The

Communication
Revolution:
Publishing in the 21
st
Century
by
Deborah Greenspan
Llumina Press
Giving Self-Publishing a Good Name'
Copyright 2005 Deborah Greenspan
Copyright 2001 Deborah Greenspan
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechani-
cal, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copy-
right owner. It is not to be duplicated or performed without the
written consent of the author and the publisher.
Requests for permission to make copies of any part of this work
should be mailed to Permissions Department, Llumina Press, PO
Box 772246, Coral Springs, FL 33077-2246
ISBN: 1-932047-36-0
Printed in the United States of America by Llumina Press
Dedicated to the dreamers who write and
the writers who dream
This is the law of the jungle
As old and as true as the sky,
The wolf that keeps it will prosper
But the wolf that breaks it will die.
As the creeper girdles the tree trunk,
This law runneth forward and back
That the strength of the pack is the wolf,
And the strength of the wolf is the pack.
Rudyard Kipling
Were all in this together
Deborah Greenspan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
About Llumina Press 9
A Letter from the Publisher 13
Publishing Your Work 15
Taking Charge of Your Life 17
Self-Published Authors 21
Print on Demand 25
The New Publishing 27
What Can We Do For You 29
First Time Authors 31
Royalties 33
Beyond Royalties 35
Comparison Chart 37
Other Internet Publishers 39
What You Get and What It Costs 43
Book Formats/Quality 45
Editing 47
Story Consultants 51
Questions and Answers About Editing 53
Ghostwriting 57
Distribution and Marketing 61
Sample Web Page 75
Color Books 79
Returns 81
Whats Coming Up 83
The Write Advice 85
Mark Twains Rules on Writing 89
Frequently Asked Questions 99
Contact Llumina 111
Some Llumina Books 113
A Final Word 109
9
About Llumina Press...
Llumina Press was created by writers
for writers. We know how to help you
because we've been there. We know
how it feels to get a rejection letter, and
how it feels to finally get that book
published. We've been through writer's
block, torn our collective hair out trying
to find exactly the right words, and suf-
fered over whether to leave our finest
phrases in or take them out. We know
about writing and editing, and now
publishing, from years of doing it for
ourselves and for others. For the most
part, publishing is done by people who package books, not people
who write them. The big traditional houses, of course, handle all
aspects. They edit, design, print, market, and promote books for
their authors. But many publishers, especially those offering POD
publication, are just glorified printers. They profit by packaging
your work into a book, not by selling that book once it's finished.
That's why they have no standards and will print anything that
comes their way.
As a writer, you know that even though creating your book is re-
warding in and of itself, your mission will not be over until you
find an audience. It takes two to make all that work worthwhile,
10
and a writer without readers is incomplete. But writers today are
the lucky ones. Breakthrough technology allows us to take control
of the publishing process. No longer are we at the mercy of inac-
cessible editors sitting on high deciding who will make it and who
won't. No longer are we at the mercy of The NY Times Bestseller
List. Today, first-time, midlist, and out-of-print authors in all gen-
res can have their books published and find their audiences with a
minimum of fuss and a maximum of satisfaction.
And once your book is published, the real magic can begin. It can
get around; editors of big publishing houses might read it. Many
books that began life through self-publishing have found their way
onto the lists of major publishers. John Grisham self-published A
Time to Kill; Walt Whitman self-published Leaves of Grass; Mark
Twain self-published Huckleberry Finn; Richard Bolles self-
published What Color Is Your Parachute? Walden was self-
published by Henry David Thoreau; The Celestine Prophecy was
self-published by James Redfield. This list goes on and on.
- After deciding to self publish The Beanie Baby Handbook,
Lee and Sue Fox sold three million copies in two years and
made #2 on The New York Times Bestseller List.
- L. Ron Hubbard chose to self publish Dianetics and has
been in print more than 45 years. 20 million copies are in
print and it has been translated into 22 languages. The book
started a movement and later a church.
- In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters. He chose to self
publish and sold over 25,000 copies the first year. Then
Warner picked it up and sold 10 million more.
- The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. (and his stu-
dent E. B. White) was originally self-published for his
classes at Cornell University in 1918.
- The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer was self-published
in 1931. Today Scribners sells more than 100,000 copies
each year.
- The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. His manuscript
made the rounds of the mainstream houses and then he de-
cided to self publish. He sold over 100,000 copies out of
the trunk of his Honda before Warner Books paid him
11
$800,000. The number-one bestseller in 1996, it spent 165
weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List. Over 5.5
million copies have been sold.
- After publishing The One-Minute Manager, Ken Blanch-
ard and Spencer Johnson sold over 20,000 copies locally
before they sold out to William Morrow. It has now sold
over 12 million copies since 1982 and is in 25 languages.
- Fifty Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth spent
seven months on The New York Times Bestseller List and
sold 4.5 million copies in its original and premium editions.
- Embraced by the Light published by Betty J. Eadie spent
76 weeks on The New York Times Hardcover Bestseller
List and was sold to Bantam Books for $1.5 million.
- Four Louisiana doctors and a former CEO published Sugar
Busters! and sold 165,000 copies regionally in just a year
and a half.
- Joe Karbo published The Lazy Man's Way to Riches, and
sold millions via full-page ads in newspapers and maga-
zines.
- The 87-page book, The Christmas Box, took Rick Evans
six weeks to write. After getting it published himself, it did
so well he sold out to Simon & Schuster for $4.2 million.
- How to Flatten Your Stomach by Jim Everrode sold out to
Price\Stern\Sloan. Since then, the book has sold over two
million copies.
- What Color is Your Parachute by clergymen Richard Nel-
son Bolles. 22 editions, 5 million copies and 288 weeks on
the New York Times bestseller list.
As you can see, youre in good company.
So stop waiting for the phone to ring or that magic letter to arrive.
You don't need anyone's permission or approval to be the writer
you want to be. Were in the midst of a Communication Revolu-
tion, and getting published today is easy.
13
A letter from the publisher...
Hello fellow writers,
In case you're interested, I've included the abbreviated story of my
life here. A few years ago, I was working as a freelance writer and
doing very well. In fact, I made close to $70,000 my second year
at it. At the time, for me, that was a lot of money. The trouble was
that I made it mostly by doing corporate work. I wrote for televi-
sion, for an aerospace company, technology companies, and so
on. And I'm not complaining. I enjoyed the work. But I didn't have
time to work on the projects I loved--the books and the movies.
The ones I'd already written were gathering dust, and the ones in
my head had little chance of being placed on paper.
It was my ex-husband (the father of my two daughters) who sug-
gested I publish my own works instead of spending any more of
my limited time fielding rejection letters from New York. Okay, I
want to take a moment here and spell this out. Yes, I got rejection
letters. The last one was from Harper Collins. After writing me to
tell me they liked the book Id sent them, they kept it under review
for nine months before writing again to let me know that they
thought it was too similar to something else on their list. That
was the last straw. I was a successful writer. I had a Masters degree
and had written a thesis. I was doing great. And despite my lack of
time, I had sold three screenplays and more video scripts than I
could count. So I knew that it wasn't a problem with my work.
Maybe I wasn't mainstream enough. Maybe they thought I
14
couldn't appeal to an audience of millions (although I think I can),
but I knew I could write.
Then the recession happened. Since most of my business came
from technology companies, I was hit very hard. In fact, I lost all
my contracts, and had to begin again. But I thought, why do it the
same way? Why not try to publish my own work and see what
happens? I began by exploring all the self-publishing sites on the
web. And I discovered that most of them, especially the biggest
ones, are printers first and writers never. They didn't care what
books they published, and that bothered me--a lot. Why would I
want to publish my books under an imprint that also published
books that weren't even edited for grammar? It would put me in
poor company and make me look bad. And it would make it very
difficult to sell my work to bookstores and libraries, who logically
would realize that they had no way of knowing which books from
1st Books (now known as AuthorHouse), Xlibris, iUniverse, and
others like them were any good.
I explored further and deeper, and discovered that I could do what
these companies were doing. After a couple months I had figured
out how the business worked and published a few books of my
own to get myself up to speed. And you know what? It was a thrill
to get my first book back from the printer and just as big a thrill to
get back the second and the third. It didn't make any difference to
me that it had not been approved by some corporate editor. At last,
I had my work in my hands in a condition that could be shared
with others. Let's not mince words--I could sell it! I could take it
to Borders or Barnes & Noble and have a book signing. I could
send out press releases. In short, I was free to find my audience;
no one could stop me.
And if I could do it for myself, then why not for other writers like
myself who have decided to take charge of their careers? If that
description fits, you're in the right place. Because Llumina can
help make your dreams come true.
Warmest wishes and best of luck,
Deborah Greenspan, Publisher
15
Publishing your work...
Publishing your work through Llumina couldn't be easier. We
know you're a writer, not a publisher, and we don't expect you to
change hats. Our experts will typeset your book, design an exciting
original cover for your approval, and print copies on demand as the
orders come in from booksellers and individuals. You keep all
rights to your work and earn higher royalties than you could with
traditional publishers.
You're a writer, and you know that editing is necessary to get a
book into shape. If you have the training, great! If not, choose your
own editor, or use our editing services. Having your work profes-
sionally edited is to your benefit. Its difficult to sell a book that is
unpolished, and worse, it could be embarrassing. Booksellers and
distributors respect publishers who maintain high standards, and
purchase books from Llumina because they know they will be get-
ting a quality product.
When completed, your book will be available to 25,000 retail
bookstores in the U.S. and around the world, at online bookstores
like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, as well as through
download as an ebook. You'll also have your own web page on our
site that tells about you and your work. In addition, Llumina offers
marketing plans to help you get attention via the media, and sell
more books. Why wait? The longer you wait, the fewer books
you'll sell.
17
Taking Charge of Your Life
Writers are an eclectic breed. Now that may seem like a contra-
diction in terms, but think about it. Writers come from every ave-
nue of life, drawing their numbers from every human category. At
the same time, writers are a type unto themselves complete with a
set of defining characteristics. For instance, all writers know how
to work alone and are driven by the kind of ambition that keeps
them working even when they dont get paid. Writers know how to
concentrate no matter whos screaming for attention, and how to
put themselves in someone elses place. Writers need a bit of this
and a bit of that to survive: empathy, compassion, determination, a
passionate attachment to an idea, and the ability to bounce back
from defeat.
What writer hasnt experienced the rejection letter? All of us have
opened the mail, our hearts beating with anticipation, and found a
form letter inside dismissing us, our ideas, our work, and every-
thing for which we stand. Our lives flash before our eyes. We see
that weve wasted ourselves; we're just not good enough. After a
brief, or not so brief, period of crying and despair, we pick our-
selves up, dismiss the latest editor as a complacent fool, and start
looking at how we can improve our work so that next time it will
be accepted.
The thing is, who are these people--the ones who so quickly and
easily dismiss the work of fledgling writers--these gatekeepers of
18
the publishing houses? For a start, they're often overworked junior
editors with a huge slush pile to go through. If they say "yes" to a
manuscript and they're wrong they're in trouble, but "no" is never a
problem. Who will ever know if they made a mistake? So right
from the start, writers are at a disadvantage, at the mercy of young
men and women trying to get ahead without stumbling over their
own feet.
What else do we know about editors and publishers of traditional
publishing houses? Well, just like everyone else, they're in busi-
ness to make money. And because they're usually big businesses
(today more than ever) they need to make money in a big way to
support their huge overhead expenses. College educated staff, New
York offices, large print runs, and major marketing budgets add up
to one solution: bestsellers. Big publishing companies need best-
sellers in order to survive.
What it comes down to is that the midlist author, the author
with a small following, is a waste of time for a big publisher.
There's no margin in it. The certain risk (in print runs, advertising
etc.) far outweighs the possibility of profit.
Given that the Harper Collinses of the world are looking for best-
sellers, where do they locate them? Former bestselling authors are
a good bet. The name is a brand just like Tide or Sony. It's known.
It's recognized. People will buy it. Another good bet is a new au-
thor with a story that's well known: Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, or
Monica for that matter. The movie star's autobiography, the news
anchor's stories from behind the scenes are all books that are pre-
sold on the author's name.
