Of Geeks and Artists

2008 Latest Edition - Did You Know 3.0 - From Meeting in Rome this Year

2009-01-02T08:13:00.001-08:00

A definite must-see video.

Christmas

2008-12-24T20:24:00.001-08:00

Christmas Lights, originally uploaded by Dolor Ipsum.

Soon it will be time to hit the hay on Christmas Eve and I would just like to take a momement and wish anyone who reads this Merry Chistmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year. In this time of uncertainty we need to take a moment to give thanks for what we have and enjoy the time we can spend with our families and friends.

Psuedo Scorpion

2008-11-01T19:44:00.001-07:00

Psuedo Scorpion, originally uploaded by Dolor Ipsum.

My wife's co-workers brought her this little psuedo scorpionto identify and she brought it home for me to photograph. it is tiny--about the size of a grain of rice--so I needed to use my 10X macro lens.

Art

2008-05-28T19:23:00.001-07:00

I just realized why YouTube and the other video hosting sites are so great: they bring "art" back to filmmaking. YouTube allows anyone to show the world their video expression of their soul and this expression is the true definition of art.

In my humble opinion: the lawyers, the professionals, the naysayers, and the critics be darned, for this is truly a wonderful thing.

Technorati tags: filmmaking, youtube, art

Thyme in a Bottle

2008-04-20T18:49:00.001-07:00

What kind of video can you create that will fit in 31 seconds? One like this one for starters. I had a thought, slapped my trusty Flip Video Ultra on a tripod and was able to put this together from start to finish in about half an hour.

Creating videos is now on par with sketching pictures in both speed and simplicity. The new compact camcorders are now on par with pencils and paper.

Irish Dance Neo-Style

2008-04-10T19:48:00.001-07:00

Here is an example of taking a very old danceform and adapting it to today's societal tastes. We need more people to think out of the box like these performers are.

Flip Video Ultra Series Digital Camcorder

2008-04-07T18:30:00.001-07:00

Back in 2006, when I first started my filmmaking hobby, I dreamt of the day when I could get a high-end prosumer camera like the Canon HV series or the Panasonic AG-DVX100. This dream changed when I bought my daughter a Pink Flip Video Ultra Series digital camcorder, and yes, I did say pink.

My daughter loved the camera because it was easy to use, as easy as using her cell phone camera, but unlike the cell phone, this camcorder holds 2 GB of video, records great video (640 X 480 SD), has great sound, is is as easy to use as a point and shoot camera. It doesn't stop there. The camera has built-in software for downloading videos, creating movies, uploading to YouTube, and e-mailing, all at the touch of a button. Just plug the camera's built-in USB plug into an empty port and away you go.

Having heard her praises, I went out and bought one (in black, of course) and tested it out while the wife and I walked our Chihuahua, Desi, in a nearby arroyo. I took about 5 minutes of film which I condensed into a 2 1/2 minute film I call "Desert Walk":

Once I shot the film (about 19 separate shots), I downloaded the AVI files onto my hard drive using the software contained in the camera. Once downloaded, I converted the AVI files (which were not compatible with Sony Vegas Movie Studio 6 Platinum, my editing software of choice) into MPEG 4 MOV files using AVS Video Converter, then edited them using Vegas Movie Studio (I used a built-in filter to fade the color and add scratches). I created a short soundtrack using Sony ACID Music Studio with help from Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio, then uploaded the whole kit and caboodle to YouTube. This took all of about 3 hours including the filming.

The ease of use of this camera can only be appreciated by actual use. Unlike my miniDV camera, the Flip uses two AA batteries and, since it stores the video in flash memory there is no tape transport hum (the only sound I recorded was wind which is why I went the soundtrack route.)

The bottom line is that this camera is a little larger then my cellphone, yet stores 1 hour of SD video that I can download directly into my computer. My daughter loves it so much that she carries it in her purse to take those spur of the moment videos.

I recommend the Flip Video camcorder to anyone who wants to explore the world of filmmaking without having to shell out hundreds of dollars to do so.

