by Charlotte Babb Maven-Fairy Godmother
Member since:
July 7, 2007

Planning to self-publish your best seller?

November 16, 2007 11:04 PM EST
views: 155 | rating: 10/10 (20 votes) | comments: 32

If you are going to plunk down a few thousand to self-publish your book, you need to read about the WriteWise program which will become available in December. I am an associate of the Bookwise company, so I do have an interest in making a commission from it, but here is the information as it was given to me. Make up your own mind about the benefits, but it looks like a deal for the money: $4995.

Qualifications

  • Your work must be in harmony with and meet BookWise standards
  • You must have the financial resources
  • You are willing to invest the time and energy

If you are selected you will receive the following:

  • Coaching to discover your unique bestselling idea
  • Admittance to a 2-Day Write Wise Writing Seminar
  • Assigned a “Book Producer”
  • Your manuscript will be finished in 2008
  • Your book will be strongly endorsed by Richard Paul Evans & Robert G. Allen
  • Richard Paul Evans and Robert G. Allen to write foreword for your book
  • RPE and RGA will be your literary agents to major publishers
  • BookWise publishing guarantees that your book will be published
  • you get 50 copies of your book for your use
  • Book editing
  • Book cover design
  • RPE and RGA will escort you to Book Expo 2008
  • RPE and RGA’s Step by step plan to make it a best seller
  • RPE and RGA’s Step by step plan for attracting media to your book
  • A “Wow” Press Release about your book
  • Mock media audition test
  • Live interview on BookWise.com
  • Autographed copies of all of Richard Paul Evans and Robert G. Allen’s books
  • Photo with Richard Paul Evans and Robert G. Allen for your website
  • Listed in acknowledgements of future books by Richard Paul Evans and Robert G. Allen
  • Website with purchase links and name collection
  • Learn the book industry
  • Get your book to the right people
  • Partners in BookWise publishing royalties

For comparison, see Booksurge’s Fictionwriter program at $5759
(Booksurge is a print on demand subsidiary of Amazon.com)

  • Author’s Advantage (Black & White Interior)
  • Comprehensive Copy Editing (includes up to 3 rounds)
  • Signature Cover Design
  • Advanced Marketing Copy
  • Short paragraph describing your book
  • Condensed sentence description
  • Author biography & Publicity Kit with 500 full-color postcards, business cards, bookmarks
  • Press Release Creation
  • Targeted Press Release Distribution Service
  • Buy X, Get Y Advertising on Amazon.com -matching your book with a similar bestseller

iUniverse/Authorhouse.com, which is owned by Barnes & Noble, has a premium package for $2200 which includes book packaging, author support, a website (for an extra $29/month!) and marketing/editing package. You get 20 paperbacks free.

From Lulu.com, 900 copies of a 300 page book at 6×9 would cost  $5040,at $5.60 each. They do not offer any assistance for editing or marketing other than their website.

You can also contact Lee Clevenger, Southeastern Writers Association vice president and faculty guru about the ThomasMax.comservices.

A limited number of authors will be in the program at one time in classes, so you will have support form fellow authors. If you should decide that this is for you, please contact me as an enroller. You do NOT have to join Bookwise to take advantage of this program.  Visit my WriteWise page for more information (to be posted soon: writerwise.com)

Write ON!
If you are interested in Bookwise, having your own bookstore website and network marketing business, I'd love to hear from you.

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Comments: 32

Donna K. Nov 16, 2007, 11:12pm EST
This sounds like a very interesting opportunity! I have a number of friends who are all wonderful writers, some of whom have been published and some who are writing for fun. I will pass on the information to them. :-)

