Joe Writeson
Hi Joe,I have a publishing company abroad and are looking to start something up in Indonesia as I used to work and live there in the past. We are merely specialized in magazines, but have some experience with books, distribution etc.PM me to see if we could do something together.If anyone knows somebody with CS6 skills in both print and digital, I would be happy to get in touch too. Thanks!Nicodemus[/QUOTE]Ok PM sent ... heads up ... Via my daughter who speaks perfect Bahasa I was quoted Rp65,000 per copy for 350 page paperback with mono illustrations and four colour cover, minimum order 100...accepted.Within minutes it went up to Rp75,000 calculator mistake....ok it happens.She took the PDF file copy of the manuscript on a DVD Rom to the workshop, edited, formatted and all artwork complete ready to print, we tested a copy at home and it came out perfect.The printing tech ran it through their computer system and promptly called Mom, a long convoluted conversation was held in what my Daughter could only assume was Mandarin...she was then told because the text was in English the cost was Rp110,000 per copy, and this is digital printing, no typesetting or set up to do.My Daughter reported back to me, I asked if they would do one sample work and I would think about it, yes Rp250,000, we declined.After buggering about for a month with orders for paperbacks coming in I sent my Daughter back to order 100 copies at Rp110,000 each...and its gone up to Rp150,000... which is about USD12 at the minute, so what do we sell at ???? Note this is[I] NOT [/I]hobby or passtime, it is my only income....
Markit
Why don't you privately sell the book in pdf format on Amazon?
calitobali
Note this is[I] NOT [/I]hobby or passtime, it is my only income....[/QUOTE]While I love mine, I could totally understand how a person could shun the Kindle or reading electronically in favor of real books. If writing is your breadwinner though, it's time to start embracing Amazon and the Kindle format. Print some books to give to your friends here or mail out on your dime if that's important to you, but traditional publishing is difficult and expensive these days by comparison. Again, I totally respect a writer's commitment to preserving his craft in his preferred format, but when you need to put food on the table, you can't ignore where the industry is headed.
spicyayam
I agree with calitobali. Amazon offers a lot to writers starting out. There are other platforms also such as Smashwords, itunes etc, but people that I know tend to have the most success with Kindle. You can add your books to Createspace also if you want to sell a printed version. I would also suggest creating your own website/blog, facebook page, email list etc. I think it is more common now for publishers to find authors only after they have had success digital publishing. That is good for the writer as you can keep your digital rights and just sell the rights to the printed version. Check out Hugh Howey for example. Amazon for example keeps 30% if your book is under $10, which I don't think any publisher can compete with.I just read that the author of "Sideways" got $7,500 for his novel. He sold the screenplay for $5,000. The movie then went on to gross over $375 million.
Markit
Why don't you privately sell the book in pdf format on Amazon?[/QUOTE]I agree with [COLOR=#ff0000]calitobali[/COLOR]. Amazon offers a lot to writers starting out. [/QUOTE]Ahem... since we are talking about copyright too....
Joe Writeson
Amazon is garbage... they do not like dealing with anyone East of Italy....they do not answer emails, they do not follow up on non-posting of reviews, they did not respond after posting my book with the wrong cover, they will not accept a PDF copy for issue as a print out, they only accept paperbacks from a publisher or vanity press ...and their royalty rates are pathetic...I was with them for a year and despite healthy sales made just over USD30 in actual payments....my new publisher has an ebook copy of 'From Jarrow to Java (on a beer scooter) listed at Amazon and all the other outlets.... went on sale just before Christmas,,try a search on Amazon "not available in your location" ....and when you ask why ....they don't replySelling PDF direct I made USD750 in the third week of January ... but on top of that there were a substantial amount of enquiries for paperbacks, my current publisher will not start the presses without solid pre-orders of more than 1000...which is where an agent comes in who can shift copies to libraries etc. but again siphoning off more cash before I see it.Putting it in perspective 750 bucks at current exchange rates is impressive earnings for seven days for a new author...(but about half my dayrate when I was an overpaid oil construction monkey...we now live a vastly reduced lifestyle...) but if I can get the paperbacks printed locally and distribute myself, we'll soon be eating arrogant French cheeses and supping Darjeeling from proper cups again soon...its all very much a transient thing as once a load of other things come home to roost we'll be lighting farts with fivers again....Just to add a few bits of info for other potential writers, I have been lucky, I was more or less headhunted by a couple of reputable publishers, but there are dozens of scams and cons going on from 'publishers' absolutely guaranteeing to get your work into print...just send USD? and within days your printed book will be in your hands...A REAL publisher never claims total copyright to an author's work, publishing rights is a different matter all together.Timescale, once again I have struck gold, I have spoke to some writers who took nearly five years to finally get recognition.Never give up, if you are good someone will see it someday.JK Rowlng's initial Harry Potter was rejected by 22 publishing houses, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo did the rounds for nearly two years before being picked up.....WTF am I on about here...I am on new meds and I seem to be lacking ...I dunno....co-ordination, I feel like a six pack without the plastic thing that holds it together...