Long Shots

2008-02-25T18:55:00.001-08:00

My wife and I just finished watching Invasion, a movie unlike anything we have seen before. Invasion, directed by Albert Pyun and starring Virginia Dare, Scott Paulin, and Don Keith Opper, takes place on the night of May 19th, 2004 in the town of Lawton, California and deals with a meteorite-carried plague that infests the town. Though this may sound like a typical space zombie film, it is not. What makes it unique and thoroughly enjoyable is the use of a dash-mounted HD video camera which is to great effect in creating the creepiest atmosphere we have ever seen. The key is the fact that you experience a one-hour-plus continuous, uncut scene, which is only possible because of the nature of video cameras.

In a typical film camera, scene length is limited to the amount of film you can load into the camera. Typically, this ranges around 8 to 12 minutes depending on frame speed, and film size. Now, that is the maximum scene, which was used to great effect by Hitchcock in "Rope" where the film was shot in ten takes ranging from a little over four minutes to a little over ten minutes.

Today, those film limitations have been eliminated through the use of digital storage. MiniDV tapes allow you to shoot a continuous, one-hour, shot in standard-def, or you can store directly to hard drive or solid-state drive if you are shooting high-def.

The director Invasion uses the power of digital storage by shooting the film primarily in one hour-long, continuous scene shot from the dashboard of a police car as it moves through a secluded park in the middle of the night. Since the camera is "bolted" to the dashboard, your only viewpoint is out through the front window. Since it is night, your depth of vision ends at the end of the cruiser's spotlight. Occasionally, a video link with the police station shows up as a b/w picture-in-picture insert in the video feed, but for the most part the story is told in the style of an old-time radio (OTR) drama, i.e. through dialog.

I cannot describe how powerful this form of filmmaking is, especially to someone like myself, who is very used to listening to OTR dramas and podcasts. Even as I listened intently to the dialog, I found myself peering into the dark past the end of the spotlight, looking for something just beyond the edge of the beam.

Now think about filmmaking not in terms of scenes and acts, but as one continuous visual scene with a start, middle and end. Think about a screenplay that makes far more use of dialog then visuals. Think about principle filming could be done in a day? Put it all together and you have a film that follows a very unique paradigm that merges the old "film the train coming into the station" with virtually unlimited shot length.

I recommend anyone interested in filmmaking watch Invasion and think about how one can use the storage capabilities of today's HD cameras (or even SD cameras) to shift the filmmaking paradigm.

Technorati tags: filmmaking, pyun, filmwerks, Invasion, Infection, digital, video

Oddities in the YouTube Section of Cyberspace

2008-01-21T10:58:00.001-08:00

Several months ago I posted a video contest entry on YouTube--it didn't win.

The video sat for about three months, gathering around 600 views, until last weekend when interest in the video exploded. It is now up to almost 8,000 view, 14 comments, and seven rating and I am not quite sure why. The real interesting thing, though, is the comments and where they are from.

So far, and assuming that the information in the commenter's profiles is correct, I have gotten comments from Great Britain, Romania, Norfolk Island, Brazil, New Zealand, Germany, and the United States. Some of the comments have been positive and others negative. The major problem that commenters seem to have is that the trailer doesn't tell what the story is about.

I always thought that trailers were marketing tools whose soul purpose was to entice people into spending hard-earned money for the chance to see the movie. Whether or not the trailer tells what the story about is moot if it, the trailer, gets people curious enough to go see the movie. Case in point: the first Transformers Movie trailer. That one caught my interest and led me to pay cash-money to see it at the theater.

So, what is the purpose of a trailer? Convince people to see the movie? Tell what the movie is about? Both? Neither? That is truly the question.

Technorati tags: filmmaking, the nines, contest, trailer, film

Wormwood

2007-11-17T19:45:00.001-08:00

Now that the television and film writers are on strike, we are all looking at the possibility of a dearth of narrative fiction in the form of television and film, so I thought I would mention a viable alternative: podcasts. Ah, but not just any poscasts. The ones I refer to are top-shelf, professionally produced serials in the true tradition of old-time radio shows like The Shadow, Buck Rogers, and House of Mystery--shows that whet your whistle and cause you to wait with bated breath for the next installment. The first of these I will discuss is Wormwood.

