would be less because the distributor is doing the marketing and fulfillment of the book order. Many authors decide to order tons of books for themselves- upfront- and price them higher to sell it themselves. They get stuck with cases of unsold books because they simply do not have the marketing or shipping mechanisms in place. Some do- and do very well. I wouldn’t want every waking hour of everyday spent trying to maximize the sales point and shipping process of a book I wrote a year or two ago, while having so many books that I still wanted to write.??
We do forward all pricing and royalty information (if any) based on that pricing and book format, showing exactly what each royalty is, which should be helpful.
Q: I have done a bit of website development, management, and e-commerce in the last several years, it’s not my passion. Is that something you can do as well?
TSM: We buy and run the website for 1 year. At the end of that year, YOU (the client), can PAY us to run the site for another year or we can simply transfer it to you.
This is an option for non- eCommerce sites only. Non-eCommerce sites are best for the author IF they are only selling from Amazon and other bookstore links.
It makes sense to want the ad campaign going on for the full year, which is basically the entire life of a newly released novel. After that, a second book is usually available, and an ad campaign can (and usually does) include BOTH books, etc. It does involve many new ads created and almost daily postings and is a full-time job for one of our marketing employees!
Q: Afterward, initial phase what are the continuing costs for services and using GoDaddy?
TSM: If advertising is extended through the first year, we will have no updated expenses with the website, or our marketing advertising services that you agreed with on Day One. Anything added on after that or price increases will likely incur additional or ongoing costs going into Year Two.
Q: I currently have the domains and another website with IONOS.com. Will we set up an online store, and can we build an online store there?
TSM: If you WANT to sell the book directly through your site, then you’ll need an eCommerce site which includes a store. In those cases, you WILL have an ongoing (small) charge for payment processing and upkeep of the store. You will also be hands-on ordering books and having them shipped. Most people just decide to let the bookstores handle that instead.?
Q: Who fulfills orders if we have an eCommerce store?
TSM: Whoever accepts the order, handles the fulfillment - be it a brick-and-mortar bookstore, your eCommerce website or Amazon.
WRITER'S BIO: Mr. Scala spent 22-plus years in the Hollywood community and was the?Executive Director?for the 72nd Annual Academy Awards, as well as The Soul Train Awards,?The Grammys,?The Blockbuster Video Awards Show?and?The Saturn Award Show.
He is completing his 51st adaptation- the fascinating autobiography "CALL ME ZENA", by Sally Barnard, and developing biopic projects of rock pioneer Jimmie F. Rodgers,?Motown star?Tammi Terrell?and iconic folk singer?Harry Chapin- all while continuing to mentor over 600 hundred new writers and self-published authors.
Geno has three screenplays produced and currently on Amazon Prime; "Black Easter", "Assassins 33 A.D." and "The Tombs", and - at present -?is the?Executive Script Consultant?of a $16.4M major motion picture?("Fight Fire with Fire") scheduled to begin filming Spring, 2025.
The Script Mentor has several subsidiaries, including:
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Gate Gourmet - Author - Screenwriter
1 个月About how many book sales would it take for an author to break even?
Writer
1 个月All great suggestions and valid points, however I think that success for a product (fiction & nonfiction) re formats of ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, handouts for social occasions, and media created in support of numerous activities depends on Lady Luck, even music, e.g., "Luck be a Lady Tonight" lyric supports my belief, including screenplays all alining perfectly to satisfy the needs of a buyer to start royalty checks rolling into the bank. If conditions are right, good stuff happens, and that goes for what happens after a goodnight doorstep kiss with a blind date. I published a story in hope of selling paperbacks to attendees at a convention of animal conservationists bent on saving wolves in the wild from extinction caused by cattlemen protecting herds from wolves that needed to eat fresh beef. The book gathered some traction on Amazon. Title: Wolf Pack Dancers: Prose and Poems. I just write to write. I don't sit at card tables inside malls and bookstores waiting to engage browsers with conversations about books or offering to sign a paperback assuring a buyer that their purchase is a wise move.