All Pleasure and no Profit!

There are crocodiles out there with huge jaws waiting to gobble up your money and leave you writing for the sheer pleasure and no profit!

How to avoid them? Well, I’ve been really busy sorting out self publishing my book The Turning Zone and will be sharing my experiences on this blog.
It has occupied many hours to sort out how one gets a book listed on Amazon and accepted with Waterstone only to discover that the returns will be minimal if not in the negative zone! But if this is the price of fame, so be it!

It is unbelievable how much the booksellers and distributors want to take – it is the lion’s share. They all say they want to promote independent publishers and authors but they don’t show it when it comes to terms of sale! Anyway, I shall be accepting that unless you lovely people purchase my books from kindle or direct from me (which has the bonus of being signed if you wish) then I will not be making any money out of my venture. So please if you would like to take the first steps to self-mastery through the delightful steps of reading a fun adventure while you learn, then order my book directly from me- like Madonna’s red wrist band it will bring you many spiritual blessings at a fraction of the price she paid!

Want to know how to avoid writing for love then stay tuned to my blogs and find out more. Alternatively, as we have had to become a publisher in order to maintain integrity and acquire ISBNs etc. we will be putting together an economic package for those authors who don’t want to get to grips with the nitty-gritty of the book publishing world themselves and are exploring self publishing.

It will be very simple- ISBN, Barcode and ready to print PDF files of content and cover design with lots of information on how to approach printers, distributors, the terms they will expect, getting listed on Amazon and with Waterstone etc. Hopefully this self publishing package will be available in the Autumn and promoted at the venues alongside The Turning Zone.

Because my publishing company, Benten Publishing owns the ISBN’s I would technically become your publisher and register your work with the central ISBN agency Neilson. I would like to make it very clear at this point that there would be no cost to authors after the initial package has been purchased and they would maintain control over their choice and costs of printer/distributor etc. However, most publishers tend to have a speciality and I would be hoping to concentrate this service on people who want to publish work of a spiritual, ethical, moral or artistic nature. The work may be factual, fictional, pictorial or poetic but responsibility for the content being non litigious would rest with the author and not the publisher (Benten Publishing). Benten Publishing would retain the right to refuse to sell the package for work of an unsuitable nature.

I have already arranged some venues for the autumn where I will be promoting The Turning Zone and doing some book signing. More on these later - keep an eye on my website. Peter has re-designed the cover – see below- and I have approved the final proof so it is at this moment crunching its way through the mill! However, with the PACS summer exhibition looming, a certain wedding following hot on its heels and then the lure of Italy, I shall be waiting until October to really start promoting The Turning Zone in earnest.