Wormwood, produced by Habit Forming Films, LLC, follows the adventures of Dr. Xander Crowe, psychologist turned occult investigator, as he investigates the town of Wormwood and searches for the truth behind his vision of a drowning woman.

Wormwood is not your typical small town as it is plagued by mysterious murders and disappearances, many of which may be tied to a creature called the Muddy Man. Oh, did I mention that one of the Doctor's hands is always covered by a glove and that he has been marked for death by a mob boss? And then there is the mysterious (and acerbic) Sparrow, the Doctor's assistant, who seems to know a great deal more about the occult then she lets on. Wormwood has enough intrigue to fill a major metropolis, let alone a small town.

The cast of Wormwood are fantastic, especially the mysterious Arthur Russell who plays Dr. Crowe (always use his title when you talk to the good doctor.) According to his bio, Mr. Russell:

"...appeared through a side door after auditions were over. He claimed that only he could play the part of Doctor Crowe, that the role had appeared to him during a vision quest in the aboriginal dream time."

So far I have listened to 16 episodes of Wormwood and all of them have left me hanging on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what will happen next. The cast is top notch as is the writing and audio quality. This is one of the best produced podcasts I have listened to and one of the most entertaining. I recommend Wormwood to anyone interested in the horror/occult/mystery genres of literature or old time radio.

Now pardon me as I listen to Episode 17 - Asunder of Wormwood: A Serialized Mystery.

Technorati Tags: OTR, Wormwood, Mystery

Paradigm Shift

2007-10-09T19:47:00.001-07:00

It seems that the music industry's marketing focus is about using litigation (or the threat thereof) and attempts at DRM to force people to pay for the music they listen to. This effort is based on the fact that music in digital form is extremely easy to copy and give away. We (the wife and I) think that it is time for all smart people to sit down for a moment to think of a way for people to 1) be able to freely listen to music while 2) allowing the artists, writers, performers and publishers to make some money. In other words: we need a paradigm shift. Here are some thoughts to ponder:

Current paradigm involving the public (i.e. a normal citizen obtains a copy of a musical recording): Legitimate copies are generated by the publisher and sold to the public in various physical and electronic forms. Each copy is sold with the understanding that only the official copy is authorized and that the copying and/or distribution of unauthorized copies is strictly forbidden. Musicians, writers, and publishers receive proceeds from the sale of each official copy.

Problem with this paradigm: unofficial copies abound which dilutes the revenues from the proceeds of the sale of official copies.

Possible paradigm shift: Assume that rampant unauthorized duplication and distribution will occur, so uncouple revenues from sales and couple them to a secondary stream such as advertising, concerts, appearances, merchandising or licensing. Use the unauthorized duplication and distribution as free advertising for the stuff you are selling.

Remember, you only make money on the first sale, then like used books or cars, no revenue is generated by resales or giveaways of the original, authorized material. Using the shifted paradigm, every sale works in your favor as advertising.
Current paradigm of using fear and intimidation to spur sales: Of course, everyone knows all of the laws pertaining to fair use and copyright, therefore everyone who has a computer and listens to music is a thief, right?

Problem with this paradigm: people really don't like to be stereotyped, especially as bad people. This paradigm will eventually lead to a serious backlash by the people who you expect to shell out a lot of hard-earned money for a little plastic disc or an electronic file. People are already having a hard time justifying $15 for a disc that has 14 tracks of which they only want one.

Possible paradigm shift: Assume that most people (customers!) are honest, law abiding citizens who are not aware of the issues regarding copying of copyrighted materials. Instead of litigation, try education and information. Try offering services that make it easier to buy one track at a time. Ditch DRM and make it easier for users (customers!) to use MP3 players. I think that there is a rule of law that states: "innocent until proven guilty."

These are just a couple of thought provoking ideas that I put out for your consideration. I will publish more as I come up with them.

