Authors Should Get Full Information

On a regular basis I speak with authors that I've met at conferences about the publishing program at Intermedia Publishing Group where I work as a publisher.
 

In recent weeks, I've talked to a few authors who decided to publish with other companies. One novelist told me, “I'm going with CrossBooks Publishing because they are part of Lifeway and I'm a Baptist.”

Another author told me, “I'm going with WestBow Press because they are a part of Thomas Nelson.”

What would-be authors may not know is that “publisher” may not really be a part of those companies, but rather what turns out to be quite a money maker for that entity. Would-be authors need to take a hard look at these companies and who is doing the actual customer service, production and marketing for these books. 

I suspect these authors will be shocked when they discover the truth. Many authors are putting their trust in a referring company without looking closely at the details and receiving the full picture.

I encourage you to read the details in this March 7, 2012 article in Publishers Weekly. The article is about the parent company for 12 different publishing brands and how Author Solutions is looking for a buyer. 

A careful reading of this article shows the huge amounts of money being generated from this entity that published more than 27,500 titles (that's different books) in 2011 with an estimate of each author generating $5,000 for the company—or spending that much money with them. 

Here's the previously hidden information revealed in this article about Author Solutions. “Its workforce totals 1,565 full-time employees with by far the greatest number, 1,215, located in its facilities in the Philippines which handles not only production but sales and marketing as well.”

Authors who have worked with the “brands” of different publishing entities report that their customer service person changed with each call. One author who published with CrossBooks told me she was unsure if a person of faith even edited her book or not. Her concerns were valid because unknown to her, she was working with people in the Philippines.

I've been on the phone with the customer service people from one of these brands. When you fill out an online form, you start what they call a “lead” and the customer service people begin to telephone and email you. I asked one of them where they were located and they responded, “Bloomington, Indiana.” (The location of the parent company Author Solutions.) I suggested they were in the Philippines and the customer service person denied it and said he was in the United States.

Why do the authors go with these companies? They believe that it gets them attention from a company like Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publisher, or Lifeway, the large Baptist publishing arm, or Guideposts or Writer's Digest or Hay House. The truth is something different.

During the last year WestBow Press (Thomas Nelson’s Author Solutions arm) did 1,000 new titles. I understand on average an author spends $8,000 to get a book produced. I do not know the percentage of revenue for Thomas Nelson from those authors but it is significant because of the volume.

Under the Author Solutions model, they set the retail price of the book and then the author buys the book at 60% off the retail price. The company makes their income from printing so they set a high retail price. Some would call it inflated. I spoke with an author this week who had a hardcover novel with WestBow. This first-time novelist had a retail price of $33.50 for a hardcover book. Yet the establishment of the price was outside of the author's control.

Recently one of my friends published through Inspired Voices, a service of Guideposts. She wanted to send me a review copy of her book and it took several weeks and multiple emails and telephone calls before it happened. Again this author was unaware that she was communicating with someone in the Philippines. It explains some of the communication challenges.

Authors need to get full information before they plunk down their money and begin working with these different entities. They have dreams of getting picked up with the referring entity—which has happened once or twice in the midst of thousands of other books being produced. The chances of it actually happening are about as good as winning a lottery or maybe you have a better chance with the lottery in my view. Yes, it is that slim.

There are twelve (an even dozen) of these publishing brands in the marketplace and authors need to fully understand what they are doing before taking the leap in this direction.

Why do these respected companies like Thomas Nelson, Lifeway, Guideposts, Writer's Digest and others join forces and produce these titles? It's not hard to understand. They are in business, and businesses need to make money. You as an author are in business as well. As such, I encourage you to look carefully at the company you are partnering with. 

Yes, you may be promised that you will be connected or helped. Look beyond the promises to look carefully at who is doing the work. and their results. How much knowledge of the American marketplace can you really expect from a company based offshore? This is the company that’s setting the prices and deciding on the marketing. 

As with any business venture, buyer beware. Make sure you will get your money’s worth and that the promises will be kept. 

Ask Plenty of Questions

At first I didn’t notice the publisher name on my room key at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. It was Cross Books, the self-publishing arm of Lifeway.

Last Wednesday at breakfast I spotted several writers who I met originally a year ago during the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. One of the authors, a pastor’s wife of a Baptist Church had decided to publish her first book with Cross Books. I listened to this author tell me about her challenges producing the book, getting in touch with the publishing house and how with each connection she was speaking with a different person at the publisher.

Finally this author pulled her new book out of her bag and showed it to me. I immediately noticed the barcode on the book did not include the retail price of $16.99 nor was the price printed on the back of the cover. As I looked closely at the book, I noticed the publisher address on the copyright page: Bloomington, Indiana. Then the pieces fell into place. This author had published with Author Solutions. I located this article from Publishers Weekly. It points out Cross Books is an imprint of Author Solutions, the largest self-publishing company in the country—yet this author was unaware of Author Solutions and had never heard of them. Author Solutions is the parent company for several imprints including West Bow Press with Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publisher. The PW article mentions that West Bow has published 50 titles with another 200 in the process.

Almost two years ago, I interviewed Susan Driscoll, who was then the president of iUniverse. Susan moved to a different publisher when Author Solutions purchased iUniverse. At that time, iUniverse was publishing over 400 books a month. According to this article in American Way magazine, Author Solutions brought over 21,000 titles into print in 2008 (or an average of 1,750 books each month). Self-publishing has only grown in popularity in the last two years, I can’t imagine the number of books they are publishing at this time. While I'm sure some authors have great experiences with Author Solutions and their various imprints, it only seems fair to be aware of their large number of books. This newly-published Cross Books author that I met at the writers' conference had no idea she was a small part of a huge publishing entity.

The experience reminded me again of the necessity of authors to ask lots of questions before they sign up with any publisher. You want to make sure it is a right fit for you and your publishing goals. The author at Cross Books left our conversation encouraged with some plans and action steps to take with her book.

I found the experience renewed my own commitment to my authors to be a good communicator and to be in touch with them about their questions in a timely fashion. Only through good communication can people feel informed and able to do good work in the creation, distribution and marketing of books. Once again, I learned and grew as a member of the publishing community. What active steps are you taking to grow in your knowledge of the publishing world?