Directory Writing Workshops

  Writers Workshop: Is Self-Publishing Worth the Risk?

Dancing Word Writers Workshop

With Rosey Dow

12/04/2001

Hosted by: Anne McDonald

Dancing Word Publisher/Editor

*This chat has been edited for clarity

Anne McDonald: Tonight, I'd like to welcome Christy Winner, Rosey Dow. She'll be talking to us about the pros and cons of self publishing. Before we start, I'll open the workshop in prayer and then go over protocol.

Lord, thank You so much for allowing us to gather tonight. Thanks, too, that we are able to talk with friends thousands of miles away. Please bless Rosey as she speaks, and guide our conversation. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Protocol reminder: type ? for questions, ! for comments, ga when you are finished speaking, and please wait to be called on in turn.

Rosey, we are so proud of your winning the Christy. Thanks so much for coming to talk to us. The floor is now yours.

*Annie leads the applause.

Rosey Dow: Thanks, Annie! I'm honored to be here. Thanks for not forgetting after all this time. Okay, Let's go.

Anne McDonald: (I'd never forget you, dear)

Rosey Dow: When an author considers self-publishing, the first question he must ask is, " Why?" What does he expect to accomplish by self-publishing the book? Does he want it for a family reunion or some other event? Does he want the book to tell more about his company and it's goals? Does he want it to take to his speaking engagements on the same topics? Is he just impatient to see his name in print?

An author who is also a popular speaker has the greatest chance at selling a lot of books, especially if the topic of the book has to do with his speaking topic.

However, it's difficult to do this with fiction. Looking at it from a financial basis, publishing is risky business. For anyone. Why do you think publishers are so picky about what they will accept? Because they stand to lose a lot of money if the book doesn't sell. Not only in paper and ink but in work hours...in staff wages.

Being an editor is like working in the futures market where a man can lose everything with a single transaction, a single purchase. These publishers constantly deal with risk. That's why they have marketing committees to try to predict which way the commercial wind is blowing. They have to do that in order to stay afloat.

Let's talk about the various tasks that a publishing house does in order to get a book into print. A freelance author sends a manuscript and it's accepted. Then what? Let's list the jobs. Please list them for me. No need to be recognized.

siberiansuz: editing

Rosey Dow: Right, Suz. What else?

siberiansuz: artwork, then marketing strategy

meri: design/layout

Rosey Dow: Good meri. Both design and layout of the cover and the book itself.

KiwiElle: copywriting

siberiansuz: prepublicity

Rosey Dow: Right. Publicity before and after.

Meri:   marketing strategy

Rosey Dow: Good. Marketing.

Anne McDonald:   typesetting

Rosey: yes. The actual printing of the book.

meri:   distribution

Rosey Dow: Yes, distribution involves a host of jobs itself. There are entire staffs dedicated to that. How about warehousing the books? They have to sit somewhere until someone buys them. And accounting. Someone has to keep track of books sold, how much money came in, billing, bad checks. And on and on...taxes...you name it. Then processing returns.

KiwiElle: educating the booksellers about the book so they can sell them effectively from the floors of their stores

Rosey Dow: Good Kiwi.

KiwiElle: even all the way over here LOL

Rosey Dow: Returns also create a lot of problems. Even with all these we've probably forgotten a few. A publisher has a corporation to handle all this work. A self-publishing author will have to handle many of these jobs himself.

meri: makes me tired!

Rosey Dow:   There are several types of self-publishers. You said it, Meri. Some are only printing facilities. Some do more. It's important to know exactly what services a self-publisher offers before contracting with them.

Of course, the more services a publisher offers, the more expensive they will be. The less that your self-publisher offers, the more that you (the author and entrepreneur) will have to do yourself.

Notice that I said entrepreneur? When you self-publish a book, you just went into business. You've made an investment, and you'll have to follow up on it or lose your investment. Unless you're publishing as an act of charity.

I went with WinePress because they offered a lot of services that most main-stream publishers do. They do copyediting, typesetting, printing, warehousing, marketing, distribution to major distributors, accounting and processing of returns.

