What attracted you to your particular publisher?
I looked at many different self publishing companies - mostly POD, but some short print run. Short print run was quickly dismissed as too expensive, and not viable, as I did not have the space to store large amounts of books. POD then was the logical, in fact, the only choice.
With some companies I looked at, their websites were next to useless, being impossible to navigate, making it very difficult to find the information you needed. The information that was on there was very glossy and Americanized, which may work in the US, but here in Britain we like to do things differently, making up our own minds based on real information rather than glossy sales talk, giving the impression that things are better than they really are. Fortunately I had worked in sales, and had also taken the time to thoroughly research the publishing industry, so was able to see through a lot of this, and understand it for what it was - little more a sales tactic designed to get you through the door.
When I telephoned these companies and went to a seminar that was organized by one of them (Authorhouse), my suspicions were proved correct, as they were very keen to tell you how many books they had sold (an average in fact of just over 100 copies per book, based on the number of titles they currently have in print) and the advantages of working with their company, but getting basic information such as print costs and author royalties proved to be almost impossible. How could I make the decision to publish with them, or otherwise, without this information?
When I found Richard's site, who owns Authors OnLine, it was a breath of fresh air. The site was easy to navigate and well laid out, with all the information freely available, and more to the point, in plain English, without the sales patter. When I rang him to talk things over, I found that Richard himself was very much like this in person - straight to the point, with no bullshit, you therefore knew exactly where you were and what you would be getting. There was therefore no question in my mind that this was the company I needed to do business with and I made the decision to publish with him pretty much straight away (once I had done the sums).
I was surprised to find that Authors OnLine pay higher author royalties, and have lower print costs than most of these larger companies. This is mainly because of their own much bigger overheads, whereas Richard runs a much smaller and tighter ship with less staff. Instead of working in a plush office with lots of 'author advisors' (who take a week to call you back as they are so overworked), he works from a log cabin in his back garden, while his staff work from their own homes, in different parts of the country, keeping in touch with him via email and telephone. He is therefore able to keep costs to a minimum, passing that saving on to his authors, who then have more money to spend on publicity - meaning that everyone's a winner.
How did you find their support and helpfulness?
I really cannot fault the publisher I chose They explained the process thoroughly and simply from that very first phone call and were there to guide me through every step of the way. They even have a freephone number for the author to ring, which comes in very handy.
It was very important to me that I got on with Richard as a person, and was able to speak to him completely on the level, without being fobbed off with unrealistic sales patter, telling things exactly as they are. Also, the ability to physically talk to him rather than using email, as I probably would have done had I chosen an American publisher, such as Xilbris or iUniverse. It was essential for me to be able to communicate with my publisher by telephone, at times to suit me, and not have to wait for people to wake up on the other side of the Atlantic and start work!
Having said this, most of the business has been conduted by email, so I don't really need to ring unless there is something in particular to discuss, such as negotiations for example with wholesalers and book clubs. Authors OnLine have their own publicist, who works with the published authors to promote their books via various media outlets, arranging reviews, book signings, and television and radio appearances, among other things. In this way, they work as my agent as well as publisher, the difference being that they do not take an extra 15 percent of my hard earned income for their trouble.
Since I have chosen a UK based publisher, I am paid in pounds rather than dollars, saving on currency conversion charges. Neither do I have to pay freight costs from the US. In fact, if I order more than £100 worth of my own books, they are post free.
Because Richard uses Lightning Source, who are based in both the UK and the US, my book is available in both territories, as well as via amazon (in all territories including China and Japan) and other online retailers. Since my mailing list includes several people in the US, Canada and Australia, this was and is very important to me. The book is also available via Richard's own site.
Because he is a much smaller company, I found the length of time it took to get the book into print once the contract had been signed was also much shorter - around two months, compared to three for most POD providers. Proof reading and cover design were both included in the price, unlike most publishers, and both did an excellent job, which will no doubt also help sales - particularly the cover, which I am very pleased with.
Something else I should mention is the Authors area on the AOL site, which once you are published you can gain access to. Here you can edit your books details, adding reviews and changing the sample text for example. Every month, Richard adds the sales figures for both the UK and the US (he has distributors on both sides of the Atlantic), as well as e-book sales (all his books are also formatted as an e-book, hence the name of his company, Authors OnLine), for you to check and see how well you are doing.
What are the disadvantges of this particular route?
A major disadvantage of this route that many authors are not aware of is the long lead times which reviewers and book shops like to work with, namely that they like to see proofs of your book anything up to six months prior to publication. With magazines in particular, this is because they themselves have to work in such a way that they are gathering ideas for the winter editions in the summer and vice versa. POD cannot accomodate such demands, since you do not have proofs until the book is actually in print. It therefore takes anything up to six months after publication for such media to take any real interest in your book and make decisions as to whether or not to stock it.
I would say though that the main disadvantage of using POD is definitely the difficulties of getting your book sold in shops - which still account for 95 percent of book sales, the world over. The long lead times demanded by such outlets certainly contributes to this problem, but the poor image of self publishing which is generated by the media does not exactly help either - with many seeing this as an admisson of failure and little more than vanity publishing. Attitudes though are slowly changing (particularly in the UK) as self publishing becomes more and more popular, with even established authors trying it. Having said this, since the name of my publisher is Authors OnLine, they are experts at internet marketing, which these days is the main market for self published titles. You have to do a lot of hard work yourself, but in my case the ground work had already been laid through my own website and mailing list and the various forums that I post on. It is however very labour intensive, and sometimes hard on the eyes, staring at a computer screen for long periods of time. It can be challenging but is also very rewarding.
