What is included in the concept of “Publishing business”
The publishing business began with the publication of books and newspapers, but now it is not limited to this. Almost everything that is now called “show business” grew out of the publishing business. So while this article is primarily focused on the classic literary publishing industry, the principles apply to recording studios, film production companies, and even “content providers.”
If you strip away everything unnecessary, then the publishing business is:
1. Search for authors and purchase of copyrights to the authors’ works.
2. Creation of a product from the author’s work.
3. Sale of goods (works).
4. Promotion and sale of authors.
If everything is clear with the first three points almost immediately, then the last one requires some comments.
There are two business models in the publishing business:
1. Selling goods
2. Selling authors
These two models rarely exist in pure form. Most often they are combined. But here’s what’s special about the combination of these models. Large publishing houses (“majors”) work mainly according to the first model - they take popular authors and churn out their works. It's rare that they promote new authors. Small publishing houses are mainly forced to work with novice authors - they look for talents and sell them to the “majors”. And sometimes the sale of the author can bring in more profit than the profit from sales of works in a year.
Why this business can be started from scratch
I’ll say right away that the “major” policy is not available for family businesses (well, unless it’s the family of Boris Nikolaevich). But you can open a small publishing house with minimal initial capital. True, this will require a lot of work. If initial capital is, you can save effort. However, this applies to all starts.
In order to open a publishing house from scratch, you need:
1. A computer with Internet access and at least one publishing package (maybe even Word and PDFMaker to start with).
2. Telephone/fax.
3. One or two people.
4. Some don't large sum money (for an advance to the author and printing services).
What is desirable, but not required:
1. Place for temporary storage of circulation. With a certain skill (or well-organized logistics), you can do without it - hold the circulation in the printing house with removal from the printing house directly to the wholesaler, etc. (It is better not to store books in the garage). But just in case, until the logistics are set up, there must be a place.
2. Own vehicles. For transporting small quantities, the VAZ four is quite suitable. But personally, I would prefer either the services of a specialized campaign, or pay extra to the printing house for delivery.
What you don't need for a start-up publishing house
1. Own printing base (an outsourcer will still be cheaper).
2. Representative office (if you really need to make an impression, then meeting rooms in
business centers are rented by the hour).
We have every second author, not counting every first one. Therefore, after a short advertising campaign the publishing house will receive “gravity”—sent works. They will send it both by e-mail and by regular mail (yes, such maniacs still remain - they type on a typewriter and send registered parcel post!) And you will need not so much to search for authors as to set “filters”. And here the personality of the editor comes first. Even the Editor. This is the most main man in the publishing house. It is he who must cut off outright hack work, filter out the “average” and snatch a potential masterpiece from gravity.
As soon as outright talent appears, it is vitally important to put him under an exclusive contract. It will be needed to “resell” the author. If an exclusive contract is not signed, then at least sign a few books in advance - you can make good money.
The above applies not only to fiction, but also to any other literature - specialized, hobby literature, horoscopes, etc. Even among these authors there are stars.
As stated just above, this should not happen. But if it suddenly happens, turn your attention to the classics. Classics sell well (especially if the release of a film or TV series based on a classic work is approaching, as was the case with “The Idiot”). And the most important advantage of the classics is that there is no need to purchase rights.
How to work with retail
The main principle of a publishing house when working with retail is not to work with retail. Better month Persuade a wholesale client and receive an order for 1000 copies, rather than spend a day at a point and, having received a refusal in half the cases, collect orders for 150 copies in a month.
Take an example from industry. Analogy – 100%. Publishing house = factory. The factory rarely negotiates with retail. Try to act only through wholesalers. And if you are interested in data on sales at specific locations, buy data from the same wholesalers with their retail networks.
No matter how strange it may sound, in our age computer technology there are still a sufficient number of people for whom the book remains the most reliable friend. But the modern book market is influenced by several factors. Some of them have accompanied book publishing since its inception, while others arose more recently under the influence of the market economy.
The modern book business, in addition to the loss of interest in reading, suffers from a lack of worth books, which will be successful among true connoisseurs of the printed word. At the same time it appeared a large number of commercial publications whose lifespan is short-lived.
Another negative aspect that affects not only the book business, but also all other types of activities related to copyright (music, films, CDs) is piracy. For a potential consumer this does not matter much, but for the publisher it entails significant financial losses, because after studying the quality and quantity of the audience, he plans the circulation.
But the experience of book publishing in Russia over the past ten years shows that a business selling books can pay for itself within the first year of its existence, and even at the stage of a “falling” market, it can generate up to 25% profit per year, which cannot be said about many other types of activities.
Even if you are confident about the future and see yourself as a famous publisher, a publishing business from scratch for you should undoubtedly start with. This will serve as good practice and will provide an opportunity to study the nuances of the book market.