Joe Writeson
I agree with calitobali. Amazon offers a lot to writers starting out. There are other platforms also such as Smashwords, itunes etc, but people that I know tend to have the most success with Kindle. You can add your books to Createspace also if you want to sell a printed version. I would also suggest creating your own website/blog, facebook page, email list etc.[/QUOTE]Thanks for the info, done all that already and getting good feedback including some interest from a TV scriptwriting partnership, but it all seems to take so much time...guess I've still got me 'oil construction monkey' head on.The thing is once the book is on shelves in airports, ferry terminals, train stations and tourist hotels ... I KNOW it will sell to the impulse buyer..as will the series ...[ATTACH]1840.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]1841.vB[/ATTACH]
spicyayam
Amazon are typical of giant internet companies, like Google, Ebay etc. They try to have minimal customer support and prefer to have forums where people try to help solve each other's problems. Amazon use Mobi format, which renders text to be displayed on the Kindle. Even if you don't want to sell through Amazon, you might get more sales if you offer Mobi, Epub version and not just PDF on your website. You can work out how to do it yourself or pay someone to convert the file for you. [url=http://calibre-ebook.com/]calibre - E-book management[/url] is free software which you can use to convert between the different formats.
Joe Writeson
Amazon are typical of giant internet companies, like Google, Ebay etc. They try to have minimal customer support and prefer to have forums where people try to help solve each other's problems. Amazon use Mobi format, which renders text to be displayed on the Kindle. Even if you don't want to sell through Amazon, you might get more sales if you offer Mobi, Epub version and not just PDF on your website. You can work out how to do it yourself or pay someone to convert the file for you. [url=http://calibre-ebook.com/]calibre - E-book management[/url] is free software which you can use to convert between the different formats.[/QUOTE]Thanks again for your input... on it now, my problem is there are not enough hours in the day, my kids are brilliant helping out but they can only do so much, as with friends as well....but at the end of the day the words are all in MY head...and there isn't much free space left on the HD
calitobali
Amazon is garbage... they do not like dealing with anyone East of Italy....they do not answer emails, they do not follow up on non-posting of reviews, they did not respond after posting my book with the wrong cover, they will not accept a PDF copy for issue as a print out, they only accept paperbacks from a publisher or vanity press ...and their royalty rates are pathetic...I was with them for a year and despite healthy sales made just over USD30 in actual payments....my new publisher has an ebook copy of 'From Jarrow to Java (on a beer scooter) listed at Amazon and all the other outlets.... went on sale just before Christmas,,try a search on Amazon "not available in your location" ....and when you ask why ....they don't reply[/QUOTE]I publish successfully on Amazon so maybe I can help out with a few things here, although some of these complaints I have never heard before, which to me suggests a lack of familiarity with the system and not a fault on Amazon's side. I know very few people publishing on Amazon who would describe the platform they provide as "garbage".[B]1. They don't like dealing with anyone East of Italy[/B]Yes, it can be difficult to sell to people who don't have an Amazon account in an area that is easy to commercially license books to - like Indonesia. Still, you'd be surprised how many people outside of Asia want to read and pay for books about Asia. Some of them are here already, using their US, UK or Australian accounts (Australia was recently added and they now pay 70% royalties on sales to Australians as opposed to the previous 35%). Kindle Publishing will NOT help you get your book in front of more eyes of your Indonesian friends - that's why you can always self-publish physical or sell digital copies through your own website. But there are still a ton of people who would buy your book on Amazon - [B]You're leaving money on the table[/B].