Does this mean that the big houses sell the best books? Without
a doubt they sell the most popular books, but as anyone with any
intelligence knows, the most popular is not necessarily the best, the
most enlightening, entertaining, educational or inspiring. The most
popular is merely the one with the most exposure, the biggest ad-
vertising budget, the most influence in the marketplace. Publishers
capitalize on people's desire to follow the crowd, and push their
19
wares on every available channeltelevision, movies, magazines,
newspapers, radio, bookstores etc. It's easy to be the most popular
if you've got the most windows on the world.
So what's a writer to do? How do you get to be a bestselling author
if no one will publish you? You could give up, but then you would-
n't be a writer. As I said way before, writers are determined. Like
most artists, they don't give up; they just work harder, and invent
new ways to express themselves.
And today, even though the big publishers are not breaking down
any doors looking for you, there are other options. There was a
time when it cost thousands upon thousands of dollars to publish a
book. And anyone who wanted to go outside the publishing estab-
lishment to the so-called vanity press
1
had to fork over a bundle of
cash. Not so anymore. Print-on-demand technology has made it
possible to cost-effectively publish one book at a time. With this
technology, any writer can take control of his or her own work and
get it out before its real audiencethe worldwithout going
through the gatekeepers of the publishing houses.
But does it work? Are self-published authors making any mo-
ney? Here are the numbers: Publishing today is a multi-billion
dollar industry dominated by 20 companies with estimated sales in
excess of 33 billion in 2001. These industry giants produced ap-
proximately 253,000 of the 1,103,000 titles-in-print in 1997.
Small publishers, however, reaped revenues of 14.3 billion on 77%
of that number or 849,000 titles (Book Industry Study Group
1998). So the big publishers produced 23% of the books in print
and took in more than half the revenues. Still, over 14 billion dol-
lars went to small publishers, e-publishers and self-publishers.
Furthermore, there are a rapidly growing number of companies
who do the majority of their business over the internet, publishing
1
The term, vanity press, was actually invented early in the 20
th
century by the
publishing industry. It was a great idea at the time, neatly cutting off competi-
tion from monied writers who didnt like the financial terms imposed on them
by publishers. These days, its irrelevant, as youll see.
20
ebooks and print-on-demand trade paperbacks and hardcovers.
According to Publisher's Weekly, "in five years the consumer e-
book market could be roughly 10% of the $33 billion consumer
book marketnot counting print-on-demand, which could double
the total" (3/19/01). This potential 6.4 billion dollar segment of the
publishing pie is growing steadily according to Laurence Kirsh-
baum, Chairman of Time Warner Trade Publishing, and will trans-
form the industry.
There's no reason for a writer to hesitate to self-publish today,
and every reason to go for it. Even if you're looking for main-
stream publication, you have a better chance of getting it with a
published book than with an unpublished manuscript. Just the fact
that your book is in print makes it that much more accessible to
editors. It's easier to read; it can be reviewed; it can build a follow-
ing. James Redfield of Celestine Prophecy fame, for instance, was
turned down by every editor he approached before he went ahead
and self-published. Publishers would have continued to look down
their noses at him if he hadn't sold 100,000 books out of the trunk
of his car. At that point, Warner Books decided they wanted him
after all.
The point is that all the editors were wrong. The world was
ready for Redfield despite his leaden prose. Keep this in mind
when you start to get scared that your book isn't good enough.
You may not be Hemingway, but somewhere in this vast world are
people who are interested in what you have to say.
21
Self Published Authors and Their Books...
In addition to those mentioned earlier, these famous authors self-
published the now well-known books that first brought them to the
attention of the world.
- Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts sold
486,000 copies before selling out to Warner Books.
- The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton has sold over a mil-
lion copies in Canada (second only to the Bible in Canada)
and two million in the US.
- When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple by Sandra
Haldeman Martz -- 1.5 million in print.
- Mary Ellen's Best of Helpful Hints by Mary Ellen Pinkham
became a bestseller and then she sold out to Warner Books.
- The Macintosh Bible by Arthur Naiman has become the
best-selling book on Apple products with over 900,000
sold.
- Juggling for the Complete Klutz by John Cassidy has sold
over two million copies.
- Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan sold
370,000 copies before it was sold to HarperCollins for $1.7
million. It was sold to two book clubs and the foreign rights
were sold to 14 countries.
- Feed Me, I'm Yours by Vicky Lansky sold 300,000 copies.
She sold out to Bantam and they sold 8 million more.
22
- The Encyclopedia of Associations by Frederick Ruffner led
to the establishment of Gale Research Company, with 500
employees.
- Let's Cook Microwave by Barbara Harris sold over 700,000
copies.
- The Jester Has Lost His Jingle by Barbara Salzman was
turned down by eight publishers. The glossy hardcover
book made it to The New York Times Bestseller list.
- The Lazy Man's Way to Riches. Joe Karbo never sold out
and never courted bookstores. He sold millions of his books
via full-page ads in newspapers and magazines.
- Twelve Golden Threads by Aliske Webb was rejected by
150 publishers. After self-publishing and selling 25,000
copies, she signed a four-book contract with Harper
Collins.
- How to Flatten Your Stomach by Jim Everrode was self-
published before he sold out to Price\Stern\Sloan. Since
then, the book has sold over two million copies.
Other well-known self-publishers include:
- William Blake
- Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Deepak Chopra
- Stephen Crane
- William E.B. DuBois
- Alexandre Dumas
- e.e. cummings
- Mary Baker Eddy
- Benjamin Franklin
- Zane Grey
- Louise Hay
- James Joyce
- Ken Keyes, Jr.
- Rudyard Kipling
- D.H. Lawrence
- Anais Nin
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Thomas Paine
23
- Ezra Pound
- Robert Ringer
- Carl Sandburg
- George Bernard Shaw
- Upton Sinclair
- Gertrude Stein
- Henry David Thoreau
- Mark Twain
- Walt Whitman
- Virginia Woolf
25
Print on Demand...
Print on Demand is just what it sounds like, the ability to print
one, a hundred, or a thousand books as theyre needed. Instead of
publishing 25,000 to 100,000 copies and then trying to sell them
all, publishers that use POD technology are now able to publish
only as many books as are ordered. This saves huge amounts of
money (as well as trees), and is revolutionizing the entire book
publishing industry.
A Little Background
As is happening in every industry, traditional publishing compa-
nies are merging, buying up smaller companies, and consolidating
their operations. Today, there are only about twenty major houses
still in existence, each facing huge overhead costs. Besides offices
in New York, high-paid staff, and enormous marketing budgets,
they also must print thousands upon thousands of copies of each
book they produce, warehouse them, and accept returns from
bookstores if the books dont sell. If a house is producing 500 titles
a year, they need bestsellers and authors with huge followings in
order to survive. The more modest midlist booksthe ones that
wont sell a million copiesare an enormous gamble that tradi-
tional houses try to avoid taking.
26
Print on Demand is Good for Writers
In every industry there are those who produce and those who pay
for production, and this has never been an entirely equitable ar-
rangement. In publishing, writers have always been at the mercy of
publishers, especially when theyre first starting out.
Today, thats no longer so. Today, a book can be published for
very little money. And the writer who puts in the time and effort to
create that work can also be the one who benefits the most from it.
Writers earn greater rewards through a print on demand book pub-
lisher than through a traditional publisher while maintaining more
control over their work. Royalties are higher, and the online sales
potential is unlimited.
Print on demand is nothing short of a revolution. And although
there are publishers and printers who see only the profits to be
made, we see it as a way to expand knowledge and bring the ideas,
thoughts, and dreams of real people to the forefront of human con-
sciousness. While many in the traditional publishing industry con-
demn print on demand because it allows the publication of literally
anythingno matter how poorly written--we see not the lowered
editorial standards, but the open forum for ideas. With this in mind,
we have set out to correct poor grammatical and structural forms
by insisting on editorial quality, so that we can assist in disseminat-
ing ideas. We dont judge the content in any other way. We dont
say this will sell, or that wont. We know there is an audience out
there for every book, and we censor no ideas except those we find
hateful or pornographic.
27
The New Publishing
People buy a lot of books. In fact, according to the Book Indus-
try Study Group, "...domestic consumer expenditures on all books
will reach $38.4 billion by the year 2004, up from an estimated
$23.9 billion in 1994. Projections for domestic consumer expendi-
tures on all books for 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively are
$31.5, $33.1, $34.8 and $36.5 billion."
At one time, the consumer book market was served almost exclu-
sively by traditional book publishers who looked suspiciously at
any writer who dared to go it alone. Unless, of course, that writer
made money.
But despite the longstanding stigma attached to so-called vanity
presses by the traditional publishing industry, publishing houses
today are being transformed by the new technology, and even the
largest are positioning themselves to take advantage of it. Book-
sellers like Barnes & Noble have invested heavily in print-on-
demand, buying some 29% of iUniverse, even though they don't
carry iUniverse books in B&N bookstores. Time Warner created
iPublish, a more traditional version of e-publishing (now defunct),
and Xlibris is owned by Random House.
According to Steve Riggio, vice-chairman of Barnes and No-
ble.com, "we're entering an age where the distinction between au-
thors, printers, and publishers is blurring. Some authors will write
28
their books online and sell directly to consumers. Some publishers
will sell directly to consumers. And some online booksellers will
become publishers."
While many traditional publishers bemoan the explosion of the
new vanity press, the fact is if it's profitable major players don't
want to miss out. Laurence Kirshbaum, chairman of Time Warner
Trade Publishing, notes that the Internet is "growing rapidly" as a
consumer marketplace. According to figures by Accenture, "in five
years the consumer e-book market could be roughly 10% of the
$32 billion consumer book marketnot counting print-on-
demand, which could double the total" (Publisher's Weekly
3/19/01).
This potential $6.4 billion segment of the market represents books
published by e-publishing companies like iUniverse, iPublish,
Xlibris, Indie Publish, Infinity Publishing, 1
st
Books (aka Au-
thorHouse), and Llumina Press, and is composed of all types of
books from non-fiction to fantasy. All kinds of writers from nov-
ices to powerful authors whose names are widely known are taking
advantage of e-publishing opportunities. For instance, Stephen
King offered his e-book, Riding the Bullet on the Internet, and then
sold The Plant in $1 installments over the web.
The new vanity press is no magic act, and it won't disappear any
time soon. This new technology will redefine the book industry.
While some traditional publishers will continue to ignore print-on-
demand, and others will attempt to profit from works they don't
believe can sell by making money on the setup and printing, when
all is said and done, the biggest change will come when writers
recognize that they can, for a very low cost, take charge of their
own publishing destiny. Publishers who understand that they can
work with writers to make their dreams reality may change the face
of publishing forever.
29
What Can We Do for You?
Academics...
Textbooks - Workbooks - Manuals - Dissertations
Do you want your students to read your thesis or dissertation?
Why not? You spent enough time on it. Teachers and professors
can now publish their own textbooks and classroom manuals in
quantities of one to any number, and earn royalties equal to 30% of
the list price for print versions or 60% of list for downloadable
ebooks. Your books can be stocked in your college bookstore, and
provide your students with the information you want them to have
organized in the way you want it presented.
These perfect-bound trade paperback or hardbound volumes are
professionally formatted, typeset, and printed, and our editors (if
you require) will catch the typos, punctuation, grammar, and capi-
talization errors that you might miss. We're experienced in work-
ing with both MLA and APA formatted documents.
Since they say you must "publish or perish," why wait, when get-
ting published has become so easy?
30
Professionals
Do you need a book? That depends. Do you want to be
thought of as an expert in your field? Do you plan to give seminars
or workshops? Do you see yourself making a presentation and then
saying "You can find out the rest in my book?" If you're in busi-
ness, it's easy to see the possibilities for expanding your credibility
. . . and your profits.
And then there's the Interneta goldmineif you have the right
products to sell. And books do sell on the Internet.
What if youre not a writer? Llumina has writers who can
create your book for you, taking your experience, knowledge, and
understanding of your market, and turning it into a concise, well-
written, neatly packaged bookpure dynamite in the right hands.
See our section on ghostwriting to find out how to get started.
Or if youre not much of a writer, you can also do most of the
ground work yourself, and then have one of our editors clean it up
and polish it so that it ends up a professional work of which you
can be proud. Well work with you each step of the way.
