Day: April 11, 2007

When you hear a book has been self-published, what do you think? You probably believe the content is weak and the material quality is low, right? After all, if the author couldn’t get a publisher, the book is probably a waste of time.

Think again.

Evangelist David Nasser self-published his first book out of necessity, and, according to the experts, he did everything wrong. The book was too long, he spent too much on the hardcover and expensive paper, and the title was depressing. But Nasser proved the naysayers wrong, selling 130,000 copies of A Call to Die (2000), mainly online and at his many speaking engagements.

Those impressive sales could have landed him a contract with a major publisher for his second book (A Call to Grace, 2005), but he once again chose to self-publish, in part to keep the cover price low for his young audience. That title sold 20,000 copies so far. Now, with the release of his third book, Glory Revealed, Nasser has founded his own company, Redemptive Art Publishing, and has teamed up with Word Distribution–which usually only handles CDs and videos–for distribution of his books, including an in-the-works novel.

“I think this is the new, new frontier—tailor-made partnerships,” said Nasser, a 36-year-old Iranian-born Christian speaker, author, and minister.

Non-traditional methods of publishing have been gaining in popularity for the past ten years or so, but haven’t really been taken seriously due to the lack of proven sales. Nasser’s efforts show that for some books, the DIY method can work.

Kassia Krozser talks with Carolyn Pittis from HarperCollins and chats about the publishers online marketing initiatives. It’s a good read.

Unfortunately, they didn’t talk enough about Harper’s digitizing initiative, a topic of great interest to me. HC has taken the lead by making digitization a priority. It would behoove other publishers to follow in their footsteps.

Just when I think I know a thing or two about the book business, I find out I really don’t know a lot about the book business.

Turns out thrillers’ are more than big sellers. They’re brands.

When James Patterson, author of the Alex Cross series, produces a new book, 1.25 million copies are routinely printed. After he was poached from Headline by Random House last year the victors crowed: “Signing James Patterson is like acquiring a one-man publishing industry.” His fortune was estimated by Forbes to be $28 million (£14 million) in 2005. Another big name, Robert Ludlum, has 210 million books in print, and every one of his titles has been on The New York Timesbestseller list. Clive Cussler has 70 million copies of his Dirk Pitt series in print, and Penguin UK sells 700,000 of his books every year. The books are fast-paced and addictive and readers cannot get enough of them. Including paperbacks, Cussler alone has five books out in the UK this year and each one is a guaranteed bestseller.

Small wonder, then, that the production of so many page-turners involves more than lone writers toiling in garrets. More and more, the people producing million-sellers are leaning on collaborative authors to do much of the writing.

The authors’ names still appear on the covers in 3in-high letters, but what we’re buying is the brand, not the writer. Robert Ludlum produces several books a year, every one a bestseller — and he died in 2001. More than a dozen books have been published with his name on the cover since, including the Covert-One series, none of which appeared during his lifetime. Readers aren’t worried, and continue to buy hundreds of thousands of the books.

Building book brands by sub-contracting. Brilliant.