I still had to design the cover, lay out the front and rear matter (including the index), and write the publicity copy for WinePress to send out. They hired a publicist for me for three months after Reaping the Whirlwind came out. Their in-house publicist still emails me from time to time to give me a tip about an opportunity. However, the cost was exorbitant.

If you ask anyone about WinePress, the first thing they will say is, " They're expensive." They are. But their contacts are invaluable. If you cannot get the attention of key people and key organizations, your books will mold in your garage. You won't be able to get them into the hands of people.

Rosey: How expensive, you ask? I'll tell you. In order to make the price of the book low enough to sell, I had to have 10,000 copies printed at $5.00 per copy.

Anne McDonald: whew!

meri: yikes

Rosey Dow: If I only printed 5,000 copies I stood to lose money on every single copy I sold. That's a good way to sell yourself into bankrupcy. You're right. That's a lot of money.

Anne McDonald: Why did you chose self-publishing for Reaping the Whirlwind ?

Rosey Dow: A couple of reasons. One, I really wanted to get the book into print for the 75th anniversary of the trial. There were many, many events taking place in 2000 concerning the trial and the creation/evolution issue. I knew that I needed to take advantage of that momentum. Also, the senior editor of Zondervan personally advised me to self-publish for that reason. Third, God told me to do it.

Please understand me. I'm not being cliche about that. I had the direct leading of the Lord. and I give Him all the credit for the advances that Reaping has made.

Okay, let's get back to my notes. Besides the initial cost, at the moment I'm paying $75/month for warehousing for my remaining copies. No I didn't have an inheritance or a nest egg to pay for all that. Like I said before, it was a miracle the way it happened. Most of you already know the story, so I don't want to take time with it here. If you want to know about it, email me later. Let's move on.

There are basically two types of books in print: fiction and non-fiction. Tonight we're discussing fiction. In the publishing world, fiction is more difficult to sell. A non-fiction book has a niche, a point of interest. It deals with a topic that the author knows and that some people will want to learn. On the other hand, a fiction book is for entertainment. When you think of a romance novel, western stories, or action-adventure books, what do you think of? A cozy armchair and a few minutes away from the world. When a story becomes too preachy the reader yawns and puts it down. Right?

Lately I've learned that the key to getting a fiction book sold is to make it a non-fiction book in disguise. This is a tricky tightrope walk. The non-fiction part has to be intrinsic to the story, not just preaching tacked on.

Link it to an issue, an event or both. Link it to an exotic area that people want to learn about or an unusual profession that holds the curiosity of the reader.

Think of the Kay Scarpetta books. The main character is a forensic pathologist, an unusual profession that sparks our curiosity. These are the kind of fiction books that make best sellers and these are the only kind of self-published fiction books that have a ghost of a chance.

Self-published books already have one strike against them They are not well received by those in the professional arena. To be honest, I've not been vocal about The Whirlwind being self-published.

When asked, I say Reaping was published by WinePress. Those in the know realize that it was self-published. The rest don't need to know, as far as I'm concerned.

The publicist that WinePress hired for me told me that their company does not represent fiction but since mine dealt with an event and an issue, they would do me a favor. I had difficulty getting interviews with some people because my book is fiction.

Honestly, I get upset over this. Do you realize that great orators spoke at great length about the evils of slavery but until a lady wrote a FICTION novel about the problem, no one acted. Pres. Lincoln said that Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin started the Civil War.

Horses in England were abused for decades until a lady wrote a FICTION book about the problem. Black Beauty is still a classic.

Preachers have been talking about the end times for centuries but until a FICTION series came out about it, no one listened.

Fiction is powerful, folks, if it's done well. Believe me, I'm not knocking the medium. Non-fiction appeals to the intellect, but fiction touches the heart, the very soul of the reader.

That's why I wrote a fiction novel about the Scopes Trial showing how the creation/evolution controversy has affected modern America. I wanted to make a deeper impact than I could with just another creationist tome.

