I am discouraged--thought I could do it on my own

nancyadams said:

Bottom line: my funds are limited, so thought I'd dig in and self-publish. Named my own publishing company. Got my ISBN. Wrote the complete book. Have been using Poynter's book as a guide. Then heard about BOOK DESIGN and PRODUCTION: A Guide for Authors and Publishers (with a foreword by Poynter) by Pete Masterson. Got Indesign CS3 since Masterson's Chapter nine gave instructions on page layout using it.

But....I have found out the hard way that Masterson must not have been using CS3, since his instructions have some differences, and some are not easily transferable to CS3. And he also clearly states that his directions are not for beginners to Indesign, which I am....and I see how correct he is. I'm drowning.

So...where do I turn?? Yes, I did explore POD's, and found myself leaning towards Wing Span Press. But, there was an investment...and I was turned off by the fact that I'd have to sell a LOT of books to break even...yet if I did this myself, the profit would be mine almost from the beginning.

But...it's turned out to be more than I can chew!! I now wonder--should I look for, and can I find someone who has knowledge of Indesign that can help me, for a fee? Is that an option I should pursue, and where?? Where do I turn here?? I already have my ISBN; I already have my publishing company: I already have Indesign. But this is more than I can chew on my own, and I am NOT swimming in money...and I cringe at the thought of the investment to use a POD like Wing Span Press, only to have to sell such a large amount of books to get that back.

I need help!

Ideas? What do I do?

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I did the same thing, NancyAdams. I published my 1st book through a POD house. BUT! For my 2nd book, I decided to self-publish. Formed my own publishing company, ISBN block, etc. Bought inDesign, edited in Word, imported to inDesign. Couldn't figure out what to do next so I bought a month's worth of an online seminar on inDesign from Lynda.com. Worth its weight in gold!
After investigating several printing houses and getting quotes, I decided to go with Bookmasters. Had them do the cover and went with their warehousing. I spent considerably less than POD. Bookmaster's layout folks were very patient with me when I uploaded my book to them. I had some errors that I fixed and uploaded.
I will certainly go this route for my next book. I learned a lot making my book. Got 200 of the 1,000 copies of the book last week. I've already sold nearly all of the 200. The balance are waiting in the warehouse until I want them.
I hope my experience helps you. Don't get discouraged. You've chosen the best way to publish in my opinion.
By the way, there is an inDesign forum. Google it. People are very happy to help. Many cities have inDesign groups that meet regularly.

This may be too little, too late; perhaps may come in handy in the future. I'm a self-publishing hobbyist, and one thing that has helped me control costs is free open source software. For all my book layout and cover design needs, I rely on: Open Office Suite, The Gimp, and Scribus. These free programs are comparable to MS Word, Photoshop, and InDesign. Yes, they've quite a learning curve, but many tutorials are available on the 'net. And considering the thousands I saved on software, it was well worth dedicating a few weekends learning to use them.

Best wishes Nancy. Try not to go the POD route, if you can help it. Conventional self-pubbing, even for a hobbyist like me, is far more rewarding; and not just financially, either.

nancyadams said:

. . . avoid the POD route, which I had been doing like the plague. . .

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Are you perhaps using "POD" as a synonym for "subsidy publishing"? They are not the same thing, although many of the subsidy publishers use POD.

I have just published a book (an anthology, in cooperation with a local group of writers, primarily for local sale), using Lulu as a short-run printer (500-copy first printing at a sharp discount from the single-copy price, and even a nice discount from the price at 450 copies; gotta watch the break points on the pricing). Yes, the book is available by print-on-demand (one or a few copies at a time), but there is more to the picture than that. I have a supply on hand as does the group, and can order more in quantity if needed.

I laid it out in Word (I have a lot of experience with that now) and created the cover (using one of my own photos for the front cover image) with Photoshop Elements.

BTW, at 1,000 copies (through the special bulk-order desk, which must be contacted by email or phone for orders from a few hundred copies on up) Lulu gets bids for offset printing, thus becoming, in essence, a printer broker and saving the publisher who-knows-how-much time and effort to gather bids. Sure, they'll take a markup on the price, but it seems like a fair tradeoff.

In any event, this book was not a subsidy publishing deal, although the group did buy a lot of copies to sell directly as a fund-raiser (and also gets a portion of all other proceeds). They should make a tidy profit for the organization. For their purposes, it is simply published, not POD.

Nor will some other planned books by a local author (that is, ones I will be publishing) be any form of subsidy publishing, notwithstanding that I will again use Lulu as a good compromise of convenience and price (as long as the order is large enough -- 125 copies looks promising). I'm just using Lulu as a printer and to facilitate ISBN and distribution into the trade (Amazon and the like -- no illusions of the books being on store shelves except for the copies I place on consignment).

BTW, although Pete says not to use Word to lay out a book, he provides a chapter explaining HOW to use Word to lay out a book. (Now, I am sure that much depends on the sort of book. I am working with straight text, uncomplicated in its requirements.)

In any event, my costs are modest amounts for sample copies as I go along (it takes a few times to get everything right, and there is no substitute for seeing a sample book), plus ISBN/distribution package and copyright-registration expenses (two copies of book, plus fee to Copyright Office). And of course investment in a stock of books with no guarantee that they will sell.

Offered for whatever use the experience might offer.

--Ken

nancyadams said:

Would appreciate your good feedback again.

Since I wrote the first post, I am now wondering if I simply need to find someone who has the skills and experience to take my front matter, chapters, and back matter...put it all into Indesign...then send it back to me. That way, I can bypass this slow and frustrating learning curve, get it all done faster...AND learn from the settings they will have done.

So, does anyone know 1) how to do an internet search for someone who does this i.e.what search terms do I use other than "indesign" and 2) how much to pay someone, or what it might cost for an approx. 225-250 page book. Only a few illustrations. Fairly simple.

And a side question: I haven't done the index yet...and wondered if there is software to help me do so!

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I will PM you with a reference to a trusted friend and professional colleague who has those skills (he personally, or his staff) or can refer you to able professionals.

--Ken

Try elance.com or guru.com, and post your needs - inclusive of InDesign exeperience. You'll be looking for an inner GDer or a "typesetter".

Hi,
I don't know if you're still looking for design help but http://booksjustbooks.comcan help with layout and they're pretty reasonable. They're also a print broker so you can do all of that kind of stuff through them if you wish and then spend more of your time marketing and writing ( I personally can't imagine doing design myself).

They also have a POD distribution arm, but if you set up on your own with Lightning Source, you wouldn't need this.

Hope things are better now.