Sell: Your sixth and final step to getting published

In PublishMe's six-step process, the essential knowledge you need to become a truly successful self-publisher is accessible easily and provided freely. Self-publishing is where you are in control of the publishing process. You make all the decisions and keep ownership of the process throughout. The copyright for the work stays with you.

You may be reading through the PublishMe '6 steps to getting published' to learn enough information to get started on your project or you might already have a work completed and be ready to start selling.

Steps to Coming Out on Top

Make a return on your publishing investment!

The focus of this package is a workbook with recommendations about setting a retail price for your book, understanding how discounts impact on price setting, how to achieve a return on your investment and how to cover your print costs. Clear financial guidelines of significant value to help you make smart business decisions about your book!

The workbook complements a one-hour consultation with your PublishMe client manager.
Read more . . .

The Book Launch Package

Getting it right on the night!

Make a fantastic first impression!

This value-for-money package takes all the uncertainty out of organising your book launch events — a handy workbook full of valuable tips and checklists.

All the help you need to organise a great book launch featuring your own high quality posters, invitations and flyers!
Read more . . .

Steps to Marketing Success Consultation Package

Know your goals, your budget, your market and your message!

This package will guide you through a range of marketing considerations — developing a marketing plan, personal, financial and professional goal setting for your publication, defining your target market, contacting the media, looking at the elements in your marketing budget, your resources, publicity and sales tools, direct and indirect marketing, online marketing, networking and more . . . and a valuable one hour discussion with your PublishMe consultant!
Read more . . .

Selling to Bookstores

Key steps to getting onto New Zealand bookstore shelves!

For many authors the very real achievement of seeing their book on bookstore shelves is a dream . . . this guide will help you realise that goal with key strategies to get your book into New Zealand bookstores.

While the Internet is increasingly vital in promoting your book, marketing your book to a traditional bookstore or library remains a very valid element in your promotional plan. The tools and background information in this handy guide will enable you to do that with confidence and professionalism. Read more . . .

6. Sell

Some self-publishers have no thought of selling their work. Their intention is to give their work away to family and friends or to customers to promote their business or provide added value.

Some self-publishers set out with no intention of selling their work and during the process realize that their work has appeal to a wider audience than they thought and they begin to consider the selling options that are available.

Warwick Gibson: Zen and the Art of Sharemarket Investment
"I wrote a book using PublishMe about the sharemarket to get my friends started in investment. To my surprise it's sold 100 copies in the last five months."

Many self-publishers set out with the clear intent of selling their work for a wide variety of reasons.

Jenny Setchell: Organ-isms
"PublishMe lived up to their reputation as producers of fine quality books as well as having excellent customer service. In the end what seemed like a huge hurdle was quite simple. I now have a wonderful professional book which in eight weeks has sold more than 400 copies throughout the world."

Right at the beginning stages of self-publishing is not too early to have a clear idea of whether you intend to sell your work and, if so, how you want to sell your work and who you want to sell to, as it can directly influence what you do at each stage of the process.

If you have a book completed and ready to go, you need to think through what selling options will be appropriate for your finished work if you have not already done so.

If your work is a local history you may just want to sell in your local community or if it is a history of national significance then you may have the goal to sell the book into libraries around the country. If your work is about breeds of chickens then you may want to target chicken breeders through clubs, competition days, specific newsletters and websites and sell direct to them.

If your work is non-fiction with a wider appeal you may want to sell it to the wider public, libraries and research centres. If your work is a novel you may want to sell it on online bookshops in NZ and worldwide and have it available in book chain stores.

Every project is different.

