I had a great time this year at the Northern Voice conference. The conference was full of incredible people, including Cathy Browne, Kimli, and Rob Cottingham, but there was one other presenter that really stood out for me.

Steffani Cameron’s (@smuttysteff on Twitter) talk about How To Screw Up Your Personal Blog was inspiring, and not just because the content was so personal. Her shoot-from-the hip style of presentation was refreshing and real. She had no overhead slides, and we were able to solely focus on her voice, her story, and her cautionary tale. I felt a familiarity so many times during that talk that it made me rack my brain for where I must have met her before, but of course I hadn’t. Her story is just one that many of us can relate to.

Steffani is a great example of what this conference is all about. Occasional Accountant by day, and sex blogger by night, she is a creator of great content, and her content is created mostly for the sheer joy of creating it.  How different from all the techy and marketing conferences that I’ve been to lately: somebody who actually lets the content drive the blog. That is what Northern Voice is all about, and the importance of Story in blogging was once again brought home to me in a way that was moving and meaningful. Steffani is a normal person who happens to also be a great writer, and that great writer happens to blog about sex. She identifies as a blogger first, and by her topic second, which I loved about her.

When I asked her about all of my writing under a pseudonym, she responded, “Peggy, look at your hair. Who do you think you’re kidding?” Her honesty about her topic has gotten her into hot water with conservative religious bosses and snarky co-workers, but as she so rightly said, “Bloggers have to stop worrying about who they’re going to offend…” and “It’s our job to create great content, and other people’s job to just get over it.” She brushed off the applause to these comments, but really, she was the only one that talked about her failures in such an unprogrammed, clear and unapologetic way.

Steffani, please come back next year. Organizers of Northern Voice, if she doesn’t volunteer, please make her come back.

I heard of another tragic self-publishing trainwreck today. Here are some of the red flags I see regularly, and how to avoid them.

If I sound a bit frustrated in this post, it’s because I am. There are just too many good books that get crushed by the wheels of the self-publishing industry, and it breaks my heart. I won’t name any names, but there is a certain niche of company in the publishing industry that has emerged in the last few years. Let’s call this niche self-publishing service providers. (SPSP’s.)

SPSP’s often offer everything from editing of your manuscript to cover design to printing and shipping/warehousing, and especially, the Big Scary Job for any Author, marketing. Some offer to re-distribute your book for you to major retailers, both online and offline. Some offer to turn your manuscript into an eBook. Some offer to do all of this for one low price. Some offer to do everything for you except to cash your checks and feed your dog.

Many aeons ago, when the publishing industry was in its’ infancy, all publishing was self-publishing. You wrote it, you printed it, you sold it. Any modern publisher who asks you for money to get your book out there is not a publisher: they are a printing company with a great marketing plan.

I am wary of this type of printing and service company, because there is an element of deception in the way some (but not all) disguise themselves as Publishers. There is sometimes an illusion of, “Well, maybe we’ll work with you, but perhaps we won’t…”, and that you must submit your manuscript for consideration first. How ridiculous: of course they will work with you. They are selling you a service. I’ve now heard several first-hand accounts of how prices fluctuate based on how fat they think your wallet is. And I’ve heard even more heart-breaking accounts of how they fail to follow through with their promises, how their systems are difficult to use, how their offerings are not all available for Canadians, and how they convince people to give them sometimes large sums of money without explaining how that investment will pay off.

The difference between a printer and a publisher is that a publisher gives you money, and a printer asks you for money. (I still love to deal with quality printers. See the indent below.) The printer who is asking you for money is doing essentially the same job as the one calling himself a publisher, minus their extra sub-contracted editors and designers and the associated extra costs. They just do one thing, and do it very well.

I really only endorse one method of self-publishing for paper books: hire your own Editor, Designer, Publicist, Marketing Consultant, Virtual Assistant and Printer. Anything else, in my less-than-humble opinion, is only an illusion of control. And why else are you self-publishing, anyway?

If you want an honest-to-goodness book printer that does a great job for a great price, please talk to my friend Gerhard Aichelberger who represents Friesens in my local area. Gerhard himself is a wonderful human being, and I personally guarantee that doing business with him will be a delight. Friesens is a fantastic Canadian book printing company that now prints many of the books in North America, for large and small publishers alike. They do both large and small runs of soft and hardcover books, with an almost unlimited number of options. They are consistent in their pricing, they treat their staff well, they have good environmentally-friendly policies, and when you call them, an actual human will answer the phone, not a machine. (I love that last part.)