Technorati Tags: copyright, music, DRM, lawsuit, litigation

I wish you could have seen it.

2007-10-01T19:14:00.001-07:00

As a joke, I pulled a bunch of short clips from the raw footage we shot for my daughter's instructional West Coast Swing DVD set (promo here). The gist of it is that there are about 20 or so 1-second shots of the kids saying alright and OK when segments start. My wife thought it would be great to set it to Kenny Loggins' Theme from Caddyshack (via his Greatest Hits Album), which I did. To say the least, it is hilarious.

Now the sad part: you will never see it. I don't have the time (months, maybe years) or the money (hundreds, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dollars) required to license the music properly (assuming I could even get all of the licenses,) so you will never see my masterpiece.

Now, you may suggest that I just put it out on YouTube--no one will know, right? Wrong! I have better things to do then respond to removal notices from law firms or lawsuits by the RIAA.

Your loss. Sorry.

Technorati Tags: filmmaking

The Joys of the Electronic Communication

2007-09-27T17:21:00.001-07:00

As a self-proclaimed geek, I am constantly in the mode of wondering why something is the way it is. For example, why is Technorati ignoring this blog and not my other blog. For some reason, Technorati's spiders stopped visiting this blog at the end of August. I write and I ping, yet nothing happens.

It must be my breath.

Technorati Tags: technorati, spiders

The Nines Trailer Competition

2007-09-23T15:21:00.001-07:00

John August, noted writer and director of films, has a contest involving the creation of a trailer for his new film--The Nines--using footage that he supplies. For more details,go here; for an FAQ, go here; for a teaser, go here; and for the Internet Movie Database entry, go here.

Here is my entry:

YouTube - Trailer for The Nines

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: thenines, trailer, competition, filmmaking

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 11...

2007-09-16T11:23:00.001-07:00

Finis

All good things must come to an end, and so to this missive on publishing a book.

Synopsis:

Determine your audience.
Determine a publishing model.
Create a marketing plan.
Write a darn fine manuscript.
If you plan to traditionally publish then find an agent and or publisher.
If you plan to vanity publish then research, research, research before signing anything (this also means you probably want to get a lawyer.)
If plan to self-publish then create a business plan that outlines who does what. Once you have a business plan, then create a financial plan. Be realistic! It is a business and you can seriously lose your shirt!
If you plan to use LuLu.com or blurb,com, then make sure that you have completely and thoroughly edited and corrected the manuscript. People really dislike typos and grammatical errors.
Remember: you have a marketing plan, so follow it.
There are no guarantees. The best you can do is maximize your chance of success, not guarantee it.

Good luck and I wish you the very best.

Technorati Tags: publishing, writing, marketing

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 10...

2007-09-16T11:10:00.001-07:00

Selling.

What venues are available to an author for selling their books?

There are basically two ways of selling a book: physically and virtually. By "physically" I mean in a brick & mortar store like a bookshop, a store of some kind, and even a craft show. In a "physical" setting a buyer must physically enter a venue to purchase or order a book.

Virtual bookselling, on the other hand, is done via a Web site. The buyer reads a description of the book, then orders it. The book may be physical in nature, or it may be an electronic version that can be immediately downloaded into the buyers computer.

What is the big deal about cover prices?

The price that a bookstore pays for a book is based on a percentage of the cover price, usually 60% give or take. Bookstores usually buy books from suppliers who in turn buy the book from publishers at some fraction of cover price, usually 50-60%. Thus, the publisher can make a gross profit of 40-50% of cover price, the supplier can make a gross profit of 10-20% of cover price, and the bookstore can make a gross profit of around 40% of cover price. Remember, all these business must subtract all expenses they incur when they sell the book, from the gross profit to get the net profit. It the per book expense is $10 and you only make a gross profit of $8, you lose $2 on each book.

Bookstores buy their stock?

Yes, yes they do! Just like most independent stores they have to put up a lot of money up front to purchase stock. Let's say a store has 100,000 books, each with an average cover price of $20. The stores outlay for stock would then be 60% of the total cover price, or about $120,000!

