Self-publishing With Westminster
Self-publishing means many different things to different people. For some of our clients, it means retaining Westminster as an experienced entity that can provide counsel, resources, and experience on how to best publish their book without waiting. The larger publishers are becoming more and more selective on the books and authors that they are willing to sign and most are working on an eighteen month publishing cycle.
Our two featured authors are Marty Cagan and Charles Feld. Their respective books, Inspired and Blind Spot, were published through a series of parallel deliverables, taking full advantage of Westminster’s core competencies. Each author is renowned in their respective field and wished to leave a legacy with their contemporaries and share what they had learned with others. Each are extremely successful and neither wanted to take on the laborious task of negotiating with a large publishing house for a paltry 5% to 15% royalty.
We joined forces with a well established author of more than 45 books and a consultant who specializes in helping others write their own books. His specialties include writing, collaboration, ghostwriting, and developmental editing. He was able to work through the manuscripts while we concentrated on the jacket design, the illustrations, and the layout templates to establish the look and feel of the content. We made sure that elements like typefaces and page layouts were given appropriate consideration so that the end result lead to a stand-out package. We married those completed components with the final manuscript and prepared the files for a final proof and ultimate production.
Once we printed the books the authors had to determine the best method for distribution. The primary marketplace for the two featured books was to use Amazon.com. However, Inspired is also distributed by Barnes and Noble. In both instances, Westminster took delivery of the entire quantity of Inspired and Blind Spot. We now distribute the books for Amazon through the Amazon.com automated distribution model and fulfill seminar orders on an as needed basis.
The quality of the design, the speed and accuracy of our layout services, and the experience of providing self-publishing resources is just one more way for Westminster to demonstrate our “full-service” approach.