KEY POINTS:
Should you self-publish? Or should you get your book published?
And why should you do either?
And if you do, how does pricing affect whether or not you starve as an author?
The answer depends on a bottle of Coke. Okay, quick: what's the price of a 2-litre bottle of Coke? It's about $2, right?
But a 600ml bottle of Coke costs more than $2. If you head to that chilled Coke in the supermarket, you're more than likely to pay as much as $2.65 or more.
And that's exactly how it works in the big, bad world of publishing.
To understand publishing, you've got to first understand pricing. So let's go to Amazon.com. What's the price of a book on Amazon.com - $10? $20? $30?
That's the limit of the price, whether you go to an online or offline book store.
And that's only the price of the book itself. What you get to keep, as the author, may be as little as $1 or $2 on every book.
Which means you have to find some way to fend off starvation.
Now there are three ways to fend off starvation: get speaking engagements or high-priced consulting; start publishing in three-ring binders; do both of the above.
Let's look at the first strategy - getting speaking engagements or consulting.
One of the core reasons for publishing has always been to get what's in your brain on to paper. Now, you may do an excellent job of putting your ideas on paper, but it's a cut-throat world out there. This means that fewer than 5 per cent (and I'm being charitable) of books ever make it to your local bookstore. They do, however, make it to Amazon.com and lots of other online stores. But that doesn't mean squat.
It just means it's out there. It just means that if you're lucky, some CEO will pick up the book on his way to Wellington or Moscow, or wherever. And you'll end up with a plum consulting or speaking engagement.
But luck ain't a good strategy. You have to do your own PR, your own book signings, your own marketing.
Of course, there are many ways to get your act right, but the end point is the same: unless the book actually translates into consulting or training or speaking, all you've done is impress your mother.
Because you may look at a book like a noble cause, but let's face it: it's an advertorial, without the ads. It's your expertise coming out so brightly that your customer sees no reason to hire your competition.
But if your customer doesn't get their hands on the book, nothing happens.
In the good old days, begging a publisher to publish your book or self-publishing were the two options you had to get the word out.
Now, not only can you self-publish, you can do so on demand. And do so at a much higher price.
Which takes us to part two of this article. Strategy 2 - self-publishing one book at a time and doing so at a higher price. At first it will make no sense to you. A published book costs lots; you have to print, get a designer, to do all this stuff. And guess what? When the customer looks at your book, they see a standard-sized book, and reckon the price will be between $10-$30. And that's it. We've been trained by publishers to buy books at this price.
So no matter how wild and wonderful your book ends up looking, you're doomed to this smaller price segment if your book is the same size as any other book on the shelf.
But we're not talking shelves, are we? We're talking self-publishing, on demand.
So if you were to go to a course, what would you expect to pay? You'd expect to pay $500-$2500 for a decent course. And what do you get with a course? Why, a three-ring binder. So what's the value of a three-ring binder with specialised information? $500-$2500.
But that's the price of the course, you protest. No it's not. You may protest but your brain has equated the price of the course with the price of the book. And so, magically, a three-ring binder now becomes worth $500-$2500.
Put it back in A5 format and it becomes $30.
This is the world we live in and packaging determines the price. Which is why a tiny bottle of Coca-Cola costs $3. But the mammoth bottle costs $2.
So now you've got a course and you've got your three-ring binder. And with services like Mimeo.com, you can not only print the books one at a time, but Mimeo.com will do all the bells and whistles stuff for you, including Fedexing your book to Reykjavik, or Budapest, or Hokitika for that matter at prices that make you smile.
Which takes us to part three - doing both of the above. So why do both of the above? Surely if you're raking in the dollars self-publishing one book at a time, it makes no sense to get your book printed in a $10-$30 format, right? Wrong answer. The published book goes places your website doesn't.
People buy books at $30 because it's a good read on the flight. Or because it's in the library and hence free. Or because someone gives it to them.
They wouldn't be buying a book to read with a cappuccino if the book was priced at $100. Or $2500.
The lower price point helps get your information into more hands, faster.
This isn't a rule. Tens of thousands of books priced at this low, low price end up six feet under.
But if your information is good, and you market the hell out of your book, then it gains momentum of its own.
A book like Good to Great by Jim Collins has sold more than two million copies in less than five years. A book in the niche market of website navigation - Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug - has sold well over 200,000 copies.
That's the power of distribution. And that's close to impossible to achieve with a book that's priced at $100 upwards.
So the published book must bring returns through consulting, speaking and training. The self-published three-ring binder must bring returns through higher margins. And both of these situations above can co-exist side by side.
Amazingly, you can have your book and self-publish it too. All while drinking your chilled, $3 bottle of Coke.
Sean D'Souza is chief executive of Psychotactics and is an international author and trainer.
www.psychotactics.com
