WIXLIB

5.POST-PUBLICATION OPTIONSOptional Post-Publication Pricing ChartFree Author WebpageMarketing COACH Email TipsAudio Excerpt on WebpageHTML Support on WebpageStandard Press ReleaseCustom Press Release WritingPR Publicist CampaignBook Teaser VideoBook Video TrailerBook Video CDsPersonal Marketing AssistantBookmarks, Business Cards, PostcardsPosters (Large & Small)Search Inside the Book SubmissionCD Media/Press KitForeWord Magazine Co-Op AdvertisementForeWord Book of the Year AwardsBenjamin Franklin Book AwardsReader Views Literary AwardsOfficial Outskirts Press EVVY NominationWriter’s Digest Self-Published Book AwardsIndie Book AwardsUSA News National Best Books AwardsBook Fair Co-OpsGlobal Book Tour PackagePost-Publication Revision 606060616161AWARD-WINNING BOOKS62A WORD FROM OUR AUTHORS67GLOSSARY79CONTRACT85SAVE 5091

1THE PATHSTO PUBLISHING“Whew! It’s finally done!”After months or even years of dedicated writing, your book isfinally finished.Congratulations! Bask in the glow of accomplishment. It takesdedication, desire, and devotion to complete a book.Now the publishing adventure begins. Which path do you take?Old-Fashioned PublishingWhen the movie studio system was formed in the early1900s, actors were signed to exclusive deals, treatedlike commodities, and paid pennies. The studios maintained all the control and made all the money.

t THE PATHS TO PUBLISHINGOnly when movie stars became “free agents” did theirautonomy soar. Their paychecks followed suit. Do youthink actors today would be making 20 million permovie if the studios were still in charge?Fast forward to the new millennium. The publishing industry is undergoing a similar paradigm shift.Authors are discovering alternatives to traditionalpublishing because they recognize the shortcomingsinherent in the industry’s archaic business model. Oldfashioned publishers accept about 2% of the books theydeem “good enough” and about 80% of those still losemoney. It is tough to be successful when publishers expect you tofail.TIPSMyth:Old-fashioned publishersdo all the marketing for you.Fact:Unless your name is Stephen King,plan on an extensive amount ofself-promotion no matter whatpublishing path you pursue.Even if you prove successful, beprepared to relinquish all your rightsalong with all creative control.Of course, that is the least of yourworries. If your book fails to immediately find an audience (i.e., turn aprofit), be prepared to watch yourpublisher yank the book from theshelves. The majority of traditionally published books go out of printwithin five years.Once it goes out of print, you may consider republishing it elsewhere. But you may be required to buy backyour rights. Most troubling of all, your publisher maynot even sell them to you.Old-fashioned publishing is an archaic business modelthat has to adapt. The Industrial Revolution revolutionized it once; the Digital Revolution is revolutionizingit again.

SELF-PUBLISHING SIMPLIFIED t Independent Self-PrintingWhen Newsweek and Time Magazine refer to selfpublishing, they are often referring to independentself-publishing or self-printing, which is the antithesisof old-fashioned publishing.Before custom self-publishing services were available, doing all the work yourself and printing thousandsof copies in advancewas often a determinedI’m basking in the golden glow ofwriter’s only recoursesatisfaction as I look at the book inif he or she wanted tofront of me that has my name on it,publish a book.still surprised that it happened soAuthors who self-pubquickly.- Dr. Donald R. Avoylish independently with aprinter maintain all theirrights and full creativecontrol. That is good.They also pay for each element of production separately,or do all the work themselves. That is bad. Then, whenthe book is printed, they have to track orders, bill customers, handle fulfillment, and maintain inventory. And thatis the best-case scenario, because that means their book isactually selling. It probably isn’t. Without any wholesaledistribution, the book is likely to end up collecting dustand taking up space in your garage.Perhaps the worst part is the initial cost. Offset printersexpect you to pay for high quantities of books up-frontto justify the cost of a print run. In fact, a Newsweek article once indicated that an independent self-publishingauthor should be prepared to spend between 5,000 to 25,000! That’s a lot of money to spend for a stack ofbooks in your basement.