To assist the PublishMe members whose goal is to get their work sold, PublishMe's vision is twofold:

PublishMe offers selling options to PublishMe members to enhance their selling opportunities. Members can choose the options most appropriate to their publishing goals. Detailed information including terms and conditions for each of the PublishMe selling options currently available can be found under the Selling with PublishMe tab and is also available as a free download under MyPublishMe.
PublishMe wants, and encourages, PublishMe members to work together as a 'virtual' publishing company with the power of each member's efforts adding extra selling potential to other members. How can this happen? This can be achieved by:
- PublishMe members generating traffic to the PublishMe site and the PublishMe Shop, through viral marketing – PublishMe members emailing and sharing news of their work with other PublishMe members
- PublishMe members making links on their own websites to PublishMe site and the PublishMe Shop
- PublishMe members sharing their success stories via the PublishMe Latest News. As a member of PublishMe you have access to specific selling options which you can activate and through which you can sell your work.
- PublishMe members telling as many people as they can about the PublishMe site and the PublishMe Shop – the strongest marketing medium is word of mouth.

So Join and become part of the PublishMe community, empowering you to achieve your goals.

Marketing & Publicity

The decision on whether you sell your work or not, how you sell it and whether you get involved in the marketing of it to create sales, is entirely yours.

An effective marketing project includes appropriate publicity seeking. To boost your opportunities we are happy to send to members who print with PublishMe Print, a comprehensive database of information for a wide range of newspapers, magazines, radio and television media . . . with our compliments!

Some self-publishers are born promoters and can confidently promote themselves and their work. For others their self-published work complements their business or their area of expertise so they have an obvious and easy way to present and sell their work. For many self-publishers the content of the work is their passion or relates to a particular cause, so going out and actively promoting it is something they are motivated to do because they want to share the content with others. Other self-publishers are not confident and need some assistance.

Steps to Coming Out on Top

Make a return on your publishing investment!

The workbook complements a one-hour consultation with your PublishMe client manager.
Read more . . .

Steps to Marketing Success Consultation Package

Know your goals, your budget, your market and your message!

Selling to Bookstores

Key steps to getting onto New Zealand bookstore shelves!

Promotional Material

How will your work stand out from the crowd?
Depending on your goal one or more of the promotional material options below may be useful in getting your message out there and make you stand out from the crowd.

If you would like PublishMe to assist you with this, simply contact your client manager.

Advance Information (AI) sheets
Catalogues and banners for trade shows
Book launch invitations and business cards
Bookmarks, brochures, bumper stickers, postcards, posters, T-shirts, gift certificates
Newsletters, display ads and flyers for general mail drop-based marketing

Now available: A value-packed package deal you won't want to miss! The PublishMe Book Launch Package is perfect for busy authors — be superbly organised, know how to make the most of your launch opportunities, and be proud of the promotional tools you'll receive — posters, invitations and flyers designed to do justice to your book! Refer to the Book Launch Package box above.

Market appraisal and recommendation

What is it?
The PublishMe market appraisal will primarily assess the market suitability and potential of a work, to recommend the markets it will be appropriate for, or give an indication of its suitability for the target market the author had in mind.

The appraiser will read through the work briefly, and though it is not necessarily a full read, especially for longer books, the reading is enough to offer a publisher's assessment of the work. In the next step they will look at the work and its overall design. If the work is a book, the quality of the text is considered. Different criteria will apply to different genres. The layout of the inside pages and the design of the cover are all factors that will be taken into account. If the work is a picture book for young children the quality of the illustrations and the way they reflect the text is critical. The blurb on the back of the cover is also considered.

In effect, this process is the appraisal that a publisher would apply to a submitted manuscript ie: to assess the general marketability of a book, which market opportunities best fit it and suggested techniques and approaches the author can make to maximise the publication's chances of success.

Depending on genre, your goals and the format submitted for appraisal, you could therefore expect the report to include comments on:

general presentation/layout/cover
spelling /grammar and whether further proofreading or even additional editing may be required
length
comments on the blurb and how to make the best use of the back cover
attracting a key figure to write a foreword or testimonials for the back cover
the selling options and market potential nationally or overseas
suggestions of which sections of the media might suit your goals for the publication
whether it might be appropriate to offer yourself as a guest speaker to groups

A brief review is included in the report which you are welcome to use on the back cover or to include as part of media releases etc.

