Vanity Publishers! Traditional? Hybrid? or Vanity Publishers?, confused? There is every reason to be its an absolute minefield, I hope I can clear some of the differences to help make a better choice.  Authors can spend hours worrying whether or not to sign a contract with a publisher that has been very complimentary about their book, however, they are asking for a 'contribution towards the cost of publishing the book'. This sometimes could cost thousands. This blog is aimed at Vanity press and not traditional or hybrid offers The very first point to make is that  - traditional publishers  Will not request a contribution. Traditional publishers only take on work they believe is worth investing their own money in, confident it will give them a return on their investment, they are prepared to put their money where their mouth is! Unfortunately, this is a leading reason why new authors find it difficult to get their work published. The publisher has to be sure that th...

New Authors-What Next?     You have worked hard writing the book. But the work doesn’t stop there! What happens next? EDITING: You can pay a professional to edit the book for you or you can do it yourself using online tools such as : ProWritingAid. , AutoCrit. , Grammarly and many more, these are not recommendations just an example of what is on the market. A good font is also required and Garamond is an established book print, size 12 or 14. BOOK COVER: it is important that you find a good cover that takes the eye, first impressions count and the cover is the most important first impression, The different ways to do this are; Create the cover yourself if you have the skills or pay for it. The minefield of paying for it is the costs vary significantly from $10 to $1000 dollars bespoke. Personally, I paid around $50 for each of my covers and they do the job without breaking the bank, but it does take a few hours pouring over the different online book cover sales outlets...

  The biggest online place to publish is without a doubt Amazon with 42% of the market share.  However, the question is.  Are they the best? If you are looking at eBook publishing Amazon offers three opportunities.        ·           Kindle Direct Publishing,(KDP) ·           Kindle Direct Publishing Select (KDP Select)    ·           Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP).   (KDP) payments are paid at two rates. KDP at 35% KDP select at 70%   KDP 35%- This is an offer that allows you to sell your eBook on amazon for a royalty of 35% of the book sale price. The plus side to this is you are free to sell your eBook anywhere in addition to Amazon. The obvious downside is you are taking a reduced royalty, some find not being at the behest of selling their eBook only on Amazon as a major advant...

SARTORI CHAPTER ONE     CHESHIRE –DECEMBER 4th 1997.   The winter sun sat low as it shone over the pretty Cheshire village on the cold December morning. Archbishop Matthew Fitzpatrick was delivering the funeral planned today at St Theresa’s church in the quiet village where, Roberto Sartori and his wife lived for the past thirty years. Archbishop Fitzpatrick did not usually conduct the funerals within the diocese; the parish priests usually had a stronger connection with the congregation at such a personal point in people’s lives. This was the first burial service the archbishop had delivered in over twenty years. Today was different it was for a friend, Roberto Sartori, a devout catholic, along with his wife Antonia and devoted brother, and lifetime business partner Giovanni. Toni was the driving force in upholding the faith throughout the family; she would often offer large gifts, above twenty thousand pounds, to the diocese. The archbishop was always willing to accep...

If you are looking at eBook publishing Amazon offers three opportunities.        ·           Kindle Direct Publishing,(KDP) ·           Kindle Direct Publishing Select (KDP Select)    ·           Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP). The next question I ask who are the winners and who are the losers? Amazon – Winners! they have a manipulation on the market which means readers and authors have to have a stake in what they offer with the added benefit of earning money from all parties. Readers – Winners! They have some great options open to them, Author deals, and  KDP for the volume reader. Authors – Losers! I am writing this from an author’s point of view and how I feel the author’s fall right into the hands of Amazon and readers. Let me state from the off this is not targeted at KDP where authors have elected to take ...

If you are looking at eBook publishing Amazon offers three opportunities.         ·          Kindle Direct Publishing,(KDP) ·          Kindle Direct Publishing Select (KDP Select)   ·          Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP).   (KDP) payments are paid at two rates. KDP at 35% KDP select at 70%   KDP 35%- This is an offer that allows you to sell your eBook on amazon for a royalty of 35% of the book sale price. The plus side to this is you are free to sell your eBook anywhere in addition to Amazon. The obvious downside is you are taking a reduced royalty, some find not being at the behest of selling their eBook only on Amazon as a major advantage. This is the simplest format really, you decide to sell at 35% for access to other platforms.   KDP Select 70% - Here you strike another deal with Amazon. The deal is 90 days exclusi...

 A photo I took in the Graveyard at Whitby Abbey, the inspiration for the Dracula stories by Bram Stoker.