Starting Up As A Publisher
Running a publishing business
As well as covering all the usual tax, financial and employee
matters there are particular industry elements of selecting
content, scheduling, editing, design, production, marketing, sales,
and distribution.
There's a good description/definition of traditional publishing
on the Scholarly Kitchen website: see How Traditional Publishing Works by Joseph
Esposito 17 September 2018.
Business structure
If you are setting up as a publisher, you will need to consider
what would be the right legal structure for your business eg: sole
trader, partnership, limited liability partnership or limited
liability company. A good source of information about business
structures and setting up a business generally, is the Business Gateway
website aimed at new and growing businesses in Scotland.
Contracts: author and services
It is always advisable to issue a contract to your author and
anyone who provides services such as a freelance designer. Clark's Publishing Agreements: A Book of
Precedents (Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 10th edition) is an
essential book which gives model contracts to follow. Note that the
11th edition is due in 2022.
If necessary get specialist advice - eg
from a lawyer or other publishing contract specialist - before
signing.
Be aware of the kinds of rights and permissions that are granted
to you under the terms of the contract and ensure that you get all
that you need eg
- an author's contract does not automatically include all rights
such as audio book rights
- commissioning an illustration for a book cover does not
automatically give you permission to use it for other goods such as
a mug or book bag.
Publishing Scotland member publishers sign up to a Code of
Practice in their dealings with authors. There is also an Author
and Publisher Voluntary Code which is the result of a
collaboration between the Society of Authors in Scotland and
Publishing Scotland.
Copyright
Copyright is a complex and changing area of the law and,
clearly, it is impossible to cover all aspects of permission here.
The UK
Intellectual Property Office website is a good source of
general information about copyright.
PLSclear is an online service that allows you
to search, identify, request permission and have it sent on to the
publisher. It is operated by the Publishers Licensing Society. It
is free to use for occasional users.
The BBC has information on copyright on the Copyright Aware section of its website.
The Publishers Association Copyright Infringement Portal (CIP)
began its life in 2009 and over the last 5 years CIP users have
served over 2.8 million cease & desist notices to infringing
websites. In 2015 CIP was relaunched after being upgraded. For more
information, see the CIP site. Publishing Scotland
members can get a discounted subscription. For
information, email the PA.
For researchers, policy-makers and those seeking a deeper
understanding of copyright, the University of Glasgow's Copyright
Evidence Portal is a centralised resource cataloguing the state
of knowledge and evidence on copyright's effects on society.
Royalties and fees
These can vary depending on the format of the work, the nature
of the involvement in it, and the type of publishing (eg from
around 10% in trade paperbacks to 50% for ebooks). Ask around. In
some areas of publishing it is more common to pay a fixed fee.
Producing the Book
New technology is clearing away old methods of book production
and there are many ways of getting your titles produced. You may
consider using freelancers to help with editing, proofreading,
picture research, design, marketing, and other aspects. Those
printers, typesetters and freelancers who are Network Members of
Publishing Scotland are listed on the Network Members pages. The Chartered
Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) website also
lists editorial freelancers.
Marketing Your Title
Bibliographic data
It is vital that you compile bibliographic information on your
titles so that they can be accessed, viewed and ordered widely,
particularly online. Upload your information to Nielsen Title Editor. The bibliographic
essentials, recommended by BIC (The Book Industry
Communication) are to be found on their website (guidelines for
ebooks recently added) - start with an ISBN (International Standard
Book Number) obtainable from the UK ISBN
Agency. If you list your titles with Nielsen, they will
automatically be listed on Amazon UK.
Thema is a relatively new global subject classification system
for books, which has already gathered wide international
participation. It is intended for use by all parts of the book
trade, aims to be globally applicable, and is tailored for
commercial use within the trade. For more details, see the EDItEUR
website.
Most titles benefit from having an Advance Information sheet. This
will contain the bibliographic data as well as the cover rough, if
available, and the blurb. This sheet should be sent to bookshops,
as well as Nielsen, at least 16 weeks ahead of publication.
Reviews
Because of the limited space for reviews in the traditional
print media, it can be difficult to attract the attention of
reviewers. Newspapers, magazines etc will have reviewers details
online and you can contact them direct. Social media is vitally
important from book blogs to podcasts to Tik Tok, depending on the
book and its potential readership.
Distribution
Depending on what you can afford, using a dedicated book
distribution company can help facilitate the selling of your
titles. The company is unlikely to take on a single title however
and it may be worth waiting till you have built up a certain mass
of titles before approaching distributors. Expect to pay between 9%
and 16% of turnover on distribution costs if using a third-party
company.
Publishing Scotland set up BookSource, a distribution company based
outside Glasgow, in 1996. They currently handle distribution for
over 50 publishers. Other distributors include: TBS The Book
Service and Grantham (part of Penguin
Random House Distribution); Hachette UK Distribution (including
Littlehampton Book Services and Bookpoint); Marston; Turnaround; and HarperCollins. Retailers also source books
from wholesaler Gardners.
Our members list which distributor or distributors they use on
their listing pages.
Selling to bookshops, supermarkets, libraries etc
Discounts will vary depending on the nature of the outlet and
the size and scope of your company, as well as the type of book. It
is your responsibility to negotiate with sales channels. For more
information, see our Trade page.
Waterstones has useful information on its website for independent publishers wishing to submit
books.
Rights
If you have a title that has international potential, you may
consider trying to sell rights to publishers in other countries.
However, this is a far from easy task and requires patient research
into suitable companies and then sometimes protracted negotiations.
Most publishers will try to attend at least one book fair to
ascertain likely international partners. The major book fairs take
place every year in London, the USA, Frankfurt and Bologna (for
children's books).
Alternatively, some publishers use agents or scouts to represent
them and carry their titles to bookfairs. It is not an easy thing
to find out who these agents or scouts are so ask around.
See our Book
fairs page.
Legal Deposit
Don't forget that you are legally required to send your books
for legal deposit. The National Library of Scotland is one of the
libraries of deposit. This means it is entitled in terms of the
Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 to request a copy of all printed
items published in the United Kingdom, and in the Republic of
Ireland by reciprocal legislation. From 6 April 2013, the Legal
Deposit Libraries (Non-Print) Regulations 2013 extended this to
include the right to request or harvest UK electronic publications.
These regulations do not change the arrangements for depositing
printed publications. Publishers should continue to send these
publications to the National Library of Scotland or to the Agency
for the Legal Deposit Libraries (Agency for the Legal Deposit
Libraries, 21 Marnin Way, Edinburgh EH12 9GD). See the NLS website for details.
Resources
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Books