Book Publishing Options for the Author/Writer

	Types of Book Publishing in Chronological Order of Introduction into Industry
	Traditonal Acquisitions Publisher	Vanity Publisher (Vantage, Dorance, etc)	Independent Publisher	POD (Print on Demand)	POD Facilitator (Publisher)
Investment	Publisher Pays You an Advance Advances are rare, but when negotiated they are based on a % of expected book sales (5-15% of wholesale price)	$10-$25,000 Minimal quality Press Makes No Promises & Costs Are Inflated Read the fine print	$20-$25,000 (2-5000 copies) *PLUS* inventory storage, returned copies, marketing/PR You Keep Larger % of Profits	$500-$2,000 NO inventory control woes or unsold books AND you keep profits	$500-$1,000 NO inventory control woes or unsold books & You Share Profits (Royalty % varies)
Creative & Production Responsibilities	Publisher has All Creative Control From editing & proofing to cover & text design	Presses do some, all, or none of these tasks: administrative duties, editing, text layout, cover design	Author has All Creative Control (Author / Publisher does all the work or subcontracts it out)	Author has All Creative Control (Print Quality & Pricing means 4-color books aren’t viable)	Author does editing Facilitator does cover design & text layout
Marketing Responsibilities	All Marketing and Distribution AND review galleys & marketing/PR. Dollars spent depend on author & book viability Book dies unless author does the promoting	In most cases, ALL marketing/PR & distribution are done by the author	All Marketing Control (do work or subcontract it out) Author invests what the budget and time allow on marketing/PR	All Marketing Control (do work or subcontract it out) Distribution is hard because bookstores will not shelve POD books, only order them if someone makes a request	Company promises a great deal, but the only real marketing benefit is listing in their database & in Books in Print (Some have distribution channels) ISBN# of POD Publisher will stigmatize the book (Read the fine print)
Ongoing Costs	Discounts used as purchaser incentives	Buy inventory as needed, often at full retail or short discount	Whatever you spend for marketing and distribution	$5-$15 Per Book Unit for POD copies; marketing & distribution	Buy inventory as needed, typically with only a short discount
Just Give Me the Bottom Line, Please	PRESTIGE of being a REAL author BUT you must still market & promote at your own expense in most cases unless you are a major author or celebrity	NO Credibility in Publishing Industry Significant investment up front with mediocre product quality & little or no help with distribution & marketing *Read the fine print*	Significant investment up front of money, time & administrative duties BUT you have complete creative control AND you keep all profits or suffer the losses	Lower Start-Up & Higher Per Unit Cost for POD (do work or subcontract it out) BUT no big inventory AND you keep the profits *Bookstores will not stock them!*	Company handles all administrative duties; you get generic product (rights are retained by some facilitators in the contract) *Bookstores will not stock them!*