Cheap Self-Publishing

Things just got interesting

If you read the previous post, you will know that I am now back blogging here and, as I said, things just got interesting.

If you followed that link, you will have discovered one of those interesting things; Degree Press, my publishing company, now has a permanent home. I have had a website developed to sell multiple products. I already have four with more coming shortly.

One thing that readers will notice is that I only sell eBooks from that website. There are a several reasons for why this is so:

• Most of what I intend on selling will be digital. You want print? I do that for a small number of books, but I only sell those via CreateSpace and Amazon.
• Part of my business plan includes selling a significant number of shorter eBooks. If you do go over to Degree Press, you will discover that, of the four current products, three of them are less than 70 pages. That is not accidental.
• I believe that the number of people who purchase the digital versions of my books will only grow because I believe that is a trend for all books.
• Importantly, I sell the books on that website for the same price that I sell them for on Amazon, but I make more if someone buys one from there.
• Finally, I am not planning on shipping books. There are people, like CreateSpace and Amazon who do that so much better than I do.

Forthcoming are a number of new books. These include books about online schools, about alternative ways to attend college, and, one of these days, even a book on self-publishing inexpensively.

I hope that you will stay around. The plan now is to post here a couple of times a week. I believe that I have something to offer you that will speed you along your self-publishing journey.

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Look what I have!!!!

Fresh from the mailbox courtesy of CreateSpace.

 

New Cover Design

I am quite pleased with the design for the new cover of the second edition of my book. Is it perfect? It's close. It sets the right tone for the audience of my book. Remember that this is non-fiction reference. Lots of school listings, general information about online high schools, and some about how to choose an online high school. Also, this cover fits in nicely with what other books in my field look like.

I had it designed at eLance. I have had good luck with the designers there and the price, $55, was certainly reasonable. In addition to this front cover graphic, I had it designed in CreateSpace format, Lightning Source format, and e-book format.

Importantly, if you are going to use someone else, be sure that you are capable of going back and forth to get it just right. We did a lot of that; that's the expectation. Don't assume that a designer will get it right the first time.

I do know that there are people out there who design their own covers. Mostly, I'm not a fan. A few are quite good at it, but most are not. Could I have done the  cover to the right? Let's just say my skill set goes in a different direction.

Notice, by the way, the logo that is included on the front cover for my Best Online High Schools website. Books and websites should be synergistic; feeding off of each other.

My philosophy has always been to work toward my strengths. This is why I don't ship books; I let Lightning Source and now CreateSpace do that sort of thing for me. I don't do things where my skills are lacking and I don't do things that are so time-intensive that they take away from the importance of writing and selling books.

Book Done. Yes. Really!

When last I posted here, I assumed that I was within a very short amount of time of finishing both the text and the database (from which to insert the school listings). Alas, it was not to be.

So where do things stand now?

A week ago, I finished the text in totality. A day after that, I finished the database. I then exported from the database (an MS Access db, if you are interested).

After some editing, I now have a complete book.

I have been considering next steps while I am waiting for the cover to be designed. As usual, I am using eLance to design the cover. My next post will be about the cover and the design.

Since I last published and used Lightning Source, there is now the CreateSpace option. Since I want to maximize the number of places that the book is available, I am considering what to do.

Really, one of the more important locations is Barnes & Noble's website and I can get that done in either place. The difference? If I go through Lightning Source, B&N will likely discount the book on its website which means that Amazon will as well. If I go through CreateSpace (which is owned by Amazon) and get listed on B&N, it's unlikely that Amazon will ever reduce the price. That reduced price is key to sales.

So I may just do both.