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FIB - Scams 101 - Ye Olde Archives
Posted By: Mel. White In Response To: Need Input Please! LONG (Theresa)
Wednesday, 4 May 2005, at 9:24 a.m.
I have some alternatives, because I've been a small press publisher for about the last 10 years. It *is* a moneymaker but it is a bit time consuming. However, it's perfect for a stay at home person who doesn't need to instantly make the rent money.
> I received many nice responses but wasn't ready to act on anything as I
> could barely keep up with the orders coming in and the craft shows....
> but I kept it in the back of my mind.
Any chance you can partner with someone to do the crafting or part of the work while you do the poetry and finishing and order processing? Is your daughter interested in this (for a percentage)? As busy as you were, it looks like you might be able to afford some help.
> I have now been diagnosed with M.S.
I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope that you have good MDs and good therapists around (and that you've had luck getting Social Security disability.)
> I have come up with a plan to publish a series of books, beginning with
> a model of HOW I sold these angels, and subsequent books of the poems
> themselves. I plan on marketing to *Crafters who do shows and *Crafters
> who just make things for family and friends. The poetry is the main thing
> as the poetry is what is really popular.
Sounds good. I know from experience that "how to" books are a good moneymaker.
> After weeks of research, I am thinking of going with LULU.com to print
> the book as it is a Print on Demand publisher, so I can get all
> 4 books into print without much outlay.
Okay... now this is where you stop and take a deep breath. How big are your books (size-wise)? I could do a run of 20 of my booklets at Office Depot for $1.00/book... and they'd fold and staple them. If your books can be formatted to "digest size" (5 1/2 x 8 inches) and if they are less than 24 pages (not counting cover) then go with xeroxed booklets. By the time you have them printed at Lulu and delivered, it could have been done several times over at a local printer.
Do NOT print up huge quantities until you know what sells and how quickly it sells. I would sell 200 or so of each of my books each year, but in order to keep my costs reasonable, I would only print up 10-20 at a time.
Write the book first and ask locally how much it would cost to "make" the book (including folding and stapling.) Get several bids. You want to be able to deliver the book to them and have them run it off and hand you finished product.
Look at several kinds of bindings.
> For a website I would like your
> input on a place called SiteBuildIt. SBI. It appears they have much that
> I can use without a huge learning curve.
I put up a website and frankly got rather poor results. The books sold like hotcakes at conventions, but only a handfull sold through the website. This might have changed in the past 3 years... and with this next item I'm thinking of doing a website for it.
(IF I can ever get loose of some of the other things I need to do.)
You might forego the website and instead do auctions on Ebay until you build up a clientele. It's loads cheaper and you get TONS of eyeball traffic. In fact, you could probably set up an Ebay store much more cheaply than you could get a SBI site up.
Sounds like good plans, and I wish you the best!
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