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The 7 Levels of Publishing, Part Two

By Mike Scantlebury

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 22May2007
Word count: 595
Viewed: 354 time(s)

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Previously – in Part One.

The First Level of Publishing is to print one copy. The Second Level of Publishing is when you receive five copies. The Third Level of Publishing is when you want 50 copies.

Now - Part Two.

The Fourth Level of publishing is next. For the Self-Publisher or Internet Publisher, this is when they aim for sales of 500 copies. This means they have exhausted friends and family, all of them, including long-lost aunts, uncles, and people you used to work with years ago. It also means people you meet in Libraries and cafes, at Book signings and at Writers' Workshops. As one Literary Festival organiser told me a few years ago, it probably means you're a 'regional writer', quite well known in your own particular area, your neck of the woods. You will have been featured in your local newspaper and on local radio, maybe even TV. It's quite a high target and a place that some Internet Publishers never reach. Strangely, this is a level not even noticed by Traditional Publishers. If one of their signed authors stops at this level, Level Four, they would be viewed as a complete disaster, a huge loss of finanical investment and someone not worth bothering about in the future.

Similary for Level Five. This is where a single book's sale amount to five thousand copies. This would be laughable for a Traditional Publisher. Sure, some hardbacks launched in the UK never sell more than a few thousand copies, but this is mainly to get the critics interested and establish some kind of presence. The hardback that gets noticed through this initial launch would be followed by a paperback edition that would be expected to sell in the tens of thousands. Anything less, and the author would be quietly dropped, (even if a long-term contract had been agreed) and swiftly replaced by a new hopeful. For the Internet Publisher, this is a far more significant level. It means that the Self-Publisher will start to see an important contribution to their income. It starts to look as though they can really think about planning to give up the day job. It seems that they might finally make it into the realms of the 'full-time, professional author'. Why the big difference? Because an Internet Author doesn't have to make a huge profit for the publisher who signed them up. Those publishers need big sales to pay for all their glossy offices and expense account lunches, all the Conventions and Festivals they have to attend, plus the hangers-on, the Literary Agents, the publicity people, the photographers and layout artists, the book jacket designers. An author who has followed through on publishing their own book (with the help of an online publisher like Lulu) will be pleased to reach Level Five and will start to feel their careers are finally taking off. For a Traditional Publisher, looking at one of their authors at Level Five, means that if the person has peaked at this level, then they have completely failed.

Traditional Publishers want Level Six, at least, that is, sales of fifty thousand. Even then, the author isn't a 'success'. They won't be on the Bestsellers list, (they need the next level for that) and will be on the cusp of being 'profitable'. Still, with an author at this level, the Publisher would probably be willing to risk the next book and may even put some effort into it, perhaps even providing an Advertising Budget, at least.

(To be continued in Part Three)

Mike Scantlebury is an Internet Author. He is offering novels for sale at Lulu dot com and has several web sites, listing books and stories he has written in different genres. He also enjoys a good argument and has set up the highly controversial Discussion Forum http://www.PublishingisDead.com where the debate can be faced and fought over (and the title speaks for itself).

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