“I want to publish a book.” 4.5 Things to Know.
Transcript.
The following is a transcript of the video. There might be some grammar errors in this transcript. It’s not a book, it’s a casual transcript. 🙂
Hey, look, there we are. Hey, folks.
This is Sean Buvala from the Small Tooth Dog Publishing Group LLC based in Arizona. We’re happy to have you on this really brief little presentation and overview, if you will, about contemporary publishing, what that looks like here in the late part of the 2010’s, coming into the 2020’s.
Five things about contemporary publishing.
You can learn more about us at smalltoothdog.com. I’m Sean Buvala. Let’s get started. I have to do my own stunts on these slides. I have to look over here and then change slides. Here we go.
It takes longer to publish a book than you expect that it will.
This is especially true in today’s instantaneous society. No matter the model that you use for publishing, it will take longer than you expect. Publishing or at least good publishing takes time.
Authors will sometimes think that things aren’t moving fast enough or that their publisher is deliberately delaying. There is no money in deliberately delaying, that is for sure. If you don’t know what’s going on with your publisher, call them and ask them, but things take time. Art takes a long time. Editing takes a long time. It will take longer to publish your book than you think that it will. You’ll be okay, but just know that it’s going to take some time.
It takes a lot of work to sell a book today.
At best, most authors only sell a few hundred books. That’s just a lot of truth. Some sell several thousand. Yet, thousands of books are released into the market every single day, and they’re all written by authors who think, “But my book is different. It’s going to be different.” Maybe. I will tell you to get ready to work. You’re going to have to build some programming around your book. You’re going to have to build some outreach around your book.
Publishing costs more than you think that it will cost.
Again, even with traditional models of publishing, authors can and will need to spend money to make an impact with their books. Marketing is time-consuming when it’s done well. It’s even more time consuming when it’s done poorly. Yes, you can shoestring your budget for a while, but the biggest plays still require money. We tell people that you can spend two things, time and money, in getting a book put out. You’re going to have to spend those things in some proportion. The more money you have, the less time it takes. The more time you have, the less money you can spend. But there are some things that still no matter what you put in time-wise, you still have to pay some money for. The biggest advertising and marketing plays, they still cost money.
I will tell you as both an author first and then a publisher that if I wanted things to move, I (the author) had to also be moving and spending both time and money as needed. That’s for sure. Number four. Having said those other things, time and money, and work, all those things, number four,
Publishing a book is rewarding.
Write your book because you want to write your book. Do what is best for you first as an author, right? Because it’s your gift. It’s your talent. It’s your place that you want to be in the world. Write first and then worry about the mechanics of publishing. Write because you are a writer. People will sometimes say, “I want to publish a book,” and I’ll say, “Have you written a book,” and they say no. How can you be a writer if you’re not writing? Go write something. Once that book is published, that’s rewarding to say all this work that you’ve done has turned into some fantastic published works.
But write first because that’s your gift and that’s your talent. Do that first. I would rather talk to you about why you’re passionate about the work that you’re doing, why your book actually is different, if it is different. I don’t know. Let’s talk about that rather than you come to me and asked me about money first. That’s really important.
We can help you do these things.
I’m Sean Buvala at the Small Tooth Dog Publishing Group, and we’re at smalltoothdog.com. We do three models of publishing. We do traditional publishing. We do hybrid publishing. We do assistance with self-publishing and have a variety of imprints to help you do all of those things. No matter where you go, be wary of anyone who promises you too much. Be very wary of gatekeepers who say it still has to be done the way it was done in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, even the ’80s. Really do some exploration of that.
We can help you. Visit smalltoothdog.com. Get on our mailing list so that we can update you weekly. As an author and as someone who loves books, get on that little emailing list as well. Let us know what we can do for you. I’m Sean Buvala with the Small Tooth Dog Publishing Group and visit us at smalltoothdog.com.
Anyway, thanks for watching our little piece today. Talk to you later.