If your work has already been polished as a result of contracting a manuscript assessor from our service provider list then it will improve your chances of a positive report.

It is entirely over to you whether you choose to act upon the marketing suggestions and recommendations in the report. There are no guarantees that following the guidance in the report will turn you into an overnight publishing sensation; the appraiser is simply offering the range of recommendations that a publisher would consider when establishing the most likely avenues for a marketing and publicity plan.

You can resubmit your work to be reappraised one more time at no additional charge if you decide to make changes. If you would like feedback on your proposed press release you are invited to send that through for comment.

Trish Gray: Role Reversal
"Hi, thank you very much for the market appraisal. I am very pleased to receive the helpful comments."

Lynne Strode-Penny: Colours of the Mediterranean
"Thanks very much for sending me the market appraisal. It was very pertinent in the comments."

Angela Smith: I Love Myself
"Always good to get feedback from those with great experience in the book industry.

On a good note, two PaperPlus stores are taking the book this week, and sales have started in Australia via my sister who is a teacher and a librarian - they're loving it over there as well and overall sales are picking up."

Why have a market appraisal done?

Personal satisfaction
1. You may wish to have a market appraisal done purely for your own interest – as an independent evaluation of your work and to have someone critique and point out areas of improvement. It is important to state exactly what your intentions are for your work so the appraiser can evaluate the work with your objective in mind. A market appraisal is not the same as a manuscript assessment which instead offers detailed professional feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of aspects such as structure, plot, style, language etc and includes recommendations for improvement to ensure that your work is of good publishable quality.
2. To provide you with ideas about how you can market/sell your work through avenues other than book shops.
International market
PublishMe members whose goal is to be published internationally can submit their work for a market appraisal to see whether it is suitable to be represented to overseas markets. International publishing houses are being constantly deluged with high quality publications and in these tougher economic times are more cautious about how they spend their money. Your chances of success are enhanced by having a polished trade quality product that you can present with confidence and pride.

When should I complete this process?
If your book is completed, then submit the final product.

You may also have a market appraisal once the manuscript has been edited but before it is laid up and a cover design done. If it's partially completed, you can submit it for a provisional appraisal, but remember to tell us what stage it's at. The content can be assessed for marketing options subject to us checking that layout, design and cover are up to standard when they are ready.

What does the market appraisal cost?
The market appraisal fee is payable when submitting your book for appraisal. The fee is $200 for a work of fiction and $250 for non-fiction work. The charge for the latter category reflects the more extensive work required; checking bibliographies, contents, indexes etc to determine the quality of the research. These prices exclude GST.

How do I submit my book for assessment?
Contact your client manager to discuss the format you are sending. If you are printing with PublishMe Print & Publish, you can authorise us to print a copy for appraisal purposes. It is important that appropriate background notes are prepared for the appraiser, including key questions that you might have, for example on book length, presentation or marketing possibilities. Download your Market Appraisal form from MyPublishMe > Free Downloads so that you can note those comments. If you would like your manuscript or book returned to you please include a self-addressed envelope with your submission.

How long should my appraisal take?
You should allow at least three weeks from the time we receive your books for our appraisers to complete their assessments and recommendations.

Join our service provider team
Offer your services as an appraiser – if you would like to be accredited as a freelance PublishMe appraiser in your own right, please contact a PublishMe client manager to discuss this opportunity.

PublishMe selling options

The PublishMe team realised early on that new technologies have made self-publishing very viable — self-publishers can not only produce work but can sell it. Modern communications and the Internet have opened up selling and buying opportunities to everyone. PublishMe researches potential selling opportunities thoroughly and if they are viable we will offer them as options to PublishMe members. We will let you know when a new option has been added through our PublishMe newsletter and the Latest News.

If you want to sell your work it is very important to read these tabs carefully. Each gives you information on a selling option that PublishMe currently has available to assist you sell your work as widely as possible. It explains what each offers, the terms and conditions of each and the costs involved and the benefits to you.