Return to contents
Book trading: from scratch to stable profit
A business selling books can have a lot of different options, depends on the city in which it is organized, how relevant it is here, and what investment opportunities are available.
The best option is a bookstore designed for different age categories. In this case, it is better to reduce the number of products within one unit.
A bookstore, like any other business, should be registered. In the tax office you can be listed as an individual entrepreneur ( individual entrepreneur), if you plan to run a business alone, or register your book business as an LLC (limited liability company) if you have to work in a team of founders. In any case, your activity in the OKVED classification goes under code 52.47 - “Retail trade in books, magazines, newspapers, stationery and stationery.” If your store does not exceed an area of 150 sq. m, then it is quite possible to get by with a single tax on imputed income. When registering, you will also need to show permission from the SES and fire department.
Pay special attention to the place of sale. Few people go to a store just to buy a book, although this is not excluded. Perfect option- this is a store in a busy mall. If you are starting a business from scratch, better room rent, since purchasing it in a prime location is not cheap.
The most popular are small bookstores with a wide range of products. When choosing this store option, you should initially thoroughly study the modern publishing business via the Internet, but only in order to decide on the quantity for each unit of production. There should be no problems with the supply of goods, because there is no shortage of publishing houses in the modern book market. Among the staff, sales consultants and cashiers are required (in small stores this can be the same person), a manager (most often this is the owner himself) and an accountant (you can hire this unit outside the staff, but it is difficult for the manager himself to perform these duties if we're talking about about the bookstore).
Return to contents
Financial side of the issue
Now all that remains is to make an estimate of the costs of opening a bookstore and estimate the payback time of the business. Organizational stage includes a fee for registering an enterprise with the tax service (5 thousand rubles), certificates and permits from the SES and fire inspectorate (5 thousand rubles).
Then it all depends on whether you are going to buy or rent premises for a store. Booksellers prefer rentals as more cheap way. Rent 1 sq. meter in Moscow ranges from 25 to 100 thousand rubles per year, depending on the location of the retail space, but considerations have already been given above regarding a place convenient for selling books. The area of the sales area must be at least 150 square meters. m, since in the book trade it is preferable for the entire assortment to be available to the buyer. If you need a warehouse, be prepared to pay 1 sq. m. for rent. m 10-15 rubles per day. You won’t need complex equipment: shelving for such a room will cost another 30 thousand rubles.
The turn of the books has come. Publishers most often work directly with stores, saving on intermediaries. Don't worry if you're starting from scratch; publishing houses like newbies with their own ideas. The assortment of an average store should include 15-20 thousand items. The retail price per unit will range from 35 to 100 rubles, not counting gift editions and albums, but they should also be in your arsenal. Information and technical support, signage and advertising will cost another 75 thousand rubles. Total: on average 250 thousand rubles. You should also take into account the costs of salaries for two consultants and cashiers working in shifts. Selecting staff for a bookstore is quite difficult, since they must have either a philological education or good memory. A computer will help simplify the work of sellers, but this is an additional expense. Put 300 thousand rubles into circulation.
Experience shows that the income of such a store will be 360 thousand rubles per month. From this amount we subtract 10 thousand for taxes, 260 thousand for staff salaries and utilities, 50 thousand for advertising and additional services. We will receive 40 thousand rubles of net profit. Thus, the payback will occur in about a year, and if the location and assortment were selected successfully, then you can expect an increase in income.
Our regular readers often contact us with questions about how to implement this or that idea presented on the “1000 Ideas” portal. Therefore, we decided to launch a new series of articles that talk about how to Russian conditions It is possible to implement many projects that work successfully abroad.
The situation in the book publishing business now is far from the most favorable. With the spread of the Internet and various mobile devices that allow you to read books in in electronic format– from phones to special e-readers and tablets, these are “dark” times for companies that publish and sell printed book products.
Just a few decades ago, Russia was one of the most reading countries in the world. And until now, domestic publishing houses produce a large amount of literature. However, until the summer of 2012, only two of the most large companies operating in this market are AST and Eksmo. According to the data Federal agency in print and mass communications, the two giants published over 130 million books in 2011 alone. These same companies own the country's largest retail book chains.
Since the end of June this year, two leading players have turned into one: it became known that Eksmo will control the business of the AST group, which essentially turned the already small book publishing market into a monopoly. According to various sources, Eksmo owns from 50 to 80% of the fiction market. At the end of 2011, Eksmo acquired the Alpina Business Books publishing house from the Finnish company Sanoma Independent Media. The same company owns 30% of the shares of the famous business literature publishing house Mann, Ivanov and Ferber (now the company intends to increase the stake to a controlling stake). Following the merger, the company is expected to control over 60% Russian market business and professional literature.
In general, the industry itself has been in crisis for a long time. According to Rospechat, for Last year book production in our country decreased by 6.3%, and over the past three years, circulation has fallen by almost 30%. According to the publishing houses themselves, in 2011 the volume of the domestic book market amounted to 62 billion rubles, having decreased by 16.9% over four years.
