Ways to get a Co-Publishing Deal

The old ways of publishing are dead. The economic climate combined with frustrated authors who are tired of major publishing companies taking most of the profit from their work, has led authors to self- publish their own books.  These methods can be contributed to recent trends created by the Internet. In recent years authors have been able to harness the power of the Internet to self-publish and market their books to the millions of people. Major publishing companies have been unable to hold to the traditional ways of offering authors publishing deals where the publisher owns the copyrights to the authors work and keeps 85% of the profits and the author receives only 15% royalties from the books. The Internet and the economy has allowed independent authors to level the playing field in which major publishers are offering co-publishing deals to independent authors. Co-publishing deals are created when the author has sold a large amount of copies of their book, has created a sizable fan base, and can market to a large amount of people.

A co-publishing deal is when the publisher offers the author a deal to publish their books for an equal share of the copyrights and royalties. Co-publishing deals in past years were rare and very hard to obtain. The growing trend of self-publishing authors has created a larger stream of revenue for themselves. The recession is causing major publishing companies to go out of business. Major publishing companies are losing billions of dollars yearly. So in order to stay in business major publishers are offering more co-publishing deals.

One way authors can position themselves to get a co-publishing deal is to use Print on Demand Companies to publish and distribute a book.  Using print on demand companies will allow an author to get a book edited, published, and distributed for an affordable price. If the book is successful, the author can sell a large number of copies. The author will also retain most of the profit while earning a greater percentage of royalties.

Another way an author can earn a co-publishing deal is to create a sizeable fan base by marketing and promoting on social networking sites. The power to create a fan base through social media is a powerful technique. An author can place a small ad on face book to create awareness of his or her book. As people begin to click on the ad and purchase the book, a phenomenon called a viral buzz happens. A viral buzz is when people begin to spread the information about the book by word of mouth, email and mobile messaging.  The word will also reach major publishers, who in turn will seek to gain profits from the fan base through the author.

Lastly the Internet offers a number of marketing avenues to for authors to reach a large number of people. We have discussed how using facebook is effective. Another social networking site is Twitter. Twitter is a social networking site where people can post links to their websites, talk about their favorite restaurants, and become followers to each others Twitter page.  An author can create a blog that talks about his or her book. Within the blog the author can add a link to the purchase page of the book.  The author can also write a press release to announce the release of the book. The author can also create a personal website that will allow fans to enter their names and email addresses. The website will also have an e-commerce link for fans to purchase the book and also a forum page for fans to leave a comment. This personal website will allow the author to build a large database of customer that the author will use to build a relationship with. When the author has a new project coming out, the author can simply e-blast the database to promote the new project. These methods require a lot of effort but can be done overtime. Once implemented the author can expect to gain popularity and profits.