When we discuss book publishing, the questions we receive from authors often go like this:
How will I know when my book is ready to send to a publisher?
Who owns the book after it is published?
What is the publishing fee?
The second and third questions are connected, so allow me to answer them. First of all, Peerwith is not a publisher! We won’t actually be publishing your book! But we can guide you through the editorial, design and production processes needed to prepare it for publication. In the end, however, you will have to publish your book either through a press or by self-publishing.
The traditional publishing process
In the more traditional publishing process, you would submit a book proposal to a publisher, and the publisher would then reach out to you to discuss it. If your book proposal is accepted, the publisher would then pay for the editorial, design and production processes and you would have to agree on some split-revenue and/or royalty deal arrangement. In this model, the publisher co-owns the book!
Nowadays, more often we see “deals” between commercial publishers and author(s) that include split costs on manuscript preparation or other editorial tasks. For example, the publisher expects a copyedited manuscript that is ready to proceed to design and production. The author(s) would basically have to find a book editor to help them prepare the manuscript …. and pay for that themselves.
Transition to Open Access
The transition to Open Access (OA) is essentially a transition into pay-to-publish models. Basically, you would pay the publisher to publish your book for a fee, called the book processing charge (BPC). And you would keep full ownership of the rights to your book.
The BPC or publishing fee would depend on the value of the imprint. Reputable publishers have BPC’s going for up to US$20,000, whereas the low-end, nowadays, is around US$2,500. And yes, that is a big difference!
In many cases, especially on the low-end, the BPC does not cover any manuscript preparation costs, so going back to the previous case, you would still have to hire such Experts through Peerwith and deliver the fully prepared manuscript to the publisher. And by “fully prepared” we mean a manuscript that has been more than just copyedited.
Also, the BPC’s on the low-end tend to work around ownership. Obviously, this is Open Access, so the eBook would be free for you to distribute. But with any physical book deals, mostly print-on-demand (POD), the publisher will “keep” the revenues.
Self-publishing
Which brings me to self-publishing models; e.g., Amazon Kindle Direct. The publishing fees in these models are low to non-existent. Once you have your ebook, you can upload it, yourself, to Amazon or distribute it through OA libraries.
And this is where Peerwith adds the most value. Because self-publishing means garbage-in = garbage-out! To be successful in any self-publishing model, you need Expert help in preparing your manuscript so it becomes something others will enjoy reading. We provide these services as part of our Book Publishing Service.
Or maybe you need Expert help in the cover and interior design. You want your book to look professional, right? Again, this is the kind of service we provide through Peerwith. Experts who are active on Peerwith design and produce (e)Books.
In the end, you might even need help in self-publishing. An Expert can guide you to the right platforms so you can reach the maximum impact in the distribution of your eBook and/or through POD platforms.
If you have any questions about this or any other aspects of preparing your book for publication, please contact us directly via full-service@peerwith.com. We would be happy to discuss your book project with you.