Once you have read and understood each selling option and you have selected which ones you want to activate for one or several of your works go to MyPublishMe, MySelling tab and Add Work for Sale. For step-by-step guidance, go to the How To tab. We've made it simple and achievable for everyone.

PublishMe Shop selling option www.publishmeshop.co.nz PublishMe is an online shop selling works from self publishers and small independent presses: books, ebooks, CDs, games, articles, papers, photographs etc. The PublishMe team is constantly looking at ways to promote the site, generate traffic and therefore sales.

Bob Bolton: The Tapu Garden of Eden
"My book is easily accessible to my New Zealand readers who can buy with confidence using their credit card from a New Zealand company and get a quick and quality kiwi service."

The best way to find out what it looks like and what it has to offer is to go in and have a look around and see for yourself – www.publishmeshop.co.nz

The PublishMe Shop is open to all self publishers – there is no appraisal required. The PublishMe Shop is a vibrant and unique place where people can come and find a range of work in over 20 categories that they may not find anywhere else.

Selling to wholesalers
The product on PublishMe Shop is available to wholesalers (bookshops, specialty shops, libraries, toy shops etc) to purchase. Wholesalers do require a discount (anything up to 50%). When you activate a work for the PublishMe Shop you need to decide whether you want to make your work available to wholesalers and if so, what level of discount you wish to give (options range from 25% to 50%). Note the level of discount offered could affect the interest shown by wholesalers. Selecting to give a discount to wholesalers is optional.

Now available: A value-packed package deal you won't want to miss! The Steps to Coming Out on Top package tells you how to set your book price and the reasons why, how to take into account discounts and how to work towards getting a return on your publishing investment. Plus you'll receive an hour's dedicated consultation time with a PublishMe client manager to discuss any queries relating to costs, discounts, returns and the pricing exercises in your workbook. Refer to the Steps to Coming Out on Top box above.

Fulfilment of orders
If you decide to offer your work for sale on the PublishMe Shop you have a choice as to how the order is fulfilled. PublishMe has a complete fulfilment service you can opt for which takes care of the sale from beginning to end. Or to reduce cost, maximize returns and to keep control of the process yourself you can opt to fulfil the orders yourself. Read the Fulfilment tab for details.

RRP & Categories
The decision on the recommended retail price of your work (GST inclusive prices shown in the shop) regardless of work type is yours to make. As part of your decision making we suggest you look at similar product in retail shops and online to get an idea of what work of a similar format, genre and type are selling for. You select either one or two categories from those available in the shop which best fit your work on activation.

Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions are also available as downloadable PDFs under MyPublishMe > Free Downloads.

Hard copy sales direct to customers – PublishMe Fulfilment

If you wish PublishMe to fulfil the orders for you then you agree to the PM fulfilment terms and conditions. See Fulfilment tab for detail
You agree that you receive 85% and PublishMe receives 15% commission of the RRP from any sales.
If you are due payment we will send it, with a sales report, every two months.
You agree to provide your bank account details so that your 85% of any sales can be deposited in your bank account every two months.
You agree to supply your GST number if you are GST registered.

Hard copy sales to wholesalers – PublishMe Fulfilment

You agree that PublishMe can give wholesalers the level of discount that you nominate when you activate the wholesalers option in the PublishMe Shop selling option.
You agree that PublishMe receives 15% commission on the RRP price (before wholesalers discount is deducted).
If you are due payment we will send it, with a sales report, every two months.
You agree to provide your bank account details so the remaining amount on each sale can be deposited into your bank account every two months. The amount received by you will depend on the discount level you choose.
You agree to supply your GST number if you are GST registered.

Hard copy sales direct to customers and wholesalers – Self Fulfilment

If you wish to fulfil orders which come from PublishMe Shop yourself then you agree to the self fulfilment terms and conditions. See Fulfilment tab for details
You agree to dispatch all orders you receive quickly and with care so the product is received by the customer/wholesaler in good condition.
You agree to collect all money and take responsibility for outstanding debts and any discussions with customers/wholesalers. Under this arrangement this is not the responsibility of PublishMe.