[B]2.they do not answer emails, they do not follow up on non-posting of reviews, they did not respond after posting my book with the wrong cover [/B]Yup, as Spicyayam pointed out, they are a large corporation that simply can't handle the majority of customer service questions directly. I have NEVER had a review not go through and am unaware of that being a problem. Are you sure your reviews were submitted correctly? You mentioned previous about people who "forwarded their reviews" but that's not how the system works. They also have a "fake review algorithm" so there is a chance if over 50 reviews came in (50 reviews is a LOT for a book with the type of volume yours could be expected to do), they saw them as an attempt to game the system and rejected them. Not much you can do but get more reviews organically.As for your cover, just upload a new one and changes will take effect in a few hours. There's no point in talking about how they didn't respond to you. They don't need to respond to you as you are capable of fixing these issues without them.[B]3. they will not accept a PDF copy for issue as a print out[/B]Of course they won't that is certainly not the business they're in. They have an extremely widespread, proprietary format for the Kindle and they sell and print books. You want them to sell your PDF so people can print it out? Just take your PDF to a marketplace that does that, or do it yourself through your own site.[B]4. they only accept paperbacks from a publisher or vanity press[/B]But they also have a service that allows you to create physical books with absolutely zero upfront cost to you. They also manage inventory, print single copies when someone orders and ships them out for you. I pay around $3 per book to be printed and shipped - nowhere near the 100k+ rupiah you've been quoted. While this won't solve your distribution woes for physical books on this side of the world, it's a very viable solution for the other side.[B]5. and their royalty rates are pathetic[/B]70% of the price that you set on your own is pathetic? or 35% if the buyer is from a non-approved area - that's still pretty damn good, most authors could never expect to see 35% of sales from a traditional publisher. [B]6. I was with them for a year and despite healthy sales made just over USD30 in actual payments[/B]This is just absurd to me. Do you have your payment information set up so they can actually pay you? I get my royalties direct deposited into my bank account every single month and have never had it be even a penny short. My best guess, is that you didn't set up the payments correctly for multiple currencies, and you only received payments for the GBP or Euro purchases, while all of your USD purchases are in limbo until you configure the accounts correctly.I had a similar problem where I was not receiving all my royalties in the past though, and it turned out that while the USD sales were set to be deposited directly into my account, the GBP and EUR had not yet been configured. Once I configured those, all past royalties in GBP and EUR were deposited into my account the following month.[B]7. my new publisher has an ebook copy of 'From Jarrow to Java (on a beer scooter) listed at Amazon and all the other outlets.... went on sale just before Christmas,,try a search on Amazon "not available in your location"[/B]Did a search. I can buy it perfectly fine even though I'm in Asia. I am logged in to my US account though. Again, people like me do exist, and will buy your books, just have a backup solution for those who can't.[B]8. and when you ask why ....they don't reply[/B]Do you really think a multi-billion dollar corporation is going to reply personally to your email, about something you could find the answers to by using google or asking on their support forums? That's expecting way too much.I think in the end, you might simply be approaching things in the wrong way. It sounds like you're looking for an all-in-one solution to all your publishing problems. Amazon can't do that, but they do a miraculous job at serving a huge percentage of your potential readers, and it would be foolish to write them off, for what to me, sounds like a grudge that they didn't post your friend's reviews and didn't reply to your emails.Use them for all the things they can handle, and then find solutions for the things they can't. I think you'll find they are a much more capable platform than you once thought.