On a different note, I'd like to share with you an interview with an author friend of mine who published a book with iUniverse.

Q:   How much cash did you invest in the project?

A: $399

Q: How many books were published?

A: It was Print on demand. They were published as books were requested.

Q: How many were actually sold?

A: Only about 600 or so. The first run was very poor quality. One book signing (Barnes and Noble) the books came in the morning of the booksigning ( a very common problem in the beginning) and one of the books had wrinkled pages as if they had been caught in a machine. One book had my cover, but someone else's story on the inside. Bad deal. I was embarrassed to market them.

Sad thing is, the story is great. In fact, I have two publishers seriously looking at Blood of the Fathers right now. I believed in the book. I loved the book, still do, but I never knew what to expect. Some of the problems were due to my inexperience (three 1/2 years ago) and others to the publisher.

Q: What publicity did you get?

A:   Zip.

Q: Did you find reviewers willing to review the book?

A: Yes, I did if I sent it, but the POD was receiving poor press at that time (we know why). I had lots of people looking at the book. I had people who loved the book, but again I pulled the book out of circulation myself.

Q: Did you get invitations to media such as radio or TV?

A: Yes, I did two interviews by radio (national) and several local radio shows. I did a small television show called A NEW DAY. But I stopped these soon in the process. I don't know if this was a mistake or not. I respected my work enough to know that I wanted better.

Q: Did you have access to the main channels of distribution, ie,

A: Ingram, yes. B& N, yes. Lots of online big distributors. Amazon, etc. I listed it personally with all of these except for Ingram.

Q: Would you recommend self-publishing to other fiction authors?

A: Ummm. Not through POD, not yet. I've watched your success though, Rosey, and have to say if it is done right then yes, but with every detail out front.

Rosey: Okay, back to me. I also stopped doing radio interviews after a dozen or so. They didn't net me nearly the results that I'd hoped they would. I was even on TV with little results. As for Reaping, sales were good for the first two months but then they dropped off dramatically until Reaping was the first self-published book to win the Christy.

The second quarter of this year I sold about 400 copies. I haven't received the report from the third quarter yet. In spite of all the publicity and all the opportunities Reaping has had, I still have 7,000 books in the warehouse. I just saw an ad for the Christy winners in CBA Marketplace. I hope that helps sales, but you never know. Do you see how tricky this business is?

Okay, let's analyze Reaping the Whirlwind from a marketing standpoint. I'm going to post the synopsis. As you read it, think of marketing aspects. What groups would be interested in a story of this type?

When an elderly widow dies behind locked doors, the local doctor diagnoses heart failure. However, the lab finds poison, and Deputy Sheriff Trent Tyson digs deeper. Within a week tiny Dayton, Tennessee, has a second unexplained death. Tyson finds himself on the trail of a killer who targets the weak, the lame, the unwanted.

The mystery intertwines with the factual account of the Scopes " Monkey" Trial of 1925, the most bizarre yet far-reaching trial of the twentieth century, a case that changed the course of America's public education system.

Tyson has a front row seat to hear both sides of the creation/evolution argument from William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow during sweltering July days where more than the weather heated the courtroom.

As the body count continues to climb and Tyson begins to fall for his Christian landlord's daughter, the deputy comes face to face with his own inner struggles. Which is true: creation or evolution? Does it matter?

What groups may be interested in the story? Go ahead and list them here.

meri: home schoolers

worshipJesus: People interested in the creation/evolution debate already, perhaps?

Rosey Dow: Okay. Educators of all types.

Anne McDonald: mystery fans

Rosey Dow: right. How about lawyers? Especially Christian lawyers.

Anne McDonald: true

KiwiElle: fans of John Grisham

Rosey Dow: Also, historians. This is true history, remember. Not like the Wind.

siberiansuz:   readers of inspirational romance because of the romance aspect?

Rosey Dow:  Yes. There is some romance in it. Also, parents who want their children to become aware of the importance of these issues. The book is written on a level that young teens can enjoy. Very simple vocabulary and construction.

