Howdy!
Ellen! Great question!
I am developing a new paradigm for publishing that is both inclusive of traditional publishing services and blazing new trails based on the abilities of electronic communication.
Traditional Publishing Services -
EDITING!!!! - The worst mistake an author can make is to try to edit their own Work. This is not a reflection on the writer's editing ability, in fact, many authors are very capable editors. The problem is that the writer already knows what is meant in each sentence and therefore may miss that it doesn't actually say that! Familiarity with a work causes editing errors. Most trad publishers use 2-4 different editors on a single Work just to combat this, AND they use yet a different editor to check the final version to make sure nothing else went wrong!
Book Design - Font choice, HTML, what page does the next chapter actually start on, title page, cover art, illustrations...this is all grunt work that nevertheless must be done, and done well, for the book to be sold. Yeah, the writer can do all that, but some of it can be expensive, and wouldn't you rather be writing?
Formatting - If you self-publish eBooks you are a little bit limited as to what readers are available for you. It is possible to get apps that enable you to translate into the various codes the various readers use, but, again, they can be expensive (The Apple iPhone translator is about $250). Then you have to go through the trouble of actually doing the work of translation and putting the new translation up on you website. (Wait...I thought you wanted to spend your time writing...) Your publisher will do all this for you. Alternately, you can sell through the publishers that originate or use those readers, such as Amazon and their Kindle, but that has its own problems, which brings me to
Marketing!!! - Lets face it, you are a writer, not a merchant. You would really rather hide away with your preferred compositional device and pump out a few (hundred thousand) words. If you self publish or publish through one of the "publish your book here" sites, even Amazon, you are going to have to spend a significant amount of time and money selling your book, and you have better uses for both, I am sure. Publishers are in the business of selling books, and I plan on using a significant portion of the sales receipts of each individual Work to advertise that specific Work.
New Trails Blazed -
Higher Royalties - I am starting at 35%, just like all those other eBook publishers that don't do anything else but put your Work on their site, except I am doing everything but write the Work for you. Also, as sales go up, so do your royalties - up to 50%!
Faster Pay Schedule - In the WAAAAAAYYY old days, before the 20th century, publishers would only pay royalties once a year! A few still do. After a while they started paying twice a year, and there are many who stubbornly adhere to this schedule to this day. In the not so old days, before eBooks, twice a year was the norm, with the occasional house paying once a quarter. Nowadays, it is common to find quarterly and even monthly pay schedules. I plan on paying once a week!
Online radio - We (my web team and I) plan a page on FBK that is a radio, with several different stations dedicated to various focii (Mr MacDonald, sir, is that the correct plural for focus?), those being; works read by the author, works read by professional voice-over artists (wouldn't it be great if I could get James Earl Jones under contract?!?!), dramatized works, real science, Serials (like the old fifties radio programs), and so much more! It will, of course, take a little time before this will be possible, simply because the production of programs takes time.
Video "About the Author" Pages - OK, not such a big deal as far as what I can do for you, but you gotta admit it is pretty cool. Oh, yeah, those will also be put on YouTube with a link back to your book.
Merchandising - Imagine, if you will, your lead character as an action figure! Tee-shirts (silk screen and batiks{!}, both all organic), coffee mugs, posters, you name it. Again, this will take a little time to implement, but it does have its place on the timeline.
Other Stuff-
Printing and Distribution - Traditional publishing houses just publish and sell books. They don't print books. They pay a printing house. They don't warehouse or distribute those books. Again, they hire out those services. At first, since I am publishing eBooks, this will not be an issue. Eventually, however, I plan on printing and distributing "in house" using a distribution method I have designed. This will greatly reduce per book costs, increasing everyone's income!
Web Experience - Fly-By Knight Books will be more than a store to buy books at, it will be an all around fun place to be online. It will have; games (some based on your book), the radio, video clips, real science, author interviews, an app to explore the Mandelbrot Set, really, there is no limit to what we can do. ("The sky? The sky ain't no limit! The ground! Now that's a limit!" anonymous (I think) pilot)
Whoa! That's more than I meant to write...Does anyone else ever get going and just can't stop?
I will post more later...as I think of stuff...
