Publish to Prosper

By Peg Silloway

We've all heard the old admonition to academics: Publish or perish. If you wanted to move up in college and university circles, you had to publish articles and books - or be seen as a bit of a loser.
Businesses are discovering a new and much more positive version of that old phrase: Publish and prosper. In these days of instant messaging, video e-mails and downloadable e-books, company leaders are rediscovering the value of good old ink on paper as a marketing and brand-building tool.
There is nothing quite as effective as a book (well, perhaps other than an appearance on Oprah or CNN) in creating the image of you as an expert. A person's name and photo on the cover of a well-written, well-published and good-looking book can be worth thousands of dollars of paid advertising.

Changing Scene
Just as anyone can toss up a web site and peddle goods and services on the Internet, just about anyone can publish a book. The issue is not having a book; rather, it's having a book that brings as much respect and recognition as possible to the author. Commercial publishers - the big houses, such as Houghton, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Warner Books, etc., have controlled publishing for decades. Small, independent presses have always existed to publish niche, regional and special interest books. The economic realities of publishing kept it a closely-held capability.
But there has been what some have called a revolution in publishing in recent years. With the development and rapid improvement of digital presses, POD (print-on-demand) printers have sprung up to meet the demand of authors who want to publish their books themselves. If your book has a narrow market (for instance, you want to write about the beautiful bike trails in Maryland), it will be difficult to find a commercial publisher willing to take that on, even if you are the next Ernest Hemingway.
It only makes sense that commercial publishers are businesses first; they look at the market and bet on their ability to sell a certain number of books.

You Can Do It
But suppose you've ridden all those trails, you know every twist and turn and can write about them with lyrical elegance. Even then, unless you have been a frequent speaker at conferences, have published articles in bicycling magazines, or have a web site or blog that gets thousands of hits a day, you have a hurdle called the "platform."
Commercial publishers want to know what your platform is: who you know, who knows you and how many will buy your book. That's your market, and they want to be sure you can reach enough of it to make the investment in your book worthwhile.
So if you're not a nationally known speaker, but you have something of value to say and have written a book or at least have a good outline, what do you do?
You invest in yourself.
Authors today are becoming publishers to keep control of the quality of their books as well as the profits they generate. Some take on all the tasks themselves, learning about editing, cover design, typography, binding styles, paper choices, fulfillment and marketing. Others choose to work with an independent publisher who will act as a project manager to monitor the tasks and make sure everything comes together properly.

No Guarantees
No book will sell itself. The world has to know about it, and the author needs to be ready to actively participate in the marketing efforts. Without that, you might as well save your money or print just enough books to give away to friends and family.
No publisher of any sort will guarantee your book will sell well. But the independent companies that have the interests of their authors at heart provide marketing guidance and assistance as part of their service.
The key to success in independent publishing today is to ask questions, insist on answers and never allow yourself to be pressured into agreeing to anything you don't need or don't understand. With good choices, your book can become an effective marketing tool for your business. Publish and prosper.

Peg Silloway is a writer and independent publisher in Columbia. She can be reached at 301-335-9368 and via www.sillowaypress.com.