t THE PATHS TO PUBLISHINGFull-Service Self-PublishingImagine a publishing process that combines the best aspectsof traditional publishing and independent self-publishing.Through alliances with Ingram, Baker & Taylor,and other wholesalers and distributors, Outskirts Presshandles unlimited wholesale distribution, inventory,shipping, fulfillment, and invoicing. Online retailers likeAmazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and about 25,000other sales channels who order through these wholesalers can have your book in their system and available forsale. With appropriate pricing, this includes special orderavailability in just about any store that sells books. If theydon’t have access to Ingram, they can order your bookdirectly from www.outskirtspress.com/buybooks for thefully discounted wholesale price. No other publisheroffers convenient online wholesale availability whereyou still receive your full royalty.Outskirts Press gives you control over the retail price,author discount, and royalty you earn. Plus you alwayskeeps 100% of your rights and 100% author royalties.Isn’t that refreshing?Speaking of ordering, you never have to buy any booksunless you want to. Outskirts Press handles unlimitedprinting for all the wholesale orders your book receives. Yes, Outskirts Press fills those orders directly.That means no additional print-runs, no unnecessaryinventory, no additional out-of-pocket printing costs,no additional shipping expenditures, and no overhead.Instead of dealing with those hassles, you concentrateon promoting your book and cashing the quarterly royalty checks you earn.

2IS FULL-SERVICERIGHT FOR YOU?How Much Will it Cost?Outskirts Press offers five publishing packages that rangein price from 199 to 1099. Many packages also offeroptional production and marketing services that allowyou to fully customize your publishing experience.There are no additional out-of-pocket printing costs tofulfill direct wholesale, distributor, or retail orders. Wetake care of that. The only required fee is a 25 annualmaintenance fee, due every January. That one nominalfee provides unlimited wholesale copies of your book asrequired by distributors or readers on-demand, wheneverit is ordered wholesale. No longer does your publisher orprinter decide if your book goes “out of print.”Unlimited wholesale printing and distribution through25,000 sales channels for less than the cost of one singleprint-run with an offset printer? No wonder OutskirtsPress is the fastest-growing full-service self-publisher.

t IS FULL-SERVICE RIGHT FOR YOU?How Many Books Will I Have to Print?Outskirts Press does not require you to buy any booksup-front. Instead, we publish and distribute for you, justlike the New York publishers! That means no guesswork on how many books you should print, no shortageof books, and no excess books taking up space in yourgarage. However, should you choose to order books foryourself, you will receive a below wholesale price. Infact, you determine your own author discount.Will My Book be Changed?Old-fashioned publishers change nearly everythingabout your book by making edits to the content withoutyour approval. Sometimes they even change the title.On the other hand, Outskirts Press leaves the creativityup to you, where it belongs. What you submit is whatyou publish. Of course, we do offer editing services andwe highly recommend all our authors have their manuscripts professionally edited. You don’t want mistakesin your book, do you? It’s very embarrassiinng. See?How Will My Book be Bound?Outskirts Press books are published with the intention ofbeing distributed and sold. Many retailers dislike spiraland comb bindings. In fact, most refuse to deal with themaltogether.Therefore, paperback books are perfect bound, with theexception of full-color paperbacks under 24 pages, whichare saddle-stitched. Hardbacks are stitched casebound.

SELF-PUBLISHING SIMPLIFIED t Who Designs the Interior and Cover?That is up to you. You can do it or we can do it for you.Our professional book designers will lay out your bookaccording to our professional formatting standards.You only need to supply your word processor file, formatted in the default settings at 8.5” x 11” with singlespaces, no automatic pagination and no hard returns. Ifyou don’t know what a “hard return” is, please see theGlossary in the back. We will provide standard interiorformatting at no additional cost.We have many professionally designed coversto choose from that comeincluded with your publishing packages. Or fora truly spectacular coverwe highly recommendour Custom Cover Designoption to our Diamond,Pearl, and Ruby authors.Wow! My books look amazing. OutskirtsPress made my lifelong dream cometrue. From the very beginning I felt likeI was the important one in the process.- Debra P. WhiteheadIf you have specific design needs, or very personal requirements for your book’s interior or cover, certainpackages even allow you the flexibility of designing everything yourself and submitting your print-quality PDFfile exactly as you want it published. Upon request, we canalso supply you or your designer with our required specifications. This ensures any print-ready materials we receivefrom you meet our professional high standards.“Self-publishing simplified” means we do everythingyou would rather not do while “custom publishing”means you control everything you want to control. It isthe best of both worlds.

