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Publishing

Running your OWN publishing (self-publishing).

Publishing (selfpublishing.shtml) | Updated: 01-Jul-2008 - 23:55

I've been asked many times about writing and getting a book or books published. My reccommendation is to be your own publisher and self-publish. The profit margins are much, much higher and you can retain control of all aspects of getting YOUR book or books out. Unless you goals are to run a large corporation with sales in the millions and all the headaches that come with that then be your own publisher. You can still grow but on your own terms and time schedule.

In traditional publishing the author gets a small precentage of sales (after freebies and returns). They even get to buy their OWN books at an author discount.

Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanack ) where first self-publishers. As a self-publisher (publisher) you take on the production costs, you are responsibile for design, marketing and sales, as well as the associated risks. But - with these risks come the rewards and profits when your are successful. All the profits are yours instead of author royalities. You are also leaving your heirs a tangible asset.

(From the US copyright office web site ) A work that was created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author’s life plus an additional 70 years after the author’s death.


Curt Sheller Publications is a Apple, Mac based company and only uses Mac software. So the reccommendations are going to be mainly Mac based. I have used and do use a Windows to check my web sites but it ain't fun!

The box said Windows 95 or better. So I go a Mac.

Curt Sheller Publications can also assist you in all phases of getting your book going. From getting started all the way to marketing, sales, design, production and promotion.

Curt Sheller Publications Services

Commercial Printers

Your Own Publishing Company click to show or hide or section

It's a lot easier than you think...

Self-Publishing aka PUBLISHNG is a lot easier in the Internet age. It tends to level the playing field a bit.

Self-Publishing allows you to control all phases of YOUR book. Writing, design, printing, advertising and promotion and distribution. And, with the added level of control you get 100% of the profits – NOT 10% or so.

Remember it is YOUR book and who is going to care, feed and take care of it better then you.

Self-Publishing IS Publishing

For now run my business as a Sole Proprietorship in PA as it is only me. Here is some information on Sole Proprietorship.

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship, by definition, means “one owner”. Most small businesses operate as sole proprietorships. This is the simplest form of organization and allows the single owner to have sole control and responsibility. The business may use a fictitious name, but the business does not have a separate legal existence apart from its owner under state law. Fictitious names must be registered with the Department of State if the sole proprietor is a for-profit business. (See the “Registration of a Fictitious Name” section).

Some advantages of the sole proprietorship are less paperwork, a minimum of legal restrictions, owner retention of all the profits, and ease in discontinuing the business. The other good news is that in most cases, a sole proprietorship is not required to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service unless it has employees.

There is no need to file a separate income tax return for the proprietorship because the activity is reported on the owner’s federal and Pennsylvania individual income tax returns. Since a self-employed person is not an employee, there is no provision to withhold payroll taxes to cover federal, state, local and Social Security tax obligations. If you are a self-employed sole proprietor, you must make quarterly estimated payments to provide for these tax liabilities.

Disadvantages include unlimited personal liability for all debts and liabilities of the business, limited ability to raise capital, and termination of the business upon the owner's death.

You should note that a small business owner might very well select the sole proprietorship to begin. Later, he or she may decide to form a partnership or corporation.

A Pennsylvania Enterprise Registration Form (PA-100) must be completed to register for certain taxes and services administered by the PA Department of Revenue and the PA Department of Labor & Industry. The most common reasons an enterprise would be required to complete a PA-100 are when it is conducting retail sales or has employees.

If you are not certain whether you must file an Enterprise Registration form (PA-100) and would like some help, please review our Frequently Asked Question about the PA-100.

Publishing Books click to show or hide or section

Reference books to get you started

How To Publish and Sell Your Own How-To-Book
by John T. Reed

John T. Reed
342 Bryan Drive
Alamo, CA 94597
925 820 7262

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Links

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Thisis a great book. I bought this book after having self published 20+ plus books and found a lot of valuable information regarding publishing.

Of all the self-publishing books I have bought over the years. This is by far the best. No BS. This is the book that I recommend to anyone that asks me for advice on getting into publishing.

