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Long Island Business News
Authors find their voice with self-publishing
February 14th, 2003
by Adina Genn
Former dressmaker Pamela Parisi calls herself the "Elegant Tightwad." "Whenever I say how much I paid, mouths drop," she said. About a year ago, Parisi began giving shopping seminars at the Women's Center in Huntington, where she tells people how and where to shop for designer name brands at discount prices. It wasn't long before she realized she needed to write a directory of resources to enhance her seminars.
Although two publishers expressed interest, Parisi decided that the process would take too long. Plus, she'd lose creative control and make less money on each book. So last September she self-published "Dress Like a Million Bucks While Spending Only Pennies."
Parisi has joined a growing list of entrepreneurs either resorting or choosing to publish books on their own, foregoing the use of small publishers who tend to offer little in the way of marketing and editorial support. These writers use companies that simply run prints of manuscripts, or opt for "print-on-demand" firms that fill orders as they come via the Internet.
POD is sometimes chosen by authors who are testing the waters for a book, or for those who seek assistance in the publishing process, said Karin Taylor, director of the Small Press Center, a Manhattan-based organization for writers, publishers and aspiring publishers. With a little soul searching and some research, it's easy to decide on the most appropriate format, entrepreneurs say.
There's no exact count of how many people are choosing to publish on their own, but Dan Poynter, a self-publishing expert in Santa Barbara, Calif., said there are about 55,000 self-published authors and mini publishers around the country.
Self-publishers like Parisi, with built-in target audiences on the lecture circuit, often respond to a certain demand to know more about what and how they do what they do.
But there are steep obstacles to pass in going the self-publishing route. "Unfortunately, there is still stigma in some people's eyes" about self-publishing, says Taylor. But stigma aside, self-publishers share some impressive shelf space, including Walt Whitman and Virginia Woolf, Taylor noted.
Parisi is pleased with her publishing endeavors. She's already covered her investment of about $2,500 for her first printing of 300 copies. She would not say how much it cost to print each book, which retails at $14.95, but pointed out that variables change with each title. There is trim size, page count and color to consider. And the larger the quantity, the less expensive the printing costs are per unit.
She began by researching online, at stores and by browsing through other books. She joined the Small Press Center. Retailers said that they would only stock her book through a distributor. After some investigation, she selected Bookazine, a New Jersey company that distributes books in stores and by catalog. And by studying books in the market, she discovered a thing or two about book design.
"I'm an avid reader. I always had a knack for writing. I wrote and edited it myself. I did the layout myself. It was a much larger undertaking than I thought," said Parisi, who hired a cover designer for the book jacket.
Parisi built a Web site (www.theeleganttightwad.com) and sent out dedicated e-mails about the book through online shopping portals.
Parisi wasn't surprised when the books generated interest in the seminars, and vice versa. But she didn't expect what came next. "People came to me and asked if I could take them on trips." So she started "Tightwad Treks," group shopping excursions of sample sales and upscale consignment shops in Manhattan.
For many self-published authors, once a book is published, it's a constant marketing process to attract sales. "You're getting the word out all the time. You have to make so many calls a day and be on the ball all the time," Taylor said.
Not so for Dominick Miserandino, editor and publisher of Malverne-based TheCelebrityCafe.com, an online entertainment magazine. Miserandino recently released "How to Survive Your First Year of Marriage by Traveling: San Tropez, France to Helena, Arkansas," a compilation of humorous travel stories that chronicle Miserandino's travels around the world for TheCelebrityCafe.com with his wife, Margherita.
With 28,000 subscribers to his e-newsletter as a sales base, Miserandino decided that signing with a small press would be more of a problem than it was worth. An experience with a small publisher several years ago helped seal his decision. Through POD, he receives nearly 15 percent more in royalties than the publisher offered.
Hoping that his subscriber base would serve as a foundation to a larger audience, when "How to Survive Your First Year of Marriage by Traveling" hit the market in November, Miserandino simply shot an e-mail to his distribution list announcing its availability on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Ties with media organizations helped lead to interviews regarding the book with media outlets across the country as well.
But not every author has that type of marketing power. Many POD companies offer these services for a fee. Miserandino also cautioned authors to have their work looked over carefully before sending it to the printer. "Make sure to read it over several times before submitting it to the publisher, because after it's out of your hands, the publisher just prints what you give them," he said.
But not everyone is a fan of POD. "PODs are selling books back to the author," Poyntner says. Though self-publishing requires more upfront costs, "You are making the money selling to the public."
And if getting a book reviewed in traditional review journals is a priority, "you might think seriously before taking the POD route," Taylor says, adding that the iUniverse imprint on the spine can be a deterrent.
Miserandino acknowledged that self-printing would "net you more of a profit. However, that is on the assumption that you sell 100 percent of the copies you ordered. If not, you're sitting around with books all around you."
Bill Barrett, who leads an entrepreneurial workshop at the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, first tried the traditional publishing route for "The Teen Entrepreneurial Handbook."
"I have a book that's unique, but I was not able to convince an agent to take it. So I looked into doing it myself," said Barrett, who released the book in September. Before he did, though, Barrett received valuable advice from Robert Klein, co-owner of Huntington Book Revue. Klein told him what belonged on the spine (title, author's name and publisher), and to obtain an International Standard Book Number, or ISBN, a unique number that enables retailers to order the book (www.ISBN.org).
Authors considering POD or e-publishing should also preserve their copyright ownership, said John DeMaro, a partner in the intellectual property group at the Uniondale law firm, Ruskin Moscou Faltischek.
The contract should acknowledge that the author owns the intellectual property rights and that the book will include the name of the copyright owner and the year of the first publication.
Parisi's title is now in its second printing at 700 copies. Where does she store all those books? "I have a stack of boxes next to my refrigerator and in the bedroom," Parisi laughs. "And a box of boxes to ship the books."
But the inconvenience is well worth the effort, she said. "Now I can offer something so concrete that people can look to."
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