I dearly hope Xlibris will regret sending me junk mail. Here's a bit of analysis on their latest.
I'm skipping to the "Why Should You Self-Publish?" section.
Six good reasons to self-publish:
1. Time
Traditional publishing takes too long, most work on an 18-month production cycle: Choose to self-publish, and your book could be ready for the market within three months.
Aside from the fact that whoever wrote this letter doesn't have a clue how to use commas or colons, there's also the other issue-- it's designed to appeal to the impatient. Publishing is not an industry for the impatient.
There's a good reason why real publishing takes "too long." Three months is NOT enough time to publish a book (with rare exceptions, when a publisher needs to publish something timely and puts a book on a fast-track schedule).
A person who is self-publishing for the first time needs to understand that there are many steps involved-- necessary steps, not optional steps. The book needs to be written and self-edited, then a content editor needs to work on it, then a copyeditor. While this is happening, a cover artist should be working on the cover and a publicist should be working on a press kit. Then a typesetter will work on the book's layout, and a proofreader will go over it once it's in galley format to make sure the formatting is all correct and that there are no stray typos or other errors.
Trade magazines such as Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, etc. want to see galleys months in advance of publication. Of course, you're not likely to get any trade reviews if you print your book with Xlibris, but trade reviews are highly important if you want to make sales to bookstores and libraries. Buyers for these markets read the trade magazines to figure out which books to stock. They also want to see the publisher's catalogue, which your book should be in well before its release date. This gives the stores time to order and stock the book; if you wait until after the book comes out to try to sell it, you're dead in the water.
Other things a real publisher may do during those "18 months" (which, in my experience, is typically no more than 12 months): have the book indexed, solicit cover blurbs, have a copywriter write jacket copy, send excerpts to magazines, set up a media tour and/or book signings, bring the book to book expos...
In short, real publishers aren't just dragging their heels. They plan releases on a particular schedule for a reason. They know when certain books are likely to sell best (so they plan release dates accordingly), and they want sufficient time to do a good job, rather than rushing to print just because an author is excited.
2. Your book-the way you want it
A book is a reflection of the author. Self-publishing gives you complete control on the direction of your book. The decisions are exclusively yours and not limited by third parties with intentions and interests different from your own.
If your interest is in selling lots of books, then those "third parties" (real publishers) have the exact same intention and interest.
This part of the Xlibris letter is designed to make it seem like real publishing is "author vs. publisher" in an adversarial relationship, where the author has to fight with the mean, mean people who want to ruin his or her work. Please.
It's true that publishing is a collaborative business, and that compromises will need to be made, and that sometimes you won't get exactly the font or cover art or subtitle you want. But you will get a several-thousand-dollar investment from the publisher, who hires professionals to help determine how to sell as many copies of your book as possible. If you're the type of person who would rather go it alone than allow an editor to change one word of your precious manuscript, go right ahead and self-publish. And bless your heart.
3. Retain all rights
As a self-publisher, you own all rights to your book. If you use a traditional publisher, they will own all rights. If they lose interest in your book, you will not be able to print additional copies unless you purchase those rights back.
Okay, now they're outright lying. Did they hire PublishAmerica's PR person to write this deceitful letter?
If you publish with a real publisher, the copyright is still yours. Specific rights belong to the book publisher for the period of time the book is in print. (Such as the right to print the hardcover book in English in your country. You negotiate who will control the other rights; for example, sometimes you'll keep foreign rights to sell on your own or with your agent's help, and sometimes the publisher is in a better position than you are to exploit those rights-- in which case, they make the sales and keep a portion of the money, and you get to sit back and get checks.) Your contract should have an "out of print" clause that defines when the book is no longer being sold, and at that point, all rights should revert to you-- free of charge. You can then self-publish, take it to a new publisher, put it up on your website... whatever you like.
4. Testing the market
Because your book may fill a niche that has not been met, you can test the market by self-publishing. Find out how well your book will sell, and how successful it will be.
What spectacularly bad advice. Publishing with Xlibris does not give you an idea of how well your book would actually sell if you had sold it to a real publisher. All it tells most of its authors is how many copies they can sell to their poor Aunt Edna and Uncle George.
Publishers are not eager to buy the rights to books that have already been published-- even if it was self-published and sold only 10 copies to your buddies, it is "used goods." You've used up your first publishing rights and made it appear that your book is a terrific flop.
Very few self-published books are picked up by larger presses. Note that Random House, which Xlibris boasts is their "strategic partner" (it even says so on their letterhead), has never picked up an Xlibris manuscript. Never.
In other words, if you decide to "test" the market this way, chances are excellent that your book will never go beyond "testing." It's a double-edged sword: sell few books and it'll look like your book has no market, sell too many and real publisher will think you've already used up your market. They want to be the first to bring your book to print. Don't be impatient. Work on that book until it's publishable by a real publisher.
5. A limited market
Your book may appeal to a limited market (intricacies of microscopic vascular plants, for example) and therefore not be of interest to a large publishing house.
True. What about small publishing houses? What about university presses? Think of them before you'd give your manuscript to Xlibris. And then think of conventional self-publishing (where you actually hire an editor and a cover artist, get quotes from printers, etc.), which carries a greater financial risk but has better odds of success.
6. Legacy
Each of us has a unique life story to tell, complete with ordinary incidents, moments of brilliance, tragedy and humor. Your book is an expression of yourself and a great legacy to leave behind.
And there you have one of the few legitimate reasons to self-publish through a vanity POD publisher. If your REAL, TRUE, SWEAR TO ZEUS intention is simply to have a book you can hand to your grandkids and cousins and neighbors, any POD publisher is probably fine for you. If you have any secret desire to see your book on bookstore shelves, or have strangers read your book, hold out for a real publisher.
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More on this later. I promised my husband I'd watch a movie with him 20 minutes ago...