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For this go-round at Scary Voices, author Jon Merz has graciously shared with us his latest Countdown Version 2.0 column. If you've ever considered getting into the publishing business, then this is must read stuff.
Countdown Version 2.0 -- The Publishing Side
By Jon F. Merz
www.zrem.com / www.maelstrombooks.com
Before we get into this, I just want to say thanks to all of you who are coming along on this crazy ride. For those who have known me for a few years, you might recall the original incarnation of “Countdown,” as being the newsletter that chronicled my adventures from when I got my first mass-market publishing deal up until publication day. We covered a whole range of things in that version, and we’ll do the same in this one -- from the publisher’s perspective.
I suppose the most important question of all is, why on earth would I venture into publishing? After all, there are already a number of great small press publishers out there cranking out some damned fine fiction and producing great quality books that anyone would be proud to own. So, why would I sink money into something like Maelstrom Books?
The simple answer is because I’ve always wanted to. The longer answer is because I have reached a point where I need to keep bringing out some of my own work, regardless of whether I have a deal with big publishers. Here are the facts: I get about twenty emails a week asking when the next Lawson Vampire adventure is coming out. A lot of people have found the series late and worked backward. Now that they’ve read those books, they want more.
But here was the problem: Joe Nassise’s Harbinger Books brought out a fantastic limited edition hardcover of THE FIXER (book 1), much to the appreciation of a lot of fans who could no longer get the paperback. But Joe already had his second project on the table. And while he expressed interest in doing the fifth Lawson book, it would have been a considerable wait before publication. And if it was too long, I’d lose readers.
So I thought, why not bring it out myself? I hemmed and hawed, largely because I didn’t want to look like I was going the vanity route by publishing my own material. I knew I’d be publishing other authors as well, but there might also be a stigma attached to this project if it looked like I was being self-indulgent.
Weeks went by and then Douglas Clegg announced he was forming his own small press to bring out some of his own material. I thought it was great. And I decided that I have enough of an audience to make a similar effort by myself worthwhile.
I came up with the name fairly quickly. “Maelstrom” works on a number of levels. It’s broad enough that it doesn’t sound like it belongs to only one genre (a good thing because Maelstrom will be publishing mystery, horror, and thrillers). It also sounds good, being one of those words that I’ve liked ever since I first heard it. And it lends itself to the catch phrase, “Get sucked in…” which will be a focal point of the marketing I do around it.
The next big step was looking at numbers. I’d done some preliminary research, trying to see what it would cost to take this step. From a number of folks, I learned the best place to get the printing and binding done was Thomson-Shore. I contacted them and requested a quote.
Initially, I thought about doing a 1,000 copy run, but then lowered that to 750. In the collectible world, printing fewer copies sometimes makes the best sense. So I requested a quote from Thomson-Shore for 800 copies. 750 would be sold. 15 would go to me as “author” and five would go to me as “publisher.” That would leave 30 copies to send out for review.
I’ll take an in-depth look at the cost breakdown next week. We’ll discuss the actual choices involved and much more. But for now, the total cost from Thomson-Shore came to roughly $4700, or about $6 per book.
Retail prices for limited editions tend to range from $45-$60. Before you all stand up and raise hell about marking up a $6 book to $60, there are a lot of other costs involved. I’m offering the limited with a slipcase. This can cost as much as an extra $7 per book. Then there’s the cover art. Price range for this, again depending on who you want to go with, can range anywhere from a couple hundred bucks to well over $1,000. Again, cover art is something we’ll discuss in much deeper detail soon enough. But figure it adds between $.65-$.80 per book. So now we’re at about $14 bucks per book.
Shipping is extra-- to the tune of a $5 charge, which will cover the box itself and shipping via media mail.
With those basic numbers, it will cost approximately $12,000 to print and package THE KENSEI. But the costs don’t stop there. In the small press world of limited editions, most publishers offer a bonus chapbook with an extra short story or two. I wanted to do something different. So I’m doing a comic book as an extra bonus. With a color cover and black-and-white interior printed on good quality paper. I solicited bids on this as well and Action Printing came in with the best one so far (I’m still waiting on bids from some other printers) at around $2,000 for 1,000 copies of the comic. Then there are the artists involved in creating the comic itself. Add another couple of grand into that equation.
So now we’re at roughly $17,000 to launch this press. And yes, I could have done a chapbook at a far cheaper rate, but since this is the debut project, I wanted to make it extra special. The comic is a pretty cool thing, I think. And even though it adds to the cost, it’s worth it if people feel they’re getting some great stuff for their money. After all, I want them to come back.
There are a few other things in the works as well, including an amazing contest that will add more into the expense column. No details on that yet since I haven’t announced it elsewhere, but we’ll examine that in-depth as well.
My goal here is take you behind-the-scenes and give you much the same experience I’m having. You’ll see my mistakes and my successes and hopefully, when it’s all said and done, Maelstrom Books’ first publication will be utterly amazing.
Shameless Plug Time: Feel free to cruise the Maelstrom Books site located at www.maelstrombooks.com and pre-order the books I’ll be publishing. Pre-orders help a great deal, as you’ll see in the next few weeks.
For now, I leave you with this question: where the hell am I gonna get $17,000 to launch a press like this?
Countdown Version 2.0 is copyrighted 2004 by Jon F. Merz. All rights reserved. This newsletter may be reproduced and posted anywhere, provided the content remains unchanged and the contact information is included.
Jon F. Merz is the author of six novels (The Fixer, The Invoker, The Destructor, The Syndicate, and Danger-Close), including the forthcoming book The Kensei from his publishing company, Maelstrom Books. His short fiction has been most recently seen in From the Borderlands and Vicious Shivers. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts with his wife and son.
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