What are returns?

Since the 1930s, bookstores have enjoyed the privilege of returning unsold books to the publisher or, getting a larger discount (or free shipping) in lieu of this return privilege. This can complicate things, as you can imagine.

Are bookstores the best place to sell books?

Maybe. Maybe not. If your book is published by a conventional publisher, then the matter is out of your hands. If you self-publish, then you have to look at the numbers and at the demographic of your target audience. Let's say that it costs you, the author, $10 a copy for a book with a cover price of $20. If you want a bookstore to sell it, they will want a minimum of 40% off cover, or a price of $12. Thus, you make about $2.00 a book. On the other hand, the bookstore may want a 50% discount in lieu of a return privilege. In this case you would get no gross profit per book.

What is fulfillment?

If someone buys a book from a publisher or distributor, the book should be shrink-wrapped, boxed and shipped. This is fulfillment. If you are a self-publisher and you have printed, let's say, 2000 copies of your tome, you will have to store those copies until such time that someone orders them. If you traditionally publish, vanity publish, or publish with LuLu.com or Blurb.com, fulfillment is taken care of by the publisher.

Where can you sell your book?

Anywhere that people are willing to hand-over money in exchange for a copy of your work. Garage sales, truck stops, convenience stores, grocery stores, craft shows, used book stores (we carried titles from local authors at the used bookstore my wife and I owned,) flea markets, book signings, and from the back of your car:

Audience	Venue
Truckers	Truck stop
Bicyclist	Bike shops and coffee shops
Adventure enthusiasts	Outdoors stores
History of coffee in America	Coffee shops and cafes
Hunting	Gun shops and outdoors stores
Marketing for small business	Office supply stores

What about public speaking gigs?

If you are an expert at something and have written a book on that subject, then a public speaking gig is a fantastic way to sell your book. Set up a talk and make sure you have a pile of books available for purchase in the back of the room or out in the foyer.

Bottom line?

Look at your situation and look at your customer. Where do you think they would buy your book?

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 9...

2007-09-16T10:03:00.001-07:00

...More on Marketing.

I just read an interesting post on Booksquare.com about how Apple is going to save the publishing industry. One part that caught my eye was the mention of using YouTube to post video trailers for announcing books. This is just another example of thinking out of the box and making use of the power of technology. Now, an author can have a web site with descriptions of their work, excerpts from their work, blogs about their work, reviews of their work, podcasts about their work, and short videos about their work. And it doesn't stop with web sites. Authors can create promotional CDs with marketing videos or create marketing DVDs which can be sent out as multimedia Web 2.0 press releases. The possibilities are endless.

What about producing these videos? One idea I saw in a recent blog was to solicit the services of film school students who need material for various projects. The blog dealt with music videos, but I think book trailers would be of interest to some of them.

You can also produce your own video if you want. If you browse through YouTube or any of the video hosting sites, you will soon find that the quality of the videos range from horrible to professional. You can create your own piece using a program as simple as Windows Movie Maker (which is free with Windows XP) to something as complex and expensive as Final Cut Pro to knit together sound, sills, and video clips into a movie that you can then upload to YouTube. As usual, you have to be the judge of whether or not your piece is good enough to fill your needs. As an example, here is a trailer I did for my brother's book, The Moon Chasers.

YouTube - The Moon Chasers Promo

Just remember: you have to think out of the box and get creative with your marketing efforts.

Technorati Tags: publishing, writing, marketing

The Moon Chasers

2007-09-08T14:54:00.001-07:00

Back in 2003, my brother wrote an action/adventure novel that was set in 16th Century Puerto Rico of an alternate timeline earth. The novel is called "The Moon Chasers" and, forgetting for the moment that he is my brother, it is a really good read.

Here is a short promo I did for it (it took me two years to finally put it together from footage I shot back in Pratt, Kansas):

You can check-out Thomas' book at www.thomasrcarey.com.

Do you have a book that you would like to promote via a short video? Check-out our web site to see how we can help you.