PublishMe Shop: electronic download

You agree to the PublishMe fulfilment terms and conditions. See Fulfilment tab
You agree to pay the one-time file preparation/loading fee of $80.
You agree that you receive 85% of the RRP from any ebook sales and PublishMe receives 15% commission.
You agree to provide your bank account details so that your 85% of any sales can be deposited in your bank account every two months.
If you are due payment we will send it, with a sales report, every two months.
You agree to supply your GST number if you are GST registered.

Fishpond selling option

Please do not select this selling option until your books have been printed and are available via PublishMe Fulfilment. It is important that there are no delays in supplying your book to your customers.

Fishpond is an online shop selling books, CDs and movies. It is not owned or operated by PublishMe. As a self publisher you can access this selling option yourself or you can contract PublishMe to load your work onto the site for you. PublishMe has established a publisher's account with this website for ease of processing and have researched Fishpond's requirements.

By activating this selling option you will

Have your work loaded on Fishpond.
Have your work loaded on Nielsen BookData New Zealand, which makes it available for sale locally and worldwide to their database subscribers.
Receive an Advanced Information sheet, prepared on your behalf to load the work with Nielsen BookData New Zealand, which you can use for promotional purposes.
Receive a jpeg image of your cover suitable for online promotion.

As this process takes time to activate as there are third parties involved please allow 4-6 weeks for this to show live on the Fishpond site.

Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions are also available as downloadable PDFs under MyPublishMe > Free Downloads.

You agree that you receive 75% of the RRP from sales, PublishMe receives 15% and Fishpond receives 10%.
You agree to the PublishMe fulfilment terms and conditions. See Fulfilment tab
PublishMe agrees to provide a report on sales every two months.
You agree to provide your bank account details so that your 75% of any sales can be deposited in your bank account every two months.
You agree to supply your GST number if you are GST registered.
You agree to pay the $80 loading fee.

AllBooksNZ selling option

AllBooksNZ is the best avenue to get your books into South Island libraries and schools. The libraries deal direct with AllBooksNZ who have built up an outstanding customer relationship with them.

AllBooksNZ is not owned or operated by PublishMe. As a self publisher you can access this selling option yourself or you can contract PublishMe to load your work onto the site for you. PublishMe has established a publisher's account with this website for ease of processing and have researched the requirements.

By activating this selling option you will

Have your work loaded onto the AllBooksNZ website.
Have your work loaded into the AllBooksNZ catalogue from which the libraries and schools choose which titles they wish to purchase.
Receive a report every two months with payment of sales and total sales made through this channel.

As this process takes time to activate as there are third parties involved please allow 3-4 weeks for this to show live on the AllBooksNZ site.

Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions are also available as downloadable PDFs under MyPublishMe > Free Downloads.

You agree that you receive 45% of the RRP from sales, PublishMe receives 15% and AllBooksNZ receives 40%.
You agree to the PublishMe fulfilment terms and conditions. See Fulfilment tab
PublishMe agrees to provide a report on sales every two months.
You agree to provide your bank account details so that your 45% of any sales can be deposited in your bank account every two months.
You agree to supply your GST number if you are GST registered.
You agree to pay the $50 loading fee.

Fulfilment

Fulfilment is the process of processing orders/invoicing, collecting money, picking orders, wrapping and posting orders to customers. It is the entire process of supplying goods to a customer.

There are two fulfilment options:

PublishMe Fulfilment – You contract PublishMe to hold your stock or file and fulfil orders as they come in through the selling options you have selected.
Self Fulfilment – This option is only available for sales through PublishMe Shop and means you receive any orders from the shop via email and supply all work to your customers in your own way.

Benefits of PublishMe Fulfilment

The PublishMe fulfilment team:

is experienced and efficient and offers quality service.
has negotiated discounted freight rates so we can keep the cost down for your customer.
takes the responsibility for storing your books, picking and wrapping appropriately your orders, freeing up your time and your spare room!
has a sophisticated and robust accounting system to process your orders and account for sales and commissions.

