Self-publishing advice?

[Kuchigakatai]

This question is obviously for zompist, but also for anyone who may be experienced or know about the topic...

So, I am interested in publishing a small book by myself, and while I'm aware of convenient services that do much of the heavy lifting at a rate (notably Lulu.com), I was wondering, how could I achieve something more like what Zompist did with Yonagu Books + its print-on-demand service?

Is there a print-on-demand service that works with Amazon you'd recommend? How does this work for the Amazons of other countries than the US? I see the LCK is perfectly available on Amazon Canada...

Is it troublesome to get an ISBN for a book?

Did you, zompist, go through some trouble to create Yonagu Books? Had to register it somewhere?

I also wonder if I need to send a copy to the Library of Congress even if I'm in Canada, just because I might want to put it on US Amazon...

Any random advice would also be great. Thanks.

[Moose-tache]

It kind of sounds like what you want is Kindle Direct Publishing. That's what I use, and it's pretty perfect for a very small-scale operation. They supply an ISBN for you, if you're willing to only sell paperbacks through them for a certain period of time (getting your own ISBN is pretty straight forward; last I checked it costs less than a hundred bucks). It's extremely convenient, but there are downsides depending on what sort of book you're trying to publish, and whether you want to sell on websites like bn.com. Can you tell us what kind of book it is, and whether you're looking at more physical sales or more digital sales? Is it art-focused (Ingramsparks has a better reputation for reproducing physical art to specifications)? What is your target audience?

I have no idea what you're on about with sending something to DC in order to sell it on Amazon. That's not necessary.

Oh, and I'm starting an editing service on Fiverr soon, so if you want me to edit your book before publication, I'll give you a special rate.

[zompist]

Is there a print-on-demand service that works with Amazon you'd recommend? How does this work for the Amazons of other countries than the US? I see the LCK is perfectly available on Amazon Canada...

Kindle is Amazon's print-on-demand service, for both print books (hard and soft cover) and e-books. I get print sales from the US, Europe, and Canada; I'm pretty sure they can be ordered from anywhere. I get e-book sales from those places plus Japan, Brazil, Mexico, India, Australia.

The nice thing about Kindle is that they understand the proper money flow in publishing, which is toward the author. That is, it's free to set up a book. I do get physical copies for proofreading, as I find errors much more easily that way; that's about $10 including shipping, which is at a steep discount.

For print books, you upload a PDF of the interior and one for the cover. That is, editing and book design are entirely up to you-- Amazon is your manufacturer, not your publisher. For e-books, you can upload a Word document, but I find I have to do some edits in their e-book editor.

You can do PDFs many ways; I just let Word create the interior, and Photoshop does the exterior. For diagrams I use Adobe Illustrator which makes nice sharp print images. For halftone I use Photoshop. (Oh, and I have to change things a bit for the e-book. I can say more about this if it applies to you.)

I've used Lulu as well, mostly for hardcovers, though Kindle offers these now as well. Sales are way lower there.

I tried Barnes & Nobles' print-on-demand too, but sales were abysmal.

Is it troublesome to get an ISBN for a book?

Not at all. If you go through Amazon they will give you an ISBN for free. Note that ISBNs include the medium and distribution-- they are not per title, but differ for format. That is, you need a separate one for softcover, hardcover, and e-book; and if you do Amazon and Lulu you need one for each. Again, there's no additional charge.

I actually bought ISBNs from Bowker years ago, and used them for a few books, but it's not necessary.

Did you, zompist, go through some trouble to create Yonagu Books? Had to register it somewhere?

No. But be aware that book income is taxable. In the US, Amazon will inform the IRS about payments (and sent you the right tax form). I assume they'll do the equivalent for Canada.

I also wonder if I need to send a copy to the Library of Congress even if I'm in Canada, just because I might want to put it on US Amazon...

The LOC allows you to submit manuscripts. This is nicer as you don't have to send a physical copy; but you have to do it before publication.

FWIW I had trouble with one book because I had quotes from other authors, and they gave me trouble because manuscripts are supposed to be
all one author. I had to send them a manuscript denuded of quotes. (Not legal trouble, I hasten to add, just extra steps.)