After reading this book I realized that I am a publisher and a member of the press. Thanks John.

John's comments on why he does not sell book on Amazon.com. I agree, and have never even contemplated selling on Amazon.com, known what cut they want and the cut-throat prices they sell for.

Publishing Basics: A Guide for the Small Press and Independent Self Publisher
by Robert Bowie Johnson, JR

RJ Communications
51 East 42nd Street
Suite 1202
New York, NY 10017
phone: 800-621-2556
fax: 212-681-8002

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Links

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(from their site)

Publishing Basics takes all the mystery out of self-publishing and steers you in the right direction. Answers are provided for all the most frequently asked editorial, design, and marketing questions, and more. The Book itself is produced in five 16-page segments, or signatures, using five different kinds of paper and four different printing processes. The same photographs and artwork are printed in each of these five signatures so that the reader can compare the quality of the reproduction of the various printing methods. It also includes an invaluable list of resources.

Other Publishing Books

There are a bunch of other books on self-publishing, publishing and writing that I have. But, the above books are pretty much all you need to get started. But - with the relative small expense that a book represents you really can't go wrong learning all that you need to learn about being a publisher.

If you feel that you are not a natural writer, like I did, just do it and learn as you go. Pretty much anything that you what to learn about has been written down somewhere. In the Internet age it is a lot easier to find. The information is out there or in a book somewhere. If not write your own book.

Book Printers click to show or hide or section

Establish a good relationship with a few printers nationally and locally for your books.

If you are selling more than 200 books a year than getting a two year supply is cost effective.

ADR Book Print
2012 E. Northern Avenu
Wichita, KS 67216-2341
Toll Free: 1 800 767 6066
Fax: 316 522 5445

Links

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SLOW loading Flash site.

Bang Printing
3323 Oak Street
Brainerd, MN 56401
Phone: 218 829 2877
Toll Free: 800 328 0450
Fax: 218 829 7145

Links

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Fidlar Doubleday
4570 Commercial Ave, Suite A
Portage, MI 49002
800-248-0888 - Fax 800-884-2437

Links

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(from their site) Fidlar Doubleday, Inc. is a leading provider of print related services. From our vigorous beginnings in 1898 as a county courthouse printer in Kalamazoo, Michigan, we have evolved into a dynamic organization that utilizes the latest in digital technology to serve customers nationwide.

Publishers' Graphics
140 Della Ct.
Carol Stream, IL 60188
Phone: 888.404.3769
Fax: 630-221-1870

www.pubgraphics.com

RPI Printing Services
507 Westlake Avenue N.
Seattle, WA
Phone: 206-443-1515
Toll Free: 1.800.443.1875

Links

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(from their site)

Signature Book Printing
8041 Cessna Avenue #132
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
Phone: 301-258-8353
Fax: 301-670-4147

Links

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Clean simple site with good information

I had my Ukulele Chords book printed with Signature Book Printing and they did a nice job.

More information available on listings's web site.

Ukulele Chords - “C” Tuning

Mini ukulele chord book of basic open position and movable form chords. Great for your uke case.

$9.95 - Buy Now

MORE INFO and samples...

Thomson-Shore
7300 Joy Road
Dexter, MI 48130

Links

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(from their site) Ned Thomson and Harry Shore founded this company in 1972 on the theory that the only real asset the company has in the long run is the people who make up the organization. They were adamant in the belief that the employees are the sales department because they can assume the responsibility for efficient and effective performance. This became the basis for meeting our customer's needs and the emphasis on quality and service.

Van Volumes, Ltd.
2 Springfield Street
P.O. Box 314t
Three Rivers, MA 01080
Phone: (413) 283-8556
Toll free: 1-800-290-0462
Fax: 413-283-7884

Links

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Short Run Book Printer for Self-Publishing Authors

(from their site)

Van Volumes is a short run book printer for both books and booklets & helps those who want to self-publish. Our clients range from small publishing houses to self-publishing authors, family and local historians to poets, fiction and non-fiction writers, fundraising groups to technical writers. The success of Van Volumes is our commitment and flexibility that gets your work into print.

