Just for Authors

     1) From brain to computer file:  Today almost all written ideas go through a computer file on the way to readers. Do this yourself or be prepared to pay someone else do it. Services are available to do this conversion, advise on your questions, and do editing, commonly at your cost. The final file will be in Microsoft Word, Corel Word Perfect, or Lotus Word Pro file formats. Most word processing is now done with the Microsoft product. We don't much like working with Word, but you can be sure that files in the latest version of Word will work in the next stage of the publishing process. If you like one of the other programs inquire of people you'll be dealing with about compatibility.
     Local secretarial services can provide transcription into a word processing format.  For advice and editing check with your state or regional book publishers' association for members who offer the services.

     2) From computer file to paper and ink or e-book form:
     A) Become your own publisher. This involves learning many new skills and taking financial risks. The rewards are maximum control over the product, no chance of being rejected, and sharing any profits only with tax agencies. Look at C below for a publisher's duties.

     B) Deal with a "vanity press," also called subsidy publisher. They take authors' manuscripts and turn them into books, at the author's expense. Some offer consulting, editing, book design and marketing services. The demands on the author are mostly financial. If you want to see your work in print regardless of cost this can work for you.

     C) Find a traditional publisher who wants your book. If a publishing house editor reads your manuscript or a sample and it fits the firm's marketing strategy and scheduling, they offer you a contract. Contracts may give the author a defined fraction of the sales price of books sold, or a lump sum for specified rights to the work.
     The publisher does any needed editing, designs the book, and arranges production as a paper and ink book, an e-book, or both, at the publisher's expense. The publisher also does advertising and other promotion, but the author may be required or may volunteer to do book signings, talk show appearances and other promotion work. Finally, the publisher delivers the finished book to distributors who will deliver it to retailers, or directly to retailers, or directly to the publisher's retail customers, or some combination of these.
     This method minimizes the author's financial risk, but also minimizes the author's share of any profit. Famous authors whose name will help sell books can get advances against royalties, signing bonuses, and large percentages of sales, but most beginning authors are offered only a small percentage of sales.
There are a few large traditional publishing companies and thousands of tiny ones made possible by modern computers. Check a library for a Writer's Market Guide, contact a book publisher's association for information about nearby small publishers, do internet searches, or use friends, relatives and chance contacts to find out about publishers whose product line resembles what you're writing.

     3) What about agents?  Many successful writers never approach traditional publishers directly, but use the services of agents who know where to go and who to talk to, have experience with contracts, and may provide help in fitting a manuscript to a target publisher's needs. But there are writers who deal directly, too, especially with the smaller and more specialized publishing concerns. Using an agent saves the author's time for more writing and provides somebody on the author's side in contract negotiations. Publishing contracts can be quite complex. Agents charge for what they do.

     4) Production: A few decades ago a book meant paper and ink. Today there are choices. Self publishers have to make these choices; vanity presses may not offer all choices; traditional publishers may specify the choices in an author contract.
     A) Bulk printed paper and ink books are still standard. The publisher pays separate contractors to print and bind a specified number of books. The books are then shipped or stored in the sales process. Your neighborhood book store pays 40 to 60 per cent of the cover price for a book; a distributor takes a cut; damaged or unsold books can usually be returned to the publisher. For a book sure to be popular, printing many thousands at once is the key to keeping cost per book down. Sometimes printing and binding shops are subsidiaries of large publishers.
     B) Print On Demand is a new method for paper and ink books. For a fee, a printing firm sets up everything necessary to produce a book in computer files and prints a few samples; afterwards books are printed only as needed to fill orders. This costs more per book than large press runs of the type mentioned above, but reduces up front investment and storage. For books which will have only a small market and for test marketing this method is gaining in use.
     C) Paperless distribution, also known as e-books. A book is prepared in a file format which fits a special hand held computer or a general purpose computer. It is distributed on CD's, DVD's, proprietary storage systems or by download over the internet. This is a growing and changing technology. Reference books and catalogs are often distributed on CD's; other books less often.

     5) Where does Four Craftsmen Publishing fit this picture? Four Craftsmen is a very small traditional publisher with an unconventional distribution system. Four Craftsmen retails its own books by mail or over the internet. For historical reasons, Four Craftsmen has two product lines, one concerned with the Tennessee Walking Horse breed as used by back yard owners, ranchers, and others; the second line is explicitly Christian teaching. We are looking for manuscripts presenting Biblical truth in unusual ways or applying Biblical truth to often neglected areas of life. Four Craftsmen is not now publishing fiction or children's books. Royalty contracts at 10 percent of retail price are our usual form. To compare this with other publishers, make sure all figures are based on the retail price.

5/01/04 copyright by Four Craftsmen Publishing.