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Casting off

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Steele
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David Steele

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I'm considering Self-publishing options this week, looking at Kindle and Create Space, but also wondering what other options are out there.

In particular, does anyone have any advice or horror stories concerning:

IP Lawyers
Distribution options - Can I sell Create Space books in a store?
Publicity and PR / Marketing companies
Editing services
Purchasing ISBNs - Are there any syndicates out there to bulk buy?
Publicity routes - I fancy visiting schools to talk about "being a writer" and selling at the back of the room. Anybody tried this? Can I sell my own books, or is that a breach of legal agreement with the distributor?
Social Media - On twitter it looks like "indy authors" all follow other "indy authors". Is nobody following readers?
Tax implications - Anybody out there VAT registered? Surely there's no point for a handful of books?
Business mentality - Has anyone ever tried to produce a financial Risk Assessment and Business Plan for their book and taken it to the bank?
 
With regard to CreateSpace and bookstores. I think that's Ingram Sparks territory.

I myself have been humming and hawing over ISBN'S for a while now because you need one per format so for my series (all 15 in Epub, mobi and paperback) I need a whopping 45 ISBN'S.

To buy 10 at a time from Neilson I would be almost £700 out of pocket. Where as to buy 100 it would only be £345. I thought for a while about buying single ones but it can be risky and I would rather have published it myself if I buy an ISBN'S at all.

That said if others wanted to club together and buy in bulk I would be happy to do that though the chances there are slim to none.

I like the idea of producing my work written and published by me through Ingram Spark and then Createspace simultaneously. It's just the outset at the start.

Going on the costs that I worked out for a paperback of book 1.

I would sell at 6.99 and it would cost me roughly £3odd (thats print on demand from ingram spark) So per paperback I would make roughly £3 give or take. So i would need to sell 15 paperbacks to cover the cost of the 3 ISBNs for epub, mobi and paperback which if buying 10 at a time it works out at £14.40 per ISBN.

If buying 100 at a time it works out at £3.46 per ISBN and I would only have to sell 3 books to break even.
 
Karen Gray said:
That said if others wanted to club together and buy in bulk I would be happy to do that though the chances there are slim to none.
Click to expand...

I'm good for that. Is there a law against it?
That works out at £3.45 per ISBN - or £52 each member of the syndicate for 15?
Am I missing something here? Sounds so obvious.
 
David Steele said:
I'm good for that. Is there a law against it?
That works out at £3.45 per ISBN - or £52 each member of the syndicate for 15?
Am I missing something here? Sounds so obvious.
Click to expand...
No. Not that I know of. Buy a syndicate would have to set up a publishing name that they all shared and were happy with, plus as I need 45 I would have to hope that they would buy more at a later date.

I think it's a good idea personally, I didn't think anyone else would. Though I am glad that for one person at least I was wrong :)
 
Okay. Let's put the ISBN issue to one side for now. I think it would make sense to try to start our own syndicate. We'll have to work out how it will be administrated and find out how many might join. It's that's a thread we'll investigate separately and with @AgentPete's permission.
 
David Steele said:
Okay. Let's put the ISBN issue to one side for now. I think it would make sense to try to start our own syndicate. We'll have to work out how it will be administered and find out how many might join. It's that's a thread we'll investigate separately and with @AgentPete's permission.
Click to expand...
"Yes, Boss!" lol
 
Ha ha! Using somebody else's forum to set up a business deal is plain bad manners! ;)
 
Karen Gray said:
With regard to CreateSpace and bookstores. I think that's Ingram Sparks territory.


To buy 10 at a time from Neilson I would be almost £700 out of pocket. Where as to buy 100 it would only be £345. I thought for a while about buying single ones but it can be risky and I would rather have published it myself if I buy an ISBN'S at all.
Click to expand...

Really? I bought 12 a few years ago and they came in at £80 or so AFAIR.
 
"The following services are available to new publishers, i.e. persons or organisations who have not previously been allocated ISBN prefixes in the UK or Republic of Ireland.



Service Description Gross PriceIncluding VAT at 20% in £
ISBN Prefix for 10 numbers Publisher registration, allocation of ISBN prefix plus a list of all 10 associated ISBNs. The list is issued by email or can be posted if required, at no extra fee. £144.00
ISBN Prefix for 100 numbers Publisher registration, allocation of ISBN prefix plus a list of all 100 associated ISBNs. The list is issued by email or if required, can be posted for an extra fee. £342.00
ISBN Prefix for 1,000 numbers Publisher registration, allocation of ISBN prefix plus a list of all 1,000 associated ISBNs. The list is issued by email or if required, can be posted for an extra fee. £924.00
Fast-track Processing Processing time (from receipt of legible, fully and correctly completed application form with correct payment to issuing of ISBN prefix and numbers) is reduced from 10 working days to 3 working days.


