When you're not a writer or a publisher
Book Publishing has taken all forms for almost 900 years. From Bibles to Baking, Magazines to Maps. Traditional publishing around the world no longer looks the same as it did even 20 years ago. As recently as Y2K, one's morning began with a brisk walk outside to pickup a fresh newspaper, coffee in hand. This was the prelude of the day for hundreds of millions of Americans. So yes, these days it's a hell of a lot easier to self publish a book.
But it's also a lot more competitive. So when you find yourself slowly inching up to the edge of the cliff, looking down at the water below, deciding if you're going to jump (self publishing a book) or boulder the cliffside without a rope (traditional publisher) - it comes down to what works best for you.
For the jumpers, some prefer having an established platform like Kindle Direct Publishing aka Amazon KDP or IngramSpark to provide the insurance, support and ease to market that would allow you to sleep at night. Those who favor a more turn-key operation without the learning curve of DIY publishing might search for a self publishing platform. In this case, Kobo Writing Life or Barnes & Noble Press could serve as a middle ground of sorts.
Occasionally, new authors realize massive success leveraging Amazon, Apple Books, and the like. There have also been examples of smart business-minded people that have success self publishing. And it should not go without saying, that among the hundreds of millions of books that have been written in the history of the world, there have been some bona fide stinkers. But if you simply trust thy self, there can be no wrong answer.
The Independent Author and Illustrator
When going at it alone, self published authors are better off thinking like producers. One of the joys of creating is to do so with others. If you have the opportunity to do so with family and friends, even better. Long form content may require only minimal illustration. A Children's Book, Text Book or Science Fiction Book might rely on more frequent illustration. So, if this is your route you'll need a great illustrator. The dynamic is critical. An Illustrator can also act as your production designer of sorts, a huge advantage if you're more or a tactician than an artistic director.
Platforms like Fiverr can help you find talent in a snap. If you prefer to keep the work closer to home, asking a few questions with friends can unearth some pretty amazing talent. In my case, family trips up to New York to see the cousins opened my eyes to the level of talent that coursed through our blood. Every one of them could sketch and paint like masters. So when the time came to self publish, going with family was a natural choice.
Even with family you still need to hammer out the payment terms, royalties and deadlines. With an illustrator in place, you'll now want to focus on completing the final manuscript and seek more formal editing that your own eyes can supply. In my case, I have an ex-school teacher mother-in-law and hyper-literary mother who both acted as copy editors. They ensured that my contractions weren't subtractions. Choosing to self publish also might mean not pursuing a literary agent. A common practice reserved mostly for established authors.
The Tech - No idea
At first, I had no idea what tech to use. I was not yet a self published author with a well-honed software stack dialed out. I'm just a guy with a full time job, an idea and a shred of business acumen.
What is my budget for this project?
How do I offer both a hard copy and an ebook?
Am I going to need $60/mo for Adobe Cloud so I have everything at my fingertips, or cut my teeth on a $35 lifetime app that leverages the Apple suite?
Spoiler alert. I went with Adobe Cloud eventually as it seemed like the natural progression due to assortment of options and integrations at the ready. And it was helpful at times. Beware, it will lock you into an annual contract, however.
I also sharpened my skills with Swift Publisher, which for less than one month of the former, offers an intuitive user interface and impressive assortment of options that ended up being almost everything I needed to get a print ready version to press. I'll likely use both moving forward depending on the job at hand.
So once it's time to review and approve the initial sketches, and color begins to fill the templates, your book starts to breathe. The circulatory system infuses each corner with life, and supports a tapestry for the words. It's starting to be fun!
The Songbook
But if it's a Songbook you'll need to start weaving this in too. "Why Are You Out of School" started as a song. It was written on a holiday, so the kids were home, spirits were up and creativity was flowing. The amorphous agenda led to family wide chaos that proved to be the breeding ground for art.
Then like most halfway decent songs, it gnaws at you the next day. The melody bounces off your inner skull like a racketball until you submit. A framework of stanzas covering each American holiday takes shape, injected with a chorus and bridge.
