A published author learns when and how to use Print-on-Demand publishing

by Fred Edwards
(South Pasadena, Florida)

I published five books before I wrote "Amy Utter's Journeys - TB and Other Tragedies in Rural America's Heartland." I had sold four to commercial publishers and published the fifth with a print-on-demand (POD) company, Infinity Publishing.

I then went to work on Amy Utter's Journeys, beginning with a diary Amy had kept in 1930 during her last year of life, and adding research on tuberculosis, the environment of the times, Amy's cryptic diary entries, and her genealogy (she was an aunt of my wife, Pauline, although she died before Pauline was born).

Even though I was an experienced professional writer, I was eager to write the Amy book first, THEN try to market it to a commercial firm, instead of going the traditional route of preparing two or three chapters and a synopsis and forwarding them with query letters. I knew better, but writers can get so excited about their writing that they forget the basics of marketing. After five years of writing the book, I then sent queries, but I had a manuscript I couldn't sell.

After two years of marketing efforts, a kind editor took the time to respond to my query by writing a lengthy response containing two-fold advice:

1. "Your book is excellently written, and meticulously researched. It shows a great love you have for your wife's family. But the readers will be family members, genealogy buffs, and history enthusiasts of the early 20th century. Such a market is just too small for us, so we'll pass."

2. "Don't let your work go to waste. Consider self-publishing or print-on-demand so you can get Amy's story to the people you want to read it."

I had been satisfied with the work done by Infinity Publishing on my fifth book, so I contracted with them at their basic price level for Amy Utter's Journeys. The following are the lessons I learned.

Editing
Because of my professional writing background, I elected to do my own editing and interior design, including selection of font types and sizes.

I used the interior design and the fonts from my first book with Infinity, so that was easy. Although the editing was tedious, like it always is, much of it was simple because of the search-and-replace capabilities of the software (MS-Word). For example, in using Amy's terms for her parents, I found that I had written "Ma," "Pa," "Mom,", and "Dad," some with caps and some without. Using the software and watching the context, I settled on using "Ma," when she was addressing her mother and either "her ma," or "her mother" in other situations. I carried this concept through with her father and her siblings.

Nevertheless, I hadn't realized how much I had depended on a copy editor for a story such as Amy Utter's Journeys. I discovered this when I got the first proof copy of the book, and found that I had mis-spelled "journeys" on the front cover! So my advice is -- unless you can use a style guide that suits your book (such as AP, Turabian or MLA) meticulously, and you can edit in detail -- consider paying extra to have the POD company help you.

Indexing
I used extensive indexing because of numerous references in the text to Amy's family and friends as well as her disease. I made so many modifications in the body of the first proof copy that it required changing the page numbers for the index references in the second proof. I suggest three possible ways to avoid this extra work and associated charges:

First, see if your POD publisher will allow you to do the index after the first proof is corrected.

Second, perhaps your publisher will add the page number references in the index for you; or

Third, simply pay attention to the publisher's advice to make the body of your first submission as accurate at possible.

Design
Some POD firms offer templates for the cover design, but Infinity was more flexible. I merely told the designer what I envisioned and provided an old head-and-shoulders photo of Amy in a 1920s style dress and a period hairdo. I forwarded a head-and-shoulders of me for the author's section on the back and added my bio within the word limits described. The POD publisher did the rest.

Pseudonyms
I wrote Amy Utter's Journeys under my full name, Fred L. Edwards Jr., to allow genealogists to find it in the appendices. Nonetheless, my other five books were written as Fred Edwards, and my marketing instinct now tells me that Amy's book should have been authored by the same name, with a reference to my full name on the back cover and in the front matter. For first time writers, choose your pen name carefully, and with future books in mind.

Marketing
Some POD publishers offer a Web site at a price, but I learned how to build my own when I published my first POD book, "The Buffie Brigade." So it was relatively easy to use the first site as a template for the second. Compare "Genealogy Makes History" at www.frededwards.net with "Crosshairs - Military Matters in Review" at www.milmat.net to see why I chose separate Web sites for two entirely different types of products. (See also Fred's separate article about his Buffie Brigade experience on this site.

I had published news releases for each book separately, because they represented three niches -- sailing, military matters, and Amy's biographical memoir. I also had conducted book readings and signings for one book at a time. This is because some writer advisors tell you to use a different pen name with different genres.

But in marketing, what works, works. I learned that I can set up a presentation about "How to write and sell books," and bring copies of each of my books as examples. It means more books to lug around, but if you sell them you don't have to put them back in the car; you only take money to the bank.

Visit Genealogy Makes History.