Commercial Printers click to show or hide or section

 

Establish a good relationship with a few printers nationally and locally for your business.

IMAGERS
1575 Northside Drive
Building 400, Suite 490
Atlanta, GA 30318-5411
404) 351-5800
(800) 398-5821
Fax (404) 351-9020

Links

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IMAGERS

Print on demand short run printing service - affordable 4 color printing is now a reality.

Kalil's Printing, Inc.
21 South Limerick Road
Royersford, PA 19468
Phone: 610-948-9330
Fax: 610-948-9310

Steve Saul: Estimator / Planner ssaul@kalilsprinting.com

Links

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(from their site )Kalil's Printing was founded in 1977 by Walter and Pat Kalil. It continues to run and operate today as a family run business with the original values upon which it was founded.

Partner Printing
700 Columbia
Riverside, CA 92507
Phone: 951.787.9988
Fax: 951.787.6732

Links

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(from their site) - Wholesale resource designed for Trade Customers Only! Trade customers consist of Printing Companies, Print Brokers and Advertising Agencies. Partner Printing was built and designed to be re-labeled to use as your own site. See Business Services and click on "Become a Dealer" for more information. We have added more enhanced features offering more products, paper stock options, quantities and even lower prices to choose from, in addition the most advanced design studio on the web.

PSPrint
2861 Mandela Parkway
Oakland, CA 94608
Phone: 510/444.3933
Toll Free: 800/511.2009
Fax: 510/444.5369

177 Mikron Road
Bethlehem, PA 18020

Links

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(from their site) - PSPrint operates a 28,000 sq. ft. print facility in Oakland, CA, and a new 25,000 sq. ft. facility in Bethlehem, PA. Both facilities feature state-of-the-art Komori Lithrone S40 presses

Home Office click to show or hide or section

 

Computers, Software, Postage, a Printer and Binding machine is about all you need to get started.

Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
Tel: 408-536-6000
Fax: 408-537-6000

Links

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Adobe PhotoShop, Acrobat, InDesign and Illustrator

I use InDesign®, Photoshop®, Illustrator®, Acrobat® software exclusively.

Apple, Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
408.996.1010

Links

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Released with much fanfare in January of 1984, the Macintosh was the first affordable computer to include a Graphical User Interface. It was built around the new Motorola 68000 chip, which was significantly faster than previous processors, running at 8 MHz. The Mac came in a small beige case with a black and white monitor built in. It came with a keyboard and mouse, and had a floppy drive that took 400k 3.5" disks--the first personal computer to do so. It originally sold for $2,495.

Text courtesy www.apple-history.com

Everything done on a Macintosh computers. Site is even hosted on mac by MacHighway.

coil-binding.net
333 W. North Ave.
Suite 403
Chicago, IL 60610
Tool Free: 1-877-264-5246

Comcast
Toll Free: 1-800-COMCAST

Links

I use Comcast for my high speed Internet access. I also have a cheap dial-up access service (isp.com) for those times Comcast has been down (very, very, very rare) to check orders.

Endicia Internet Postage
Envelope Manager Software
247 High Street
Palo Alto CA 94301-1041
Phone: (650) 321-2640
Tech Support: (800) 576-3279 x130
Fax: (650) 321-0356

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Links

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(from their site) Endicia Internet Postage is a service from Envelope Manager Software, a leader in desktop mail software, with over 15 years of experience in the postal industry. Our team received the prestigious Quality Supplier Award from the U.S. Postal Service in 1989, and our Envelope Manager product has been a corporate standard for address hygiene and bar-coding at the U.S. Postal Service since 1993.

FileMaker, Inc.
5201 Patrick Henry Dr.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
USA
Phone: 408-987-7000

Links

FileMaker, Inc. is the worldwide leader in easy-to-use database software for business professionals. Millions of customers—individuals, small businesses, teams in education and government, workgroups in Fortune 100 companies—manage projects, people, and assets with FileMaker.

