Writing « Robin Writes

In spite of all the blog changes I’ve been posting about, Writer Wednesday will remain the same:

Tips, tricks, ideas, suggestions about writing. And—bonus—I’ll do a second one on Thursdays! But here’s the catch:

YOU have to ask a question! Anything at all, about writing or even publishing . . .

And, well, since one of my pet peeves is finding a blog post that would be more suitable as a social media status update, e.g., really, really short, I’ll continue with our regularly scheduled programming:

LSI vs. CreateSpace

I’ve seen a number of articles recently on the differences between these two companies, so I thought I’d give my own perspective, based on my experience running Rocking Horse Publishing:

First, I want to mention that I used CS as a printer—i.e., RHP was and is the publisher; second, when RHP moved over to Lightning Source, there was no Spark division, which is what LSI has made available for very small publishers and indie authors who may publish just a few books.

Just to be clear, my view comes from using both services in roughly the same manner, which might be different than what you do.

With CS, your first decision is to purchase your own ISBN or use one of theirs. RHP has always purchased our own ISBNs; using one provided by CS means that CS is the publisher, not you.

If you’re using LSI, there is no choice; you must use your own ISBN. This is an important decision, as the ISBN stays with your book forever.

When uploading your ms to CS, you can view errors immediately, fix them, and re-upload. When using LSI, you must convert your Word .doc to a .pdf. Average turnaround time on LSI is three days, although sometimes they surprise you. That means it takes three days before a proof is generated, one which you can view online, but if you need to make corrections you must upload again and yes, it can take another three days.

CS offers book cover design—for a fee, and many other services as well—and templates for those who prefer DIY. LSI offers none of these. Your cover must be built to specifications, converted to a .pdf, and uploaded. Same three-day timeframe, and if there’s a mistake it has to be redone.

The biggest difference is distribution. Your CS-printed book can be made available everywhere, particularly on Amazon; your LSI-printed book ALSO goes into the Ingram database from which bookstores order. Since Ingram is a wholesaler, when you use LSI you must give a heft discount—55%—in order for bookstores to be able to order your book at their usual discount. You also have the option, with LSI, to make your book returnable; stores are more likely to order if they know they won’t get stuck with books that won’t sell.

One of the biggest questions is “which company offers the best printing quality?” Here’s your fun fact of the day:

Much of CS’s printing is done by LSI.

So there you go—your book, your choice.

I was recently asked to contribute to an anthology, for charity, and while I did pull out a horror WIP that I’d started a few months ago, I had a lot of questions before I kinda/sorta committed.

See, while having short stories “out there” can help build your reputation, sometimes things don’t go according to plan. A poorly executed E-book, let alone a paperback, can, at best, receive no reviews and no sales. At the same time, it can even be the target of bad reviews—perhaps not your story, per se, but if any are not up to par, you can bet a reader will fixate on that one.

And those reviews go on your author page.

There are definitely some things one should consider when submitting to anthologies of any kind:

Who’s in charge?Some people think that “anyone” can be an indie author or publisher; websites make it so simple, right? But the truth is that there are a lot of details to handle and typically that first book needs some tweaking. Then, too, the person/people who are acting as the “publisher” may simply not know what they’re doing . . . or be able to agree. One person or several? How will that work? Who takes care of quality control and do they have any experience?
Is there a contract? A legally binding one? You may be told that you retain all rights, but was that a conversation or something in writing? It doesn’t have to be a formal contract, but rights should always be clarified.
Who’s registering the copyright? For the entire anthology, as in a “collection?” Or you, yourself, for your own submission?
How are payments made? The one I was contacted about is, as I said, for charity, so I wouldn’t see a dime—and that’s fine, if you know how your particular antho will work. Some anthos pay in copies, some pay a small stipend; you just need to know upfront.
Price of the book. E-book or Kindle, will that book be priced to sell or will it be too high, in order to accommodate all the royalties that must be paid? If the price is low, or even competitive, will you actually earn anything?Let’s look at a $3.99 Kindle book:If a publisher pays out 50% of the retail price in royalties, then each author earns 10 cents per sale. You know the word count on your story, do the math. At a 70% royalty rate, that book will earn $2.79 per sale. Let’s assume, too, that there are 20 authors contributing to this anthology. That means, for each book sold, each of those authors receives 14 cents—and that’s if the book is done cooperatively, not via publisher. Maybe that’s okay with you. For authors who are just beginning, being published in anthologies can help get your name out there—as long as it’s a good book. For many, just seeing one’s name in print can be a thrill.
Who’s doing the cover? Will it be hideous? Will it end up on LousyBookCovers.com? You likely won’t have any say in this—imagine trying to get 20 contributors to agree on a cover . . .
Who’s doing the formatting? Will it be professional quality?
Who’s editing? Can this person spell and punctuate? Can he or she recognize flow and check consistency?
And finally, promotion. Of course you want to promote this book, your name is in it—is anyone else involved, besides the authors? Especially since you’ll be earning pennies, you’ll want to get as many sales as possible; otherwise, having another author credit to your name is worthless. Where will the books be sold? Besides Amazon, I mean.

I’m not saying “don’t do an anthology.” Heck, RHP just opened Harness Anthologies a couple months ago. But do be aware of what you’re getting into and do it for the right reason—to expand and build upon your platform. Don’t expect to earn much, and don’t get carried away with submitting. As nice as it is to add another book to your author page, it’s much better for your long-term career to have several solid titles to your credit alone.

And better for your wallet, too.