In my last series of blog posts, we looked at some advantages and disadvantages of assisted publishing, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of DIY publishing. This blog will just be focusing on assisted publishing, in particular, the possible risks associated with it and how to choose a publisher that avoids these risks. Of course, there is no foolproof checklist, but hopefully, you will be better informed by the end of this blog.
The ideal way to choose an assisted publishing company is to use one that a friend has used before and would recommend, but this is not always possible. If you are part of an author community, either meeting in person or online, try asking there whether anyone has used an assisted publishing company before and what their views on it are.
To start with, let’s have a quick reminder of what assisted publishing is. Essentially, it is where you pay a company to get your book ready for publication. This may include some editing, proofreading, cover design, formatting and preparing a blurb and book description for you. Exactly what is included will vary according to the company and the different packages they offer, but the point is that it saves you from having to find a professional for each individual service you need.
This means that you have more time available to devote to marketing, for example, or you may be short on time to begin with. It can also be a lot easier, especially if you are just starting out and this is your first self-published book. Using an assisted publishing company means that you can get all of your services from the same place and there is less chance of you forgetting anything you need.
However, there are some risks associated with assisted publishing companies, primarily, that they may be a scam. Unfortunately, this is common with assisted publishers and they are particularly likely to prey on new or inexperienced authors. This means that it is important for you to do your research on companies that you are considering, as they might just be looking to exploit you. Nevertheless, there are some good companies out there that can genuinely help you, so it is still worth considering the assisted publishing route.
Points to Consider When Choosing an Assisted Publishing Company
The first thing to do when researching an assisted publishing company is to carefully browse their website (or details), looking out for a few things. Firstly, do they give their prices? If not, this is probably a sign that their fees are unreasonably high, and they may not even offer that much in the way of services for this price.
Once you have a found a few companies that do have a price list, the next thing to check for is a basic draft contract. Again, if there is no sign of this in any of their material or online, choose a different company. There is no need to invest time in working with a company when you can’t see what you are signing up to, especially as there are so many others with a contract available to view.
Once you have found a company where you can view the contract, read it! It should be written in a clear way that is accessible to the average person, not just someone with legal expertise. Make sure you are not signing away anything to them – you should remain the only owner of your book, with the company owning nothing. If the contract suggests that they would have any copyright over it, avoid that company.
Likewise, make sure that the company will not be taking any commission on sales of your book or just paying you royalties and keeping the rest. As you should remain the sole owner of the work, you should still receive all the money from it. Using an assisted publishing company means making a one-off payment to them for the services you need, not them permanently receiving money from your book with every sale.
In addition, does the contract allow for cancellation? Obviously, you would not expect to be fully refunded after they have already started work on your book, but look for some sort of cooling-off period where you can cancel it for a certain period of time after you accept the contract and before the company has done any work. There may also be a tiered refund system after this.
While you are looking at the cancellation policy, make sure that all of your material will return to you if you cancel the service. This should include all of your original files, such as the manuscript, any cover layouts you have and anything else you have created, such as the blurb. The company should have no rights to any of this if you cancel.
Finally, look at other books that they have done, in print and ebook format if possible. Look at the cover design – does it look professional? Is the interior formatting done well? Think about what you would expect when you picked up a book and what would encourage you to buy it.
Wrapping Up
I hope that this helps you to choose a reliable, professional company to work with you on your book. It can be very difficult to decide which company to hire, so if you know anyone with experience of using an assisted publishing company, do ask them about who they would recommend. Thanks for reading!
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