That's the kind of analysis it takes to decide whether to go ahead with a publishing project. Also, do you personally have contacts who would want to buy the book? Do you belong to organizations that may be interested in it? Do you speak often and in various areas? Those are all things to consider.

Rosey Dow: That's all I have. Questions?

meri: Now that you've self published have you thought of seeking a publisher for the book?

Rosey Dow: Yes, I have thought of it. I even checked with my agent about marketing it. But my sales figures are still too low for a publisher to consider it. Maybe someday.

siberiansuz: I have lots of questions, but here is the first. I have a book I'd like to publish for our supporters. This isn't a huge thing...but I want to sell it at our table also as we travel. What do you recommend? It's nonfiction devotional

Rosey Dow: Suz, in that case I'd find an economical printer. Since you're going to personally market the book, you don't need all those other services. I mean as in a print shop to do the mechanical printing.

siberiansuz: I'd do the design, etc, right?

Rosey Dow: Right, Suz.

meri: Is it okay to mention the name of one I'm considering?

Rosey Dow: Don't see why not.

meri:   Okay - checkout Essencegroup.com

Anne McDonald: Even after winning the Christy, publishers still see it as a risk?

Rosey Dow: Right, Annie. They mainly care about the dollars and cents, not the quality of the writing. Isn't that something? It can be discouraging if we dwell on that fact.

meri: we recently had John Moore speak at a conference - he referred to the CBA as a meat market.

Rosey Dow: Great observation. It's kind of like a carnival game where you're trying to shoot at a revolving target. It doesn't matter how good a shot you are. If you shoot at the right second, you'll hit the slot. Period.

Anne McDonald: Makes me wonder how many excellent books are out there that the publishers don't see as worthwhile monetarily.

Rosey Dow: Amen.

worshipJesus: May I ask a question that's not fiction-related?

Rosey Dow: Sure.

worshipJesus: I write poetry, mostly, and I know that's a really hard sell with publishers. Would self-publishing be a good answer, or would that just doom it more?

Rosey Dow:  It depends on whether you have a way to market the book yourself. I knew a poet who traveled far and wide selling his poetry to bookstores. He also did speaking engagements where he quoted it.

Anne McDonald: for me, self publishing my book has been worth it. Sales aren't high, but I know that God wanted the story out there.

siberiansuz: Regarding your initial investment, have you begun to recoup this cost? (I don't know the story either)

Rosey Dow: Email me later about the story, Suz. Of the original 50,000, I've recouped 12,000.

siberiansuz: How long has it been out?

Rosey Dow: D. James Kennedy just took a taped presentation of mine about the book and says he'll put it on the radio. I'm hopeful. It came out in July, 2000.

siberiansuz: excellent!

meri: how do we find your email address?

Rosey Dow: roseydow@141.com or mail from my website: www.roseydow.com

LColeman: that would be roseydow@roseydow.com

Rosey Dow: Right, Lynn

meri: Can you mention some of the responses from readers of the book?

Rosey Dow: Two Christian school teachers ordered copies for every student in their English classes. One is going over the book like you would Silas Marner or something.

Anne McDonald: cool

Rosey Dow: Homeschooling USA raved over it. And put it on their website. I've had a lot of great response. One bookstore manager begged me for a sequel.

siberiansuz:   How much time do you spend marketing? Why did Winepress hire you an outside publicity agent? The outside publicist had some great contacts. He got me on several radio programs--big ones syndicated on 600 stations. And also on PAX TV. The in-house publicist doesn't have those kind of contacts. I spent a lot of time marketing the first year the book was out.

LColeman: Is Great Christian books still selling homeschooling materials?

Rosey Dow: I'm not sure.

LColeman:  If so they are great to work with selling self published books. You might want to send them one to list it.

Rosey Dow: Thanks, Lynn!

LColeman: welcome

siberiansuz: Compared with Betrayed , did you find Reaping harder to sell?