t IS FULL-SERVICE RIGHT FOR YOU?Who Determines My Book’s Retail Price?You do. Allowing authors to set their own retail price is aflexibility few publishers offer. Old-fashioned publishersleave the retail price to their marketing department. Moston-demand publishers inflate their retail prices to inflatetheir portion of the profits. Adding insult to injury, thosesame publishers then turn around and offer you “discounts”on bulk orders, which forces you to buy more books thanyou need, just to get a fair price.Custom publishing with Outskirts Press is different. Youpossess the unique freedom to set your own retail price,author discount, and price plan. The only requirement isthat your retail price exceed your wholesale price. Ouramazing calculator allows you to experiment with different pricing scenarios instantly online, in advance ofpublishing.Give it a try right now! Visit this page of the OutskirtsPress website: www.OutskirtsPress.com/pricingWho Determines My Book’s Pricing Plan?You do. The flexibility of Outskirts Press really beginsto shine when it comes to pricing your book for wholesalers. As with the retail price, your Pricing Plan is upto you. The Pricing Plan you set depends upon the levelof distribution you are seeking and how much moneyyou want to make. We have three popular Price Plans tochoose from, and the “pros” and “cons” of each plan areoutlined on our website and the following pages.The Pricing Plan you choose determines your distribution trade discount. Most other publishers, includingprint-on-demand services, set your trade discount andretail price for you. With Outskirts Press, you are incontrol.

SELF-PUBLISHING SIMPLIFIED t Why is My Trade Discount Important?Outskirts Press simplifies the confusing subject of “tradediscounting” by offering three popular Pricing Plans.Each Pricing Plan has its own set of advantages anddisadvantages. By defining these differences up-front,authors have the best chance of meeting their specificpricing goals with Outskirts Press.In a nutshell, a distribution “trade discount” is the percentage off your retail price that the wholesaler pays thepublisher for your book. Wholesalers, distributors, andretailers all take a piece of the trade discount.Therefore, the greater the trade discount, the more moneythere is to split up among the parties involved in sellingyour book. A standard trade discount for traditional publishers is typically 55%.Most other POD companies do not offer any information about their trade discounting policies at all, nor dothey give the authorany say in the matter.The books I received were of very goodDiscounting policiesquality and my book was posted forfor PODs vary greatsale around the world at a price that isly, although the mostcompetitive with the major publishers.popular trade discount- B.W. Philpotoffered by many PODsis 50%.Outskirts Press leavesthis power in the handsof the author. Yes, our Pricing Plans make this mattereasier, and we offer recommendations, but you are incontrol. Advanced Users can even customize their tradediscount further, ranging between 20% - 55%. If indoubt, simply choose Pricing Plan 50.

10 t IS FULL-SERVICE RIGHT FOR YOU?What Pricing Plan Should I Select?Since your Pricing Plan is directly related to both yourprofit and your retail price, special consideration shouldbe given to picking the right one. Your choice should bebased upon the goals you have for your book, in terms ofits cover price, its distribution, and your royalty.Plan50Plan40Plan25Pro: More potential availabilityCon: High retail price and/or lower profitThe advantage is that this meets most off-linestore’s margin requirements with a 30-35%retail margin. The disadvantage is the higherretail price and lower profit. More money in theretailer’s pocket means less money in yours. Ifyou are unsure, choose Pricing Plan 50.Pro: Pricing compromiseCon: Compromise pricingThe advantage is that this balances retail price,distribution, and royalty for a comfortable compromise. The disadvantage is that most off-linestores will receive only a 10-25% retail marginthrough Ingram, when they prefer 40%.Pro: High profit and/or low retail priceCon: Less potential availabilityThe advantage is the low retail price and highauthor profit. With less money for the wholesalerand retailer, more money goes to you. The disadvantage is that this makes off-line sales nearlyimpossible. This plan is for online sales only.

