It's easier than it's ever been for an author to self-publish. It's also easier than it's ever been for print brokers to help aspiring authors become published authors. That's because of two incredible free resources that make it easier than ever to publish to multiple platforms.
Free Book Designer. Really. The first is Reedsy. Reedsy offers a marketplace of professionals to help with cover design, editing, and other projects, which is very helpful, but more than that, they offer a free interior design app that takes the work out of setting up the interior of your book. You can then output for print or ebook, or both, and entirely free. I promise, it looks good when Reedsy is done with it. If you use my link and use any of their professional services, we'll both get a $25 Reedsy credit. Publish at one time to multiple distributors. My new favorite app is PublishDrive, another free app that will publish your .epub file (created at Reedsy or elsewhere) to multiple ebook distributors, including Barnes and Noble (Nook), Amazon (Kindle), Google Books (which is only accepting a limited number of new publishers), Itunes Books, Kobo, and many more. It's incredibly easy to use, and makes the process much easier than submitting them yourselves. I recently used PublishDrive myself, and highly recommend it!
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The polls haven't closed yet in Michigan, but I can already tell you who won the 2018 U.S. midterm elections: media outlets, billboard companies, designers, and print brokers. That's because, win or lose, nearly every candidate spends a huge amount of money on self-promotion. Somebody made money off of every yard sign, doorhanger, banner, brochure, and direct mailer -- and it could have been you.
If you want to be on the winning side next election, read my book, How to Be a Print Broker, and start running for 2020 right now! The print broker is essentially a middleman - the one who bridges the gap between the customer and print shop. Although marketers love to pretend the middleman is a boogeyman, there are reasons for a middleman:
Early on in my graphic design career, I came across a unique publishing service - print-on-demand books from Lulu.com. They print books as they are ordered, instead of requiring authors to pay to print several thousand at once. Although several competitors have sprung up, Lulu was (and is) an easy-to-use online book printer. Lulu made it possible for anybody to publish a professional-looking book.
I have assisted my clients in self-publishing through several of the top self-publishing services, as well as smaller vanity presses, but I keep coming back to Lulu as the easiest to set up and the most affordable for small quantities. They offer a range of quality options, from economical black and white to full color books. Here are some ways you can use Lulu.com to grow your print broker business: Offer churches, ministries, and small Bible colleges the opportunity to publish their own curricula for classes. Often these organizations use their own material, but desire a professional appearance. Catalogs, handbooks, and even yearbooks can also be printed through Lulu.com! Business professionals can showcase their experience by writing a short book relevant to their customers. A financial adviser, for instance, wrote a book on personal finance, and distributed that to prospective clients. It gave him an advantage over his competition. You can save money by using Lulu for initial proofs for books, even if the books are being printed elsewhere. A domain name is a key part of your business and branding strategy, but most entrepreneurs spend most of their time worrying about what their domain name should be, instead of considering where they should get it. Here's some advice:
As you might imagine, I have learned some of these lessons the hard way. Another lesson? Cheap domain names up front usually cost more later. That $1.99 domain from Big Web Hosting Company? It's probably going to be $15.99 or $19.99 next year. I have started getting all my domains from NameSilo.com, because they state their renewal prices up front. I buy my domain names there, and host wherever I want to. Use my coupon code, PRINTBROKER, and you can even save $1 on your first domain!
The best form builder around...
In 2008, I ran into a problem creating a website with multiple forms, and found a free form service, Jotform. Although many competitors have entered the space since then, they were the first company I know of to offer a "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" form creator that allowed you to create an html form simply by clicking and dragging. Of course, Jotform still offers a free service (check out their pricing here) as well as several other features. They are still the best form builder I know of around. ...but don't use Jotform for payments. I do offer one caveat: They offer the ability to receive payments through Stripe, Paypal, and other services, but their bronze plan only offers 10 payment submissions per month. This is a ridiculously low amount of submissions for $15.80 a month, especially when all Jotform is doing is forwarding the customer to Paypal/Stripe/etc. to complete the transaction. I'm ashamed to say I've been in the printing business for over 13 years, and just discovered Sinalite, a full-service trade printer based in Ontario, Canada.
Based on my experience with Sinalite, I can say without hesitation that print brokers and trade printers should make Sinalite a key vendor. Here's why:
Check out Sinalite! In my book How to Be a Print Broker, I briefly discuss the process of legally starting your own business. Part of the reason it's a brief discussion is that I don't want to offer legal advice (and can't), and the laws vary from state to state. But you don't have to go it alone.
The organization SCORE is a group of retired executives that mentor new business owners and entrepreneurs. In addition to offering personal (and free!) counseling, they offer a wide variety of free workshops, including many on starting a business. I also recommend that you check out this helpful resource on general and specific requirements for each state. Many states have a "one-stop-shop" that makes it easy to apply for a business name and sales tax license in the same place. |
About the AuthorTim Miller is the author of How to Be a Print Broker: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know to Start a Successful Print Broker Business. A 13-year veteran of the printing industry, Tim lives in Detroit with his wife. Archives
December 2018
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