Songwriting is the most fun form of writing. We humans possess a freakish skill to remember rhyme schemes and melodies. Lyrics in songs create a natural cadence for a Children's book, and it really helped speed along the process of completing the manuscript. Recording the song was a completely different process, requiring vastly different tools, instruments and players. Eventually I'll cover that. For now, you can check out the finished product here.
The Printer - Survivor
Don't let anyone tell you it's easy to be a printer in the 2020's. Must I remind you of the newspaper analogy from earlier? Imagine if you were a printer, who used to print that newspaper anytime before the millennium. You weren't just printing news your were printing money. Full page ads were a staple in Publishers Weekly.
Then flash to the present, imagining that you are still in business! What it must have felt like watching your revenue drop precipitously almost immediately after the term “Google” worked its way into the vernacular.
So how did I find a printer? First of all I scoured the hundreds of children's books my daughters have squirreled away over the years to break down the size, style, cover type, texture and page count preferred. Then I pulled up a listing of printers from the Association of American Book Publishers and emailed my brief out to around 40 different companies. I received about 12 bids in return.
I quickly realized that my style of book was not a fit for some publishers. Others, could pull it off but their heart wasn't really into it. I've been in sales for 20 years. I appreciated the more personable printers. The ones that care. The US based printers that have been through the fire. That's who I choose to do business with. For me, writing, illustrating, producing and printing in the U.S. was my goal. I'm very happy to say that I found a printer in the land of 10,000 lakes, and dove in.
Final Layout = Drywall?
Operation Print Book feels a lot like when I gutted a Victorian. On the surface, they have nothing to do with each other. But as proud as I was of the work we put into that house, once the drywall went up you couldn't see 75% of it. Intricate framework, plumbing, duct work, electrical lines, CAD5 and speaker wire all running back to the main brain. But you can't see a lick of it. You only see what's outside of the walls. Sending the final layout to the printer felt the same. All of that other work will now be covered by the book and the song. And you can only hope that your audience can subliminally detect the mechanism that lies beneath.
Producing the final layout will also introduce you to specs, bleed, trim and the arithmetic of art. You'll need both the book cover and the page layout for the interior as separate files. The book cover should include a title that's thought provoking and subtitle that provides the supporting context so the reader “gets it” without being satisfied.
To ensure that your vision doesn't get trumped by the process, partner with the printer's pre-press team to understand when you're placing words or images dangerously close to the margins, or how to avoid white space on the edges once the pages are trimmed.
Distribution
Full disclosure. I know less about book marketing and promotion that any of the steps covered above. In fact, I'm literally proofreading this post on the same day I received the initial hard copies of “Why Are You Out of School?" from the printer. I still don't know what a book sale feels like but I've now learned the core elements of the publishing process. Packaging is an unknown, but these days most website builders have turnkey solutions like Shippo. I chose Wix as my website provider and have been pleasantly surprised by the ease of use, apps and professional look and feel.
January 2024 Update: We are still squarely in the "friend zone" with book sales, but crossed the century mark and the feedback has been awesome. We just got into our third Bend, OR bookstore. One great idea suggeested was to add a QR code to trigger the song in the front of the book. So, I ordered 500 QR stickers and sent the out to the current buyers and will add to all future sold Songbooks. A great way to check in and say hello to everyone thanking them!
I pushed hard to have copies available prior to the holiday season so there is lower viscosity to buy. I used content intelligence like MarketMuse to source ideas for organic content that will resonate with my target audience. I'll reach out to friends and family who either have kids or know someone who has kids. I'll reach out to my favorite independent bookstores and likely split the proceeds to get some reach and exposure. I will pester the PTA's, dial up the daily shows and position the song, where necessary, to tease the ears to convince the heart to engage the eyes. And how did this all work out? Email me at create@americansongbooks.com if you're curious.
Published
This has not been your traditional book deal by any stretch. But in the end, I can hold in my hands a self published book, created not by a writer, publisher or acclaimed illustrator, but a team of individuals with a shared vision, a publishing company of sorts, who serve a meal that needed to be prepared. An authentic human creation. Produced without the aid of Artificial Intelligence and 100% on American soil.
And our hope is that your belly is full.
You can snag a copy of the Songbook here.
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