Being your own Publisher – Dr Jacqueline Jeynes, author and publisher
Jacqueline will be at the Llandeilo Christmas Book Fair on Dec 9th (Horeb Chapel) and will talk about walking the Wye Valley Way at the Fountain Fine Art Gallery at 11:30.
Fed up with hassles and restrictions when dealing with a
publisher for your books? Me too, so I decided to do it myself. Five years ago,
I would not have considered it – too difficult to reach group buyers, too much
marketing effort needed – but now, your side of the bargain seems to be
expanding while theirs shrinks and you are expected to do all this anyway.
Forget the “vanity publishing” tag – this is about becoming
a professional publisher as well as an author. I am referring to non-fiction in
this instance, as I do not write fiction, but many of the principles will still
apply. There are three important elements to consider:
- ISBN –
there is no point considering publishing unless there is an ISBN number. Most
book shops will not stock without an ISBN and you need one to sell via sites
such as Amazon. You usually buy them in a block of 10 for around £150, or you
can now buy a single number, and register your details with Nielsen ISBN Agency for UK and Ireland.
It is a simple process and they have lots of guidance online to help – see www.isbn.agency@nielsen.com .
Once you register a title against a number, they include details on their own
list that goes out to bookshops who can order online via Nielsen who pass the
order on to you. You still have other numbers available, of course, so you can
publish more titles in the future.
- Printing –
the first book I published ‘Peg loom
Weaving: all you need to know to get started’ ISBN 978-0-9926100-0-5 was
A5/ full colour/ 145 pages/ illustrations on front cover and around half the
pages in the book. As a practical crafts guide, I specifically wanted spiral
bound so that readers can open it flat, though bear in mind libraries do not
like spiral bound as you cannot see the title when lined up on shelves unless
you include an outer ‘flap’ across the spine. My local printer was happy to
take on the job as long as it was pdf-ready to print. Once set up on their
system, they can print off small quantities as and when I need them, for
example 20 at a time. It is ideal as it
does not involve storing large quantities of books or having to have a minimum
of 500 printed at a time. This works out at around £5 a copy and we sell them
for £12.50 each
-
Other recent titles published need a different
format, so my printer recommended Cambrian Printers in Aberystwyth. “Before Hiroshima: Forgotten Prisoners of
War in Burma, Japan & Far East” is A5 with laminated cover and a mix of
black and white/ colour illustrations. The next book “Walking Wales: The Art Lover’s Guide to Wye Valley Way” is square
format with full colour illustrations and laminated cover. There is also an
E-book version which was converted for me online, for around £90. The latest
version is B5 (so a bit bigger than A5 and therefore more expensive to print
per page) and is a revised version of my book published in 2002 “10 Ps of Managing Risks Post-Brexit: 10
Basic Principles”. The best feature
with this printing company is they have a choice between digital or traditional
printing methods. The digital print is from pdf-ready file and can be in any
small quantities you need at a time. If you need a bigger print run of 1000 or
more, they will shift to traditional printing to keep the prices lower. Digital
print is around £5-£10 a copy depending on page size and number of colour
illustrations.
-
Practicalities
– there are basic bits of information that have to be included in every
book. These include the inner title page plus author name/ date first
published. It also includes publisher’s name and contact details/ printer’s
name and contact details/ standard statement about ‘all rights reserved’ etc (
provided by Nielsen)/ and a note that the book can be ordered direct from
publisher. Once you have a printed copy, you have a legal obligation to send it
to the Legal Deposit Office of The
British Library within one month of publication. Also register the titles
with Public Lending Right scheme www.plr.uk.com for any payments due from
libraries if book is borrowed, and ALCS the Author’s Licensing & Collecting Society Ltd www.alcs.co.uk who collect payments made when
photocopies of your books are made – I still get money from them each year for
my Health & Safety books published 15 years ago!
Remember to have several copies to send out to relevant
reviewers – if you get positive feedback, there should be the option to add a
few sentences to the back cover as the digital format makes it easy to amend.
List the title and details on Amazon. They add their own p&p amount for the
total price charged to the customer, then they take off their own fee before
passing the payment on to you. It is usually a bit less than the full selling
price, but it involves little effort other than posting books out to customers.
Website and social media pages are important, under your own and the publishing
name.