Out of Print Books
It's easy and cost-effective to get your out-of-print books back
into print through Llumina. Since they're print-ready, all you need
to do is have them set up for print-on-demand. We can do this from
a digital file or from a hard copy of the book itself. The cost is low
and the potential is unlimited. Check our services and prices and
our royalty structure to find out all the benefits of publishing this
way. Or give us a call; well be happy to talk with you.
31
First Time Authors...
Llumina Press knows how to help and nurture writers, and it's
our mission to provide services that enable you to create the best
book that's in you, publish it, distribute it, promote it, market it,
and sell it. Our company uses all the latest technologies including
print-on-demand and ebook, as well as more traditional self-
publishing options for those who want to print in large quantities.
Your book can be published in a wide variety of formats including:
- Paperback (5" x 8") (Four Color Cover)
- Paperback (5.5" x 8.5") (Four Color Cover)
- Paperback (6" x 9") (Four Color Cover)
- Paperback (8.25" x 11") (Four Color Cover)
- Hardcover (5.5" x 8.5") (Four Color Cover)
- Hardcover (5.5" x 8.5") (Stamped Cloth / Color Dust
Jacket)
- Hardcover (6" x 9") (Four Color Cover)
- Hardcover (6" x 9") (Stamped Cloth / Color Dust Jacket)
- Electronic (Adobe PDF)
Llumina provides support from the beginning to the end of
the writing process. We can help you edit your book, making sure
that it's grammatically and structurally workable. And for first time
authors, we even offer story consultants who can work with you
32
every step of the way, helping to develop your ideas, characters,
plot and other details. We are dedicated to making you comfort-
able with the writing, editing, publishing and promotion processes,
and we'll go out of our way to prove it. And when your book is
completed and has been published, we can help you with the ser-
vices you need to promote and market it. We can write press re-
leases and articles, help you find the right places to send the book
for review, and help you make it available to bookstores both
online and off.
Other Benefits of Working with Llumina:
- Non-Exclusive Contract: You retain all rights to your ma-
terial. You can publish with any other publisher you
choose, sell your movie and television rights, make CDs
and games. Your book is yours.
- Worldwide distribution: Your book will be available for
order in over 25,000 bookstores around the world including
Borders, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com. It will also be
available as an electronic book that can be downloaded
from our web site directly to millions of potential Internet
readers.
- Royalties: Llumina's royalties are higher than those of
other print-on-demand companies.
- Quality: Llumina's dedication to and reputation for high
quality content means that your book will be easier to mar-
ket and promote.
- Dedicated Staff: Our staff is dedicated to helping edit,
publish, promote and market your book.
- Affiliates: We pay you $25 for each author who decides to
publish with us based on your recommendation.
33
Royalties
And what about royalties? Be careful that you compare ap-
ples to apples. Royalties can be based upon list price or they can
be based on net price. Some publishers play with these numbers,
trying to make the royalties look substantial while still covering
their costs and making money. Usually, 10% of list price comes
out to be more than 30% of actual payments received less distri-
bution, returns, and sales and use taxes. Actual payments re-
ceived or publishers net receipts or net margin is list price
minus the cost of printing, discounts to the wholesaler, (trade dis-
count is 55%) and other expenses.
For example, let's say your book lists for $16.00. A 10% royalty
would be $1.60. That may not sound like much, but let's look at
how it works out the other way. The "actual receipts" from a sale
made through a bookseller reflects a trade discount of 55%. So
right off the top, the price drops $8.80. That leaves the publisher
with $7.20. The cost of printing on a $16.00 book is about $3.90 so
the publisher has $3.30 in hand on your $16.00 book. A 25% roy-
alty on that $3.30 is $.82. Compare that to 10% of list at $1.60. Big
difference.
And how about when the sale is a direct sale from the publisher to
the consumer? A publisher offering 30% of list will pay you $4.80
on each $16.00 book sold. Simple, straightforward. What about the
publisher offering 40% of actual receipts? On a $16.00 book, ac-
tual receipts for a direct sale is generally the full $16.00 less the
cost of printing, returns, sometimes shipping and handling if the
34
publisher collects less than the shipping actually costs. The author
gets 40%, but it's not 40% of list; it's 40% of what's left over after
the publisher takes out his expenses. If you analyze these numbers,
you will find that a percentage of list price is usually more than a
larger percentage of some unknown number. And its certainly the
most straightforward.
There are other considerations besides these. For instance,
does the publisher offer editing and/or marketing services? With
millions of books on the Ingram database, the commitment of your
publisher to making your book a success really matters. And al-
though it may be tempting to go with the biggest and most auto-
mated (Xlibris or iUniverse), be sure you check the fine print.
iUniverse, for instance, is partially owned by Barnes & Noble, but
B&N does not stock books published by iUniverse on its shelves.
35
Beyond Royalties...
Royalties are just one issue you should consider when choosing a
publisher (see more about them below). Here are a few others:
Quality is your first consideration, and Im not talking about the
weight of the paper or the quality of the ink. These are the same for
most POD publishers since we all must print through LSI, the In-
gram printer, in order to get Ingram distribution. The quality Im
talking about is what goes between the coversthe quality of the
content. If your publisher accepts any manuscript that comes in
"over the transom," your book will be associated with others that
are poorly written, and bookstores won't take that publisher seri-
ously. A publisher that doesn't care what type of work goes out un-
der his imprint also doesn't care whether or not your book gets
sold.
Although industry rates for professional editors range from about
$.01 a word to $.12 a word and more depending on how much
work the book needs, its better for you in the long run to get your
work into polished condition than it is to have it published and then
let it languish because it is badly written or because it has been as-
sociated with poor companions. A qualified editor (yours or
ours) can make a real difference in the quality of your book.
Exclusive vs. non-exclusive rights: Another issue to contend
with concerns the rights you are keeping and the rights you are as-
36
signing to the publisher. If the publisher gets exclusive publishing
rights, then no one else can publish your book. A better choice for
the writer is a publisher who is willing to take non-exclusive
rights. Non-exclusive rights means you can work with as many
vendors as you want, and keep all the revenues you generate. And
as long as you retain subsidiary rights you can also benefit from
movie and television rights, character merchandising, CD games,
and other products that might be derived from your work.
Contract Period: Most online publishers require authors to sign
a contract that locks them in for a period of time ranging from one
to five years or more. Authors who want to maintain control over
their material should make sure that there is a clause in the contract
that allows them to terminate the agreement within a specified pe-
riod of time.
Investment: Self-publishing used to cost many thousands of dol-
lars. But with Print-on-Demand and ebook technology the main
costs are setup costs. These have to do with typesetting your book,
creating cover art, setting up the POD and ebook files, getting your
account set up, and other administrative details like assigning
ISBNs and applying for Library of Congress numbers. Setup costs
for Print-on-Demand throughout the industry range from free (for
an ebook exactly as you send it to the publisher) to over to $2000.
Other expenses may include editing and marketing. These will de-
pend on how much you can depend on your own skills.
37
Comparison Chart (correct as of 1/10/05)
The chart below compares Apples to Apples by providing the cost of
publishing based on the following absolutely necessary options:
Paperback POD book & ebook
ISBN/Barcode/EAN
Library of Congress Number
Formatting/layout of text
Original cover design
Distribution through Ingram and Baker & Taylor
A web page for your book in onsite bookstore
Free review copies of the book
Royalties are figured on a 200 page 6x9 paperback book using the pric-
ing and discount information from the publishers website. If the in-
formation was not available after a serious (taking at least an hour)
search of the publishers site, N/A was inserted.
Company Accepts Free
Books
Royalties Price and
Royalties
On 200 page
book**
Investment
1st
Books/
Author
House
Anything N/A 30% of actual
receipts less dis-
tribution, returns,
sales and use
taxes
Book Price:
N/A
Wholesale:
N/A
Retail:
N/A
$873
Custom Cover:
$1199
Information on
author dis-
counts & book
pricing N/A
online.
Infinity Anything 0 20% of list on
retail sales
10% of list on
wholesale sales
Book Price:
$14.95
Wholesale
$1.49
Retail:
$2.98
$594
Layout and
Formatting
NOT available
iUniverse Anything 10 20% actual re-
i t l hi
Book Price:
$14 95
$748
38
ceipts less ship-
ping, handling,
sales and use
taxes, returns
$14.95
Wholesale
$.56
Retail:
$2.21
Very low
royalties
Llumina 70-80% 10 30% on retail
sales; 10% on
wholesale sales
Book Price:
$15.95
Wholesale
$1.59
Retail:
$4.78
$599
Also in-
cluded: edit
review, editing
of back cover
copy
Xlibris Anything 20 10% of list on
wholesale sales;
25% of list on
retail sales
Book Price:
$21.99
Wholesale:
$2.20
Retail:
$5.50
$1600
Hardcover is
also included
in package
Customized
template cover
Trafford Anything 40 60% of net on
wholesale;
Book Price:
$21.95
Wholesale
$1.48
Retail:
$4.78
$1949
39
Other Internet Publishers
PROS AND CONS FROM A WRITER'S POINT OF VIEW
E-publishing is growing like crazy. Experts estimate that more
than 70,000 to half a million previously unpublished books and
shorter works will be available as ebooks or through print-on-
demand during the coming year. So the best time to get your book
out there is right now. Handle the competition by making yours the
best book it can possibly be.
1
st
Books/AuthorHouse: This company publishes anything that
comes in "over the transom," and as its former name indicates it
reaches out to a market of unpublished writers. Royalties for POD
and ebooks are low compared to others (particularly so if the writer
is savvy enough to read the fine print), and the costs for setup at
$873 for basic options, is a bit high. Their new web site leaves out
a lot of information, doesnt even give the number of pages in the
books they make available in their online bookstore. Theres also
no information about book pricing, distributor discounts or author
discounts. But they have cut down on the hype considerablyat
least in writing.
40
Infinity Publishing: This company is a printer. Like most other
PODs, they have no editorial standards and will print anything.
They charge extra for an ISBN ($150--significantly more than the
actual cost). Their royalties appear low, but in fact, are comparable
to others who use legalese to make their payment structure seem
more beneficial to the author. Infinity's straightforward 20% of list
price is higher, in fact, than iUniverses "20% of actual receipts
less distribution, returns, and sales and use taxes." Infinity sells
marketing plans, but these are generic, consisting of copies of a
press release, a number of post cards for the author to mail out, and
similar items. Because they do their own printing, Ingram distribu-
tion is extra.
iUniverse: As has been mentioned elsewhere, iUniverse is par-
tially owned by Barnes and Noble. This is a strength in that the
company is certainly well-funded. A company that can lose over 9
million dollars and still be in business (with new funding in place)
must be doing something right. iUniverse is big and people know
it. However, even though they know they'll be dealing with people
who know a lot about books, and have access to a huge chain of
book stores, they also know they'll be just another writer lost in the
system. They may or may not be aware that Barnes & Noble does
not stock books published by iUniverse.
Trafford: Trafford is a Canadian company that offers a 60% roy-
alty, and at first glance this is quite impressive. However, if you go
to their contract, you will discover that theyre talking about 60%
of gross margin, which they define as "net sales amount less the
single copy printing cost" (which, by the way, already includes
their profit). When you work out the numbers, this 60% is actually
just 30% of retail. In addition, theyre high priced; and their books
are high priced; they can only be listed on Ingram for an addi-
tional cost.
Xlibris: Xlibris is owned by Random House. Xlibris charges a lot
more than most PODs (other than Trafford), anywhere from $500
to $1600 for a book. One difference is in the quality of the cover.
For $500 writers get a plain, generic cover. For $1600 they get a
more powerful one (however, they still use templates even here).
41
Its royalties are reasonable and straightforward. It's well funded.
The site is very automated. Writers can choose their interior fonts
and cover style from pages of templates. As a site designed to pro-
duce a book, it is efficient, well-thought out and expensive. It
seems likely, however, that writer/company contact is minimized,
and Xlibris also takes anything that comes in, maintaining no edi-
torial standards. In addition, their books are priced significantly
higher than books of the same type and page number printed by
other PODs even though costs of printing are the same. But the
real kicker is their contract, which states clearly that Xlibris is not
responsible.
