Publishing Architect's Blueprint: Self-Publishing Fundamentals

M.Ed.

Introduction

When I write, ambience impacts my work. The mood needs to be just right. In the background, 100 Classic French Songs plays on my iPad, and I’m dressed in black. Preferably my French-styled, A-line striped skirt and black V-neck top with satin trim on the collar and Victorian-style puffed sleeves. Almost everything in my closet is black, but the above-mentioned outfit is what I consider my writing attire. Mentally, there can be no distractions. The cell phone is turned off. No calls. No texts. No emails. It’s just me and my writing utensils. This modus operandi has been developed in the mountains of the Adirondacks, on the beach at the Jersey Shore and finalized in The Penthouse in downtown Raleigh. It is with gratitude that I share it with you, the reader.

Why Has It Taken So Long?

There is an expression that goes something along the lines of: The cobbler’s children have no shoes. That is the closest example I can give as to why it has taken me so long to complete my first official book on the subject of self-publishing. As an industry expert and writer, I have written numerous instruction manuals, ghostwritten for work-for-hire projects or in the role of employee, but this is the first time I’ve committed my personal passion, my expertise, to my own book. My professional experience over the last fifteen-plus years has been spent helping other authors to be successful. I’ve done it time and again and it is the impulse to continue sharing my experience that drives me.  This book is structured so I can help even more authors than I’ve been able to do, one-on-one. But, to be frank, there was a bit of my own underlying fear that held me back. Given the knowledge I have, what am I capable of accomplishing? Now I’m ready to succeed, and I know the author-readers are ready to join me. Let’s go the distance…together.

Authors Fuel My Passion For Book Publishing

What I have said in the previous paragraph was difficult to put into words, but it is the truth. I’ve held off on publishing this book until I was ready to expose both my weaknesses and my strengths. Being honest with the writers I work with is essential—no matter how difficult it might be to share the truths and realities that accompany their publishing paths. I expect the same from the readers of this book. If it’s not good enough. If something is missing…be honest. I want to know. I will work to do better. To be better.

The energy that feeds my spirit for publishing, particularly book publishing, comes from the writers I meet. The journey the author is taking into the world of publishing enthralls me and I’m compelled to help. An obsession, yes. I should be committed…perhaps. My personal publishing journey as an author, magazine editor-in-chief and radio talk show host has been extraordinary. It all falls under the publishing umbrella, but writing a bestselling book changed my life. It is this one aspect of my personal experience that drives me to help other authors create the magic that happens once a book goes to market. There is nothing quite like it. It is not genre-specific. Fiction. Nonfiction. Bestseller or a flop. The author’s life will be changed, forever.

Bestseller and Jennifer Lopez

Unexpectedly and without intention, I wrote a bestselling book after I lost a dot-com job. I independently published and it changed my life. My experience was, of course, unique to me. Authors around the world are having their own individual exploits. They are all special. The entire publishing experience should be embraced; it is invaluable.

My bestselling book was called How to Start a Wedding Planning Business. Gentlemen, please do keep reading; I’m quite certain I can help you sell your WWII thriller, or even your book on motorcycle repair. Frankly, I don’t care about planning weddings, I just happened to see an opportunity and took hold of it. Yes, I do know how to throw a memorable soirée, but the success of my bestselling self-published book was because the content focused on the sales and marketing strategy in the wedding planning space.

It also didn’t hurt that the book hit the market simultaneously with the release of the film, The Wedding Planner, starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey.  It is all about the marketing.

Yale, HP, and Beijing

Attending the Yale Professional Publishing Program, goes down as one of the best experiences of my life. Putting it in my top ten, even before singing The Star-Spangled Banner at a Carolina Mudcats game. It was July 2012, and the week-long educational series was well underway. During the Wednesday night cocktail hour, I had the pleasure of speaking with Winnie Hung, in from Hong Kong. She was with HP and specifically attending the Yale course to find a self-publishing expert. My business partner, Ellie Maas Davis, had made the introduction, saying: "Sherrie is the self-publishing expert in the room." By the end of the evening, Winnie had invited me to speak at the 2013 Dscoop conference in Beijing, China. This cooperative group of HP clientele was interested in learning how to open the self-publishing market throughout Asia, and I was going to be the one to tell them how to do it.

I made it to China the following April and even found time to walk the Great Wall while I was there.  The educational experience at Yale, along with the incredible contacts and friends I made along the way, was priceless. It continues to impact my professional career and fuel my zeal for the business of publishing.

The Story Behind the Story

In 2001, I was working for a dot-com in Raleigh, NC, managing the advertising sales division for an alerting technology software company. A year to the date I was hired, I lost my job along with everyone else at the company. They had burned through $24 million, and I was forced to hit the streets to find another gig.

My career had been focused in advertising and marketing, with my BA in broadcast journalism not getting much use. Moving into the technology sector at the dot-com was the next logical step for me, and I started networking. I ended up at a Council for Entrepreneurial Development event and met a woman who was looking for help with her online publishing business. She was getting ready to relocate to California and wanted to keep a presence in Research Triangle Park. She asked me to take a look at her current project: partnering with New York publishing houses and doing book giveaways. The main subject matter was weddings, and I jumped right into the mix. I had recently written a business plan for a friend who was looking to start a wedding planning company and felt confident I could take on this project. The business was targeting brides via newspaper and Internet ads. It was simple and made sense to me.