E-books – sites
such as Amazon have a facility where you can set up the book as an E-Book –
Kindle Publishing guides you through the process, or you can pay someone to set
your text out for you. The structure is a bit different from how you might
produce your version for print, and it is easy enough to do but can be very
time-consuming.
The only other issue now is the volume of sales and how you
keep the income as publisher (total sales received) separate from income as
author (% of total sales received). It depends how many millions you make I
suppose!
Biography Dr Jacqueline Jeynes – Author & Publisher
I did full-time teaching degree (B.Ed(Hons) ) while the
children were at school, then started my own Management Training Consultancy
1987 – 2011. As well as business training – I have an MBA and my PhD is on health
and safety in small firms - I kept up with my own interests and learning in the
arts completing an OU BA in history of art.
At the same time as training in companies, I was distance
learning tutor with the OCA for more than 20 years, on history of art and
textiles 40 credit modules, revising their Understanding Western Art course at
one stage. While a tutor with OCA, I completed a BA (Hons) in Creative Arts
(2011) studying their modules on creative writing, printmaking and textiles.
We moved to Wales 11 years ago and continue to keep up with
my personal interests in the arts as a student on practical arts courses with
Lifelong Learning. I wrote the new Distance Learning History of Art course for Aberystwyth University Lifelong Learning
5 years ago and have continued to add to the distance learning options offered
with The Welsh Depicted/ Historical perspective on Contemporary art/
Gregynog and the influence of the Davies
Sisters. I am currently writing two new options for 2018 on The Cubists and Post Impressionists.
As the tutor, I love my students and I want them to succeed.
It is soul-destroying to receive harsh negative criticism from a tutor rather
than feedback that will help them get it right next time. If contact with the
tutor is only by written word, it is vital to get it right. Basically, the
courses are written with the aim of helping them to know how to learn, whatever
the topic.
I still choose to attend SELL courses each year, including
painting, sketching, and 3D work, as it makes me focus on different aspects of
the arts. The more different elements you study, the more closely they fit
together. And although I definitely do not need credits towards another degree,
I do need the structure of a course to make me finish it! I have tried out
techniques that I would not normally consider my forte, especially finer
detailed painting such as botanical illustrations, but found that I do actually
enjoy them – in part, thanks to the great tutors we have at Aberystwyth
University.
Basically, I want to know the how and why art is produced,
and am willing to try any new techniques that someone else can show me. It may
not be my personal preference, but I will always give it a go. As I said, the
more you study, the more it all overlaps and you can understand the context of
art better. I still love printmaking and am a member of Aberystwyth
Printmakers.
Personal ethos? I love writing to pass on information to a
reader. The writing for Silver Travel Advisor started by chance four years ago
and I am now a regular contributor for them. My aim is always to make the
information as clear as possible, unambiguous, and avoid jargon which often
just confuses people. I write reviews wherever and whenever I travel, including
local hotels, restaurants and attractions in Wales – see my blogs and reviews
on the Harbourmaster monthly wine-tastings, walking Cardiff Bay, and doing the
longest Zip Wire in Europe at Zip World! I am interested in wines, gin and the
Prosecco festivals and love to try out different tastings.
The Walking Wales: Art
Lover’s Guide to.. series is based on long-distance treks I have completed,
my journals and photographs, plus beautiful images of old paintings of places
along the route courtesy of National Library of Wales project. There are many
more books that I aim to complete including:
·
The Art Lover’s Guide to Malta & Gozo to be
published for 2018 as Valletta is City of Culture
·
Walking Wales: The Art Lover’s Guide to
Llangollen Canal & Brecon-Monmouth Canal/ The Art Lover’s Guide to The
Severn Way
·
Revision of Practical Health & Safety
Management for Small Firms (original publication 2000)
·
Maybe a book on “Public Art: The Wetherspoon pub
Collections”
·
I have been married to Leslie for 35 years, have 5 sons plus
3 step-children/ 24 grandchildren between us and 3 great-grandchildren. I
completed all of my degrees after the children started school, was an
international Speaker & Presenter for many years representing small firms
and women entrepreneurs, and after writing articles in a range of magazines and
journals, had my first book published in 2000. I received national Writer of
the Year (non-fiction) award in 2015. I am the eternal student, love writing
and walking, and I don’t do much housework unless someone comes to stay!
Dr Jacqueline Jeynes
PhD MBA B.Ed.(Hons) B.A.(Hons)
also see www.silvertraveladvisor.com
for my regular reports and reviews
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