Here’s a quick definition of ten terms found in the self-publishing business put through the unique filter of Jim Arnold Communications.

Print-on-Demand or P.O.D.

Simple definition: A method of book printing where digital files are accessed at the time when a book is ordered and paid for and the copy is printed then and only then.

Pro/Con: This method frees the seller of a book, whether it’s an individual or a company, from having to have masses of inventory on hand, thereby making the printing process less expensive. It also greatly simplifies making changes to the book copy.

E-book

Simple Definition: Any way of manipulating the text of a book so that it can be transferred digitally to some kind of reading device other than a traditional paper-bound book. This includes your computer screen, e-book readers such as Kindle or Nook, and mobile devices like your smart phone.

Pro/Con: The popularity of e-books is growing at leaps and bounds. The technology makes the time to publication and cost of distribution almost zero, after initial formatting and piracy protection.

Social media marketing

Simple Definition: Social Media are the interactive platforms on the Internet such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs. They are “social,” because they encourage back-and-forth discussion and sharing of ideas and media, as opposed to traditional media like your local evening television news, which has information going in only one direction (however, this is also adapting, with such stations’ websites which encourage comments and video, etc.)

Pro/Con: Because of the speed and reach of social media, you could have something positive happen – such as your cute kitty video going viral with a million or more visitors – or you could magnify the effects of a minor setback (such as the “over sharing” of negative reviews and comments about your book, film or song).

Royalties

Simple Definition: This is what you, dear author, take home after all the other costs are deducted from the sales price of your book. For self-publishers, bound books typically pay a royalty of 10-35% or so, while e-books on amazon.com rake in a sweet 70% royalty rate.

Pro/Con: Not too many cons about getting paid for your writing! One thing: it is taxable. Almost always, self-publishing offers better royalty terms than traditional publishing.

Editorial Services for Books

Simple Definition: This includes substantive editing, copyediting, then proofreading, all on the pathway from manuscript to printed book.

Pro/Con: A book that has not gone through this process is almost sure to look and read amateurish. Worth every penny of the expense and time this costs.

Traditional Publishing

Simple Definition: This is the time-honored way of selling a book, whereby a publisher buys a manuscript and various rights from an author (with or without a book agent) and agrees to publish it in exchange for a compensation package (advance, royalties, etc.)

Pro/Con: A huge advantage of publishing a book this way is that the publisher will handle all of the editorial services needed to get a book published properly and will also be responsible for marketing the book. In exchange for this, most authors will give up potential income as well as other publishing rights for their book.

Book Agent

Simple Definition: A book agent shops a manuscript around to publishers, hoping to make the best deal for an author to publish their book. For this service, agents usually charge 15 percent of the acquisition package price, 20 percent for foreign sales.

Pro/Con: A good agent can leverage their relationships with publishers to match up the right author with the perfect publisher. The author may also be able to do this themselves, saving the commission.

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Book Publicity

Simple Definition: This is the part of book marketing involving the use of earned media, which include newspaper articles and reviews, appearances (readings, signings) television and radio interviews, social media mentions and networks, blog posts, etc. Usually, publicity is free, which separates it from advertising, which isn’t.

Pro/Con: Publicity generally can’t be controlled to the extent advertising can, hence the possibility/probability of a bad review, an unflattering interview, etc. Then again, it was free.

Book Distribution

Simple Definition: Book distributors are the middlemen who enable the publishers to get their books into bookstores and eventually into the hands of their customers. After the publisher, the distributor and the bookstore take their cut, there may be 10 percent of the purchase price of the book left that goes to the author. In online distribution models, the author royalty is 35 percent for print-on-demand books sold on a site like Amazon, which acts both as the distributor and the bookstore. In traditional publishing, Ingram and Baker & Taylor are the best known distributors for English language books.

Pro/Con: Using a book distributor is a very efficient way of getting your book into brick and mortar bookstores. Increasingly, however, authors are selling their work in digital as well as paper form over the internet, which lessens the role of the middlemen allowing the author to keep more of the price of his or her product.

Genre

Simple Definition: This is the literary category your book belongs to, such as mystery, romance, detective, young adult, etc. There can be subgenres, like gay romance, or sub-sub genres, like young adult steampunk mystery. A well-defined genre makes a fiction book much easier to market, than say, something loosely defined as literary fiction, which could be a bestseller, or could be the kiss of death for a self-published book.

Pro/Con: Most genres have a ready-made reading audience, which can make these books easier to market. Forcing a writer to conform to genre expectations could also stifle a wonderful, new and unconventional creative work.

Agree on these, disagree? What have I missed? Let me know via your comments.

Ready to get started? Here’s a few links that help:

CreateSpace  – self-publish, step by step.

Writer’s Market  — a great place to get started on figuring out how to sell your writing.

WordPress — Publish instantly! (this blog is powered by WordPress)