December 30, 2023
understanding book marketing

Publishing Your Book

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Publishing your book and achieving financial success, as in any creative field, is challenging, but the world craves great stories. Whether in books, films, TV or marketing, the demand and potential rewards are substantial.

The key lies in understanding what the industry wants and presenting yourself effectively through your Author Mythology.

Traditional publishing deals have become increasingly rare, akin to finding a first edition, signed Harry Potter paperback. Celebrity status often plays a significant role in securing the 90% of deals that involve advances from traditional publishers.

Why I know that the Hybrid or Co-Publishing Model is the best?

An author needs help, expertise and support and without access to established traditional publishing houses, usually through a Literary Agent, an author only has one other choice. Working with a publisher on a co-publishing agreement.

In the absence of literary agent representation and meetings with publishing heads, you have two primary options to publish your book: self-publishing and co-publishing (hybrid publishing). Both offer excellent alternatives, as publishing without a publisher was nearly impossible in the past.

It's important to remember that both self-publishing and co-publishing involve costs. Even self-publishing on platforms like KDP requires investments, including a computer, internet access, and most importantly, time. Time is our most valuable asset, and wouldn't you rather spend it doing what you love – writing stories?

Everyone has different skills and preferences. It's crucial to strike a balance between what you're willing to do yourself and what tasks are best outsourced. Self-publishing a book entirely can be time-consuming and demanding.

The self-publishing journey (one way to publish your book)is long and involves several steps. You'll need to edit your book, design the cover and interior pages, find a professional editor and cover designer, and format the book for various platforms.

Once your book is polished, the next hurdle is making it available to readers, or as it is called, publish your book. This involves marketing and distribution, often referred to as "bringing your book to market."

The publishing industry traditionally focuses on the act of publishing itself, not necessarily marketing. However, we'll delve into the marketing process used to bring any product, including books, to the market. Distribution and sales promotion are crucial aspects of this process.

Let's define a publisher. Primarily, a publisher's logo appears on the back cover of your book. However, their role extends beyond that. Established traditional presses offer brand recognition, a dedicated marketing and publicity department, and most importantly, distribution channels.

Distribution determines where and how your book is available for purchase. This is where the world of vanity presses comes in. Some, but not all, vanity presses require authors to pay for a print run, typically involving a thousand books.

The company prints and warehouses the books, then publishes them on Amazon and other platforms. They also handle fulfillment and might list your book on their website. This approach can be profitable, as printing cheaply and selling at retail offers a higher profit margin than KDP's POD (Print on Demand) service.

However, selling a thousand books without a solid marketing plan and budget is highly unlikely. Many contracts include clauses allowing the publisher to destroy unsold books after a specific period.

Printing a large quantity of books doesn't guarantee placement in bookstores. Established distributors work with publishers based on specific criteria, such as pre-orders, print run commitments, and involvement with book publicity companies and marketing budgets.

While self-publishing success stories exist, achieving significant recognition and professional author status requires immense effort, knowledge, and financial investment. If you simply want a beautiful book to share with loved ones, self-publishing might be sufficient.

However, for authors with exceptional stories, a strong Author Mythology, and a willingness to collaborate and invest, co-publishing with DreamEngine Publishing House can be the ideal path to success.

We offer comprehensive support at every step of the publishing journey, from manuscript editing and cover design to marketing and distribution. We believe in the power of collaboration and are committed to helping authors achieve their publishing goals.

If you have a great story, are ready to embrace your Author Mythology, and are willing to work with a dedicated team, contact DreamEngine Publishing House today. We'll be your partner in bringing your book to the world. We will work alongside you to publish your book.

Publishing with DreamEngine

Please start by submitting your work to us. This gives us a chance to find out about you and your story. We will then contact you for a free talk about how we might be able to benefit each other.

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The hybrid publishing model with DreamEngine

DreamEngine is an independent publishing house offering a bespoke hybrid publishing service to new and self-published authors.

My ambition is to make a co-publishing service that is reputable and which works for the author. I admit, it's a challenge because of the absolutely justified negativity surrounding vanity presses, and the difficulty in differentiating ourselves from the sharks. So we have to provide exceptional services and opportunities to prove who we are. Our aim is to be at the top of the list of the best hybrid publishers.

We do not accept every author and are honest about the commercial prospects for your book.

We'll give you the truth, even if it's not what you want to hear!

We will support and guide you through the whole process.

From helping you improve and develop your story to the final edit for publication.

With you every step of the way

We put a ten step book marketing plan in place. Along with – possibly the most important element of all - help and training in how to market yourself and your book.
You are assigned a personal editor, and we put a team of talented book design and book cover design specialists around you to produce the book that you, and your readers want.

I am a director of a film production company, a film producer, scriptwriter and story consultant. We will give you the best chance of getting your story on to the big screen.

We have partnerships with agencies, marketing companies, distributers and more. We understand how the positioning of your book in terms of genre, book categories, title, sub-title, cover design and back cover ‘blurb’ can be critical in raising the profile of your book, particularly in a digital marketplace and on social media. This is a major advantage for authors.

Are you ready to explore the benefits of working with one of the best hybrid book publishers?
Get in touch to find out more. It costs absolutely nothing to talk to us about your book, your plans and your hopes for the future.

Please start by submitting your work to us. This gives us a chance to find out about you and your story. We will then contact you for a free talk about how we might be able to benefit each other.

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  • The Author Mythology

  • Understanding the Publishing Industry

  • Author tips, tricks Q&A

Access to all the video seminars on Essential Author Knowledge for just £20

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Read more about Book Marketing

In-depth articles on  book marketing. We offer a range of book marketing services to all authors.

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Understanding the Publishing Industry and what it is looking for.

I believe that it is important that every author has an understanding of the publishing industry. That is why we offer the Author Edition in our online training academy. Here you will learn everything you need to know about the industry and how to become the author that the industry wants. 

There are many skills needed to publish your book that you most likely do not need or want to learn, such as formatting your book. You will also need to create a cover and there are many technical aspects to this. You may feel you are happy and able to do this, but this is where authors do not understand nearly enough about publishing. 

For example, the title you choose is almost certainly selected on the basis of your artistic love of those words rather than giving any consideration to the impact that title, sub-title and the accompanying cover design will have on your ranking and sales out there in the commercial world. Getting these things wrong can kill your chances before you have even started. We use complex algorithms and software to test and rewrite a title to ensure it gets to the top of search strings and, for example, Amazon categories. Take a look at the marketing resources we offer our authors for a glimpse of what is required. 

You will also need an editor to work with you. No matter how good a writer you are, it is essential to have an experienced editor to read through your book. It is very easy to think that your book is perfect when it is not. 

In reality, if you want to make any sales, you will either have to embark on several training courses to learn how to format your book, design your book cover, be your own editor, and become an expert in publishing and book marketing. Or you will have to pay people to do these things for you. 

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