Technorati Tags: marketing, video, YouTube, Books, publishing

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 8...

2007-08-28T19:41:00.001-07:00

...Marketing Plan

No matter how good your book is, you have to inform people of its existence and you have to convince them to buy it. Better yet, you need to convince them to convince others to buy it. This is called "Word of Mouth" advertising.

How do you do this informing and convincing? Here are some methods:

Reviews both paid-for and unsolicited. This technique requires that you hand out a number of books to people who you want to review your work. The actual number of review copies that you use is dependent on your cost per copy and the amount of money you have budgeted for marketing. More on this in a moment.
A web (1.0) site. This is really good if you want to post excerpts, reviews, previews for upcoming books, and a schedule of upcoming personal signings.
A web 2.0 blog where you can discuss your work and answer questions from your adoring fans. You can also interlink with other authors' blogs so that you can work that "Word of Mouth" advertising on a global scale.
Book signings. These can be held at local bookstores, coffee shops, craft shoes, art fairs, swap meets, and wherever you can go out and press the flesh of your adoring fans. For some reason people love to meet authors in person. Just remember to have stuff available (pens are really good) that has contact information (web address) available. Also, bring a stack or two of books with you that you can sell to your adoring public.
Give two or three free books to the managers at gas stations and truck stops to sell. Make sure you leave contact information so that they can get a hold of you to reorder copies when the freebies run out.
Donate copies to libraries.
Set up public speaking gigs where you discuss your book writing experience and have a few copies available for sale at the back of the venue.

Now, keep in mind that this is going to cost money since it costs you $X per copy. If you traditionally publish you book then the publisher will supply you with a number of copies. If you self-, vanity, or lulu/blurb publish, then you will have to pay for every copy that you hand out or sell on your own. This is where having a budget really comes into play since you need to know how much money you have available to purchase these marketing books. It makes no sense giving away $5000 worth of books if you think you will only sell $4000-worth.

Bottom line: get budget numbers, then get creative.

Technorati Tags: writing, publishing

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 7...

2007-08-26T14:17:00.001-07:00

...Marketing budget.

Unless your manuscript is picked-up by a publisher who is willing to shell-out marketing funds for your tome, you have to be prepared to come up with some type of marketing plan so that you can inform the buying public that your work is available and, most importantly, why they should buy a copy.

A recent poll shows that one in four people did not read a book in 2006, and that those who did the typical number of books they read was seven. And I have seen numbers that indicate that people who do so an average of about 70 hours a week. And they say that aliteracy is a fallacy.

So, you need to tell these people that your book exists and that they should buy it (and maybe even read it!) This is the heart of marketing and you need to do it if you want to sell your book.

Now, if we were talking about something like a skateboard, we would be figuring out all of this stuff before we made anything because we would first figure out who we are marketing the board to and then we would tailor the board to that market. An example would be to tailored a board for people for people who are into a certain comic book or graphic novel character. The idea is to come up with a customer demographic, then come up with a product.

Writers, in general, do not work this way. All of the ones I know come up with an idea, then write the book, then try to figure out how to sell it.

If you are in the latter camp then you have to first think about who you are going to sell your finished tome to. Next, you have to figure out how many tomes you are going to sell, which when combined with the profit you make per copy, gives you an idea of how much money you can theoretically make, which then tells you how much money you can spend on marketing (in some cases you may have to spend your own marketing funds even if you are traditionally published.)

Assume for the moment that you make $2.00 per book and you you have calculated that you have a potential customer base of 10,000 people who may be persuaded to buy your book. This gives you a potential profit of $20,000 if you sell one book to each of those 10,000 souls. The question is how much can you spend (gamble) on marketing materials? Another way to look at this is: "how much do you trust your potential sales number?" Remember: until you sell the books, the money you spend will come out of your own pocket.

Once you establish a budget you then need to establish a marketing plan, which is the subject of my next post.

Technorati Tags: publishing, writing

Flagrant Plug

2007-08-23T21:42:00.001-07:00

Just to take a break from publishing, here is a promo I did for an instructional dance DVD series we filmed, edited and produced for our daughter:

We are trying to start up a service for producing videos and video resumes for dancers, performing artists and anyone else who is interested. Details can be found on our website.

