What is the difference between a Traditional Publisher and a Vanity Publisher?

How does a Author Services differ from Traditional Publishing and Vanity Publisher?

Isn't author-funded publishing only for losers who can't get published in the normal way?

What is an ISBN number? Why is it important? How do I get one?

What is the Library of Congress Card Catalog Number? Do I need one? How do I get one?

How does on-demand publishing different from traditional publishing?

What's happened to the publishing industry recently?

What if I want to contract with an author to come and speak to my organization?

What is the difference between a Traditional Publisher and a Vanity Publisher?

The major difference between the Traditional Publisher (TP) and the Vanity Publisher (VP) is that the TP assumes all the risk, licenses the exclusive rights to sell the book, and then pays the author a royalty on every copy sold; while the VP asks the author to pay for the production of the book, licenses the rights, and then pays the author a royalty on every copy sold. This means that the author picks up the costs of editing, copyediting, and printing, and still licenses all the rights to the VP for sales and distribution.

In fact, the VP does very little to market and promote the book. They may list it in a few catalogs, but it is rare for them to get any kind of distribution through the retail channel. The VP makes most of their money off of the author: first, during the book's production by charging for editing, copyediting, cover design, and printing; and second, by selling copies of the book back to the author at a rate which affords the VP a nice profit

How does Author Services differ from Traditional Publishing and Vanity Press?

Author Services companies, like the Vanity Publishers, do charge for the services they provide (editing, copyediting, printing, etc.).  However, the big difference is that all the rights stay with the author, and the printed books belong to the author. The author maintains complete control over the process, deciding when additional books will be printed and getting them at a price that enables sales into every available channel. This means instead of getting a royalty, the author gets all of the profits from the sales of the book. If they're selling into the retail channel, they have a good chance of making a gross profit of $3 to $4 for every book sold. And if they're selling directly to the end consumer, they can easily make as much as $10 to $12 per book. Now that we have on-demand printing, the chances of an author making back their initial investment are actually very good. The chances of the book becoming a best seller stay pretty much the same ... that's still dependent on luck and the author's own effort, with very few of the thousands of author-funded books published ever becoming a best seller.

To be honest, Author Funded Publishing (self-publishing) is not very well respected by the publishing industry at this time. This is because so many of these books are so poorly produced. Many authors believe that once the book is written it's pretty much finished. Nothing could be further from the truth. Brad Fregger, our president says, "Once the manuscript is finished, there's still 90% of the work left to do."

When Self-published authors spend the time, money, and resources to produce a quality product, there's a good chance that they will be treated with the same respect by reviewers and booksellers as authors who have been picked up by a traditional publisher. This is especially true locally; the publishing industry loves its local authors and does everything it can to help them succeed. A very good example Magda Herzberger, author of the book Survival, she is being treated by the industry with all of the respect of a traditionally published author, with time, resources, and money she committed to writing, producing, and publicizing it, she deserves that kind of recognition.

Again, the first step to getting this recognition is to publish a book that is well written and produced with a professional look and feel. That is the basic problem with Vanity Publishers, they have a reputation of not caring about quality, of publishing anything that comes their way, with no concern for content, fine editing, and quality production.

For a more complete answer describing the differences between Groundbreaking Press and Vanity Publishers, see Brad's white paper, "Groundbreaking Press vs. The Vanity Publisher".

Isn't author funded publishing only for losers who can't get published in the normal way?

Author-funded publishing is absolutely not just for losers who can't get published in the normal way (see, How does an Author Services company differ from Traditional Publisher and Vanity Publisher?) 

It is getting more and more difficult to get published by a traditional publisher. Recently a Nobel Prize winning author was turned down by over 20 publishers when one of his books was submitted under an assumed name. Brad says, "We cannot depend on traditional publishing to share our critical messages. They have to publish books that they believe will become best sellers ... if they don't, they will soon be out of business. It is only through author-funded publishing that all our stories will be told."

That being said, we still recommend that every author seriously consider placing their book with a traditional publisher if they have the opportunity. This is especially true for books that are written for a mass market. Additionally, why pass up the chance to have all of the production costs picked up by someone else? And even if you have to handle your own promotion (you probably will), the publisher will still get in-store placement of your book for you, and that's not a small thing.