Markit
Joe while we're at it why don't you re-think the titles of your books too? I would respectfully submit that most of the world don't know Jarrow from Marrow or anything to do with various unemployment or human rights marches that they have made. So this allusion will be flying way over most people's heads. I mean most Yorkshiremen will have possibly heard of them but if you were to ask what or where you would get blank and embarrassed stares. Just my tuppence worth.
Joe Writeson
Joe while we're at it why don't you re-think the titles of your books too? I would respectfully submit that most of the world don't know Jarrow from Marrow or anything to do with various unemployment or human rights marches that they have made. So this allusion will be flying way over most people's heads. I mean most Yorkshiremen will have possibly heard of them but if you were to ask what or where you would get blank and embarrassed stares. Just my tuppence worth.[/QUOTE]Point taken as Jarrow is actually in Tyne and Wear ... but still in Durham to older people ...anyway its far too late as I've gone right down the road with the five part series.Here's the explanation and thinking behind it all.Notes to publisher[I]This is how I envisage the cover, simple and stark but with vibrant colours for the 'Java' text.The black background although you can't tell from the thumbnails is actually a piece of coal, this is a reference to my roots in Jarrow on the banks of the River Tyne in the North East of England. I guess everyone has heard the phrase 'Taking coals to Newcastle' well the background jpeg on the 'JARROW' title is actually 'Jarrow Staithes' where coal was exported from Newcastle, now a derelict and deserted location that just about sums up the area. The other obvious connection is that the project I ended up on was 'Coal Fired' The idea was to have these shiny black books with brightly coloured exotic locations printed alongside dull and dreary Jarrow. I thought it would look good on the covers as well as being instantly recognizable on bookshelves[/I][ATTACH]1844.vB[/ATTACH]This is Jarrow Staithes on the banks of The River Tyne in the North East of England depicted in an old photograph from the 1950's now in the public domain, the location is now derelict and disused and ties in perfectly with the intro to the book. My primary school was just behind the big crane in the centre, abandoned for a long time but now a Heritage Protected Building. The overall idea is to have every 'Jarrow' book I produce with the same black 'coal' background which will hopefully become a trademark.[ATTACH]1845.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]1846.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]1846.vB[/ATTACH]
Joe Writeson
[B]Thanks calitobali [/B]...for taking so much time to respond so comprehensively.Whenever I tried to do anything and I mean ANYTHING with Amazon ...i.e. the problem with the cover I repeatedly received the message "You do not have enough administrative rights to perform that task" and that is when I emailed them asking why, expecting an answer. Google searches asking for help are for those with unlimited time and unrestricted internet access...I am on 3G and I pay for every search or download...I have not worked for three years now and we count every centI set up my bank as BCA to receive royalty payments and Amazon rejected it without saying why, again no response to email.The reviews for my book were sent to Amazon from diverse locations Australia, Singapore, UK, Indonesia, Philippines, Korea to name but a few and only the one from the US and one from the UK appeared. There is obviously a world of difference working from a US registered account as opposed to locally configured.Up until fairly recently I was working on a fifteen year old desktop running Windows XP, my internet connection was, and still is, totally unreliable, and so getting to grips with Amazon was not only wasting my time and resources but thoroughly stressing me out as well. ...and Mozilla ....that always choses to crash in the middle of any drawn out transactions...not Amazon's problem by any means but the crashes always seem to occur when I am logged on to Amazon.......and don't get me started on Paypal ... POD Amazon...there is a world of difference between what you are being quoted for paperbacks and what they are telling me ... I am being quoted USD15.99 for a 350 page A5 paperback in mono with four colour cover? ....I'm tired...new Meds taking their tollThanks for trying to assist anyway....