£72.00


Printing and Posting of ISBN Allocation Additional fee payable for allocations of 100 or 1,000 ISBNs when issued by post. £36.00"


 
I use
David Steele said:
I'm considering Self-publishing options this week, looking at Kindle and Create Space, but also wondering what other options are out there.
Click to expand...

I use Lightning Source for hard copy.

@Karen Gray - important point about page count cost for hard copy in overall book financial plan.

Oh, btw I recall that Lulu offer ISBN numbers without breaking the bank. I use Lulu for epub, Nook (B&N) and iTunes.
 
James Marinero said:
I use


I use Lightning Source for hard copy.

@Karen Gray - important point about page count cost for hard copy in overall book financial plan.

Oh, btw I recall that Lulu offer ISBN numbers without breaking the bank. I use Lulu for epub, Nook (B&N) and iTunes.
Click to expand...
Ingram Spark is Lightning source's sister company for the UK
 
David Steele said:
I'm considering Self-publishing options this week, looking at Kindle and Create Space, but also wondering what other options are out there.

In particular, does anyone have any advice or horror stories concerning:

IP Lawyers
Distribution options - Can I sell Create Space books in a store?
Publicity and PR / Marketing companies
Editing services
Purchasing ISBNs - Are there any syndicates out there to bulk buy?
Publicity routes - I fancy visiting schools to talk about "being a writer" and selling at the back of the room. Anybody tried this? Can I sell my own books, or is that a breach of legal agreement with the distributor?
Social Media - On twitter it looks like "indy authors" all follow other "indy authors". Is nobody following readers?
Tax implications - Anybody out there VAT registered? Surely there's no point for a handful of books?
Business mentality - Has anyone ever tried to produce a financial Risk Assessment and Business Plan for their book and taken it to the bank?
Click to expand...

1. IP lawyers- or solicitors in the UK, you can get free advice from the IP department at the British Library. Wonderful help they are amazing. http://www.bl.uk/bipc/
2. Distribution. I have spoken to Waterstones who have all their books centralised through Gardners.http://www.gardners.com/gardners/default.aspx
3. PR- usual, start local press releases and with national papers too and have a hook of your own. I am sure there are many innovative ways to this.
4. Editing services- many out there. I have been looking at www.cornerstones.co.uk
5. ISBNs - i bought 10 for £100. They know me lol as i keep changing ownership and have to shift my games to new companies. Neilson are very helpful. Libraries and bookshops order direct through their system. So have to keep it updated.
6. Schools - yes you can sell into school. Include a flyer to be sent to parents with a cut for the school for every sale is quite attractive. Giving a talk, i have done a few in the name of science, is nice because you get to speak directly with children and understand what they like to know.
7 VAT - nil rate on books unless electronic but worth getting into organised habit with this even if it is a bit of a headache. You will be entitled to vat refund if you are selling hardcopies only. Assuming you are spending on item directly related to the busines.
8. Business plans - i hate them. Never get them but yes i have completed them but not to banks mainly to funders and investors. Some you win many you lose. :D

But i like the syndicate idea.
 
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James Marinero said:
I also pay £180/year for Neilson to put my books on all trade catalogues.
Click to expand...

I can see that being useful, but I'm not convinced I'd get enough sales through it to make that pay. A crystal ball would come in handy.
 
Some self pub companies offer an ISBN in the cost of publication, I know New Generation do. Their Standard package covers the cost, http://www.newgeneration-publishing.com/publishing-packages/standard-publishing-package/ It's £299 but I wouldn't know if it's any good, or what the company's like.
VAT- you don't legally have to register to pay unless you earn OVER £70,000 a year then it's mandatory, you can pay voluntarily at any point though (not sure how it works in the USA)
With the advent of tumble dryers, I think clothes pegs would be a bad move for a business.
Don't be scared to contact the HMRC for any questions about tax, I'm sure they'd be happy to help.
 
Too many posts to read thoroughly, BUT buy ISBN?? Why?? They come free, at least with Lulu POD self publishing, and I thought also with Createspace??
You can certainly sell your own books, but I doubt schools would let you do that, but anything is worth checking out. POD don't usually have distributers unless you pay for it. This is where it gets costly, and unless you have a real 'Hit' you could just be throwing money away. Look at Amazon and the tens of thousands of books, you will be competing with them, so do the research (which you've started) and be careful.
I've self published, had heaps of favourable comments from friends, and sold maybe 20.....
 
I thought that Lulu included this — that's what I use for printing a hard copy for myself — though with the price disparity there might be some catch, that needs to be investigated...
 
Lulu books are more expensive, probably because they cover the rest of the world, where-as Createspace only covers USA and Europe.
 
They are that, though. Mine cost $12-$15 to print, with no markup.
 
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