Your Time Versus Your Money Is An Interesting Equation

You've heard it from me before. Don't try to publish a high-end book without having a lot of money to spend on the project. Trying to publish using short cuts spells d-o-o-m.

I've also said that all the self-publishing answers are on the Internet courtesy of your buddy Mr. Google.

But I'm willing to admit that reading about something on the Internet isn't the same as being in pre-production on the biggest gamble of your publishing life. Naturally you may feel isolated and although you've been working on it for years you're still a newbie and you could do something stupid that might harm the project.

I recommend working with a self-publishing consultant. Here's an example of why.

I'm working on the final pre-production tasks for a novel I've written. I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed for the copyright page. I've done them for children's picture books but this was different and I didn't want to make a mistake. I could look at other novels and see what they did. But you don't always know what you don't know.

So I sent a copy of what I had to a consultant I work with. Later that day he reviewed and fixed what I had. That probably saved me a couple days of angst about whether I did it right or not.

Here's another example. You always want to list your book in Bowker's Books In Print because it's a data base that's respected and people can find out about your book there. But for a newbie the questions asked during the process are very difficult.

It's important that you have the right book info listed in this important data base but if you're not a hard core book merchant it will make you want to throw your computer out the window. Fortunately Pete the consultant is helping me get the right answers into my file. That's saving me days and heartburn.

So what do you have to pay these people? First of all there are more of them every day as the self-publishing business grows way faster than the standard publishing business. But expect to pay anywhere from $125 to $300 an hour.

I've found that certain people are helpful in very specific areas but few have everything you need. I've also found people who really shouldn't be consultants.

Bottomline: I believe two days of my time is worth a lot of money. So paying a consultant for me is a bargain. There's just too much at stake to screw around.

Michael LaLumiere