Llumina Press was founded by a writer turned publisher, so the
company has a distinctly writer-centric way of doing things. Llu-
mina is a small company. They offer high royalties, and provide
editing services (although authors are free to edit their work
anywhere they choose). Unlike most POD publishers, Llumina
does not accept anything that comes in, and maintains high
editorial standards. They do this, however, by providing critiquing
and editing services to their writers, instead of simply turning away
authors whose work still needs work. Their purpose is to publish
books at reasonable prices and then work with writers to sell those
books. Their greatest strengths are in the personal service they of-
fer and their dedication to quality.
43
What you get and what it costs...
Turning your manuscript into a perfect bound printed book
requires some work. When we receive your information,
manuscript, and payment we will:
- assign separate ISBN numbers for Hardcover and/or Trade
Paperback versions of your book
- apply for Library of Congress numbers
- submit the title to the "Books in Print" database
- typeset the book
- obtain a barcode/EAN for the back cover
- design an original color cover
- edit your back cover copy
- setup title for Print-on-demand
- setup title for downloading as ebook
- create web page about the book and author on our website
- submit information about the book to these distributors: In-
gram and Baker & Taylor. Booksellers like Amazon, B&N
and other online booksellers as well as libraries and 25,000
bookstores all over the world have access to these data-
bases.
44
Prices for publishing of books: (48 pages or more)
x Print-on-demand Trade Paperback - submitted
online: $699
x Print- on-demand Hardcover - submitted
online: $759
x Print-on-demand Hardcover and Trade Paperback
- submitted online: $899
Extra services for Print-on-demand Trade Paperbacks and
Hardcovers:
x Submit by Mail: If you want to submit your manuscript
by mail there's an additional charge of $30 to cover extra
work.
x Proof: (a hard copy to be corrected before final setup) of
your POD book - Now included in all print packages.
x Ingram Advance Magazine is a monthly catalog that is
mailed to booksellers and libraries around the world. Titles
are eligible to be included in Ingram Advance only once,
when they are first released. Ingram will produce a short
paragraph describing the title. Retail pricing information,
and a black & white cover image will also be included. We
can only request that a title be advertised in Ingram Ad-
vance at the time a title is submitted for initial setup. The
cost is $100.00.
Marketing Packages are available.
eBook - submitted online: $65 eBooks can be added to
any print package. They are not sold separately
45
Book Formats...
Trade Paperbacks:
You've seen them in the bookstore. Every type of book from
novels to self-help to adventure is published in this format. The
book youre holding in your hands is a sample of the type of book
published through POD. Here are the specs:
Trade paperbacks with 4-color covers are available
in five trim sizes (5" x 8", 5.5" x 8.5", 6" x 9", 7.5"
x 9.25", and 8.25" x 11").
Interior content is black and white and can include
halftones. Covers are glossy.
Books must be between 108 and 740 pages, and the
total page count must be divisible by four.
We use a high quality, acid-free, book-grade opaque
paper stock. All books with trim sizes of 6" x 9" or
smaller are printed on a 55# natural shade opaque.
Larger books are printed on a 50# white. Paperback
covers are printed on a bright white 80# cover
stock.
46
Hardcovers:
Hardcover books can be bound in two ways:
as 5.5" x 8.5" or 6" x 9" jacketed hardcovers
with a four color dustcover,
as 5.5" x 8.5" or 6" x 9" hardcovers with a
4-color hard cover.
Interior content is black and white and can
include halftones.
Books must be between 108 and 740 pages, and the
total page count must be divisible by four.
We use a high quality, acid-free, book-grade opaque
paper stock. All hardcover books are printed on a
55# natural shade opaque.
Ebooks:
Our ebooks are set up in Adobe pdf format. These can be read by
anyone who has downloaded the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
They can be any number of pages, and can be fully hyperlinked.
For an additional cost, ebooks can be set up to be read in other
formats.
47
Editing...
Unless youre a professional writer with superior grammatical
skills and experience, youll probably want to have your book ed-
ited by a professional. After all, whats the point of getting your
book into print if its in such condition that no one will want to
read it? Even if youre a terrific writer, its very hard to proof your
own work. Although you may think your work is perfected, the
chances are it could still use a lot of careful polishing to make it
really shine.
We can help you with:
- Academic Textbooks
- Corporate Documents, Reports
- Fiction (Novellas, Novels)
- Manuals, Reference & How-To Books
- Non-Fiction; Technical, Scientific, Research Papers
- Scripts (Screen/Stage/Teleplays)
- Self-Help Books
- ...And more!
48
What Good Are Editors?
It's about credibility: If you want people to respect your work it
has to be professional. What if your readers can spot grammatical
errors that you didn't know were there? What if they see holes in
your logic? Or loose ends you forgot to tie up? Every mistake in
grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and overall organization,
anything that trips up the smooth flow of ideas from you to your
reader is a potential minefield. And enough errors can mean fail-
ure--no matter how hard you worked at getting your ideas across or
how beautiful your printed book may appear.
That's why Llumina Press was created. As professional writers and
editors we know what it takes to finish a book, and we're willing to
share our expertise with other writers. We see ourselves as your
partner not just your printer, and it's our mission to help you bring
your work to fruition.
Editing Rates: You can find out whether your manuscript
needs editing and how much it will cost by sending us a copy. In
just a few days, we will review it (at no cost to you) and get back
to you with that information. Once our editors have evaluated the
book and weve advised you on our desire to publish it, you can
officially submit it to us on our site at www.llumina.com. Even if
you decide to have the book edited elsewhere, Lluminas free edit
review is a useful tool.
Three Levels of Editing Service
Our rates are based on finding out how much editing is needed,
how frequently editing is needed. If the manuscript needs only mi-
nor proofreading and there are only a few errors on a page, thats
one rate. But if there are many errors on a page and theyre more
serious, thats another rate. We try to be very clear on this as its
up to us to make sure that the job gets done right and that our edi-
tors are not required to do more than weve paid them for. Toward
this end, weve established three levels of editing.
49
Proofreading
Your book is pretty much complete. It's a "good
read" and you just want to clean up the text for
printing.
We'll read your book and check it for:
spelling
capitalization errors,
typos
punctuation errors
grammar
formatting
Depending on the frequency of errors, the cost for proofreading
goes from $.01 per word to $.019 per word.
Full Edit
Here's where we help you turn a good story into a
great one. We'll examine your style, organiza-
tion, sentence structure, word choice and more..
In addition to proofreading
we'll look at and make suggestions for:
sentence structure
word choice
repetitiveness
grammatical choices
clarity and sense
awkward phrasing
rhythm
Again, depending on frequency of errors, a full edit costs
anywhere between $.02 per word and $.029 per word.
50
Rewrite
Some books have problems that are embedded in
the structure. We'll look for loose ends, poor
characterization and plotting, point-of-view errors
and other inconsistencies that keep a book from
realizing its potential. In addition, there are some
writers for whom English is a second language, and
their work often needs rewriting for myriad errors in
structure, grammar, word choice, order, and more.
In addition to a full edit we'll also look at:
overall structural choices
characterization
plot consistency
overall structure
loose ends to tie up
momentum
The range for rewriting is from $.03 cents per word to $.07
per word (usually when the authors language is not Eng-
lish).
We know that editing can be expensive, and we offer payment
plans that allow you to pay for these services over a period of three
months. Please call Deborah toll free at 866-229-9244 to find out
more.
If you want to take advantage of our free editing review, please
send a copy of your manuscript on disk or paper to the Editor at
Llumina Press, 8055 W. McNab Road, Tamarac, Fl 33321. Or, if
you have email, just attach it to an email and send it to deb-
orah@llumina.com.
51
Story Consultants...
Sometimes writers need help during development. Rather than go
through the entire book writing process only to discover at the end
that there are major changes that should be made, it's often useful
to work with a story consultant. A story consultant is an experi-
enced writer and editor who acts as your own personal writing
guru, providing one-on-one assistance in structuring your book,
plotting it, developing characters, choosing the right words, struc-
turing sentences and more.
53
Questions and Answers about Editing
I don't know if my book needs editing. How do I find out?
Why do I need to have my book edited?
What about the spelling and grammar checking functions of
my word processor?
What's the difference between proofreading and editing?
How does the editing process work?
What kind of experience do you have?
What do you charge?
I don't know if my book needs editing. How do I find out?
We'll be happy to look at your manuscript at no cost to you, and
give you an idea of what, if anything, your book needs. Our editors
can tell you whether you need proofing; whether your grammar
and sentence structure are okay, or whether you need a full edit or
rewrite that will resolve those issues. Just email the book to us, or
54
send it to us on disk, and we'll get back to you within a few days to
a week.
Why do I need to have my book edited?
We don't accept every book that comes in, and there's a good rea-
son for this policy. There are companies that will publish anything,
but that's because they make their money through the initial setup
fees, and it doesn't matter (to them) whether or not the book ever
sells a single copy. Booksellers and libraries are well aware of who
these publishers are, and they know not to buy from them. Llu-
mina, on the other hand, cares about its reputation and won't put
anything under its imprint that will detract from it. That's one
reason why we insist that all our books be professionally edited.**
The other is that we wouldn't feel comfortable selling a book we
knew to be poorly written.
**You can use any qualified editor to do this work or Lluminas
editors can do it for you.
What about the spelling and grammar checking functions of
my word processor?
As any English teacher will tell you, they just don't work that well.
Often, they fail to fix the actual mistakes and tell you to correct
things that are already correct. If youre really good at grammar,
grammar check is useful. If youre not, its useless.
55
What's the difference between proofreading, editing, and re-
writing?
Proofreading corrects errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation,
along with inconsistencies in format, capitalization, etc. Editing
does all that, and also looks at the bigger picture of style, clarity,
and questionable grammatical and structural choices at the level of
the sentence. Rewriting does everything proofreading and editing
do but also includes rewriting sentences as well as looking for
holes in the plot, finding better ways to build character, tying up
loose ends, and helping the writer handle point of view and build
momentum. If the book were a house that needed work, proofread-
ing would entail putting things away and tidying up; editing would
include moving furniture into more advantageous positions. Re-
writing would involve finding the dead ends in the structure and
rebuilding it so that it all hangs together harmoniously.
How does the editing process work?
Our editors know not to change the authors voice. When we edit a
book, we work with the writer on all issues except simple gram-
matical changes and proofing errors. We make suggestions as to
structure and organization, and keep track of all changes we do
make concerning word choice or sentence structure so that the
writer can decide whether to accept our changes or not. It's your
book, not ours, and we keep that in mind every step of the way.
What kind of experience do you have?
All editing work at Llumina is personally supervised by our pub-
lisher, Deborah Greenspan. She is a professional writer and holds a
Masters degree in Communication. You can visit her other web
site at www.mediacreations.tv to get a look at her background and
writing credentials.
56
What do you charge?
Our rates are very reasonable, ranging from $.01 per word for
proofreading to $.06 cents per word for rewriting. If your manu-
script is very clean and the frequency of errors is less than one per
page, we will do a line edit at $.0075 per word.
57
Ghostwriting
Sometimes you dont know how to write it
By working with a professional ghostwriter you can enhance your
own talents and produce that novel, screenplay, how-to book, or
non-fiction document that has been haunting you.
Llumina's experienced writers specialize in working with clients to
produce a wide range of books, screenplays, and other docu-
ments.
When we write a book for you, we'll also publish it as
a trade paperback.
Fiction: You've got a great idea for a book and you've tried to
write it. You've got characters, scenes, and maybe a plot, but it's
not really working.
It's possible that everyone has a book inside them, although not all
of us have the ability to get that book on paper. Whether it's your
memoirs or a story that came out of the blue, if you feel that it
needs to be written down and you are not able to do it justice, you
need a ghost.
58
Our ghostwriters are experienced in writing fiction and non-fiction,
have advanced degrees in English, Communication, Journalism,
Creative Writing, or other relevant subjects, and are enthusiastic
experts in their fields. We care about producing a quality product
and stand behind our work long after it's finished.
The cost of ghostwriting a novel ranges from $7,000 to $20,000 or
more depending on how long it is. This can be paid in installments
as the book progresses.
