Getting Started

While all authors and publishers hope that their book will be successful, the truth is that no one can guarantee that any book will be a best-seller. Forget about all the marketing, publicity and promotional tips that others claim make the difference between success and failure. The books that succeed and fall into multiple reprints all have these three common qualities: The book must be “well-written,” of “high quality,” and manufactured at the “lowest price possible.”

First, for a book to succeed, it must be timely, it must be well written, and it must appeal to a clearly defined market. Nearly all manuscripts could benefit from a professional editor’s review; to be accepted, your manuscript must be of the highest quality and meet TEACH Services’ standards for composition, clarity, grammar, organization, and content. We offer the services of our skilled editors who, for a nominal charge, can edit and proofread your manuscript, correcting spelling, punctuation, grammar and more, to ensure yours will be the highest quality book.

Second, for a book to succeed, it must be physically attractive. Nothing ruins a book faster than the “homemade” look. Many books produced by small publishers and self-publishers are never picked up because they look and feel cheap. In fact, the quickest way to kill the sale of your book and throw away all of your hard work is to print it on “cheap paper.” Another way is to have it duplicated or printed in a “quick printing” or “quick copy” facility as cheaply as possible. The simple truth is that distributors and bookstores will not consider putting your book on the shelf if it does not have the look and feel of a “quality book.”

Clearly, however, there is a third thing necessary for a book to succeed and that is the “cover price.” Every successful book must be well-written, of high quality, and yet manufactured at the lowest possible cost; and here’s why. In order for distributors to handle your book, they will want a discount off the cover price. Distributors generally require at least a 55 percent discount plus free shipping. Bookstores generally require a 40 percent discount. This means, for instance, that if your book retails for $12.00, the most a distributor will usually pay per copy is $5.40. If your book costs $3.00 per copy to manufacture, and royalty is $1.20, then our actual profit is only $1.20. Lowering the manufacturing cost of your book is the only way to provide a wide enough margin for marketing and distribution and to realize a reasonable profit per copy.