Your works are copyright even if you don't register them, but registration gives you better options if someone does steal your work.

There are international copyright laws, so I would assume you should register in Canada not the US. Looks like you can do it all online. As with the US, there is a fee for registration.

Any random advice would also be great. Thanks.

Two pitfalls you might not at first think of:

One, think about print resolution, which is much finer than screen resolution. A JPG that looks great on a screen will look crappy in print. You want at least 300 dpi, probably 600.

Two, try to get other eyes on your stuff. Maybe take up Moose's offer. Some god of muddle will insert typos into your manuscript and make you blind to half of them. And if you can get readers who will point out the bad or wrong or confusing bits, that's awesome.

Good luck, and if I can answer more questions, fire away!

[keenir]

I tried Barnes & Nobles' print-on-demand too, but sales were abysmal.

I bought all your books (more than one copy of several, as well) from B&N. up til that option didn't show up as an option for the Middle East Construction Kit.

[zompist]

I tried Barnes & Nobles' print-on-demand too, but sales were abysmal.

I bought all your books (more than one copy of several, as well) from B&N. up til that option didn't show up as an option for the Middle East Construction Kit.

Those are still manufactured by Amazon. I'm not sure why the MECK isn't there-- I'll have to check if I missed a setting somewhere! (The PCK seems to be missing as well.)

[keenir]

I tried Barnes & Nobles' print-on-demand too, but sales were abysmal.

I bought all your books (more than one copy of several, as well) from B&N. up til that option didn't show up as an option for the Middle East Construction Kit.

Those are still manufactured by Amazon.

yeah, i had to get your latest Kit from Amazon.

I'm not sure why the MECK isn't there-- I'll have to check if I missed a setting somewhere! (The PCK seems to be missing as well.)

thank you.

*also i hope dearly i didn't derail this thread - it wasn't my intention to do so*

[Moose-tache]

BTW, please don't upload Word documents to KDP. I use Calibre to convert to EPUB and format it that way. Far fewer instances of "Huh. I didn't know Amazon even had the technology to paginate something that badly."

[Kuchigakatai]

Can you tell us what kind of book it is, and whether you're looking at more physical sales or more digital sales?

It's something in Latin. Text.

It used to be that Amazon didn't allow books in Latin to be self-published through its services. I was told by Sarah van der Pas that this is what Amazon told her back in ~2015, which is why she self-published her translation of some stories by E. A. Poe + Beckford's Vathek through Lulu. (The page says the book was published in "2018", but I believe this is a later republishing?)

This has now changed, so now you can find a variety of "novellas" in Latin independently published through Amazon's service, though only in paperback/hardcover form, as they forbid e-books in Latin in their Direct Publishing.

(I have yet to understand why Arabic is the opposite, being allowed only in e-books, while Hebrew is similar to Latin in being allowed only in paperbacks... Look at the last link if you don't believe me!)

Did you, zompist, go through some trouble to create Yonagu Books? Had to register it somewhere?

No. But be aware that book income is taxable. In the US, Amazon will inform the IRS about payments (and sent you the right tax form). I assume they'll do the equivalent for Canada.

My question was about what trouble I'd encounter using something like "Yonagu Books" for the book. I have a good name for a "publisher", in English, that is somehow unused (Google doesn't give results for it), and would like to use it, even if it's just vanity really...

Any idea if the word "Press" is legally reserved in some way, incidentally? I notice a few Latin novellas published by "Simplicianus Press", but the fact its website is done in WordPress (and not particularly profesionally) makes me think it's someone's vanity "publisher" too...

Two, try to get other eyes on your stuff. Maybe take up Moose's offer. Some god of muddle will insert typos into your manuscript and make you blind to half of them. And if you can get readers who will point out the bad or wrong or confusing bits, that's awesome.

I only remember the trouble Guitarplayer went through with hard copies of his conlang's grammar for proofreading. I think he said he read 3 physical copies through, and every time he'd find typos.

(I wonder why he never put it up for sale too... It seems he went through all that, even a fairly professional design in LaTeX, all to just have a physical copy in his shelf... You can get the PDF (and its sources) from his github page though!)

[zompist]

It used to be that Amazon didn't allow books in Latin to be self-published through its services.