Here are some red flags to watch out for when you start your book printing project;

They offer to do everything for you.

Self-publishing is a lot of work. That’s pretty clear. All most Authors want to do is to write, and have someone else take care of the design, printing, editing, and especially, the selling. If it seems too easy, it is. Question everything, because it’s often much cheaper to administer your own sub-contractors (as I’ve described above in bold text) than to rely on them to do it for you. (Much like building your own home instead of relying on a general contractor.)

They don’t tell you anything you don’t like.

My friend and fellow Book Broad, Kim Plumley has a great expression: “Somebody has to tell the emperor he’s naked.” If you feel flattered, feel wary. Editing is a crucial part of the marketing process, and I’ve never heard of an Author who didn’t like something that happened during the Editorial work. Authors treat their books like babies, and vanity presses prey on this. They won’t tell you the harsh realities of what you’ll need to be prepared for when you launch your book business.

They tell you that they can transfer your manuscript automatically to a variety of different outlets and formats.

Ask any Author who’s tried to accomplish a printed paperback and ebook with a single upload. They will offer to buy you dinner while they spend an evening regaling you with entertaining stories about the lack of continuity in the process, the way their first format worked fine but then waited 8 months for the next format they had ordered and pre-paid (yes, I personally talked to a Canadian woman that had been waiting this long for her eBook version) and the lack of support staff available to handle complaints.

They point out that you retain all the copyright and ownership of your work.

Of course you do. You’re self-publishing. That’s like saying that not only can you buy the underpants, but you also have the right to wear them on your head. How useless and obtuse.

They tell you the books will look as good as any book on the shelf in any major bookstore.

Maybe. But know that if you’re printing books in short runs or print-on-demand (ie. one at a time) that’s not probable, although the technology is definitely catching up fast. Your options for things like paper and cover style choices will be fewer. Your design of your cover is likely to be based on a template. Your book size options will be one of the 2-5 on their menu. Your editor has 50 other books to get done by Friday. Ask what methods and machinery they use to print and bind books, and then compare it to this and this. Theirs is paint-by-number publishing, and they want to fit you into their pigeonholes, not meet your needs or ideal design options.

They say they will do all the marketing for you.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

OK Peg, there’s got to be something positive in this somewhere.

The gain here is that we learn to discern great opportunity from great risk. I’m just asking you to be cautious in your selection of companies to do business with, and to be sure that you consider your objectives for the project carefully. If one of your objectives is making money, please take the marketing and costs of your product into account before you spend a dime or type a single letter. Your easiest choice is rarely the most profitable.

Now is the right time for the discussion about SPSP’s to start. The more of us entrepreneurial publishers develop specific and discerning skills when it comes to choosing with whom to do business, the more honest and valuable companies will rise to fill the niche. And since we know that everybody has a book in them…

I’ll be speaking at Northern Voice (#nv10) this weekend in Vancouver, Canada. This is the Canadian personal blogging and social media conference that’s now in its’ sixth year, and is being held at the Life Sciences Centre out at UBC.

I’m very proud to be co-presenting with Angela Crocker and Kim Plumley as The Book Broads. The title of our talk is “Flog Your Blog“, which is all about how to turn your blog into a book. The talk is scheduled for 1:45pm on Saturday May 8th, in room 1510. (That’s a bigger room than we were originally scheduled to use.)

Topics we’ll cover include;

- traditional publishing vs. self-publishing
- how to tell if your blog is a good candidate for publishing
- examples of bloggers who’ve successfully turned their blogs into books
- what *not* to do to turn your blog into a book
- how to use social media in conjunction with traditional publicity to help market your book
- how to choose the right options for various types of publishing
- eBooks vs. print books (and other options you may not have considered)
- how to market your book long before it’s published
- what the real job of a successful Author is
- your first, second and third steps to get it happening

I’ll be following up this session with my workshop on June 19th in Langley (near Vancouver, Canada), the eBook Jumpstart: http://ebookjumpstartlangley.eventbrite.com/.

Hope to see you all there!