Screenplays: You want to write a treatment or a finished screen-
play. You've got the main idea, the characters, the plot, but you
don't know enough about writing to finish the job. We can help
you with your screenplay in a number of ways:
We can evaluate and critique it, providing
a detailed report on issues such as structure,
momentum, characterization, plot, etc. The
cost of a critique is $250. Turnaround time
is from two to three weeks.
We can proofread and format your fin-
ished screenplay. This takes care of typos,
grammar, formatting errors, spelling etc.
When finished we will send you a hard copy
of the script bound with three brass brads,
and ready for submission. The cost of
proofreading and formatting your script is
$350, and we can complete the work in
about two weeks. We recommend that your
script be no longer than 120 pages and that
you copyright it before sending it to us.
You can have your screenplay published
through print on demand, so whenever you
want a copy you can order one. The cost is
the same as for publishing a book.
59
Ghostwritten treatment for a screenplay.
We work with your ideas to create a prose
treatment of from 10 to 15 pages that will
sketch out the characters and plot, and out-
line the story scene by scene. The cost is
$750. We usually need from 8 to 12 weeks.
We can ghostwrite your original screenplay
from your idea, novel, play, short story, or
treatment. Full feature-length scripts (95 to
120 pages) cost $10,000. Shorter scripts can
be figured at $75 per page. The writing
process takes from 3 to 6 months.
How-to books: You're a professional in your field, and you
want to enhance your reputation and expand your career by writing
a book about what you know. The only trouble is you're not a
writer.
The words author and authority come from the same root, and pro-
fessionals who become authors are also seen as authorities. You
can use your book to:
enhance your status in your field
beef up your resume
impress prospective clients
use and/or sell at seminars
Your book can be an additional profit center for your business, or
it can be given away as a public relations tool. With a little imagi-
nation and a book in hand with your name on it, there is no limit to
how far you can go.
The cost of having a how-to book ghostwritten ranges from $5,000
to $20,000 depending on how long the book is and how much re-
search has to be done.
60
Non-fiction: You need to produce a business manual, self-help
book, scientific treatise, or video documentary. It doesn't matter.
We have the writers who can do it for you.
From self-help books to college textbooks and business white pa-
pers, non-fiction includes a huge range of topics. But writing is
writing, and no matter what the subject matter our experienced and
highly educated ghostwriters can use your ideas, notes, research
and knowledge to construct your book, articles, websites, videos,
CDs, and other documents.
Prices vary depending on what you want to do. Non-fiction books
range from $5,000 to $20,000 depending on how much research
has to be done and how long the book is. For all other quotes
please contact us directly.
Book Proposals: Traditional publishing houses usually acquire
non-fiction books based on a carefully researched and constructed
book proposal. This generally consists of:
an abstract of your topic
a description of the book
a section about the author
a carefully researched section about the competition
a researched study of the market
a section about how the book can be promoted
a table of contents
summaries of each chapter
a completed sample chapter
We also include a query letter which you can use to contact pub-
lishers.
Writing a book proposal involves a great deal of research, and the
finished product is usually anywhere from 20 to 30 pages long.
The cost is between $2000 and $3000. If you decide to have us
ghostwrite the complete book, this fee can be deducted from the
total.
61
Distribution and Marketing...
Every POD book that is published by Llumina is automatically
distributed through Ingram Distribution and Baker & Taylor to
over 25,000 bookstores across the nation and around the world.
Every book is listed on Amazon.com, in Books in Print, and is
made available to big chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders.
It's available, but it also needs to be noticed. This requires promo-
tion, and there are lots of ways to go about it. At one time, there
was only the traditional method, usually involving a large market-
ing budget along with an extended lecture and book-signing tour.
Radio and television interviews might also be part of the package.
Today, writers can use the power of the internet to market books in
ways never heard of before for a lot less money. And by combin-
ing some of the strategies of traditional book promotion with
strategies that work on the internet, authors can get their books out
of the closet and into the hands of the reading public.
Successful promotion takes work, but its not complicated. It al-
most always begins with a well-crafted press release. This docu-
ment should be carefully designed to attract attention and intrigue
the reader.
Llumina Press publishes your book in order to sell it, and although
we can't do all the work for you, we can make your job a lot eas-
ier. Choose one of our marketing packages to get a jump-start on
selling your book to booksellers, libraries, and individuals.
62
Getting Your Book Out There: Talking about promotion
before talking about creating the book itself is a lot like trying to
sell a painting before you buy the canvas, but in reality, business
people dont create products of any kind without first thinking how
that product will be marketed and sold. Except artists and writers,
that is. As members of that illustrious group, the chances are your
book is already written.
Writing is a labor of love for most authors. While the idea of
getting rich from your book may help motivate you, very often its
the story itself or the information you want to share that pushes the
book forward. But even a labor of love has time limitations. We
want it finished. We want it out there!
Although we urgently need to get to the next step its imperative to
slow down. Spend as much time as you can to make your manu-
script as good as you can make it. Go over each sentence and clar-
ify it, make sure it says exactly what you intend it to say. Check
the grammar, the spelling, the sentence structure, and the overall
organization of the work. The heart of good writing is, very sim-
ply, re-writing.
Define Your Audience: As with any other type of marketing,
its crucial to know who your audience is. With the whole world at
your fingertips, you dont want to waste your efforts sending your
seeds in the wrong direction. You need to aim them at the places in
which they can grow. You dont send cookbooks to romance read-
ers or new age to Christian fundamentalists. So, your first step is to
narrow down and identify your audience. Be as specific as you
can. This will make your task much easier in the long run.
The Press Release: Book promotion usually begins with a
press release aimed at a particular audience and designed to attract
the attention of a newspaper, magazine, or e-zine editor. It includes
a brief synopsis of the book, biographical information about the
author, the publishers name and address, the ISBN number, the
publication date, the price, and a way to contact the author (or his
or her publicist) to schedule an interview.
63
The Hook: None of the above information will do the job, how-
ever, unless the press release gets attention. It does this with a
hooka headline that makes the editor want to read the rest. The
hook can tie in to current events, human interest, or another ap-
proach. Here are a few examples of the spin you can put on your
press release:
1) human interest angle heartwarming anecdotes
2) interpersonal relationships and controversial issues
focus on love, sex, money, men and women, parents
and children, governments and individuals etc.
3) tips advice and tactics, ten tips etc.
4) unusual events such as unique creative ideas or personal
achievements.
5) truly unique products and developments
6) editorial tie-ins that are politically and socially important
7) holiday tie-ins
Centered under the hook (or headline) is the title of the book and
under that the name of the author. A few positive quotes from re-
viewers come next.
In the body of the press release you start out with a great line that
leads into a three or four paragraph synopsis of your book. Make
sure your copy is crisp and polished, and that it flows nicely so that
you can get your message across.
Thats the basics. If you have extra material, you can include a
quote sheet, a glowing review of your book, a relevant article
clipped from a magazine or newspaper, or even a brief question
and answer session with the author. Be creative and make it inter-
esting.
64
Reviewers: You cant really write a good press release without
a few reviews from which to extract positive quotes. Getting your
book reviewed starts with finding reviewers who read your type of
material. Its not as hard as you might imagine. Look up reviewers
on a search engine and spend a little time exploring what comes
up. Every time you find a reviewer that reads your type of material,
send an email requesting that he or she review your book. Include
a short paragraph describing what the book is about. If they find it
intriguing in any way, theyll send back a request for a copy of the
book to read. Send it to them and get those quotes!
The Book Signing: Once you have the press release, youre
ready to get started. All bookstores (independent and chain) love to
have authors come to their store and sign copies of their books.
Its an event, a chance for readers to meet the author and have their
copy of the book autographed (which means they cant return it.)
It attracts people and gets them in the store, and it doesnt cost the
bookstore anything. Sometimes authors also do readings from their
work, giving patrons the chance to hear the words in the authors
own voice.
Start with your local bookstore and go from there. Call and speak
to the manager. He or she will want to know a little about the book
and about you.
Be Creative: It pays to be creative. For instance, one of our
writers sent out postcards to 200 people she knew to tell them
about her book. On the postcard she mentioned that the book was
available through Barnes & Noble knowing that it was available at
the Barnes & Noble web site. However, many of these people must
have gone to the actual brick and mortar stores looking for the
book. When they couldnt find it, they asked the bookstore to get it
for them, and lo and behold, Barnes & Noble contacted Llumina
directly about ordering the books!
The Sell Sheet: The Sell Sheet is a one-page document that
provides all the necessary details about your book. Although it
may resemble a press release, the Sell Sheet is more marketing ori-
65
ented. While the press release focuses on the news value of your
book, the Sell Sheet announces its existence to the world. It con-
tains a picture of the book cover, all the pertinent publication de-
tails and ordering information, a brief synopsis, your reviewers
most memorable quotes, publicity details, and a brief author biog-
raphy. You can send your sell sheet to bookstores and hand them
out to customers at book signings. You can also use most of it
blown up on a poster board as a promotional piece that can be set
up on an easel near the table where youll be signing books, or
even set in the window to announce the event. Just add your photo!
On the following page is an example:
66
InSight of God
While meditating on the boundaries of reality, InSight of God
knits science, sexuality, mysticism, and romance into a startling
vision of the cosmos and the human condition. InSight of God
aims at the edges of our understanding, taking a serious look at
the framework underlying God and Goddess, love and power, life
and death. By drawing material from a wide range of sources and
perspectives it turns dualities into "one-isms," and illuminates the
patterns beneath the commonplace that structure our knowing.
Thoroughly researched and passionately revealed, the compelling
insights in this groundbreaking book open new vistas on the inner
workings of the human mind and spirit. With its unique perspec-
tive on relationships of all kinds, InSight of God brings order to
the chaos of human relations, and enables readers to get in touch
with their deepest and truest nature.
This is a good bookfilled with wonderful, wonderful
ideas! Richard Fuller, Metaphysical Review
Deborah Claire is a writer with a mission. In between caring for
her two daughters and her cat, she's passionately involved in her
work. A mystical experience at the age of sixteen fired her imagi-
nation and set her on her path in life. It is an endless source of
inspiration to this very day.
InSight of God Author: D.Claire
Metaphysics ISBN:09713099-0-6
Trade Paperback 116 pages
Publication: 9/15/01 On demand
Price: $12.95
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Available from Llumina Press and Ingram.
to order call 866-229-9244 or visit us on
the web at http://www.llumina.com
67
Radio and Television: Making arrangements to be inter-
viewed on radio and television may seem like a daunting task, but
it isnt as difficult to manage as you might think. And there isnt
any more effective means of publicizing your book. The basic
steps are simple. First, figure out who your audience is and make a
list of those shows that appeal to that audience. Dont waste your
time or theirs trying to sell them on your book on relationships
when their show features health-related topics.
Create a contact list. Find out who the producers of the se-
lected shows are and contact each of them. You can do this with a
letter similar to your press release but simpler. Perhaps a bulleted
list of major points you can talk about. And dont forget your con-
tact information so they can get in touch with you. If and when the
production company calls you, be enthusiastic and intelligent on
the phone. This is your big chance to make an impression.
You should send these letters out four or five weeks before your
book signing, so that these television and radio shows can be taped
in advance of your bookstore event. If the timing is right, your
interview will air a few days before you make the public appear-
ance.
If you dont get a call back from the producer, follow up with a
phone call, but dont be a nuisance. If you dont get a response
after three calls, you can assume theyre not interested, and go on
to bigger and better things.
Internet Marketing: Also known as cyberspace, the internet
is a new frontier, a place where pioneers can still carve out a niche
for themselves. Because of the interwoven nature of cyberspace,
ideas can propagate like ripples around a stone falling into water.
Yet the internet is vast and competition fierce, so successful mar-
keting requires an understanding of the ways in which ideas can be
made to multiply across this space. For example, Llumina set up its
web page and before long people had reviewed it, it was mentioned
in third party reports etc. This hunger for content rules the internet,
and if youve got interesting material, people will pick it up and
68
run with it. This kind of publicity is like found money, except that
you can make it your business to go after it.
