December 07, 2004

Word from the publisher finally arrives

Well, I got my response from Dorrance Publishing Co. today. I 'specially liked this li'l blurb:

Overall your contribution is designed to capture the imagination as well as to enlighten and provoke thought.
Download RTF file of scanned/OCR'd letter. The amount necessary to have this book printed in paperback form is a tad more than I envisioned for havin' it published in hardback form. I am pretty sure I can scrape together the five grand+ that is due 'pon acceptance of the contract, but not sure where I am gonna get the remainder. So, how did that guy sell all his stuff on Ebay, ag'in?

[UPDATE: Jes' wanted to let ya in on a few housekeepin' matters with regard to the Alien Attitudes™ project. I added an Alien Attitudes™ category and changed the category or, as this project was oft' mentioned in many of the Nightly Navel Gazin' Reports™, added such as a secondary category, on any post mentionin' Alura. I also linked Hor/10's pic in the upper right corner to the Alien Attitudes™ Category Archive. As I have been steadily handin' out cards 'pon which this URL is printed made 'specially in hopes of gettin' people interested in askin' for and, eventually, buyin' my book, I thought it may be prudent to point them toward pertinent information.]

[UPDATE II: Oh, I failed to mention that someone mentioned to me yesterday that John Grisham started out sellin' copies of his book outta the trunk of his car. I plan to go this route too, as soon as I can get finally get it out in print. ]

OTBTJTB™

Posted by Tiger at December 7, 2004 04:52 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Hmmm. Have you talked with Steve (Hog on Ice) http://www.littletinylies.com/ about book publishing? Sounds just a weeeee bit too expensive to me. Even for a vanity publisher.

And they should be paying you, anyway, not the other way around.

Posted by: Kathy K at December 7, 2004 07:48 PM

You could take orders in advance for copies to raise the cash. I'll buy a few...

Posted by: Ozguru at December 7, 2004 08:19 PM

Well, I jes' lost a very long reply comment 'cause this 'puter is still up to it's ol' tricks.

The manuscript is over 363 8.5x11 double-spaced pages and their calculations are that the book will run 400+ pages. 1K is supposed to be for promotional material. The total tag is for production of 3500 copies. I receive 50, and I suspect that 200-300 copies are used in promotional attempts and to be sent to reviewers.

That leaves some where around 3000 books for sale at $15 each. Dividing the total amount requested by the 3500, it works out to $3.75 per book. Of all sales of the remaining books, I get 60% or $9.00 per book. They are bound to equal demand for 2 years, all additional production is at their cost, but I only get 40% or $6.00 per book. In the event books are sold at 40% discount, which I assume means bulk sales to large booksellers, and, in that case, I only receive $3.75 per book, but I think if it goes that far, I am on the best seller list.

Yeah, I don't know much about it. I am a bit new to this game. Anyone in the business that give me any guidance?

Posted by: Tig at December 7, 2004 09:51 PM