If you do decide to self-publish, for whatever reason, you will find yourself in great company, definitely not a bunch of losers (see Self-Published Authors and Their Books)

What is an ISBN number? Why is it important? How do I get one?

The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique machine-readable ID number, specific to every book published. The ISBN format is defined and the numbering scheme has been in use for over 30 years throughout the international book-trade industry.

Every book published by a recognized publisher has an ISBN number. These numbers are often encoded in a barcode somewhere on the back cover of the book. The number is assigned during production of the book and accompanies the publication from that point on. You cannot sell a book into the retail channel if it doesn't have an ISBN number.

ISBN numbers are assigned through Bowker and the U.S. ISBN Agency.

The minimum number of ISBN numbers that can be purchased at one time are ten. If you would rather not be bothered with this, Groundbreaking Press provides ISBN numbers to all our authors, we'd love to discuss the possibility of publishing yours.

What is the Library of Congress Card Catalog Number? Do I need one? How do I get one?

This is an ID number supplied by the Library of Congress and used by libraries throughout the United States. If you're planning on selling your book to libraries, it must have a Library of Congress Card Catalog Number.

The easiest way to get a Library of Congress Catalog Number is through the Electronic PCN (Preassigned Control Number) program. This process is not as easy, nor is it as direct, as getting the ISBN number. You should begin the process as soon as possible, especially if this is your first book. Groundbreaking Press also provides this service to all authors publishing through us.

How is on-demand publishing different from traditional publishing?

The major difference is the dramatic savings in upfront publishing costs and the ability to maintain effective control over your inventory.  With on-demand publishing, you can print the number of copies of a book you need, when you need them. With traditional publishing, you are forced to print a major quantity of books to get the per unit price down to a reasonable level. However, this means in order to be profitable, you have to sell most of what you print.

In our experience, the first printing costs for on-demand publishing can be as little as 15% of the first printing costs of traditional publishing. Even better, if you sell the entire first printing, as low as 250 copies, you will make a nice gross profit.  In fact, you will probably recoup all of your production costs (editing, copyediting, cover design, etc.) long before you've sold even 1000 copies.

Another type of on-demand publishing is POD (Print-On-Demand) where bookstores order the books through Ingram Publishing and they are printed as needed, as few as one at a time. To take advantage of this service, which guarantees that all bookstores in the United States will have access to your book and that it will be available at all major on-line booksellers (i.e. Amazon and Barnes & Noble), your book will have to be published by a reputable publisher ... with Groundbreaking Press your publisher this problem is solved.

What's happened to the publishing industry recently?

This is a relatively brief answer leading to a more complete one; see Brad's white paper, "Traditional Publishing - How and Why It Works Like It Does".

This question was asked by an author during her Validation Interview. What she really meant was, "I used to hear about authors finding a publisher, receiving large advances for their book, and then having the publisher spend money, time, and resources promoting their book with media tours and advertising. Why don't publishers do that anymore?"

The truth is, it never worked this way except for the chosen few. But you hear about the authors who get the large advances and the media tours. So the assumption is, that must happen to all authors. Additionally, an author will tell the world when they find a publisher, while those struggling to find a publisher, suffering through rejection letter after rejection letter, tend to struggle in private. This is the way it's always been.

The difference today is that authors have choices; they have many more publishers to choose from. This is the golden age of small publishers, with small publishing houses now generating over 50% of book sales in the United States. In addition, the new technology of on-demand printing and the ability to print short runs at reasonable prices both make it easier than ever to self-publish.

In fact, author funded publishing, when it's done right, can lead to your book being picked up by a traditional publisher. Brad explains why in his white paper, "Traditional Publishing - How and Why It Works the Like Does".

What if I want to contract with an author to come and speak to my organization?

Groundbreaking Press  handles speaking engagements for Brad Fregger and all our published authors, contact: speakers@groundbreaking.com.  If you would like to contact another author speaking before your organization, check the specific author's bio for contact information.

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