Self-publishing is no longer the mystery it was a decade ago. Authors are getting books published inexpensively, and hundreds of websites now promise to help — for a fee. We’re no different in that sense: we charge fees for our services. But we do things differently.
It used to be called “vanity press” — naive authors paying a printer a hefty price for a pile of books, no marketing, questionable quality. These days, with print-on-demand, quality isn’t the issue. Paying too much to print too many books still is.
When I created Sunao, it was primarily to promote my own books — having a publisher name on the copyright page adds credibility you wouldn’t believe. Along the way I met professionals at major publishing houses who offer their services on the side. They’re our “staff,” and we hire whoever fits your manuscript best.
Sunao (which means “untrapped mind”) doesn’t make money off your sales — only the services we provide. When you sell a book, you make all the profit after the retailer takes its cut. And you’ll be surprised at the initial publishing cost: it’s the lowest in the industry, to the best of my knowledge. We keep it low so you’ll stick with us over the long term.
What about traditional publishing?
Writers dream of a decent advance and a publisher who does all the work. The reality is different. Traditional publishers still play an important role, but their decades-old model is becoming obsolete — and they’re rapidly copying the successes of self-publishing companies.
Most of their promotion now falls into two buckets: (1) they make you do the legwork — book shows, meet-and-greets, at your expense — and print a short run they expect you to buy hundreds of; or (2) they do online marketing that specialists do better, faster, and cheaper. The one thing they still do better is get your book into brick-and-mortar stores — and only for about ninety days, on consignment.
Where do most readers find their books?
The biggest book retailer in the world doesn’t even have a physical store, and the books are there forever: Amazon. It sells more books than all the other publishers in the world combined — and you can publish there too, alongside Kobo, Draft2Digital, Smashwords, Goodreads and more. You don’t need a traditional publisher. You just need a company that can steer you through the process. Like this one.
Mark Dawson and John Locke are two great examples of self-publishers who’ve sold millions of books internationally. Self-publishing is no longer the lesser cousin of traditional publishing — it’s mainstream, and a driving force in the reading world.
What lies ahead for publishing?
There’s an entire generation of readers who’ve never held a physical book. They read on Kindle or listen on Audible while driving, working, or working out. Both print and ebooks sell today (ebooks outsell print roughly 3 to 1), and audiobooks are quickly climbing to second place. Every author we work with publishes both electronically and in print — and, for the brave, in audio too.
What we do… what you do
The most important thing to take from all of this: quality rises to the top. If your book isn’t well written, well edited, and professionally formatted — or if the cover is amateurish — it won’t sell. We provide every service to meet professional standards, except the writing. That’s your job.
If you think you’ve done a good job, send it in. If the majority of my team likes it, we’ll invite you to publish. You’ll pay for our services (our prices aren’t outrageous), but the result is a professional, high-quality book with every chance of becoming a bestseller. If we don’t like it, we’ll tell you why and how to improve it — at no cost.
My team and I look forward to working with you. Any questions at all, email me directly at publisher@sunaopublishing.com.
— Robert J. Morrow, Editor-in-Chief, Sunao International Publishing Group