Boggle. I didn't realize this and I don't get it. When there's a different alphabet there can be font issues, but that doesn't apply to Latin. And it's not like anyone at Amazon is reading the book.

My question was about what trouble I'd encounter using something like "Yonagu Books" for the book. I have a good name for a "publisher", in English, that is somehow unused (Google doesn't give results for it), and would like to use it, even if it's just vanity really...

So far as I know, it just affects what Amazon list as the "publisher".

[Moose-tache]

1. re Latin text: I am also surprised by this. I can only assume that Amazon is farming a lot of printing out to dinosaur-era manufacturers who aren't comfortable telling 髮 from 发. However, the number two self-publisher, Ingramspark, does seem to support Latin.

2. re making your own vanity press like Yonagu: you can basically do whatever you want. As long as you're not trying to claim to have a license you don't have, or do some tax shenanigans, literally no one is going to come after you about "KuchiPress" being a real business. In general, I think you might be overthinking a lot of things. Go on Amazon and look at the new releases. There are books there by teenagers who put 0 effort into publishing. You'll even see stock covers supplied by Amazon! I'm not saying you shouldn't try hard, just that there are orders of magnitude fewer hoops to jump through in publishing than there were a decade ago.

[Raphael]

Re-visiting this thread out of personal interest. So, just to make sure that I got this right... I could theoretically self-publish something and say that it was published by, let's say, "Guwunát Publishing", and there wouldn't have to be any kind of legally incorporated business entity of that name?

[zompist]

Re-visiting this thread out of personal interest. So, just to make sure that I got this right... I could theoretically self-publish something and say that it was published by, let's say, "Guwunát Publishing", and there wouldn't have to be any kind of legally incorporated business entity of that name?

In the US, no, because you'd be a sole proprietorship, which doesn't have to be registered anywhere. (There are taxes, but you're responsible for those.)

No promises that it's the same in the EU!

[Raphael]

Thank you!

[hwhatting]

AFAIK & INAL; in Germany as well you don't need to be incorporated (as GmbH or similar) to be a publisher; obviously, you need to check whether your chosen name doesn't violate a trade mark, and if your revenues exceed certain thresholds, you'll need to register a Gewerbe and for tax purposes.

[Raphael]

Thank you, too!

[Richard W]

Re-visiting this thread out of personal interest. So, just to make sure that I got this right... I could theoretically self-publish something and say that it was published by, let's say, "Guwunát Publishing", and there wouldn't have to be any kind of legally incorporated business entity of that name?

There may have to be some way for aggrieved parties to find out whom to sue.

[hwhatting]

Re-visiting this thread out of personal interest. So, just to make sure that I got this right... I could theoretically self-publish something and say that it was published by, let's say, "Guwunát Publishing", and there wouldn't have to be any kind of legally incorporated business entity of that name?

There may have to be some way for aggrieved parties to find out whom to sue.

Well, in Germany, when you publish something in print, you have to mention a name of a person or organisation responsible for the publication in the published document, and an address where aggrieved parties can send official letters. But you don't have to incorporate for that; the usual for small publishers like Raphael is to mention their own name and address (if you're afraid that people will stalk you at your home address, you could get a P.O. box and use that.)

[Raphael]

Ah, the V. I. S. D. P. thing! Thank you for reminding me!

[Raphael]

What happens to a self-published book when the author dies? Will people still be able to buy it?

[hwhatting]

What happens to a self-published book when the author dies? Will people still be able to buy it?

1) Copies printed during the author's lifetime will still be there and can be bought if someone is selling them.
2) The copyright goes to the author's heirs. If they are ready to continue publishing and selling, then the book will be sold. IIRC, copyright extinguishes after 70 years, and then anyone who wants can publish and sell the book. The author could also bequeath the publishing rights to someone who is willing to continue publishing.
3) If the book is published in an electronic format, you would have to look at whether the platform requires any action by the author / publisher and whether it continues to work when the author is dead. Maybe someone needs to be nominated to keep it going (e.g. the heirs mentioned above).
4) If the author doesn't have heirs or doesn't want to involve them in the publishing, and also doesn't find anyone who wants to continue publishing, they could declare that the book becomes public domain on their death, so that anyone interested can publish it.