Hog Bay Software
Jesse Grosjean
Bangor, Maine
jesse@hogbaysoftware.com

Links

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TaskPaper
Get things done

icon-taskpaper-product.png For Mac users who want a simpler way to stay organized and get things done. TaskPaper is a simple to-do list that's surprisingly adept. Unlike the competition, TaskPaper's text based interface is focused on paper-like simplicity. Requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later Learn More...

I've tried a bunch of task managers, note takers and such but have always gone back to old school and paper and pen. But, FINALLY an easy to use, no learning curve, fast and actually fun to use way to bag the paper route and do this on a computer.

I especially like the tagging ability. Looking forward to what is coming in future versions.

Jan 2008 Update: Back to paper. Just so much easier and convient for getting things done.

Hewlett-Packard (HP)
Hewlett-Packard Company
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185 USA
Phone: (650) 857-1501
Fax: (650) 857-5518

Links

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Get a B&W and color laser printer for your publishing business.

I use HP Printers (period)

Intuit
2632 Marine Way
Mountain View, CA 94043
650-944-6000

Links

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(from their site) -

Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of more than $2 billion in its fiscal year 2005. The company has nearly 7,000 employees with major offices in 13 states across the U.S., and offices in Canada and the United Kingdom.

MYOB US
300 Roundhill Drive, Suite #2
Rockaway, NJ 07866

MYOB Customer Service
800-322-MYOB (6962)
(9 a.m. - 6 p.m. ET, Monday -Friday)

Links

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More information available on listings's web site.

Performance Design, Inc. (PDI)
2350 E. Braniff St.
Boise, ID 83716
Tel: (208) 384-8551 or 800-390-5782 (English speakers only)
FAX: (208) 384-8583 or 800-390-5783 (All languages)
1-800-390-5782

Staples

Links

Be sure to sign up for your Staples Rewards card. It can mean a few hundred dollars a year.

Third- Party Credit Card Processing click to show or hide or section

 

CCNow Incorporated
9625 West 76th Street, Suite 150
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Toll Free: 1-877-CCNOW-77

Links

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This is the eCommerce site that I use and have been very happy with them. They are owned by Digital River.

CCNow is an online retailer that provides a merchant account alternative, credit card processing, shopping cart, fraud prevention, and secure checkout services. CCNow never shares credit card information with suppliers.

Web Resources click to show or hide or section

 

I will ONLY reccommend products and services that I use in my publishing effort

A web page and a book is all you need to get started.

For web resources and links on creating and programming a web page visit the sites mentioned here. They have a load of information that is valuable for creating your site.

Bare Bones Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 1048
Bedford, MA 01730
Phone: (781) 687-0700
Fax: (781) 687-0711

Links

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BBEdit is a text editor originally developed for Macintosh System Software 6 and now for Mac OS X. It is made by Bare Bones Software. BBEdit is not a word processor, meaning it does not have text formatting or page layout features. BBEdit's audience includes programmers and web designers.

Bare Bones Software also made a free and less-featured version of BBEdit called BBEdit Lite. Bare Bones Software discontinued BBEdit Lite at version 6.1 and replaced it with TextWrangler, which initially cost money (though significantly less than BBEdit), but several years later was released for free. BBEdit itself was available at no charge from its initial release in 1991, but went commercial in May 1993 with the release of version 2.5.

BBEdit
Frontier
BBEdit

Bare Bones software. My entire site is "hand coded" using BBEdit. I've been using this software since version 3 (1994)

I don't reccommend that you had code you web site like I did. I started hand coding html around 1995 before there where programs like DreamWeaver, GoLive and Flash. But, I do reccommend you keep your site simple, fast loading and easy to find stuff. The last part, find stuff, can be hard as a site grows.

BluePrint CSS

Links

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Blueprint is a CSS framework, which aims to cut down on your CSS development time. It gives you a solid CSS foundation to build your project on top of, with an easy-to-use grid, sensible typography, and even a stylesheet for printing.

MacHighway.com
(formerly)Itsamac.com
Category 99, Inc
240 S Broadway STE 206
Denver, CO 80209
1-303-722-9381
Toll Free 1-800-604-9960 (USA Only)

Links

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MacHighway • Mac Powered Web Hosting, Email and eCommerce

MacHighway is a web hosting service designed by Mac users for Mac users. MacHighway understands that there is a significant number of Mac users who need quality web hosting. Too many web hosting companies believe that the Mac platform is not worthy of support and altogether disregard the Macintosh enthusiast. That's where MacHighway comes in.

