More than selling books and paintings
I worked as a vendor over June 24 and 25 at Zinnia Days held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio. Like I do at other shows, I offered books and paintings for sale.
I expected the event to be larger, and so did the other vendors with whom I spoke who participated in the 2022 show. Contrasted to the 2022 event, this year's iteration was half the size with less than half the attendance.
At various events, I like to tour the grounds and check out the other vendors. Part of that stems from nothing more than mere curiosity. Is there something I'd like to spend my money on? (I bought some soap, because I'm a sucker for small batch, handmade soaps.) Part of that concerns scoping out the competition. What am I up against? What prices are they charging? How does the quality of their merchandise compare to mine?
I like to stop and speak with the other vendors. Have they attended the event before? What was their experience like? What do they think of this year's event? In the course of conversation, the vendors with whom I speak realize that I'm a vendor, too. They'll often ask what I'm selling.
Sometimes that conversation then takes an interesting turn. That vendor or someone the vendor knows has written a book or is in the process of writing a book. The conversation turns to publishing. Most of the people who are in the process of writing their books have no experience with publishing and don't understand the work that goes into producing a quality book. That's where I hop on my soapbox and, if that person intends to self-publish, explain the necessity of hiring professionals to edit, proofread, and format the book and design the cover.
This is where assumptions and uninformed expectations meet reality and crumble.
I have the experience to back up my soapbox speech. I've published around 30 books. I learned from hard experience the folly of thinking that self-publishing meant do-it-all-yourself. What self-publishing means is to assume the responsibilities of a traditional publisher. Those responsibilities, if one wishes to produce a quality product, entail hiring the professional services that raise a book's quality.
Readers deserve nothing less.
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Those professional services don't come cheaply. Compared to the DIY mentality, producing a top quality book gets expensive. The author's largest expense is usually editing.
If the conversation gets this far, I recommend authors refer to the Editorial Freelancers Association rate guide to calculate an estimated cost for editing. For most new authors, it's an eye-opener because (1) they didn't realize there's more to editing than correcting copy errors and (2) they didn't understand how much effort goes into developmental editing, line editing, copy ediing, and proofreading.
Authors who focus solely on cost go to low-bid vendors and, as a rule, get low-quality results. Authors who focus on quality over cost and are willing to pay for high quality results will likely spend far more than their books will ever earn them in royalties.
That's another harsh lesson. Publishing is a business, not a get-rich-quick scheme. The line "If you build it, they will come" from Field of Dreams does not apply. Selling books requires marketing, lots of consistent marketing. That takes time, expertise, and usually more money.
If you consider publishing your book as a hobby and treat it as such, then don't expect it to make a profit. If you treat it as a business, then your expectations for profit will increase.
There are no guarantees.
If you're ready to make that investment in the quality of your book, look me up. Let's have a chat about your project.