SELF-PUBLISHING SIMPLIFIED t 11Who Determines My Author Discount?You do. Since you set your own retail price, you are incontrol of the retail discount you receive when purchasing copies of your book. This is because you pay the samelow “base price” for your book regardless of how high orlow you set your retail price. The higher you set your retail price, the higher your author discount will be.Outskirts Press sets your book’s base production price,which depends upon the format, publishing package,and final page count when your book is published. Thisis the price you pay when ordering copies from withinyour Author’s Center after publication.Unlike with other publishers, the price you pay as theauthor is unrelated to your retail price or to the number ofcopies you order. Take a closer look at other on-demandpublishers and you will notice that they inflate their retail prices so they can sell bulk copies to the author for a“discount.” Strangely, most print-on-demand publishershave adopted a scheme similar to offset printers by providing a bulk discount if the author orders a large numberof books all at once. Doesn’t this defeat one of the mainadvantages of POD? All they have done is artifically inflated the low-quantity costs enough to allow a discounton higher quantities. No wonder their retail prices are sohigh! Believe it or not, with other publishers, you end uppaying the wholesale price or higher for your own bookin low quantities. It’s hard to make money that way.At Outskirts Press your book’s low base price is availablefor quantities as low as five at a time. In fact, you do nothave to buy any copies if you do not want to – just like witha traditional publisher. The chart on the next page providessome examples of base pricing, or you can estimate pricingfor your book at: www.OutskirtsPress.com/pricing

12 t IS FULL-SERVICE RIGHT FOR YOU?Examples of Author Discount Pricing per Book (quantities as low as 5)PageCountFormatPearl248.5” x 8.5” color paperback 7.64248.5” x 11” color paperback 7.64100DiamondRubySapphireEmerald5.5” x 8.5” b/w paperback 4.56 5.56 6.56 7.561006” x 9” b/w paperback 4.56 5.56 6.561005” x 8” b/w paperback 4.56 5.561006.14” x 9.21” b/w paperback 4.561007.5” x 9.25” b/w paperback 4.561007.4” x 9.7” b/w paperback 4.561007” x 10” b/w paperback 5.481008.3” x 11.7” b/w paperback 5.481008.25” x 11” b/w paperback 5.48Who Determines My Royalties & Profit?You do. Outskirts Press pays 100% author royalties oneach wholesale copy of your book sold through any ofour wholesale distribution channels. The author royaltyis the difference between the distributor’s price andyour base production price. You determine how largethat difference is since you determine the distributor’sprice (which is formulated by the retail price and PricingPlan, both of which you also set).Since your base price is the same regardless of the retailprice you set, you easily control your profit by controlling your retail price. A higher retail price means moremoney for you, not for us. Estimate your profit in advance at: www.OutskirtsPress.com/pricing

SELF-PUBLISHING SIMPLIFIED t 13How Do I Get Paid and When?Book sales data is reported within your free Author’sCenter every month. Book profit checks in excess of 25are mailed to the author’s address on file via first classmail within 90 days following the quarter in which thesales were received. If your accumulated profit is lessthan 25, a balance is shown as unpaid in the Author’sCenter, until such time as the accumulated unpaid profitexceeds 25, at which time that accumulated profit ismailed to the author with the next quarterly check run.For international authors, this minimum threshold is 100.How Long Does it Take to Get Published?In the time it takes to send a query letter to an old-fashioned publisher and receive a response, you can be apublished author with Outskirts Press. Once you complete the simple online pre-production steps and approveproduction to begin on your book, the typical turnaroundtime is 10-13 weeks. Naturally, optional upgrades likecustom illustrations or editing can lengthen that time.Here is an estimated overview of the process time line:Manuscript Evaluation: 3-5 daysOnline Pre-Production Steps: 24 hours (Author’s Discretion)Production Phase: 6-8 WeeksA

Now stop imagining and start publishing with Outskirts Press. If you have become disillusioned with the old-fashioned publishing industry or simply want to use full-service self-publishing as a stepping stone toward traditional publication, Outskirts Press can help you. Get published today and take back control of your writing career.