Technorati tags: video, dance

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 6...

2007-08-21T19:50:00.001-07:00

...Printing Options

To create a physical (non-electronic) book, you must put ink to paper. Today, there are two primary technologies available to do this: traditional offset printing and print on demand (or POD.) Both have pros and cons and your choice is mainly based on what you are trying to accomplish.

Traditional Offset Printing - Traditional offset printing involves using a large printing press to print many pages (24, 36, 48-depending on the size of the sheet and the size of the pages) on both sides of the sheet. The pages are printed such that that the sheet can be folded into a signature which will have three sides trimmed off. Multiple signatures are then assembled into a book body. This type of printing is very cost effective ($1-$2 per copy) when quantities of more then ~2000 are printed. The problem is how to store 2000+ copies of a book, especially a large hard cover.

Print on Demand (POD) - POD is made possible by computers and laser printer technologies. There are systems available today that can literally turn out a single copy of a book, complete with cover, in less then an hour. There is some thought that someday bookstores will only contain electronic copies of books which will only be printed when a customer orders them. The downside is that the selection of book types and sizes are limited, though this is changing. Also, the cost of POD printed books are much higher then the cost of comparable traditionally printed books when the trad books are printed in quantity.

So, which one should you use? The answer totally depends on which publishing route (Traditional, Vanity, Self, or LuLu/Blurb) you take, the type of book you want, the size of the final product, and the number you plan to sell in the first run. For example: you are printing a black and white, hardcover tome of standard size and you are positive that you are going to sell 5000 in no time. In this case traditional offset printing would be a good first choice as long as you had the money to pay the up-front costs, a place to store all of those books and had a plan on how to ship them. On the other hand, LuLu.com or Blurb.com may be a better choice if you didn't have the startup funds or the storage capability, though you would have to take a long, hard look at the costs versus the cover price.

Remember: each project is different. There is no single best answer.

Technorati tags: publishing, writing

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 5...

2007-08-19T10:23:00.001-07:00

...Options.

An author has options for getting their work published. As you read what follows, keep in mind what has been presented to you in previous posts.

Traditional publishing - This is the Holy Grail of publishing--someone actually pays you, the author, for the right to publish your work. Now, since they are paying you for this right, they will have some (a lot) of say in what is actually published (remember "content editing") and how it is published. But, they do take care of all those other tasks (sometimes they even let you input your own thoughts.) The biggest problem is just getting a publisher to look at your stuff, which is why many authors search out the services of an agent. Of course, finding an agent (especially if your are unpublished) is probably as hard as finding a publisher, but no one said this would be easy.

Now a brief word about financial side of selling a book: Traditionally, books are published with their price printed on the cover (sometimes it is part of the barcode on the back of the book.) This "cover price" is the basis for the amount of money everyone makes off of selling the book. For example, take a book with a cover price of $10:

Publisher sells book to a distributor for 55% off cover price discount. Thus publisher gets 45% of cover as revenue. In our example this equals $4.50.
Distributor has paid $4.50 for book and resells it to a bookstore for a standard 40% off cover price discount, or $6.00. The distributor thus pockets the difference or $1.50.
The bookstore sells the book for whatever it can, but remember: it paid $6.00 for the book.
According to Poynter, the average royalty is 10.7$ of net, or what the publisher actually gets after discounts, returns, etc. In our example, the author would get $0.48. At this rate, a book would have to sell 100,000 copies a year to net the author a salary of $48,000 (by the way, if you get an agent, you pay them out of your royalties.)

So, for the traditional publishing route: writing the book was hard, finding a publisher is hard, finding an agent is hard, and you will have to sell a lot of books to make any money. On the plus side: you didn't have to spend any money.

Vanity Publishers - This works like traditional publishers except that you have to pay the vanity publisher up-front to publish your book. Vanity publishers make their money primarily off the authors. Vanity (or subsidy) publishers have a real bad rap in the industry, though some seem to be on the up and up. Remember: vanity publishers want money up-front to publish your work and may have little or no say in the process.

