We dreamed of a better way for new authors to get published and...

provide a submit-once venue where many publishers and underwriters would review their work...

result in book deals for more books at higher royalty rates...

and produce books that could sell at lower prices with ZERO return of unsold copies...

and more...

Ergonomic Book Deals?

A Revolution in Book Publishing:

The Ergonomic Book Publishing Resource Center (PRC)

This is a kind of pre-announcement. We also have a short promotional video. The PRC will not go into operation until sometime in 2011. We are however already accepting author applications. There are significant benefits to being an early bird, as described herein. Publishers and Underwriters who would like to participate are also invited to get in on the ground floor early on. Their benefit will be that their input will help mold the PRC to be more adaptive to their unique needs.

The term 'underwriters' is uncommon to Publishing today. The unique nature of the PRC and the fact that all books will employ the ErgoText process (all books will be ergonomic), is what will create a pool of persons and firms interested in promoting books into print, and willing to underwrite a portion or all of the costs. This makes it possible to create much better book deals for all concerned. There are additional opportunities which likewise impact which would not be possible without the existence of the underwriters.

PRC project will be of special interest to authors and readers of books, which includes just about everybody one way or the other. It also benefits anyone selling books or who makes general reading material available to others as a kind consideration, such as in waiting rooms, airlines, etc.   

The Publishing Center is intended to be a place where authors can submit books ONCE to be reviewed many times by many people looking to select books to put into print. No more rejection letters from individual Editors, no more sending off to one publisher at a time and waiting in baited anticipation for that rejection letter in order to try again with another publisher. One-stop submissions! Authors will still be free to play that game should they wish, however, as long as they let us know if their work is no longer available.

It is also a place where select people who like to read books (we will acquire these persons through other processes) can access and read any of these books for free in exchange for simple check box reviews. These reviews will be used by those interested in finding a book to promote. They will ‘review the reviews’ to narrow their focus to a one or two books for actual consideration. There will also be provisions for screenplay handling in like manner.  

We call these people underwriters because they will underwrite the publishing costs, typically with advertising or other promotional consideration. We cite the true example where a firm arranged for World-wide commercial magazine ads and Internet promotion of a book they liked which increased its printing volume from 4,000 copies to nearly a quarter million — which meant a lot of fat checks to the author instead of just one small one!

There are many opportunities of this sort which can be realized, but there has never been a mechanism which enabled it to come about except by happy chance. There has been no way for interested parties to know in advance who is writing a book they might like to back. The PRC project will become that mechanism, principally due to the uniqueness of our technology, which will drive underwriter interest. Any author, published or not, owes it to themselves to learn more (keep reading). Any Publisher who would like to participate will be able to do so and maintain their traditional profit structure and gain the ability to market ergonomic books. Its a win win situation.

When a book is selected for publishing via the PRC, it  will undergo a process which is nothing like anything currently employed in the publishing industry. Normally, a new book from an unknown author might see perhaps 4,000 copies printed, which because of a commonly high return rate of up to 40% from book stores, usually translates into about 2,500 copies actually sold. At a typical royalty in the range of $1 per copy, that’s not a lot of pay for an author’s long efforts up front.

But the PRC will print a minimum 10,000 copies, over 1,000 of which will be donated to Public Library Systems. Moreover, the underwriters are free to specify MORE than 10,000 if they wish, and there are other distribution options available to them which may even involve giving away copies as promotional considerations. Of course, our authors get paid for every copy, even the ones given away!  

Here is the really good part that makes it all work for everyone involved: because the books are underwritten, the costs to PRC are next to nothing, which means the selling price is significantly lower and more competitive than in a normal book, perhaps even free. This means virtually NO RETURNS. It also means a higher royalty is possible, up to twice as much. More copies, no returns, and more $$ per copy means a much larger check to the author! Readers and resellers won’t kick very hard having to pay a lower price, either! It gives us the ability to offer actual books to waiting rooms and airlines, and anyone with a ‘waiting’ situation at costs which are competitive with the junk magazines they currently employ, even free.  

Too, the author gets a better deal on copies for their own use in direct sales or promotions. Normally an author would expect to pay roughly half the cover price, but the Center will make them available for just a couple of dollars (deducted from royalties), with the first 100 being FREE! We also provide an e-book version (.pdf) which the author can sell on CDR or via the Web and end up with 100% profit! 

Any author, new or established, who has an unpublished work should consider using the Center. Doing so does NOT stop you from continuing to try to sell the book to a traditional publisher. Just let us know to take the book out of the Center’s library if you cut a book deal elsewhere. Its a win-win, no-risk participation!