Searching for Info on how to Start a Publishing Company

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Debi Flora on March 11, 2010 at 11:59am

Sharon,

I’m so excited for you!

I can attest to the interesting opportunities you will find in the publishing arena, and I wish you the very best. I’m sure you will find SPAN a tremendous resource, and great place to start is with SPAN’s Publishing FAQ – Click here.

I look forward seeing you on the SPANnet Community, and if I can be of personal assistance, please do not hesitate to call me.


Debi Flora
About Books, Inc. (ABI)
(800) 548-1876
www.about-books.com

Permalink Reply by Sharon King on March 11, 2010 at 12:25pm

Thank you, Debi. I'm looking forward to all the good info here. My publishing has been mainly in the academic arena, so there's a lot more to learn in the rest of the publishing world. Thanks again.

Permalink Reply by Steve Novak on March 11, 2010 at 2:59pm

Sharon,

Best of luck to you. I recently started a publishing company myself (there's a lot of us), Golden Ox Publishing. I have two points;

1) Starting a publishing business is the same as starting any business. The first thing you have to realize is that it is a business. A lot of people seem not to realize this. My background is in business, so I'm comfortable with this (degree in accounting, years of management experience, and my main business is management consulting).

The simple, basic formula is you have to have more money coming in than you have going out. At the start you'll be spending/investing quite a bit before you start realizing a return, i.e. making sales and generating revenue. Make sure you have enough money to hold you over until you start receiving that revenue.

2) Publishing is a specialized industry. After you've got the general business stuff down, or at the same time, you have to learn all the jargon and special idiosyncrasies of the publishing industry. I've done, and continue to do, my research, but since this is new to me I'm a lot less comfortable than with the general business.

But in my career I've switched industries a number of times and had to learn each industry along the way (jewelry, cosmetics, food, and gift products manufacturing, non-profit organizations, and construction contracting), so I realize it just takes time.


Aloha,

Steve

Permalink Reply by Sharon King on March 11, 2010 at 3:12pm

Very good to know. Thanks, Steve.

Permalink Reply by Larry L. Elwood on March 11, 2010 at 4:34pm

Steve,

Sounds like you're on your way! I'm new to this site and forum. I have been developing product and constructing an independent publishing company for almost 3 years. I have 2 different children's series books just about ready to go to print and a CD product for one of the series as well. I have two Artists hired working to complete the art for the books. The area I'm a little fuzzy on is UPC vs ISBN. My publishing company will be releasing the CD soon. It's a spoken word "Book on disc" basically. Does it need a UPC and an ISBN or just a UPC because it's a CD?

Thanks,

Larry Elwood

Permalink Reply by Steve Novak on March 11, 2010 at 5:59pm

Larry,

I'm about to sign my first author (besides myself), so I guess I am on my way.

Without getting into all the technical details...

UPC = Universal Product Code

ISBN = International Standard Book Number

Barcode = the digital, machine readable format of the UPC and/or ISBN (it's the little lines that get scanned at checkout)

The difference between UPC and ISBN is that ISBN is specific to the book/publishing industry. Everything else you see, in the grocery store, hardware store, gift shops, etc. uses the UPC.

You may need both UPC and ISBN if you're going to be selling in non-bookstores, like a grocery store or gift shop. You'd have to check with your customers.

To answer your question, the ISBN covers both print and audio books, and probably your CD product. If I'm mistaken, someone please correct me.

Good luck,

Steve

Permalink Reply by Larry L. Elwood on March 11, 2010 at 6:08pm

Thanks Steve,

That's really helpful. Congratulations on your growing company! That's very exciting. It's an incredible amount of work just getting something like this off the ground.

I think i really like this site and forum!!

Kind Regards,

Larry

Permalink Reply by Sharon King on March 11, 2010 at 7:48pm

Steve, just curious. How many manuscripts did you sort through before you picked your first author? What range of quality did you observe? Any "lemons"? Any you hated to reject but had to? Having received a rejection letter or two of my own, I suspect this must be one of the more difficult parts of the publishing business. Do you go into detail about why a manuscript was rejected or provide feedback to help the author improve? Questions, questions!

Permalink Reply by Steve Novak on March 12, 2010 at 2:21am

Sharon,

The truth is I sorted through zero manuscripts. This author is someone I know. I also have a couple other people I know who are in the process of writing books and I've told them I want to see what they have. One gentleman is an expert in his field (work I also do) and I think he could write a great book.

This author I'm planning to sign (still working on details) is also an expert in his field and someone I've known for a couple of years and who I know is very good at what he does. I hadn't seen him for awhile and while we were catching up I mentioned my publishing company. Well, you can see where that's gone to.

Maybe not the usual route, but I believe a better way to go at this point. I actually started the company to publish my next book. I got started early when I acquired the rights to my first book from the original publisher (one of the major ones). I've planned to publish other authors, but because of financial concerns am proceeding at a slow pace. I have to have only winners at this point. I'll be able to take more chances later.


Steve

Permalink Reply by Sharon King on March 12, 2010 at 8:14am

Steve, Understood. Start close to home or through networks where you have links. As you said, just basic business principles. Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Pamela Joy Licatino on February 3, 2011 at 11:20am

Hi.  My name is Pam Licatino and I also have started my own publishing business "Coastal Winds Publishing House" in SE Texas in November.  I too know it's a slow pace starting a business like this, but in the end, and once set up, it is a very rewarding career.  I specialize in children's books, crafts/hobbies, christian stories that inspire.   I also do illustrations for my own books and others.  I started out with signing someone I knew at first and am beginning to sign someone in Canada.   It's alot of work and there is so much that we can do in the publishing business.  I wish you well.   If I can make a suggestion of what I've learned, is to stay "specialized."  It really helps to know that you are placing your publishing name on a book that you are familiar with.  Again, good luck to you.    PAM

Permalink Reply by Brad Poulson on March 12, 2010 at 10:17am

Larry,
You may have already been here, but I found this FAQ from Bowker (they issue ISBN's) helpful: ISBN FAQ.

Best,

Brad

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