I'm "writing a book/story" too, but it'll be a while before it's anywhere near ready to consider publishing. Who does the cover art? Where do you get your cover artists? *raises eyebrow and looks REALLY interested*
Denise B. Nov 16, 2007, 11:15pm EST
wow interesting thanks
Jerri H. Nov 16, 2007, 11:27pm EST
Great information Charlotte!
JoAnne D. Nov 17, 2007, 12:13am EST
In harmony with BookWise standards seems a little vague. How would one know what they are looking for? This is great information Charlotte. I wish I was better at writing.
Writing for profit that is.
Borgie B . Nov 17, 2007, 12:14am EST
no
Midnite Writer -- Kim Nov 17, 2007, 2:04am EST
I don't have 5 grand, sorry. I'm doing lulu and they do have smaller marketing opportunities and it's POD, which is excellent. Also can publish photos on there, which I love.
Midnite Writer -- Kim Nov 17, 2007, 2:05am EST
Haven't ruled out publishers, either.
Aniko     Nov 17, 2007, 4:06am EST
Bit of the "other side" on Bookwise--just based on the MLM aspect of the business.
Very Interesting, not that I'll have a book in the near future....that's kind of negative...ok, I'm sending this to me to keep in email...then when I need to research the possibilities I'll have it to refer to. Thanks.
Angela P. Nov 17, 2007, 6:31am EST
It's always nice to have options. Thanks for the info.
John Philipp Nov 17, 2007, 7:32am EST
Ditto, Charlotte. Thanks.
A. F. Stewart Nov 17, 2007, 9:52am EST
Just a couple of comments from a self-published writer. If you can afford the deal, it is a fairly decent one. But don't think they will do all the work. You will still have to market your own book.
There are other alternatives if you are strapped for cash. Basic publishing on Lulu.com is free, and the extra distribution packages can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, not thousands. But it is correct they do not offer free books, editing services or marketing. However it is possible to do your own marketing for free or on the cheap. Editing you will have to purchase, but it is possible to find deals if you look.
Cafepress.com is another place you can publish for free, although again with no frills.
Here are a couple of websites to check out; they review self-publishing sites:
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
http://booksandtales.com/pod/index.php
And, remember, beware of scams.
Marie J. R. Nov 17, 2007, 3:41pm EST
I published two books with iuniverse,,, each cost 700.00,,, bookmarks and cards separate,,, Publicity expensive as is everyone else,,, got twenty copies,,, you must edit your own or pay,,, self publishing should take a lot of thought,,,
Carol Roach Nov 17, 2007, 4:45pm EST
5 grand you got to be joking I will stick with lulu, they are great and much cheaper, they have packages to suit every pocket book
Charlotte Babb Maven-Fairy Godmother Nov 17, 2007, 5:37pm EST
I agree that traditional publisher pays author is the best route. A lot of folks do get published that way (see any Borders or Barnes & Noble bookstore) . What I thought was different was the coaching on getting a good idea and then having a well-known agency help you find a traditional publisher. Yes, of course, you alwasy have to do your own marketing. Even Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett travel all over to do book signings and such.
Donna Hammett-Tooker Nov 18, 2007, 6:07am EST
In the old days before the internet, Vantage Press used to offer a deal on vanity publishing - you paid $5000 up front and they supplied the other $2500 (had payment plans with loans and interest, etc.) for 500 books which you received and you had all of the promotion to do with their name to back the promotional tours, signings or whatnot. If the 500 copies sold and you had paid most (never well-defined as to the word "most") of the money or all, another 500 would be published at their cost with residuals coming back to them on that 500 - they kept the printing type in case you had a winner so it did not have to be set up again (this was before computers were in use). The third printing was free to the author and the press got a lesser portion of sales and if it went to the 4th or 5th printing, published free and residuals disappeared for them completely after the 5th printing. Contract with the company would ensue and you were then a no pre-pay client. I was not working at the time and $5000 for a non-working poet who might not make another printing was out of the question. It did make me feel good that they even offered the deal to me - as the agent told me only 1-5 people who showed up for the screenings and whose works were reviewed got the chance for the split deal. Everyone else was offered a straight $10,000 fee for printing 500 of their book and this was limited to 200 maximum pages and 25 minimum pages.
Zara' N. Nov 18, 2007, 9:06am EST
I appreciate the information...but I strongly encourage everybody that is considering self-publishing to do a LOT of research first! Please...

Z'
J. G. Weddle Nov 18, 2007, 11:58am EST
I have self published twice, both through AuthorHouse. I am very happy with their work and the help they provide to negotiate the publishing process. I have also heard good things about Lulu, and a couple of the other POD publishers. The WriteWise program you mentioned also sounds like another way to self publish, but for now I will stay my course.

If anyone would like to look into my work, feel free to visit the Rising Star Authors.com site where my books are currently showcased. http://risingstarauthors.com/

There is also an opportunity there for self published authors to promote their work, once it is published and available. Click on the "authors click here" button.
There's an implicit deception in the title of this piece. If you publish it yourself, not only will it not become a best seller, but any books you sell will be because YOU sold them.

You won't get reviewed by any publications that matter. Most of the things in the list of what you get, above, are fairly useless to you as publicity. For example, a "press release" about a self published book is going to elicit zero interest from the press unless your book is truly remarkable. And if it is remarkable, you don't need to pay someone to publish it.

I think self publishing is useful in certain circumstances, but I despise the way some publishers play on an author's desire for recognition by implying they'll get it this way.
Peter Wimsey Nov 18, 2007, 12:42pm EST
I concur entirely with Charles' comments.

A lot of self-published authors are going to be out a few thousand dollars and still not know what to do with a basement full of coopies of their book.

Bookwise is a Multi-Level System?

That should cause any writer to investigate further. Who wants to pay a percentage of profits to everyone who started on Bookwise before they did?
Nancy O. Nov 18, 2007, 4:59pm EST
great information for all the writers on gather
Dona D. Nov 19, 2007, 8:30am EST
provocative marketing...perhaps I will ACCEPT new graphics/web design clients if they meet my conditions...
Scott Wittenburg Nov 20, 2007, 9:40pm EST
This is excellent info for aspiring authors! Great job!

FYI, speaking of aspiring authors, please consider voting for my novel in the Next Great Crime Writer Contest:

The May Day Murders - Chapter One

- Thanks, Charlotte!
Stephen Murray Nov 21, 2007, 2:52pm EST
Unlikely paths to best-sellerdom, but all paths to there are unlikely, I guess.
William Dotani Nov 22, 2007, 9:54am EST
After my forays into the music world, I need to read all the fine print of a publishing contract before I'd even consider the step. This is good info, but before you leap, read the fine print.
William Dotani Nov 22, 2007, 9:54am EST
Happy Thanksgiving. May this day be filled with warmth and joy for you and your family.
Sam C. Dec 3, 2007, 8:48pm EST
Hmm interesting stuff.. never realized so much went into putting a book together
Richard Frisbie Dec 6, 2007, 1:01pm EST
A wealth of good information here, Charlotte - Thanks! I recently gave a talk at the APHNYS (Association of Public Historians of New York State) Fall Conference on digital publishing (webs, blogs, newsletters, postcards & eBooks) but didn't include info on the publishing "packages" available. Next time I will - thanks to you.
Diana Raabe Feb 11, 2008, 12:05pm EST
Apparently, Gather.com will be partnering with AuthorHouse to help writers get their books published.

Watch for news from Tom Gerace...

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