Carla Heslop: Easy Edit, Easy Essay
"I appreciate this opportunity to say how much I value what PublishMe has enabled me to do. It has given me the means to offer my booklets to a wide range of people without having to go to the expense of setting up my own website. The fulfillment service PublishMe provides means they sell my booklets for the reasonable price of $60/year and 15% commission with no extra effort from me. I know NZ has a great untapped literary talent and I am proud to include www.publishme.co.nz in my email signature, so that everyone receiving an email from me can not only check my booklets out, but everything else that PublishMe has to offer."

Benefits of Self Fulfilment

Handling fulfilment yourself:

You have lower costs involved in Self Fulfilment, therefore you receive more return from sales
You maintain full control of the process
You can load multiple works for the same author under one 'Buy Direct from the Author' account.

Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions are also available as downloadable PDFs under MyPublishMe > Free Downloads.

PublishMe Fulfilment – Hard copy

Your obligation:

You provide PublishMe with a minimum of 10 books (maximum of 30 books) to store in our warehouse. If you have printed with us that service is free. If you have printed that book elsewhere there is a one-off fulfilment fee of $60 (incl gst), payable in advance.
Once your stock level reaches 5 copies you will be notified to send or produce additional stock at your cost.
If you decide to withdraw your books from the warehouse we will return any remaining books to you at your cost. Any fees paid will not be refunded.

Our obligation:

We store your books with due care and notify you when stock gets low.
We process all orders, handle all money, provide secure credit card facilities, pick from your shelf stock, wrap appropriately and freight in the most cost effective method for your customer. We ensure all orders are dispatched efficiently.
Charge your customer the freight cost.
Follow up non-payment of invoices with the customer.

PublishMe Fulfilment – Electronic download

Your obligation:

You pay an E-Storage fee of $4/month (min 12 months: $48/year) which is paid in advance. This covers online file storage in the PublishMe Shop, file upload and downloads.
If you decide to withdraw your electronic download from the PublishMe Shop before the end of the 12 month contract the E-Storage fee will not be refunded.

Our obligation:

We store your electronic download with due care.
We process all orders, handle all money, provide secure credit card facilities, deliver your electronic download file to the customer once payment has been verified.

The Self Fulfilment function is attached/related to a unique member name not to the title of a work. You do not have to pay a $25 establishment fee for each title. You pay one $25 establishment amount and it can relate to a single title or multiple titles. If you have set up this function and then wish to set up another book with Self Fulfilment you do need to go through the activation process again for the new title. You will need to enter your credit card details even though there will be no charge – this is the activation mechanism for this function.

If you set up self fulfilment for a work under the name John Smith and then wish to use a different author name (say a pseudonym) for another work and set up self fulfilment you would then need to pay a further $25 as this would be a new unique member name.

Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions are also available as downloadable PDFs under MyPublishMe > Free Downloads.

Self Fulfilment

Your obligation:

You agree to set your own freight price, handle all your own orders, manage your own invoicing and collection of payment, wrapping and posting orders to customers.
You agree to cover all costs for your own wrapping materials, postage charges, damaged goods returns, invoicing, banking and collection of payments. This also includes sourcing the most cost effective method of dispatch and wrapping the goods, so that they arrive in good condition and good time.
You agree to dispatch all orders you receive quickly and with care so the product is received by the customer in good condition.
You agree to pay an establishment amount of $25, which activates a 'Buy Direct from the Author' button, which will display in the PublishMe Shop against title/s. When this button is clicked an email order opens up addressed to you and customers complete their details and the quantity of books they require and send the email direct to you. Your balance will diminish by $1 per customer email order.

Our obligation:

We agree to display the 'Buy Direct from the Author' button as long as the establishment amount is $1 or higher.
We agree to display your balance under the MyPublishme My Selling Fulfilment Renewal tab, and provide you with the opportunity to top up your balance in that location too.