Novum publishers

The broad access to the market is of course one point. That's why I would like to offer my book on amazon. But I would be quite happy if it was not sold exclusively via this platform, but could also be available elsewhere. Of course I would also like to offer my book as an eBook, but preferably also as a printed book.

I have been to bookstores in various countries and have always been well advised and received great tips. That's why I would like to see my book available in shops. It might also be presented at book fairs and so on.

Which path I will take when publishing and what suits me best, I can't say yet. I don't have enough information about that yet and therefore I'm going to collect as many facts and opinions as possible.

Have you already successfully published books written by you?

 

I'm in agreement. I feel the writer's job is to write, and the publisher's job is to take care of everything else......isn't that why they get a cut of your profits?

I'm wondering if there is something in between self publishing and traditional publishing, not a vanity publisher that could make a viable business? I think I threw out the idea earlier about a collective, I sort of thought of if there were 500 writers in a loose organization with a board of elected directors (from those 500 writers) that paid a $100 a year fee, they could collectively vote on submitted manuscripts and send them off to be published, collect a portion of the royalties...etc. I know people pointed out some problems with that model, like individual writers probably had a better chance of self publishing independently than by going through a collective voting process.

Any other business models people can think of?

 

Hey! I hope you are all doing great! Really interesting answers in here!


bigsoftmoose, how long would it take more or less to find a publisher, what would you say? And I wouldn’t put all vanity publishers in the same box…okay, I don’t have a lot of experience, but I guess there are also good ones out there! I mean, I can totally understand why this sort of publishers exists, because how would you start being a publisher from scratch? This all takes time and funds, and I think if authors still keep some responsibility in their hands, the quality of the book will improve as well since THEY decide what the publish! …furthermore, I can’t imagine that publishers would publish a really boring story even though they get money for that…they also have an image (to loose) and of course they want to make it better each time they can (so that really depends on each book!). And what if you just want to be an author and don’t want to run your own business (which is sometimes annoying)?

Another question that I have in mind (similar to galaxaura): If your book is sold, how much percentage of the profit will you get? Is this always differently calculated, depending on your publisher? Do you get more when self-publishing your book? And may I ask you which of your books was the most successful? Have you already tried to find a publisher with one of these books (or if you self-published them, it’s already too “late” to find a publisher?)


galaxaura, I don’t understand why people would publish (!) their book when it’s not even proofread! This is what I mean when I talk about the image…you can do whatever you want (if you work for your own) but if you publish a book with a lot of errors AND you want to be a professional author one day, you ruin your image yourself…and if a shitty book is published by a (vanity) publisher, their imagine will be ruined as well…so that’s why I think that publishers of course do care who they select and who not! That also goes for vanity publishers, I guess?!


Cdn Writer, that’s a cool idea! A friend actually told me that sometimes there are kind of “competitions” and the winner will get some financial aid to publish his/her book…which is really great, in my opinion… this could be another method when you wish to publish your book…


Homer Potvin, if you have to do all that, you are not able to write anymore, I think! This sounds like it’s super time consuming and you probably need a lot of money to start such a business…you better get some experience before and if you feel like you can be (even more) successful, go for your business (but maybe post-corona ;-))

 

Wow, that's impressive! I would be happy if I had the time to write so many books. And I must say that I also revised my manuscript very often until I was satisfied. I have tried translating it into English, but I lack the wordplay that native speakers often have.

How many years have you been working on your project?

I do think there are different models. As far as I have been informed, I think that novum publishing could be a kind of intermediate thing. A German newspaper recently published an article in which the company's history of more than 20 years was pointed out, and many authors have already made experiences with the publisher. I will probably try to get in contact and ask them to send me a model contract. Afterwards one is always smarter and I don't have any time pressure to sign something quickly.

Yes, that's true. I wonder if it could be different in a fictional or real society?

You mean, like crowdfunding? You present your idea and try to reach a large group of people. And then you hope to convince enough people to participate financially with an extract? And if the project is successful, everyone gets a signed first edition or something like that?

I agree with you that you should play with your cards on the table. But I think, once you have a contract in front of you, you don't sign it immediately. I always read contracts carefully first and, if necessary, consult a lawyer to find out whether signing is in my interest. Or not.

 

As somebody who has worked in publishing (admittedly consumer as well as business to business magazines) I will always be wary of companies like Novum.

Legit publishers don't ask for money from you to publish your work. It doesn't work like that. I can never recall somebody paying a magazine to publish anything, unless it was an ad. The legitimate half way houses which take your money and help you self publish you work advertise themselves as such - they call themselves "author services" companies. They don't hide behind the mask of a legit publisher, nor do they promise you the moon on a stick.

Personally, I think it would be a much better investment to ring fence the money you'd have to pay Novum and put that towards publishing on Amazon. Your money will go much further.

 

To be vigilant and to pay attention to what exactly you are doing, is also extremely important for me!

It is not true that you don't have to pay anything for publication in magazines, unless it is advertising. I know from the scientific field that there are certainly specialist journals where you have to pay to be published. Whereby most publishers now do not pay for publishing but for making them available for reading. Publication practice is also changing in this area. Is that different in the English-speaking world?

How something is called certainly also plays a role. Much more important than words is what is behind them. As far as I have now seen in German-speaking regions, the Novum contracts seem to be waterproof. One should therefore receive exactly what was written down in the contracts. Either you like it. Or not. I'm sure that's different for each individual. If it doesn't fit, you have to look for another possibility. Fortunately, the world has become more diverse and there are many more options for publishing your book than any time before!

I have not yet dealt with advertising. I also do not know how well I would succeed as a beginner? I recently tried to learn a bit about Facebook marketing and that too seems incredibly complex. Maybe it's better if professionals take care of it it?

Apart from that I have my problems with amazon. Amazon is incredibly useful, right. But I don't like the advancing monopoly position in many areas. That is why I would prefer to go for other options.

 

That's where author services companies can help