Though I am excited to be making progress, I am tempering this enthusiasm to make certain the proper amount of time is spent on review and improvements. As much as I want to release the book to the world, I want to do it right.
While I'm not yet prepared to start giving details about the chapters, I would like to spend a moment talking about publishing. The typical publishing process is long, tedious, and unpredictable. Authors can easily spend more than a year trying to find a suitable publisher for their book. When they do find this publisher, it will take at least another 6 months for the book to hit shelves (assuming the editor does not want sweeping changes made).
While the publisher usually advances money to the author, this money is advanced against future royalties. This means if the publisher advances $10,000, the author will need to sell $10,000 worth of royalties before they see another cent. Even with a well known publisher backing them, most authors don't sell more than a few thousand copies. This means that they don't even make back their advance. The average novel is out of print within a year of it's initial release.
Traditionally, a reputable publishing house was the only way to go. Self publishing companies (often referred to as vanity publishers) often charged a lot of money up front for a run of books. The author then had to literally sell their book door to door. Self publishing doomed any chance that a book or author had of succeeding.
This has changed dramatically in the last few years. Where mass-print publishers with an army of marketers once reigned, now stand empty buildings. The publishing houses of old are driving as fast as they can towards digital distribution. Those who refused to change are now going bankrupt. Many companies are also offering print on demand- a method of publishing that allows books to be printed as they are sold, with royalties paid to the author.
Amazon's Kindle and it's digital library make up 60% of book sales on Amazon, and a substantial portion of large retailers like Barnes and Noble. Other digital distribution companies like Scribd are seeing a massive influx of traditional publishers, who are now posting professionally published works in digital formats to save money and increase their customer base.
Considering the best deal an author can get from a traditional publisher is 15% (and that is a hard limit. You simply aren't going to earn any more), the substantial offering of 50% to 80% given by companies like Scribd and Amazon make far more lucrative prospects to Authors.
What does this mean? Well, mostly it means that publishing has become worlds easier for would-be authors. Where once they could expect only rejection letters, they now receive royalties. It also makes marketing self-published books far easier. With companies like Google and Facebook allowing cost effective advertising to millions of potential customers, the only true advantage of a publisher has been eliminated.
And to be fair, that was the only true service a publisher could offer. Writers could pay a freelance editor, cover artist, printer, and make their own website. The one thing that was of great difficulty was marketing the book to large outlets and libraries. In the digital world, everyone is equal.
There are no concerns about under printing, losing shelf space, or going out of print. Everyone has the same chance to sell. In fact, an author can discount their books substantially (heck, the publisher would only pay them a $1.50 per book anyway. Why not sell it for $2?) and severely undercut a publishing house who has substantial overhead.
While the internet is no longer a new oddity in our culture, it is still a new frontier, and an excellent place for enterprising individuals to carve a living. That is, if they know where to look and are willing to commit to hard work and constant learning. The possibilities are truly endless.