Rosey Dow: There was just a major ad in CBA Marketplace with color photos of the Christy winners.

siberiansuz: (I know Betrayed is just out...but is not self-pubbed)

Rosey Dow: Yes, Betrayed has already sold about 7,000 copies.

meri: Just thought I'd tell you the superintendent of our denom. recommended Betrayed to a huge crowd.

Rosey Dow: Really? How was that? Why did it come up?

meri: He's a fiction fan and mentioned it in a talk to a whole bunch of pastors and wives.

Rosey Dow: Wow! I'm impressed!

meri: I thought it was great to have a leader who reads fiction:)

siberiansuz: Do you attribute Betrayed success more to subject matter than going with a reg publisher?

Rosey Dow: Not really. Promise Press did some mega-publicity for Betrayed.  Far about anything I could dream of affording. One good thing about Betrayed, we got in on a new imprint that the publisher is really pushing right now to get started. One of those slots.

siberiansuz: Yes, I was wondering about that....can I ask?

Rosey Dow: Go ahead, suz.

siberiansuz: Promise Press hasn't done a lot of fiction in the past, have they? I thought they were mostly non-fiction.

Rosey Dow: No. They've only been doing fiction for a year or so. They used to be totally non-fiction.

siberiansuz: Is this something they are just dabbling in, or a new imprint?

Rosey Dow: Currently they are taking contemporary romantic suspense. It's here to stay, from what I hear. They are discussing a second series with Andy and I.

siberiansuz: Do you happen to have guidelines, and can I email you later for them?

Rosey Dow: I don't have guidelines for them, Suz. Sorry. Check their website. www.barbourbooks.com

siberiansuz: Ok. Thx.

KiwiElle: Do you think Promise Press will expand into other genres, or stick with contemporary suspense for now?

Rosey Dow: No idea. I imagine it will depend on how the current books sell. Any further questions?

KiwiElle: Can you tell us anything about the sequel to Betrayed ?

Rosey Dow: Sure. Its working title is The main character is Sam Perkins. He was too much fun in Betrayed let him stay in the background.

Poor Sam is a natural bumbler and he's going to get a smart, female partner. The more he tries to impress her the worse things get. Jonathan and Laura will also be in the story. I'm looking forward to doing it. I had a ton of fun with

KiwiElle: Was it easy to work with your co-writer, Andrew Snaden?

Rosey Dow: Andy is great to write with. He has a fabulous sense of humor. And a great imagination. When we disagree over a plot point or anything, he always says that I'm the senior partner and lets me have my way. I can live with that. :)

Anne McDonald: lol

KiwiElle: LOL

Rosey Dow: I wish my dh was so compliant!

Anne McDonald: rotfl

siberiansuz: lol!

KiwiElle: (Don't we all!!)

Rosey Dow: lol

siberiansuz: How did you hook up with him?

Rosey Dow: We met through Christian Writers Fellowship International. We started out critiquing each others work. I liked his style and he liked mine. He asked if I'd like to try a collaboration and I agreed.

We have a written contract and share my agent. It's worked out fine so far. Our only problem has been that I'm too busy to keep up with him. He's always waiting on me. He's been very nice about it, though.

siberiansuz: One more, I know I'm inquisitive... How did you split the book up with him, did you each take a pov?

Rosey Dow: Andy writes the first draft. I read it and comment on plot twists, etc. Then I take the ms and polish it. I return it to him to refine the technical points (weapons, etc) and then I do one more read through. That's it.

siberiansuz: Cool. Do you recommend getting a written contract before sending it to a pub?

Rosey Dow: I'm not sure I understood that last question.

siberiansuz: I mean , I am collaborating...but I don't know how it will pan out...

Rosey Dow: You definitely need a contract. Ours defines what each of us will do and how to end the relationship if we want to. Having something to tell you how to call things off is important.

siberiansuz: okay. super.

Anne McDonald: Rosey, thanks so much for coming and sharing with us.

Rosey Dow: Thanks to all. Good night.

Rosey Dow

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