SHoggard
Joe... I'm a publisher - NOT I hasten to add currently in your field (magazines & online) and with almost 40 years experience I offer some advice (you know all this already!).1. calitobali is right, Amazon is a big corporation, you can't expect them to reply to each and every one of the gazillions of wannabe authors2. Markit's right about the title, change it... at this stage you should be able to use find/replace... not only are readers outside N Yorks/Durham happily ignorant of what/where Jarrow is or was, most have no recollection or couldn't give a toss about the 'ard times, lad.... I'd also venture that most of the world think Java is something sold by Starbucks3. Authors don't design covers, cover designers do.... they understand interesting things like readability, legibility, colour combination & market impact when a mark (woopse; potential reader) is traversing a busy station/airport at a given velocity XX yards from a book stand.I have worked on books alongside cover designers in London & believe me your covers aren't covers (I'm being nice here!) Name drop time: Back in the 198o's I interviewed Stephen King about writing & publishing - he had just re-negotiated his contract with his primary publisher (the one who then on-sells reprint/paperback/serialisation/translation rights) having had the Shining made into a movie and subsequently had a chat with his accountant he demanded an advance against royalties of $1. Publisher was nonplussed & upped the offer to $1.2 million, this being in the days when massive advances were used as major PR tools to hype a book (which often hadn't even been written yet) "nope... $1" so the bidding war began with King sticking to his guns @ $1, the ante went up to $1.5mil...$1.8mil... $2.3mil... King walked away from the table "Goddamit - give me $1... my taxes are high enough this year as it is!".A few days later, his agent called him "Ok, I wrestled them down. You win you get $1.... and I'm using my commission to make this phone call!"Now, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but....Get yourself an agent and just focus on the words.
Nicodemus
Sorry it took a few days to come back to the topic Joe, but I'm currently abroad.Concerning digital publishing I have nothing to ad to the post of Calitobali. Publishing on Apple and Android based devices can be compared with the Amazon way, those are the three ways to publish digitally worldwide.In case of print, I don't understand why your printing company can not give you a fixed price. Only thing I can imagine is they act as a go-between and do not exactly know what they are talking about. Why not search for another printing company? There are plenty in Indonesia, you could even go to China.Keep in mind that there are two ways to print your book: digital and offset. Digital printing allows you to print a few copies only, but the price per copy is high. I suppose this was the case. In offset you can reduce the price per copy significantly, but you need to take a risk and print say at least 1000 copies. The more copies you print, less the price per copy. In case you could convince a chain of bookstores like Gramedia to take only a few 100, your investment pays off, allowing you to sell the other copies directly or through other channels and start making some profit.Just a thought...Good luck!
SHoggard
Afterthought following Nicodemus' post.. since you're in Batam, why not contact any one of the hundreds of printers in Singapore and ask for a proper price that is colour-blind. Tien Wha Press on West Coast Road have a pretty sophisticated digital set up in addition to their offset print operations. Discuss the options with them based on quantity.... but do something about your title & cover designs (see last post)
Joe Writeson
Whilst I certainly appreciate all of the sound and constructive advice being given by everyone ... there is one overall factor governing everything. [B]MONEY![/B]Everybody wants cash upfront, agents want percentages, the prices for the printing quotation went up alarmingly because they saw the English text and immediately went to 'Bule' price, as they do with everything on Batam whether it be a meal, a drink or....printing a book ... yes there are plenty of printers in Indonesia and yes lots in Singapore but everyone wants CASH...I will repeat, I am an invalid who has not worked for three years, my medical insurance ran out ages ago, we live from week to week, I do not have the financial resources to follow up aggressively on anything. By printing small runs on Batam I was hoping to fulfill my current orders by post and use the money from that to move up a notch...I have extremely limited mobility and cannot traipse around from place to place getting comparative quotes and haggling over prices. My Daughter does her bit, but she is a 14 year old girl, and, as such, has her limitations as to what she can achieve... but without her efforts I would be in an even worse position.I am getting very positive feedback and lots of interest from other media, but again, everything takes time, and meanwhile the everyday bills keep piling up.I have loads of very positive reviews of 'Java' 'Jebel Ali' and '50 Shades' plus