I reached an agreement with my publisher, who apparently had a partner. We added a friend of mine to the mix, simply to make me feel better. I would do all the marketing for the book, which I was going to have to do any way, and he would front the money for the setup costs of the book. We would run a printing of a few hundred books every so often, take orders, and do some print on demand, as needed. Everything would be put in my name, so that I could go with a bigger publisher at anytime. My thinking was that if the book did well, a bigger publisher might pick it up. If I was locked in with a small publisher who had no contacts, I was screwed. The book would eventually fade away, unnoticed and not serving its purpose — to provide good dating advice to those who needed it and entertainment to those who just wanted a good read.
Like I said, the publisher only wanted to say he had gotten a book published. In fact, I later learned he had to keep his name off everything because of a possible conflict of interest with his job. So, everything was put in my name. Before I knew it, I was part owner in a publishing company. I had the power of self-publishing but not the black-eye. It was the best of both worlds, including total control. I hired a topnotch editor and three months later we went to press (the editor tore the manuscript apart, causing me to take more than a month to rewrite it). Additionally, I added another friend as the website host.
We Need A Website
On a low budget, you have to improvise. I know nothing about computers. I bought FrontPage (frowned upon by web designers), along with a manual, and learned how to create a website. You can see it for yourself.
You Can Judge A Book By its Cover!
This was the hardest part about the book. I needed an eye-catching cover that would let people know the book was funny and be attractive to both genders. Hmm. If I put a babe in a bikini on the cover, it would scare women away. If I put a woman on the cover, sitting on a cloud, squeezing a miniature me between her index finger and thumb, I would lose men. The day before we were scheduled to send material to the printer it finally hit me. I’d use my fridge. It worked out perfectly. People knew instantly that the book was humorous and about dating. It was enough to get them to pick the book up and read the back cover, where a book is really sold. We put some snapshots of pretty women friends on the fridge, a grocery list that included “condoms,” and the title of the book, as well as “by Comedian Ian Coburn” instead of just “by Ian Coburn,” to help push the humor notion even further. I wanted it categorized as humor because guys don’t like to purchase self-help books. This way a guy could buy the book without the stigma of buying self-help. Plus, again, people can just read it for the stories and I didn’t want to lose them by putting the book in self-help.
Article comments
1 - Amrita
well i'm setting forth on this phase of the plan so this was good reading. now all i need is to bump into a guy with a publishing company at a party :)
Seriously though, I'm beginning to understand how big a part luck plays in the process