In the world of books, you first come up with an idea, then you decide to write the book. Once you secure that in your head and through your fingers, you find a "house" or place to publish the book. If you are self-publishing you'll still use a publisher of some sort. The writer writes the book, then either edits it him/herself or allows the house to do so for a fee. After the editing, the house then puts the book together in a uniform type interior to best fit the styles of most books being sold in the same genre. We'll go with the 6" x 9" black-and-white novel for now. The only photos associated with these types of books will be either the front cover photo (if there is one) and the author's photo on the back cover or inside the front cover. It's an option. There aren't really any photographs in the interior, that's not the same type of book.
When the house publishes the book they take it from the Word document sent to them by the writer, format it, and they send it back in all its perfected glory hopefully. The writer agrees to the style and layout, and once it's been checked for grammar, spelling, etc., and after they approve it, the publisher puts it all together with the approved cover and they make a book.
The illustrator is not the publisher. They work at the same publisher location oftentimes, but in today's market they are just as likely to be working from home in their own studio; then sending their work into the mix through digital means. Once they do the cover, and the writer approves the cover, it is all accepted and the publisher puts it together in final form. That is where it gets a bit tricky. You have a book, but do you want the publisher to also be the distributor? Not always. I don't anyway. Xlibris did an OK job, they had to be forced and pulled along the entire time with the exception of the interior designer. She knew her job and she allowed me to make multiple changes without charging me because I had paid for the Level 3 illustration and only received a Level 2 illustration. Not happy.
What you (a writer) do at this point is decide if the publisher will be the distributor or not. I would say MOST if not nearly all books are purchased online through Amazon or a larger bookstore such as Barnes & Noble. Since this is the case, you'll need to be sure your publisher works directly with them so you get the best overall royalty. Xlibris goes through another source, why would I want to pay a middleman? I don't. I decided that Ingram Spark, a well-respected middleman-type printer and distributor, would be the way to go.
To upload a finished book you want your publisher to send you the final high-resolution PDF for the interior and exterior. You then upload them to the Ingram Spark site through their upload link. It will cost you a bit; I'm paying $49 for the Ebook and Printed version, that's $49 for both, not each. Then, they'll have you sign an agreement to let them reach out to their 40,000+ sources, and you'll wait for the book to sell or do your own promoting. You can't expect anyone else to promote for you. If you have the means to promote, you do that. They do allow you to determine your pricing, but remember, when you price it lower you don't make as much. They have to recoup their printing costs.
I'm not happy that I went with Xlibris, to begin with, but at least I have Ingram Spark to do the distribution. I will receive about 20% of the sale for the printed book and about 50% or more for the Ebook. I'm hoping to have my Ebook priced at $6.99 because I think that's a fair price. I've seen Ebooks as high as $12.99 and I think that's really crazy for a romance book. I want it to be easily accessed. To use Xlibris I would receive 50% on the Ebook and 25% on the printed books, but ONLY if they were purchased through Xlibris. No one buys books through the publisher. I would have received 50% I think on the Ebook, but only 10% on the printed books. I don't even want a hardcover option, those are like $35.00 and I don't want anyone to have to pay that.
Bottomline: I want my book to be purchased and I want to be paid for that. I can promote through social media, and videos such as reels and TikTok. I'm hoping to do more, and we'll see how it turns out. I'd love for a major house such as Harper or Penguin to find my book and love it to the point that they want to publish my next 10 books. We'll hope that happens!! Pray! (I don't think crossing ones fingers is really going to get me anywhere.)
Photo Credit: Ingram Spark
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