weapon69

I'm helping a close relative get a book published - poems - that have been written over the last 30 years. Trouble is, not really knowing what to do with them all!

Do you approach publishers directly or is there some other route?

Advice please!

Jamz3k

A friends of my girlfriends got a book published for the Kindle on Amazon. I'll have a chat with the missus later and see how they went about it.

fitzscoob

You could try speaking to the likes of Harper Collins, however depending on how they work if the author is an unknown they would probably charge you the print and bind cost.

I suppose you would need to find a publishers agent who would look at the work and try and get one of the big binderies to produce them for you and pay you a royalty on items sold.

With regards to getting a book printed and made, I can do that as its part of our family business, however I'm not sure how you'd go getting an ISBN number and finding book stores to take them on for you.

weapon69

If i can't get a publisher to take it on, how much does it cost to get a book printed?
Thanks

scud8

iTrader: (1)

What are you trying to achieve? Fame/money, or just the satisfaction of seeing it in print.

The Kindle route is probably the easiest/cheapest as you can self-publish for free on Amazon (see https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin - you will need some software as well to get it into the right format, but there is lots of free/open source stuff out there) and you automatically have a sales outlet.

If you just want to see it physically in print then there are lots of vanity publishers out there that specialize in this, although they won't set up a sales channel for you. From a quick search you may be looking at spending £1000+ upfront this route.

If you want fame/money then I think you are into hawking the manuscript around the publishing houses - but I'm told this is a soul destroying experience. The other alternative is to self publish on Kindle/online but give the book away (at least initially) while trying to build up a reputation virally.

fitzscoob

Thats a bit of an open ended question at this stage.

I'd need to know what the finished size would need to be.

How many copies would you have printed.

How many colour print.

How many pages.

Then after that I could give you a rough idea. Also it depends on how you want the book made, are you looking for a hard backed book or a printed cover like the paper backs?

Traditionally, I'm a leather goods manufacturer and book binder, so if its massive volumes and required in paper back I'd suggest others who could be more helpful for you.

what would scooby do

Hang on - isn't poetry a dead form of writing now ?

I doubt anyone buys that stuff now??

weapon69

Ultimately just to give her a printed book, even if we only do one copy lol. If no one wants to take it on then thats fine. But its had some success locally (people reading them in the hospital etc) so i kind of thought why not?
Fame and money are not required when you're 82

austinwrx

don't think you'll achieve it other than just have it self bound/printed.

my father wrote a lot of poetry, been on radio 4 and the papers with it, fairly well know in some circles of those type of arty types.

had some published. numbers sold are next to nothing AND he actually owned an art gallery as an outlet to sell such things, had small literary nights/poetry readings and so on.

He's sadly passed away now and to be honest its nice stuff to have but thats about it really.

i think you'd find any writer will probably just self publish on the net.

My dad was too old for that: he hand typed his still !

weapon69

That would be fine

fitzscoob

In that case your cheapest option would be to find a local printer who can digitally print them for you on SRA3 paper, so you can fold and make your sections. That will be by far the cheapest option for printing.

Next you'll need to find yourself someone local to you who performs thesis binding. They should be able to collate and sew the books for you and make a nice case for it to sit in.

Get a quote first from the thesis binders, and ask them what weight paper they would reccomend before you speak to your printers.

Markus

ePub is be format of choice for ebooks. One thing about kindle books is that they can only be read on kindle devices. I am not sure if this is true of self published epubs but it is worth checking

My suggestion would be to go drm free or, if you have to use drm then go with adobe digital editions as it is supported by alot if ereader devices and apps

It depends if you want to make money from te book. If so then it will certainly cost to do so.

StickyMicky

Have a word with Simon DeBanke.

Jamz3k

Ah i forgot all about The Greatest Story Never Told.

weapon69

Sorry, thats lost on me!

dupo

You can get a book published without having to get a publisher to accept it. It does cost however. I helped a relative publish a number of poetry books. I used this company in Ireland (http://www.choicepublishing.ie/index...ngservices.htm) but as everything other than the delivery of the books was done using email, location shouldn't be a problem.

Author gets 40 copies of the book. They get an ISBN for the book.

Basic package - send them a Word doc and they'll do the rest. €990

I used the Silver package - did the formatting and book cover design myself.

Dupo

weapon69

Thanks, thats really helpful! I am torn between self publishing on Amazon or paying out and just getting it done! (if she gets an ISBN, her local bookshop will stock it though).