In addition to doing book giveaways from the website, the company was selling brides a binder of wedding vendor checklists, which were basically a list of questions to ask the variety of vendors associated with executing a wedding (i.e. DJ, florist, caterer, etc.). The binders were selling like hotcakes. Priced at $25 retail, the binders cost $27.50 to produce. Yes, I questioned this disparity but was told not to be concerned, that everything would work out. So I kept selling the binders, and yes, I continued to look for another job. Several weeks went by, with brides coming into the Meridian Parkway office all day long. Many asked if we offered a wedding planning certification program. Not quite sure what that was exactly, I did my research. There were only two companies at the time offering a certified wedding planning program, and from what I discovered neither provided a sales and marketing strategy. The courses focused only on event planning. The women coming through my office wanted to know how to earn a living as wedding planners. I rolled up my sleeves and got right to work.

I outlined and started writing an eight-week course focused on sales and marketing. I incorporated my experience from time spent in the advertising and media world, which helped me to create a free wedding planning business model, with the vendors paying a 15 percent referral fee to the wedding planners for referring business. I worked on the program for months. One woman stopped into my office every Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. inquiring when the program would be available. Charleigh Barr was her name, and I will never forget her. She helped kick off the program when she pulled out her checkbook and said: I want to be your first student. How much is the program? I replied, It’s $795 and it starts in two weeks. She wrote me the check and I finished writing the rest of the course content—which ultimately became my bestselling book over the following eight weeks.

Why Listen to What I Have to Say?

I published the wedding planning book via the Raleigh-based self-publishing company, Lulu.com. It became their most successful bestselling book, topping the sales of all their titles combined in 2003 and 2004. It continued to sell at the top of the charts for years that followed. The folks at Lulu called me in to find out what I was doing to sell so many books. They were launching their publishing services marketplace and asked if I would come on board as a vendor. Yes was my answer. I had been helping authors while promoting the wedding planning book via speaking engagements around the US for well over a year, and I was enjoying helping authors market their books. It made for a nice segue into the publishing market. After years of running my own self-publishing consultancy, Lulu brought me in-house, and I ended up running the publishing services division.

Over the years I’ve consulted with more than 15,000 authors and hundreds of small to mid-sized independent and traditional publishers. There is not a story I haven’t heard. Not a situation I haven’t encountered. Publishing is my passion.

My undergraduate years were spent at SUNY College at Buffalo. I have my BA in broadcast journalism, have completed the Yale Professional Publishing Program, and continue to study for my master’s degree in the professional publishing program at George Washington University. Blending my academic work with my real-world experience as an entrepreneur, publishing and book marketing, makes perfect sense to me. It has been the ideal training ground to prepare me for my future in the independent book publishing and marketing arena.

All of this together has helped me to build Publishing Architect Blueprint™: Self-Publishing Fundamentals. My hope is it will give authors answers and insight into the world of publishing.

I

INTRODUCTION TO SELF-PUBLISHING

1

Setting Expectations

My fingers are poised over the keys of my laptop and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony plays over and over in my mind. The first note the audience hears sets the tone for the rest of the piece of music. I jump on YouTube and play the masterpiece. My heart races along with the music, and I am ready to compose what I feel is the most important chapter of this book.

Expectations

When you drive up to the Taco Bell takeout window, your expectation of the meal and experience will be quite different than that of having dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Expecting the Taco Bell franchise to have a sanitation grade of A hanging in the window, hot food, a cold Pepsi, and service with a smile—all that is what the customer should expect. Estimated investment per person: $5.13.[1] Guests who dine at Paul Bocuse’s three-star Michelin restaurant in Lyon, France are looking for an upscale experience. White-glove service from the moment they arrive and throughout the meal. Complimentary apéritif and amuse-bouche are a given. Table-side visit from the chef is hoped for, and the caliber of the cuisine should be superb—the best food that guests have ever tasted. Estimated investment for a prix-fixe meal (not including wine): €190.[2]

Authors, I have experienced and enjoyed both of the above restaurant scenarios. As you move through this book, I will share with you the level of service you should expect in each phase of the publishing process and with specific vendors and publishing professionals (i.e. editors, graphic designers, etc.). Throughout your independent publishing journey, keep your expectations in check, based on the publishing path that best suits your needs and budget.

Establishing Realistic Expectations

Let’s be clear. If you’re reading this book, you’ve decided to move forward and self-publish your own book. Bravo! You are more than an author, you’re a rogue warrior. Most important, you’re a publisher. Yes, you read that correctly. Self-publishing = publisher. Independent publishing = publisher. Don’t let this designation overwhelm you. This book is designed with you in mind. We’ll work together to identify and develop the right publishing path for you. One step at a time.

The amount of money you have to invest in publishing your book like a professional will make an impact on the final book product. Do not worry. I will walk you through the entire process: editing, formatting, cover design, ISBNs, distribution, printing, marketing, and more. You will walk away with a tailored publishing blueprint that is the most cost-effective route to producing a retail-ready product that can stand up next to any competitive book on both the literal and digital shelves.

10 Expectations Authors Should Reconsider

Throughout my publishing career given the volume of authors I’ve worked with, covering all aspects of the publishing process, all genres, both fiction and nonfiction, I’ve gained some insight into where authors are coming from. Additionally, I’ve worked with small self-publishing imprints with a handful of authors, mid-sized indie publishers handling thousands of authors, industry leaders with self-publishing platforms, as well as traditional houses. It doesn’t matter the genre, the author budget, or whether the book will be self-published or published in a traditional manner. Authors are uniformly alike. For you, this is an emotional experience. Your book is your baby. You’ve invested so much of yourself, dare I say, blood, sweat, and tears. I get it. As the publisher, you’ll need to put your emotions aside. There will be times when you will need to access the author-in-you