Online Bookstores: Now that youve got a press release and
reviews, youre on your way. There are literally hundreds of online
bookstores. Once you know your audience, you can choose the
bookstores that sell your type of work. Create an email that in-
cludes your press release (with quotes) and send it out. Dont send
the press release as an attachment, because the chances are it will
never be opened. Always include it in the body of the email.
The Big Online Stores: Youve heard of them: Amazon.
com, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com. As long as your book is
listed on the Ingram database and at Books in Print it will also be
listed on these sites. Find out if books from your publisher are
listed on Ingram. Some sites like Amazon allow readers to write
reviews. This enables you to insert some of the positive reviews
youve received about your book into Amazons database.
Get a Web Page: No online marketing program is complete
without a web page. This is your online store. Its where all your
marketing efforts are ultimately directed. Your web page should
show the cover of your book, information about your book and
about you, the author, quotes from reviewers and full reviews if
theyre available. You might even put up a question and answer
interview with the author, and include a few pages from the book.
After all, few people want to buy a book based solely on its cover.
Most of us want to get a peek inside. Llumina includes a web page
on its site, you can make use of it in your marketing efforts, or you
can go all out and have us design a complete website thats all your
own: www.yourbookname.com. (Assuming the domain name is
available of course.)
Internet Discussion Groups: Sign up with newsgroups and
listservs that are frequented by members of your target audience.
Put together a short article (200-300 words) related to the subject
matter of your book and post it to the groups youve identified.
69
Make sure you include contact information (your web page ad-
dress) so that readers can look you up.
Follow up with excerpts (or the full texts) of the reviews you get
by posting them to the discussion. Dont be too pushy, however.
Just one review a week introduced by a little note: Heres another
great review You can find newsgroups and group discussions at
sites such as deja.com or tile.net.
E-zines: E-zines and e-mags (electronic magazines and newslet-
ters) are posted on web sites and sent by email directly to subscrib-
ers. Some e-zines are sent as bulk email to readers who may then
opt-out if they dont want to receive them. But more effective e-
zines allow readers to opt-in. This means they choose to receive
the e-zine. Since they choose to receive it, the response you get
from advertising is much greater than you might otherwise get.
You can look for free publicity by getting your book reviewed in
such newsletters. Or you can pay for advertising your book and
including a link to your web page. This usually costs about $25.
Go through the search engines and find the e-zines that appeal to
an audience similar to yours and get on their lists. Once you get an
idea of what they do, you can offer them an article (with a link
back to your web page) or make a deal to pay for advertising.
Publicists and Promotion: Some writers dont want any-
thing to do with marketing and promotion, and perhaps theyre bet-
ter off that way. After all, writers should concentrate on what they
do best: writing. Unfortunately, hiring a publicist to get your work
out there can cost big bucks, the kind of money that few of us have
on hand.
Marketing Packages: To reduce the cost while making it
easier for writers to promote their own work, Llumina offers mar-
keting packages. As weve seen, there are certain basics to a pro-
motional campaigna press release, a sell sheet, an article, a list
of media contacts, a list of online bookstores offering similar
70
works, a list of e-zines targeted to your audience With these
items in hand, and a strategy designed by an expert, writers can
easily handle the task of publicizing their work. In fact, it can even
be fun!
71
Llumina Marketing Packages
SPECIAL PROMOTION PACKAGE: $529
Includes:
Twenty-five copies of your book
Initial Press Release
List of Book Reviewers
Revised Press Release
Sell Sheet
Listing in Llumina's e-Writer Magazine
Emailing of Press Release to thousands of media contacts
Here's the process:
- Our professional writers craft your initial Press Release
- You submit the initial PR to reviewers from the media list
that we send you.
- You send copies of the book and PR to the reviewers who
want to read it.
- Once the reviews come back we excerpt the best parts and
incorporate them into your revised Press Release
- The revised PR can now be sent to booksellers who may be
interested in ordering the book, and to newspaper and
magazine editors who may print the Press Release
- We'll also create a Sell Sheet designed to publicize your
book. You can send it to bookstores and use it at bookstore
72
signings. Find out more about what you can do with a Sell
Sheet by reading our free eBook, How to Make Online
Publishing Work for You located at
www.llumina.com/Ebooks
- We'll also include a 40-60 word advertisement and link to
your web page in Llumina's e-Writer Magazine.
EXTENDED PROMOTION PACKAGE: $649
Includes:
Ingram Advance Magazine advertisement
Twenty-five copies of your book
Initial Press Release
List of Book Reviewers
Revised Press Release
Sell Sheet
100 full color postcards (or business cards)
Listing in Llumina's e-Writer Magazine
Emailing of Press Release to thousands of media contacts
Here's the process:
- Your book is advertised in Ingram Advance
o (Ingram Advance is a monthly catalog that is
mailed to booksellers and libraries around the
world. Titles are eligible to be included in Ingram
Advance only once, when they are first released.
Ingram will produce a short paragraph describing
the title. Retail pricing information, and a black &
white cover image will also be included. We can
only request that a title be advertised in Ingram Ad-
vance at the time it's submitted for initial set-up.)
- Our professional writers craft your initial Press Release
- You submit the initial PR to reviewers from the media list
that we send you.
- When you get some responses, you send the book and PR
to the reviewers who want to read it.
73
- Once the reviews come back we excerpt the best parts and
incorporate them into your revised Press Release
- The revised PR can now be sent to booksellers who may be
interested in ordering the book, and to newspaper and
magazine editors who may print the Press Release
- We'll also create a Sell Sheet designed to publicize your
book. You can send it to bookstores and use it at bookstore
signings. Find out more about what you can do with a Sell
Sheet by reading our free eBook, How to Make Online
Publishing Work for You located at
www.llumina.com/Ebooks
- We'll publish the initial Press Release and a link to your
web page in the Llumina's e-Writer Magazine.
PROFESSIONAL PROMOTION PACKAGE: $999
Includes:
Ingram Advance Magazine advertisement
Twenty-five copies of your book (stamped "Galley")
Twenty-five copies of your book with revised cover
Initial Press Release
Revised Press Release
Revised Book cover
Sell Sheet
200 full color postcards (or business cards)
Listing in Llumina's e-Writer Magazine
Emailing of Press Release to thousands of media contacts
Here's the process:
- Our professional writers craft your initial Press Release
- You submit the initial PR and the Galley to high-end re-
viewers such as Publisher's Weekly and The New York
Times Book Review. Well send you a list. (These review-
ers don't look at books after they've been officially pub-
lished.)
- Once the reviews come back we excerpt the best parts and
incorporate them into your revised Press Release
74
- Excerpts from reviews are incorporated onto your book
cover and the cover is redone
- Your book is advertised in Ingram Advance
o (Ingram Advance is a monthly catalog that is
mailed to booksellers and libraries around the
world. Titles are eligible to be included in Ingram
Advance only once, when they are first released.
Ingram will produce a short paragraph describing
the title. Retail pricing information, and a black &
white cover image will also be included. We can
only request that a title be advertised in Ingram Ad-
vance at the time it's submitted for initial setup.)
- Another 25 books are ordered
- The revised PR can now be sent to booksellers who may be
interested in ordering the book, and to newspaper and
magazine editors who may print the Press Release
- We'll also create a Sell Sheet designed to publicize your
book. You can send it to bookstores and use it at bookstore
signings. Find out more about what you can do with a Sell
Sheet by reading our free ebook, How to Make Online Pub-
lishing Work for You located at www.llumina.com/Ebooks.
- We'll publish the initial Press Release and a link to your
web page in the Llumina's e-Writer Magazine.
75
Sample Web Page
Every author who publishes through Llumina Press gets a web
page that can be used to advertise and sell his or her books. You
can list your web page on the search engines, write articles to be
posted on the internet and use the web page in the byline, and print
the link on business cards and postcards that you send out to poten-
tial buyers.
A typical web page includes a picture of the book cover, informa-
tion about the book, reviews if there are any, the authors picture,
and a short bio. The next two pages provide a sample of what one
looks like. On the web, its in color, of course.
76
The Email Jokebook
The Email Jokebook
by Derek Carroll
Email...some people think it's the great-
est thing ever, others simply get frustrated
with all the junk. But anyone who has ac-
cess to email at home or work has received
and passed on funny things of all kinds.
Besides the multitude of jokes that go
around, there's letters, stories, riddles, quiz-
zes--it's endless! They come from friends,
relatives and co-workers; they brighten our
days and make us laugh out loud; they get
forwarded over and over - and sometimes
come back again!
BUT...don't you get tired of reading
through the broken sentences? Get dis-
tracted by the endless <'s down the left
edge? Hate opening those forwarded enve-
lope attachments? Wish you could save
them all to read whenever you want?!?
THIS BOOK IS
THE ANSWER!!
IEBN:
097185091
7
248 pages
6" x 9"
Humor
Price:
$17.95
Shipping:
$ 4.75 /
unit
Quantity:
1
Click here
for ebook
Add To Cart View
Cart Check Out
77
About the
Author
Born and raised in Southern
New England, Derek Carroll
currently lives and works in
Connecticut. At the time of
publication, his wife Colette is
expecting their third child, a
brother for Joshua, 4, and
Sarah, 2+. Derek has a de-
gree in Philosophy from
Northeastern University, boasts
of his positive outlook on life,
and shares his energy and en-
thusiasm with everyone he
meets. Derek is currently
working on his collection of
essays entitled Life,
Things...Whatnot.
More about the Book
Here's an irreverent collection of emails,
gathered for 5 years, cleaned up, and pre-
sented for your enjoyment! This is the
first of two books, each containing hun-
dreds of pages of jokes. This one is sepa-
rated into several hilarious categories such
as Children, The Elderly, Rednecks, Relig-
ion, Riddles, Blonde Jokes, Politics-- and
more! Check out the two sides of relation-
ships in the man-bashing and women-
bashing chapters. Laugh your head off
with the crazy Lists section. Marvel at
some really strange ideas and questions in
Weird Thoughts; giggle uncontrollably at
the One-Liners - insults, bumper-stickers,
T-shirt slogans and more. There's even a
Strange But True chapter with wild sto-
ries, interesting history lessons, and bi-
zarre 'factoids'. Once you pick it up you
won't be able to put it down!
IT DOESN'T GET BETTER
THAN THIS!!
Now you can read sam-
ples from the book at
the Author's website!
Click here to LAUGH!!
79
Color Books
Publishing color books that have fewer than 48 pages is done a
little differently than typical print on demand. Instead of being
available one book at a time as longer books are, they are printed
in short runs of 25, 50, 100, 300 or more with the prices decreasing
dramatically as the quantities increase. The setup fee is $599.00,
for a paperback, and it includes insertion of all the pictures, in-
terior book design, original cover design, an ebook and a web
page in the Llumina bookstore.
Printing color books in small quantities is still on the expensive
side, so you may want to consider offset printing in larger quanti-
ties of 2000 and 3000. At this time, we can produce picture books
at reasonable prices in quantity through printers in Hong Kong,
South America, and Singapore. If your book is in color, please
call us toll free at 1-866-229-9244 for more information, or visit
www.llumina.com/kidsbooks2.htm for details.
81
Returns
So, whats the big deal about returns? The big deal is that tradi-
tional publishers will take returns on any book whether its defec-
tive, damaged, or just plain boring. If the bookstore feels they have
too many on hand, a traditional publisher will take back the extras.
This places the bookstore in an enviably risk-free position.
Print-on-demand did not do that, although any defective book
could be returned to the printer. But returnability became a prob-
lem, so Llumina worked out a solution and now offers a returnabil-
ity option that allows authors to choose to make their books return-
able through Ingram. This is just one more step on the road to mak-
ing POD books competitive in the marketplace.
83
Whats Up and Coming Up
Llumina is always striving to find new ways of expanding our ser-
vices and helping our authors sell their books. Some of the pro-
grams listed below may have already been set in motion. Others
are still in planning stages.
Wholesale page: To facilitate author, bookstore, library, and spe-
cialty store orders, weve created a wholesale quote page that al-
lows buyers to get a quick quote on the cost of ordering books at
discounted prices: www.llumina.com/request_for_quote.com.
