Fancy writing your own book?

[Graham Smith]

I posted this in my blog on these boards but as not everone reads the blogs I thought that this may be of use to any budding authors of things World war One.

http://www.pabd.co.uk

Publish and be damned is a web site where you pay £300 or $660 and they do everything else.

That's all it costs you, no matter if they only print 1 book or 1,000 books

I have just brought a book by Alastair Humphreys about his 46K mile cycle trip around the world produced by PABD

http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/

Both the book and it's contents are excellent.

Worth a look if you have a book bursting to get out

[Tom Morgan]

Have I got this right? You can pay them £300 for one copy, or you can have 1,000 copies and you still pay only £300 for them - 30 pence per copy?

Tom

[Graham Smith]

Tom,

Have a looky at their website.

In the back of the book I purchased (About the cycle ride) that is what the author states.

It seems that the author and PABD come to an arrangement over the selling price of the book.

PABD take a cut out of every book sold, but the initial set up cost is just £300 after that you take the difference between the selling price and PABD's 'cut'

You don't have to pay anything else out though.

So a book, published, ISBN'd and offered for sale via Amazon, bookshops, internet or whatever for £300

[Tom Morgan]

Thanks Graham, all is clear now. This is a slightly new slant on the self-publishing theme!

Tom

[Graham Smith]

Tom,

The book is of very good quality finish.

One other 'benefit' of this publish on demand is that should you identify a mistake in the finished product it can be changed/added to or written out in future editions via a quick e-mail

I believe that should you wish to you can spend much more than £300 in 'set up' costs by opting for PABD's expert advice or editing. However, if your brave enough to go it alone (well almost) then £300 it is.

OK, you won't be able to retire on the profits, but for many, just having an idea thats been blooming inside your head for months or years out there in print can be enough.

I'll bring the volume to the next S/Staffs pals night and you can cast your book critic eye over it

I know how much you love a good read

Kindest regards Graham.

[Tom Morgan]

Thanks, Graham - I'm always interested in how books are made....and sold! I'd like to look at it.

Tom

[Bernard_Lewis]

Its worth trying the traditional routes first, in my opinion. And if self publishing turns out to be the only runner then fine - go for it - but either way don't expect to get much/anything back after discounting your research costs (in my experience - but we're not in it for the money are we?)

Bernard

[Graham Smith]

I think that the appeal for this type of publishing is down to just two things.

It's cheap and you can have complete control of the content.

There are a fair few people on these boards who have conducted endless hours of research into this battle, or that regiment, or a particular soldiers life, what better way to show it off to anyone who cares than by having it published in an actual book.

The traditional route can be blocked by people interested only in 'sales volume' 'profit margins'

'big name authors' etc

At least with PABD (or similar services) you can go it alone for a very small outlay

[bmac]

Off the top of my head this seems quite expensive relative to Diggory Press who I used earlier this year. I will be looking into the options when the next book is nearer to being ready and will check out PABD and any other POD providers in greater detail then.

Otherwise I have been more than happy with sales though I will not yet be retiring to Spain. Sold 5 off Amazon this weekend alone!