More information available on listings's web site.

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Links

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(from their site) - Mint is an extensible, self-hosted web site analytics program. Its interface is an exercise in simplicity. Visits, referrers, popular pages and searches can all be taken in at a glance on Mint's flexible dashboard. Learn more!

MooTools
The Compact JavaScript Framwwork

Links

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(from their site)

MooTools is a compact, modular, Object-Oriented JavaScript framework designed for the intermediate to advanced JavaScript developer. It allows you to write powerful, flexible, and cross-browser code with its elegant, well documented, and coherent API.

Creating Web Pages click to show or hide or section

 

Here are some resources and recommended books on HTML and css for creating your publishing web site.

Here are a few of the books that I have had. The Elizabeth Castro book I've have 3 or 4 editions of.

Select Book

HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition (Visual Quickstart Guide) (Paperback)
by Elizabeth Castro

(From Amazon.com) It's important for anyone who creates Web sites--even those who rely on powerful editors like Dreamweaver or GoLive--to know HTML. The World Wide Web Consortium rewrote HTML as a subset of XML (dubbing it "XHTML 1.0") and the allowable code will eventually be stricter. Tags that are being phased...

Select Book

PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual Quickpro Guide) (Paperback)
by Larry Ullman

(From Amazon.com) on powerful editors like Dreamweaver or GoLive--to know HTML. The World Wide Web Consortium rewrote HTML as a subset of XML (dubbing it "XHTML 1.0") and the allowable code will eventually be stricter. Tags that are being phased...

Select Book

PHP for the World Wide Web, Second Edition (Visual QuickStart Guide)
by Larry Ullman

(From Amazon.com) on powerful editors like Dreamweaver or GoLive--to know HTML. The World Wide Web Consortium rewrote HTML as a subset of XML (dubbing it "XHTML 1.0") and the allowable code will eventually be stricter. Tags that are being phased...

Select Book

Stylin' with CSS: A Designer's Guide (Paperback)
by Charles Wyke-Smit

(From Amazon.com)

Select Book

Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)
by Eric A. Meyer

Topics covered:

  • HTML with CSS
  • Selectors and structure
  • Units
  • Text manipulation
  • Colors and backgrounds
  • Boxes and borders
  • Visual formatting principles
  • Positioning
  • CSS2 preview
  • CSS case studies

SitePoint
Australian Office 424 Smith St Collingwood
VIC , 3084 AU
+61 3 9419 5200
+61 3 9419 3900

US Office 2763 West Avenue L #277
Lancaster, CA , 93536 USA
604 716 4638

Links

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(from their site) - SitePoint is a fast growing online media company and information provider targeting the Web professional market, specifically Web Developers and Designers. The company has five major revenue streams: advertising and sponsorship, content-based products both online and in retail, software, and more recently streaming video subscriptions and classified listings.

Desktop Publishing Information click to show or hide or section

 

InDesignSecrets.com

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(from their site) - Adobe InDesign is taking the publishing world by storm. But if you try to find reliable information about InDesign on the Web you’ll find yourself scouring Adobe’s site or muddling through dozens of other sites for a tip or two. Now that you’ve found InDesign Secrets, it’s time to stop all that muddling. Developed by page-layout guru David Blatner and “DesignGeek” Anne-Marie Concepcion, InDesign Secrets is your one-stop shop for all things InDesign.

Why No Amazon or Distributors? click to show or hide or section

 

Why No Amazon?

With Amazon.com Advantage, payment to you is quick and easy. At the end of each month, Amazon.com automatically pays you 45% of list price via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)* for products you've sold during the previous month. You don't even need to send us an invoice. At any time, you can check your sales and inventory with our online reports. Twenty-four hours a day you can track how much you have sold, how much we have in stock, and how much we owe you.

See the BOLD 45% - That is why.