Co-op Marketing: Beginning during the first quarter of 2005 we
will be offering our authors the opportunity to advertise in our
Spring Catalog. Well be sending this catalog out to thousands of
independent bookstores. All our books will be listed in the catalog
for free, but you can get a bigger listing, a color listing, or feature
placement for an additional cost. This catalog will go out twice a
year. Were also working on other cooperative marketing ventures
to help you promote your book to the public.
En Espaol: Llumina publishes books in Spanish as well as in
English and is able to offer editing in Spanish as well. We hope
this year to re-create the Llumina site in the Spanish language.
85
The Write Advice
Dear Deborah,
Someone told me that stories have goals and Im a little confused
by this. What does it mean? -- Nancy
Dear Nancy,
Keeping readers reading requires that you create two emotions in
them. The first is curiosity. If theyre curious, theyll continue
turning the pages in order to find out whats going to happen. Cu-
riosity will keep them on board for a little while and then it has to
turn into suspense. Once theyre concerned about the characters
and afraid for them, theyre hooked. All this begins with a goal.
The protagonist wants something, has a stated goal that he or she
intends to accomplish by the end of the book. It could be a man
who wants a child and cant have one, a woman whos trying to
save the world. Whatever you decide is the goal, you should state it
early on. This establishes a question in the mind of the reader that
gets them involved. Will the character get what he or she wants?
Keeping them involved requires setting up short term goals in each
scene.
--Deborah
Dear Deborah,
What do I do about dialogue? -- Brett
86
Dear Brett,
Well, there have been entire books written about dialogue, but the
short answer is that dialogue in a story has to sound natural even
though it isnt. Heres what I mean: In real life we spend a lot of
time exchanging pleasant, but meaningless, phrases.
Hi, how ya doing?
Fine, and you? Have you met my friend, Joe? Joe, this is
my very best friend in all the world, Candy.
Hi Joe. So, what are you guys doing here?
Nothing much. How bout you?
If youre not already asleep, you will be if I keep it up. When writ-
ing dialogue, we cut all this out because its boring. Its like watch-
ing a clock tick. What we want to keep in our dialogues are the es-
sentials, the parts that illustrate character, that move the plot for-
ward, that display the conflicts within and between characters.
Every single word should be absolutely essential. And if you cant
find a reason to keep it, out it goes.
--Deborah
Deborah,
Are there any reasons why Llumina would not choose to publish a
book? -- Paulie
Dear Paulie,
I think theres a market for every book written. It may not be a
market comprised of millions; it may not even be in the thousands;
but if one human being had an idea that pushed them to write a
book, there must be others who will want to read it. Thats why we
limit our criticism to how a book is written rather than what a book
is about. Lluminas job is helping authors convey their ideas in
clear and grammatical prose (or poetry). Excepting hate material or
porn, we make no judgments concerning what the public wants to
read. We do, however, insist on grammatical, well-structured mate-
rial and wont publish a book under the Llumina name that hasnt
been properly edited. However, we dont care who does the edit as
long as they know what theyre doing. If your Aunt Tillie is a
schoolteacher and a stickler for correct English, shell do fine.
--Deborah
87
Dear Deborah,
Whats the difference between print on demand and regular print-
ing? -- Patty
Dear Patty,
Everything in publishing depends on the size of the print run. In
very small runs the most economical process is Print-on-Demand.
This allows the printing of copies of the book as they are ordered.
It's done on a special press called a Docutech that calls up a previ-
ously set up digital file on a book and prints out as many copies as
are needed. This machine is used for printing runs of 1 to about
1000 books. The quality is very good and books printed on a
Docutech look about the same as books printed on an offset press.
When we get into quantities of 3000 or more, an offset press is
more economical than the Docutech. This is because the setup for
an offset run is the most expensive part of the process and the
numbers just don't work when the run is smaller.
--Deborah
Dear Deborah,
How do you keep the momentum going in a book?
Brad J.
Dear Brad,
You do it by raising questions in the readers mind and not answer-
ing them. Its a delicate art, how much to tell and how much to
conceal. If you give away too much, they get bored, but if you give
too little they get frustrated. If you get the balance right, theyll
keep turning the pages to find out whats going on.
--Deborah
Deborah,
What can you tell me about choosing a point of view? Barbara
Dear Barbara,
Its easy to get confused when the point of view keeps changing,
so the logical thing to do is to stabilize it in some way. If youre
telling your story from the first person point of view, this is not a
problem. Everything is filtered through that persons eyes and
88
mind. But if youre using the third person point of view, its easy
to jump from mind to mind, and this can drive a reader crazy. The
way to handle it is to decide at the beginning of each scene whos
point of view to use, and then stick to it throughout that scene. In
the next scene you can use the point of view of a different charac-
ter. This works.
--Deborah
89
Mark Twains Rules on Writing
This is a brilliant essay on writing that every writer
should read at least once. Deborah
Mark Twain on Coopers Prose Style
In studying Cooper you will find it profitable to study
him in detail-word by word, sentence by sentence. For every sen-
tence of his is interesting. Interesting because of its make-up, its
peculiar make-up, its original make-up. Let us examine a sentence
or two, and see. Here is a passage from Chapter XI of The Last of
the Mohicans, one of the most famous and most admired of Coo-
per's books:
Notwithstanding the swiftness of their flight, one of the In-
dians had found an opportunity to strike a straggling fawn
with an arrow, and had borne the more preferable frag-
ments of the victim, patiently on his shoulders, to the stop-
ping-place. Without any aid from the science of cookery,
he was immediately employed, in common with his fel-
lows, in gorging himself with this digestible sustenance.
Magua alone sat apart, without participating in the revolt-
ing meal, and apparently buried in the deepest thought.
This little paragraph is full of matter for reflection and in-
quiry. The remark about the swiftness of the flight was unneces-
90
sary , as it was merely put in to forestall the possible objection of
some over particular reader that the Indian couldn't have found the
needed "opportunity" while fleeing swiftly. The reader would not
have made that objection. He would care nothing about having that
small matter explained and justified. But that is Cooper's way; fre-
quently he will explain and justify little things that do not need it
and then make up for this by as frequently failing to explain impor-
tant ones that do need it. For instance he allowed that astute and
cautious person, Deerslayer-Hawkeye, to throw his rifle heedlessly
down and leave it lying on the ground where some hostile Indians
would presently be sure to find it-a rifle prized by that person
above all things else in the earth-and the reader gets no word of
explanation of that strange act. There was a reason, but it wouldn't
bear exposure. Cooper meant to get a fine dramatic effect out of
the finding of the rifle by the Indians, and he accomplished this at
the happy time; but all the same, Hawkeye could have hidden the
rifle in a quarter of a minute where the Indians could not have
found it.
Cooper couldn't think of any way to explain why Hawkeye
didn't do that, so he just shirked the difficulty and did not explain
at all. In another place Cooper allowed Heyward to shoot at an In-
dian with a pistol that wasn't loaded-and grants us not a word of
explanation as to how the man did it.
No, the remark about the swiftness of their flight was not
necessary; neither was the one which said that the Indian found an
opportunity; neither was the one which said he struck the fawn;
neither was the one which explained that it was a "straggling"
fawn; neither was the one which said the striking was done with an
arrow; neither was the one which said the Indian bore the "frag-
ments"; nor the remark that they were preferable fragments; nor
the remark that they were more preferable fragments; nor the ex-
planation that they were fragments of the "victim"; nor the over-
particular explanation that specifies the Indian's "shoulders" as the
part of him that supported the fragments; nor the statement that the
Indian bore the fragments patiently. None of those details has any
value. We don't care what the Indian struck the fawn with; we don't
care whether it was a, straggling fawn or an unstraggling one; we
don't care which fragments the Indian saved; we don't care why he
saved the "more" preferable ones when the merely preferable ones
91
would have amounted to just the same thing and couldn't have
been told from the more preferable ones by anybody, dead or alive;
we don't care whether the Indian carried them on his shoulders or
in his handkerchief; and finally, we don't care whether he carried
them patiently or struck for higher pay and shorter hours. We are
indifferent to that Indian and all his affairs.
There was only one fact in that long sentence that was
worth stating, and it could have been squeezed into these few
words-and with advantage to the narrative, too: "During the flight
one of the Indians had killed a fawn and he brought it into camp."
You will notice that "During the flight one of the Indians had
killed a fawn and he brought it into camp," is more straightforward
and business-like, and less mincing and smirky, than it is to say,
"Notwithstanding the swiftness of their flight, one of the lndians
had found an opportunity to strike a straggling fawn with an arrow,
and had borne the more preferable fragments of the victim, pa-
tiently on his shoulders, to the stopping-place." You will notice
that the form "During the flight one of the Indians had killed a
fawn and he brought it into camp" holds up its chin and moves to
the front with the steady stride of a grenadier, whereas the form
Notwithstanding the swiftness of their flight, one of the Indians
had found an opportunity to strike a straggling fawn with an arrow,
and had borne the more preferable fragments of the victim, pa-
tiently on his shoulders, to the stopping-place simpers along with
an airy, complacent, monkey-with-a-parasol gait which is not
suited to the transportation of raw meat.
I beg to remind you that an author's way of setting forth a
matter is called his style, and that an author's sty1e is a main part
of his equipment for business. The style of some authors has vari-
ety in it, but Cooper's style is remarkable for the absence of this
feature. Cooper's style is always grand and stately and noble. Style
may be likened to an army, the author to its general, the book to
the campaign. Some authors proportion an attacking force to the
strength or weakness, the importance or unimportance, of the ob-
ject to be attacked; but Cooper doesn't. It doesn't make any differ-
ence to Cooper whether the object of attack is a hundred thousand
men or a cow; he hurls his entire force against it. He comes thun-
dering down with all his battalions at his back, cavalry in the van,
artillery on the flanks, infantry massed in the middle, forty bands
92
braying, a thousand banners streaming in the wind; and whether
the object be an army or a cow you will see him come marching
sublimely in, at the end of the engagement, bearing the more pref-
erable fragments of the victim patiently on his shoulders, to the
stopping-place. Cooper's style is grand, awful, beautiful; but it is
sacred to Cooper, it is his very own, and no student of the Veteri-
nary College of Arizona will be allowed to filch it from him.
In one of his chapters Cooper throws an ungentle slur at
one Gamut because he is not exact enough in his choice of words.
But Cooper has that failing himself, as remarked in our first lec-
ture. If the Indian had struck the fawn with a brick, or with a
club, or with his fist, no one could find fault with the word used.
And one cannot find much fault when he strikes it with an arrow;
still it sounds affected, and it might have been a little better to lean
to simplicity and say he shot it with an arrow.
"Fragments" is well enough, perhaps, when one is speaking
of the parts of a dismembered deer, yet it hasn't just exactly the
right sound-and sound is something; in fact sound is a good deal. It
makes the difference between good music and poor music, and it
can sometimes make the difference between good literature and
indifferent literature. "Fragments" sounds all right when we are
talking about the wreckage of a breakable thing that has been
smashed; it also sounds all right when applied to cat's meat; but
when we use it to describe large hunks and chunks like the fore
and hindquarters of a fawn, it grates upon the fastidious ear.
"Without any aid from the science of cookery, he was im-
mediately employed, in common with his fellows, in gorging him-
self with this digestible sustenance." This was a mere statistic; just
a mere cold, colorless statistic; yet you see Cooper has made a
chromo out of it. To use another figure, he has clothed a humble
statistic in flowing, voluminous and costly raiment, whereas both
good taste and economy suggest that he ought to have saved these
splendors for a king, and dressed the humble statistic in a simple
breechclout. Cooper spent twenty-four words here on a thing not
really worth more than eight. We will reduce the statistic to its
proper proportions and state it in this way:
"He and the others ate the meat raw."
"Digestible sustenance" is a handsome phrase, but it was
out of place there, because we do not know these Indians or care
93
for them; and so it cannot interest us to know whether the meat
was going to agree with them or not. Details which do not assist a
story are better left out.
"Magua alone sat apart, without participating in the revolt-
ing meal" is a statement which we understand, but that is our merit,
not Cooper's. Cooper is not clear. He does not say who it is that is
revolted by the meal. It is really Cooper himself, but there is noth-
ing in the statement to indicate that it isn't Magua. Magua is an
Indian and likes raw meat.
The word "alone" could have been left out and space saved.
