Trends in the book industry

• one 2005 industry study reported a decline of 40 million books sold in 2004

• another 2005 industry survey reported a 12 percent increase in new releases in 2004 over 2003

• a sales decline coupled with a new-release up-tick means greater publishing risk

Harsh facts on book publishing

(data from Wall Street Journal's 8/29/2006 "Small Talk" column and 11/13/2007 Marketplace article)

• per-book copies sold - less than 99 common, 500 average, more than 5,000 seldom

• self-publishing can run to $10,000, even to $40,000, in costs

• self-publishing can run to 2,500 hours of time investment

• novels usually need heavy marketing and hype to succeed

• retailers (on-line and otherwise) pocket more than 50% of sales price

• might never reach retailers at all unless you have a distributor

• a realistic first-printing volume will increase costs, possibly pushing retail prices to unrealistic levels

• do the math (lots of room to fail here)

Self-publishing systems

• author funds the publishing

• author funds the marketing and shipping or takes on these responsibilities

• risk of a bomb is solely on author

It isn't easy - tale of one not-unsophisticated savvy self-publisher

• had a unique book

• had high recommendations

• had a class website

• had shelf-space at Borders

• recently gave up the effort - too much time, too little sales

• no recouping the outlay, much less seeing a profit

Caution - the Internet's great access to the marketplace does not erase the room for failure.

more topics - trademark internet issues, domain names, hyperlinking, patent it or not, naming and branding

questions, inquiries - contact the firm (all contact modes) or call 312.419.8055

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