various short stories ... and I mean from strangers not family and friends, and I have to point out here as well that I have received some extremely kind donations from people who have purchased direct from us and added unasked for 'expenses' many many thanks...you know who you are. My internet access is limited, where we live there is a good service from about four in the morning up to around lunch time, tasks that people elsewhere find easy and straightforward are stressful and time consuming here...but there is no alternative and so I must conserve and utilise my time efficiently... example, it took over an hour to back up less than 5mb of doc. files to Dropbox/Google Docs last night ... but no one can do it all for me so its a case of suck it up and live with it! ...designers...now there's a story, the first cover design by a 'professional designer' looked like a bland school book wrapped in duct tape and the concensus was just plain 'boring', the second cover by a publisher's resident 'art team' was childish and amateur but according to them a marketing reviewer 'loved it' ... water under the bridge as they dumped me for being a 'prima donna' and 'over ambitious' ... so in the end I did it myself and I'm running with it because there is no alternative... I have NO MONEY for designers etc. and lets get down to it ... no time either... I'll just say my medical condition is NOT improving and I have to try and get things set up so my family has some income from royalties to keep them going once I am no longer around ... and the title ... that's staying as well ... does 'Trainspotting' have anything to do with trains, does 'The Silence of Lambs' have anything to do with sheep? Its a title stating the beginning and the end points of a journey, the recurring 'J's in 'Jarrow to Java' 'Jarrow to Jebel Ali' 'Jarrow to Jurong' and 'Jarrow to the Jungle' are all part of the marketing plan, I am not an idiot, I have done marketing and promotions before, I know all about 'points of sale' 'impulse buying' and 'visual awareness' ... when I traveled extensively as an Oil Co CEO I bought four or five books in airports every trip...I know what attracted me to browse certain covers and more to the point, those I ignored. I know about 'branding' and 'product identification' and that was part of the planning behind the black shiny covers for all of my books... oh and a 'literary giant' loves the title ... you say potatoes I say tattiesOk by now I will have pissed off everyone who is offering positive guidance but the fact is I have limited resources, limited time left allotted to me and and limited patience...I need to get moving forward NOW... oh and I am old and cranky as well ... newer cheaper meds not working...You want to help more ??? Buy a book from me ....Thanks for your time and attention ... I mean it MoJoe Werkin
spicyayam
[COLOR=#333333]I set up my bank as BCA to receive royalty payments and [/COLOR][COLOR=#417394]Amazon[/COLOR][COLOR=#333333] rejected it without saying why, again no response to email.[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]Only a few countries like US, Australia, UK have direct deposit. Otherwise I think you would need to get a cheque. I see you have a couple of your books available from Amazon now. Maybe your publisher added them? Is it possible to control this yourself? Can you log into KTP: [url]http://kdp.amazon.com[/url] That is where you control your books.If you have written some short stories you can add them also. You could make some of your writing available for free, which can be a good way to promote your other books. As you say you only have a limited amount of time each day, I think it is a waste of time and money trying to print and distribute your books (if you are doing it yourself). Take a look at Createspace: [url]https://www.createspace.com/[/url] it is Amazon's print on demand service, if you want to make this option available to your readers.
Joe Writeson
Only a few countries like US, Australia, UK have direct deposit. Otherwise I think you would need to get a cheque. I see you have a couple of your books available from Amazon now. Maybe your publisher added them? Is it possible to control this yourself? Can you log into KTP: [url]http://kdp.amazon.com[/url] That is where you control your books.[I][B]That is the ebook version not the 350 page with illustrations, I am working on the Createspace concept now[/B].[/I]If you have written some short stories you can add them also. You could make some of your writing available for free, which can be a good way to promote your other books. [I][B]On it[/B][/I] Take a look at Createspace: [url]https://www.createspace.com/[/url] it is Amazon's print on demand service, if you want to make this option available to your readers.[B]Thank you, dunno how but my UK agent missed all that[/B] [I][/I]Not so much limited time each day as limited time in general...Thanks
Joe Writeson
Amazon's POD service fast, easy and exactly what I am looking for ..... except until the 'royalties and payments' set up ...the account cannot be activated until a bank account has been added...BCA ... RejectedBNI .. RejectedMe head was mingin' even before seven this morning....