It has no value where it is.
I must come back with some frequency, in the course of
these lectures, to the matter of Cooper's inaccuracy as an Observer.
In this way I shall hope to persuade you that it is well to look at a
thing carefully before you try to describe it; but I shall rest you be-
tween times with other matters and thus try to avoid overfatiguing
you with that detail of our theme. In The Last of the Mohicans
Cooper gets up a stirring "situation" on an island flanked by great
cataracts-a lofty island with steep sides--a sort of tongue which
projects down stream from the midst of the divided waterfall.
There are caverns in this mass of rock, and a party of Cooper peo-
ple hide themselves in one of these to get away from some hostile
Indians. There is a small exit at each end of this cavern. These ex-
its are closed with blankets and the light excluded. The exploring
hostiles back themselves up against the blankets and rave and rage
in a blood-curdling way, but they are Cooper Indians and of course
fail to discover the blankets; so they presently go away baffled and
disappointed. Alice; in her gratitude for this deliverance, flings
herself on her knees to return thanks. The darkness in there must
have been pretty solid; yet if we may believe Cooper, it was a
darkness which could not have been told from daylight; for here
are some nice details which were visible in it:
Both Heyward and the more tempered Cora witnessed the
act of involuntary emotion with powerful sympathy, the
former secretly believing that piety had never worn a form
so lovely as it had now assumed in the youthful person of
Alice. Her eyes were radiant with the glow of grateful feel-
94
ings; the flush of her beauty was again seated on her
cheeks, and her whole soul seemed ready and anxious to
poor out its thanksgivings, through the medium of her elo-
quent features. But when her lips moved, the words they
should have uttered appeared frozen by some new and sud-
den chill. Her bloom gave place to the paleness of death;
her soft and melting eyes grew hard, and seemed contract-
ing with horror; while those hands which she had raised,
clasped in each other, towards heaven, dropped in horizon-
tal lines before her, the fingers pointed forward in con-
vulsed motion.
It is a case of strikingly inexact observation. Heyward and the
more tempered Cora could not have seen the half of it in the dark
that way. I must call your attention to certain details of this work of
art which invite particular examination. "Involuntary" is surplusage
and violates Rule 14. ** All emotion is involuntary when genuine,
and then the qualifying term is not needed; a qualifying term is
needed only when the emotion is pumped-up and ungenuine. "Se-
cretly" is surplusage, too; because Heyward was not believing out
loud, but all to himself; and a person cannot believe a thing all to
himself without doing it privately. I do not approve of the word
"seated" to describe the process of locating a flush. No one can
seat a flush. A flush is not a deposit on an exterior surface, it is a
something which squishes out from within.
I cannot approve of the word "new." If Alice had had an
old chill, formerly, it would be right to distinguish this one from
that one by calling this one the new chill; but she had not had any
old chill, this one was the only chill she had had, up till now, and
so the tacit reference to an old anterior chill is unwarranted and
misleading. And I do not altogether like the phrase "while those
hands which she had raised." It seems to imply that she had some
other hands-some other ones which she had put on the shelf a min-
ute so as to give her a better chance to raise these ones; but it is not
true; she had only the one pair. The phrase is in the last degree
misleading. But I like to see her extend these ones in front of her
and work the fingers. I think that that is a very good effect. And it
would have almost doubled the effect if the more tempered Cora
had done it some, too.
95
A Cooper Indian who has been washed is a poor thing, and
commonplace; it is the Cooper Indian in his paint that thrills. Coo-
per's extra words are Cooper's paint-his paint, his feathers, his
tomahawk, his warwhoop.
In the two-thirds of a page elsewhere referred to, wherein
Cooper scored 114 literary transgressions out of a possible 115, he
appeals before us with all his things on. As follows; the italics are
mine-they indicate violations of Rule 14:**
In a minute he was once more fastened to the tree, a help-
less object of any insult or wrong that might be offered. So
eagerly did every one now act, that nothing was said. The
fire was immediately lighted in the pile, and the end of all
was anxiously expected. It was not the intention of the
Hurons absolutely to destroy the life of their victim by
means of fire. They designed merely to put his physical for-
titude to the severest proofs it could endure, short of that
extremity. In the end, they fully intended to carry his scalp
into their village, but it was their wish first to break down
his resolution, and to reduce him to the level of a complain-
ing sufferer. With this view, the pile of brush and branches
had been placed at a proper distance, one at which it was
thought the heat would soon become intolerable, though it
might not be immediately dangerous. As often happened,
however, on these occasions, this distance had been miscal-
culated, and the flames began to wave their forked tongues
in a proximity to the face of the victim that would have
proved fatal in another instant had not Hetty rushed through
the crowd, armed with a stick, and scattered the blazing pile
in a dozen directions. More than one hand was raised to
strike the presumptuous intruder to the earth; but the chiefs
prevented the blows by reminding their irritated followers
of the state of her mind. Hetty, herself, was insensible to
the risk she ran; but, as soon as she had performed this
bold act, she stood looking about her in frowning resent-
ment, as if to rebuke the crowd of attentive savages for their
cruelty.
"God bless you, dearest sister, for that brave and
ready act," murmured Judith, herself unnerved so much as
96
to be incapable of exertion; "Heaven itself has sent you on
its holy errand."
Number of words, 320; necessary ones, 220: words wasted
by the generous spendthrift, 100.
In our day those 100 unnecessary words would have to
come out. We will take them out presently and make the episode
approximate the modern requirement in the matter of compression.
If we may consider each unnecessary word in Cooper's re-
port of that barbecue a separate and individual violation of Rule
14, then that rule is violated 100 times in that report. Other rules*
are violated in it. Rule 12, 2 instances; Rule 13, 5 instances;
Rule 15, 1 instance; Rule 16, 2 instances; Rule 17, 1 or 2 little in-
stances; the report in its entirety is an offense against Rule 18-also
against Rule 16. Total score, about 114 violations of the laws of
literary art out of a possible 115.* Let us now bring forward the
report again, with the most of the unnecessary words knocked out.
By departing from Cooper's style and manner, all the facts could
be put into 150 words, and the effects heightened at the same time-
this is manifest, of course-but that would not be desirable. We
must stick to Cooper's language as closely as we can:
In a minute he was once more fastened to the tree.
The fire was immediately lighted. It was not the intention
of the Hurons to destroy Deerslayers life by fire; they de-
signed merely to put his fortitude to the severest proofs it
could endure short of that extremity. In the end. they fully
intended to take his life, but it was their wish first to break
down his resolution and reduce him to a complaining suf-
ferer. With this view the pile of brush had been placed at a
distance at which it was thought the heat would soon be-
come intolerable, without being immediately dangerous.
But this distance had been miscalculated;
the fire was so close to the victim that he would have been
fatally burned in another instant if Hetty had not rushed
through the crowd and scattered the brands with a stick.
More than one Indian raised his hand to strike her down,
but the chiefs saved her by reminding them of the state of
her mind. Hetty herself was insensible to the risk she ran;
97
she stood looking about her in frowning resentment, as if to
rebuke the savages for their cruelty.
"God bless you, dear!" cried Judith, "for that brave
and ready act. Heaven itself has sent you on its holy errand,
and you shall have a chromo."
Number of words, 22O-and the facts are all in.
* Rule 12: "[The author shall] Say what he is proposing to say, not
merely come near it."
Rule 13: "Use the right word, not its second cousin."
Rule 14: Eschew surplusage.
Rule I5: "Do not omit necessary details."
Rule 16: "Avoid slovenliness of form. "
Rule 17: "Use good grammar."
Rule 18: "Employ a simple and straightforward style."
**Of nineteen rules "governing literary art in the domain of ro-
mantic fiction, " which Mark Twain had listed in "Fenimore Coo-
per's literary Offenses" (in How to Tell a Story, 1897), and of
which, he claimed, Cooper's Deerslayer violated eighteen.
Heres a useful exercise:
Look at the sample text above and find these violations of the
rules:
Rule 12, 2 instances
Rule 13, 5 instances
Rule 15, 1 instance
Rule 16, 2 instances
Rule 17, 1 or 2 little instances
Figure out why the report in its entirety is an offense
against Rule 18-and against Rule 16.
Mark Twain also says that by departing from Cooper's style and
manner, all the facts could be put into 150 words, and the effects
heightened at the same time. See if you can do it. Then submit
98
your 150 words to the editor@llumina.com. Well publish the best
entry in e-Writer Magazine.
99
Frequently Asked Questions...
Table of Contents
1. How do I submit a book ?
2. What types of books do you accept?
3. Why does my book have to be edited?
4. Where can I find editing services?
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9. Can bookstores order my book?
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14. Can I contribute to the cover design?
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16. Can I use graphics found on the net?
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100
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101
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102
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103
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104
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105
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You get paid bi-monthly. On or about the fifteenth of every
other month, we send out royalty statements and royalty checks
reflecting the sales from the previous bi-monthly period. This
means that you get royalties for February and March in June. If
the amounts owed are less than $10, we hold the payment until we
owe you at least that much.
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What will my book look like when
it's finished?
Your book will be printed double-sided on high quality, whit or
off-white paper with a full-color, perfect bound, laminated
cover. In fact, it will look like this one. The quality is on a par with
the books you see in bookstores. For more information on the ap-
pearance and quality of your book see the section on book formats.
What goes on the website about
the book?
Your web page will have an author's bio, a picture of yourself (op-
tional), a short synopsis of the book, a 3 or 4 paragraph description
of the book, and a picture of the book cover. If reviews are avail-
able on the book, they will also be included. Your web page will
be linked to our bookstore pages as well. We can also create a
complete eight page web site just for you with your own domain
namesomething like www.mybooktitle.com --for a very reason-
able cost.
What is the cost for author's copies?
If you want to sell your books on your own (through your local
bookstore for instance) you can purchase single copies for 30% off
the list price. But if you really want to sell books, consider buying
in larger quantities. If you order 25 books or more, the price is
45% off list price; 200 books or more is 50% off list; and 500
books or more is 55% off list. (Discounts based on distributor dis-
count.)
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Does Llumina Print Books?
No. Llumina is a publisher, not a printer. We use different printers
depending on the needs of our clients. For POD we usually use
Lightning Source because as a division of Ingram, they are the
only POD printer that can provide distribution through Ingram. In
fact, almost every major POD publisher uses Lightning Source.
For short run jobs and for books that are smaller than 108 pages we
use other POD printers, and for large quantities that can be run on
an offset press we use publishers here in the states or may even go
What is an affiliate?
An affiliate is one of our partners. When you join us and send cus-
tomers to our site, we pay you a commission. Simple as that.
to Hong Kong for the best prices.
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A FINAL WORD
Publishing today is different. With print-on-demand and ebook
technology, writers have more control over their work than they
have ever had before. Online publishing makes it possible for au-
thors to take control of the publishing process and place their work
before their primary audience, bypassing the gatekeepers of the
publishing industry completely.
All writers suffer rejection at some time in their careers. And many
tend to believe in their heart of hearts that this means theres some-
thing wrong with their work. This is not necessarily the case. Very
often, the only thing wrong with the writers work is that their
name is unknown, and big mainstream publishers are looking for
sure things.
By understanding the dynamics of book publishing, and realizing
that its not personal, writers can take charge of their careers and
turn their carefully crafted work into books that they can be proud
to present to the world. So, stop procrastinating. Get your book
published! No one will read it until you do.
Good luck and best wishes,
Deborah Greenspan
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Contact Us
By Mail:
Llumina Press
8055 W. McNab Road
Tamarac, FL 33321
Phone: (954) 726-0902
Call toll free: (866) 229-9244
Fax: (954) 726-0903
Email:
Deborah Greenspandeborah@llumina.com
Sari Mathes, Editorsari@llumina.com
Joanna Skevis, Editingjoanna@llumina.com
Rhonda Bucki, Marketingrhonda@llumina.com
Robyn Benson, Formattingrobyn@llumina.com
Shari Reimann, Formattingshari@llumina.com
Rocky Nunez, Graphic Designrocky@llumina.com
Diane Cabral, Bookkeeping/Orderingdiane@llumina.com


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Some Llumina Books
Order books at 1-866-229-9244
or on the web at www.llumina.com