| Are you one of the people who have written a | | | | formatting your book if you are scared of your |
| book but do not have any idea what to do next? | | | | computer. You can find a high-school student who |
| Have you sent your manuscript out to publishing | | | | can do that for you! After you put your book into |
| houses and received those rejection letters in | | | | production, all you do is check your account to |
| return? | | | | see if you sold books while you were sleeping, |
| There is a solution, and not one that will cost you | | | | while you were traveling, or spending time with |
| tons of money. Actually, publishing your book into | | | | your family. With print on demand publishing, |
| paperback format and offering it for sale on | | | | every time someone purchases your book from |
| Amazon as print on demand could cost you less | | | | Amazon, the company prints one and sends it to |
| than a week's worth of coffee at Starbucks! | | | | the buyer along with the other books purchased. |
| I had written a book for teachers and children | | | | The other extremely important aspect of print on |
| based on a current trend and an agent told me | | | | demand publishing is that you control the rights to |
| that even if the book were accepted, it wouldn't | | | | your book. You also earn a much higher |
| become available until 2009. Now why would I | | | | percentage of royalties than the traditional |
| want to wait that long for a trendy-topic book? | | | | method; although print-on-demand companies |
| As I lamented this fact, my friend, Daniel Hall, | | | | won't ever call you and offer you a million dollars |
| introduced me to a process called Print on | | | | to write your next book! (Or, if they do, I've |
| Demand through a company, CreateSpace, where | | | | missed that call. Maybe I should check my voice |
| I could upload my finished inside book pages (in | | | | mail?) Then, at the end of the month, you |
| pdf format), upload a cover design, and after | | | | receive the money from the previous month's |
| approving a proof copy, begin to sell my book | | | | royalties deposited directly into your bank account. |
| personally and on Amazon! I'm sure there are | | | | In the olden days of self publishing you had to |
| other companies that do the same thing, but I | | | | pay a large up-front fee and also agree to |
| just happen to use CreateSpace (and no, they | | | | purchase thousands of copies of your book which |
| aren't paying me to say that!) | | | | you would peddle from the trunk of your car or |
| Are you thinking to yourself, "That sounds too | | | | store in your garage. And while I can still buy as |
| easy, and my mom taught me that anything that | | | | many copies of my books as I'd like for a |
| sounds too good to be true, probably is?" | | | | reduced price, I only purchase what I anticipate |
| I am here to tell you that the print on demand | | | | needing month by month. |
| process is easy. The hardest part is writing your | | | | You can do this! |
| book. You may need a little technical help | | | | |