Leveraging Your Resources to Publish Your Book

Leverage Your Resources to Publish Your Book

These days, self-publishing is more accessible than ever because costs have been reduced considerably with the growth of POD technologies (see my article “What is Print on Demand Publishing?” from May 28).

Plus, money is not the only resource you have to move your plan forward when you embark on self-publishing your book. Try bringing creative strategies into your production and marketing plans when you run the numbers. You may have associates, friends, or colleagues who have the talent or the connections to help you leverage your project.

First, see if you can negotiate price with the graphic designers, artists, and other independent contractors who will work on your book. Sometimes the offer of additional book samples for their portfolios will motivate these professionals to trade at least some of their time for credits prominently placed in your book.

If your book is illustrated or uses featured photographs, you might offer contributing artists deeply discounted copies of your book to promote their own work in exchange for their art. Or they may be convinced to lower their price to earn several dozen free copies. Your contract terms must spell out the details to avoid any confusion about rights or payments upon publication.

Take the time now to query your co-workers, friends, and professional contacts to see if you might be able to forge a strategic relationship that benefits both parties. For example, an associate in retail or the owner of a public establishment might easily move a couple of hundred books in a few months. If the subject matter in your book is a good match, ask if that person is willing to commit to an advance purchase of cartons of your books. It will help you gauge how many books to print, and will also help you with cash flow, if associates can pay up front. Any planning that you can do now to pre-sell books will be to your advantage.

What is Subscription Publishing?

In the time-honored tradition of subscription publishing, many worthy books have been written and brought to readers with the help of patronage. With this type of funding, production costs are underwritten through the advance purchases from many individual buyers who agree to buy one or more copies of your book. Patrons pay in advance for books, and their names—printed in the book’s first edition—can be seen as a public endorsement. A list of important patrons can raise the visibility of your title. Patronage from organizations, associations, or various communities can also excite purchase of the book, spread among their many members.   

To raise money through subscription publishing, start by crafting a well-written, passionate letter stating your case for publication to prospective subscribers. The concept is to petition subscribers (or patrons) for money in exchange for a personalized copy of your book. You can solicit donations directly or through friends or agents. Enclose a postcard with ascending levels of donations and a return envelope so patrons can enclose payment.

Be sure to offer additional benefits in exchange for donations. A special, limited edition packaging of your book is easy to prepare using creative options—for instance a special box or wrapper, a commemorative letter or insert, or a gold, customized seal purchased from your local stationery store. Invite contributors to your book launch party and a short reading, where the content is shared and celebrated, and where they can meet other subscribers and pick up their special edition. Thematic décor, food, or activities make your launch memorable and give it personal flair.

How I Raised the Cash

I first heard the term subscription publishing through a writing coach, and used this method to raise funds for my full-color art book. The concept is to petition subscribers (or patrons) for money in exchange for a personalized copy of your book. You can offer your subscribers other benefits, too. Include special pages in the book to thank patrons by name and invite them to your book party. Subscription publishing is a relatively easy way to pre-sell copies of your book by creating an organized, targeted program.  

Because my book included fourteen artists from a long-standing art community in Sonoma, California, I knew I had a network of potential book buyers radiating out from that group. Could I convince them to become patrons? I sat down and developed the numbers to see what it would take to raise the cash I needed. Then I wrote an impassioned letter—and packaged it as a full-color, oversized snail mail invitation.

My letter included the benefits of becoming a patron (receiving a special edition of the book- a gold seal embossed with “Friend of Sonoma Collage” on the title page, their name included on a reserved page, an invitation to my book party including food, wine, music, and presentations to the studio founders) and I also enclosed a response card indicating tiered levels of donations starting at $50 and up to $250, with a last box tagged “other”. I didn’t want to limit anyone’s generosity. I was stunned when the first return came back only three days after I posted.

I snail-mailed my invitation. Donations continued to trickle in, then built to a steady stream.     I petitioned 200 patrons in all—and just over 100 of them donated money. Because of their generosity, I raised nearly 75% of my printing costs.

 (Note: To avoid any conflict of interest, I declined to accept money from artists profiled in the book or others directly related to the art studio.)

Crowd-funding

Crowd-funding— raising capital for new projects by soliciting contributions from a large number of people online, where there is no expected financial return— is another method to access capital. For example, Kickstarter.com is one of the world’s largest online crowd-funding platform for creative projects. Each week, thousands of people pledge millions of dollars to projects that range from music, film, and art to technology, publishing, and other creative fields. If you feel comfortable putting your project online, and can get behind crowd-funding, take a look at kickstarter.com , gofundme.com, or indiegogo.com to see how other authors and creatives are tapping into this trend to raise money.

With a little creative brainstorming, self-publishers can pre-sell dozens of books even before production has been completed. And by leveraging strategic relationships, self-publishers can sell more books than they could have sold on their own.