Self-Publishing - Ah, the choice of thousands of authors world-wide. You become your own publisher by starting your own publishing company. Going this route means that you are responsible for all aspects of the publishing process, including the part where you tell yourself how your story needs to be changed to make it more marketable! In my humble opinion, a self-publisher needs to either know all of the aspects of publishing, or be able to hire people who do. You will also need to have significant funds to cover operations until the revenues come in. This option really works when the author is honest about why they are publishing and are willing to treat the venture as a real business, not a work of love.

LuLu.com and Blurb.com - These two were made possible by the Internet and the personal PC. In a nutshell: you write and prepare your book for publication (which may require the use of the services of other people) and upload it to the website. When someone buys a copy of your book a chunk of the purchase price goes to you while the rest goes to the publisher. There are no up-front fees for uploading and setting up--they make their money off of sales, just like you. You set the price and thus your profit.

Next time: What the Heck is POD?

Technorati tags: publishing, writing

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 4...

2007-08-19T09:07:00.001-07:00

...More on Publishing.

Las time, we talked about what publishing was, but in a kind of abstract way. Here is a sort of non-comprehensive list of things that a publisher does to turn a story/idea into a marketable book:

Proofread and copy edit manuscript with the intent to eliminate any and all spelling and grammatical errors.
Content edit the manuscript with the intention of making the book more marketable.
Check the manuscript for legalities such as libelous statements.
Design the cover art.
Design the cover layout
Decide on the format of book (hard cover, paperback, trade paperback, coffee table book, etc.)
Decide on the overall design of the book including paper used in body of the book, cover materials, dust jacket materials, etc.
Design the interior layout of the book.
Decide on the fonts used for the different parts of the book.
Typeset the book.
Arrange for any appropriate illustrations to be created and/or licensed for use in the book.
Arrange for an ISBN number for the book.
Arrange for a Library of Congress Catalog Card Number for the book.
Arrange for a barcode for placement on the back of the dust cover.
Arrange for delivery of Advance Reading Copy/Uncorrected Proofs to reviewers.
Arrange for printing.
Decide on a cover price.
Arrange for distribution or order fulfillment.
Arrange for storage of books prior to shipment to distributors or sellers.
Write and implement a marketing plan.
...

Unless you are a true polymath with access to all the necessary resources, you will have to have someone perform these functions (and any that I missed) for you. Like I said: writing a book is only 10% of the job.

Technorati tags: publishing, writing

Geek's Guide to Publishing a Book Part 3...

2007-08-19T08:41:00.001-07:00

...What is publishing?

Just a scant few years ago, having a book published meant writing a manuscript, submitting it to a publishing company, who, upon acceptance, would pay you a royalty for the privilege of printing and selling you tome. Upon acceptance, perhaps before, you would hire an agent, who would take over the onerous task of dealing with the publisher. The publisher, in turn,would take over all of the tasks that were associated with turning your manuscript into a real, physical book. You, on the other hand, worked on your next tome.

Today, this has all changed and it has changed because of cheap PCs, cheap laser printers, and the Internet. Unfortunately, many would-be authors seem to still be caught in the pre-Internet mind-set.

Before we continue, go and grab a hard cover book, preferably one with an intact dust jacket.

Now, take your book and examine it closely:

Look at how the covers are made and attached to the body of the book.
See how the pages are grouped together (these are called signatures) and how the groups are assembled together.
Look at the dust jacket and its artwork. Does it have a barcode on the back?
Open the book and examine the first few pages. Note how each is laid-out.
Now look at an interior page of the book. Notice the font used, line spacing, and font size. Look at how the words are laid-out on the physical page.

A book is a physical manifestation of someone's story or idea. It can contain a person's dreams, knowledge, and/or experiences. For this discussion, though, the most important aspect is that a book must be designed, the information transferred, and the book assembled. In my humble opinion, publishing is literally the transformation of the abstract into the physical.