Such a dismal situation is developing not only in Russia, but also abroad. For example, last year, America's second-largest bookselling chain, Borders Group Inc., declared bankruptcy and closed nearly four hundred stores across the country. U.S. print book sales fell 8.9% year over year to 651.2 million, Nielsen Book Scan reports. In the UK, volumes decreased by 6.2%, in Germany and Denmark by 5%, in Italy by 3.7%. The drop in volumes affected France the least, where the market dropped by only 1.5%.
Russian experts believe that the decline in book sales is directly related to the 2008 crisis, due to which buyers were forced to give up an additional expense item family budget related to the purchase of printed materials. Moreover, according to a report by Rospechat on the problems of Russian book publishing, the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis for this industry have not yet been completely overcome. However, problems arose long before 2008. Over the previous twenty years, this market segment developed chaotically. Store shelves were overflowing with low-quality and unclaimed literature. As might be expected, the demand for books fell sharply. Publishers were forced to raise prices to survive, which only made the situation worse.
Does this mean that everything is bad in the book publishing industry, and business in this area is doomed to failure? In fact, the segment of fiction books for adult audiences suffered the most, but reader interest in scientific and educational literature only increases every year.
Publications for children, including fiction, are in great demand. Of course, many books (especially traditional folk and well-known fairy tales) can be found on the Internet in electronic form. But parents still prefer to buy familiar books, even despite their high cost, due to high-quality printing, beautiful illustrations and small editions. Popularity e-books is growing, but mainly among adult residents of large Russian cities(there are books in electronic format read by about 30% of the population).
Parents prefer to read traditional printed books with bright, colorful pictures to their children. Some even collect entire libraries of children's literature. The child also learns to read with the help of printed primers and alphabet books, and the first books he reads on his own are not on the screen mobile device, but on plain paper.
Another segment of literature that has not been touched so much last changes, presented with expensive themed gift editions. As a rule, they are produced in small editions, are dedicated to a specific narrow topic, are of a reference and informational nature, and are often distinguished by luxurious design. Their main value is not in the text, but in the illustrations, so there is no point in reading such books in electronic form.
There are publishing houses that publish books of different price category, but on the same topic. As an example of this highly specialized book publishing house Consider Dogwise, a Seattle-based company. It was founded in 1986 by entrepreneur Charlene Woodward. Initially, it was a very ordinary retail store that provided a special service for finding rare books for schools, libraries or individuals.
While fulfilling another order to deliver books for dogs to her clients, Charlene discovered that people who want to buy quality books about their pets face certain difficulties in finding such literature. Armed with the support of her clients, the entrepreneur began selling specialized literature at dog shows. When they started asking her questions about where she could buy books about dogs during times when exhibitions were not held, Charlene decided to print and distribute a simple catalog with the ability to order the publications she liked.
Her business grew at a rapid pace. Woodward soon opened her own publishing house, which publishes books exclusively about dogs. He employs only eight people, since the main business of delivering books by mail is conducted through the company's website. Every year, the Dogwise publishing house releases from eight to ten new products, which are eagerly purchased not only by residents of the United States, but also by dog owners from other countries, including Japan and Russia. At the same time, the company does not spend money on translating its publications into other languages. It simply resells the rights to literature to foreign publishing houses. The cost of rights to one book ranges from $1,000 to $10,000, depending on the terms of the contract.
Such a narrowly themed book publishing house could become profitable business and in our country, despite the rather difficult situation on the book market in Russia. The price of entry into this market, oddly enough, is relatively low. To publish two or three books you will need a small amount. For example, according to book publishers, the cost of publishing one book with a circulation of less than ten thousand copies is less than $2.5 per unit. This means that the investment in the first edition will be about $20,000. True, we are talking about an ordinary non-gift book of standard volume and size in a hard cover, with black and white illustrations or, without them at all.
Since book publishing is considered a high-risk business, banks usually do not lend to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to work in this segment. After all, it is one thing to publish a book and quite another to successfully sell it. There is always a chance that authors will let the publisher down, will not finish writing their books, or will even leave for competitors. Therefore, new companies are financed either by private investors or by inviting large publishing houses to cooperate. If you don't have own funds to start your own business, the first option looks more attractive for a specialized project.
You should not ignore the production of e-books. If this is possible for your niche, then indicate this direction of your work at the stage of drawing up the business plan that you need for yourself or to find an investor. For example, the aforementioned publishing house Dogwise, in addition to producing specialized literature, also publishes books in electronic form. Moreover, this particular direction is one of the most profitable and fastest growing for him. “We have been publishing e-books for three years now, and our profits have increased tenfold over this period. Electronic books do not require additional costs for printing and delivery; they do not require a warehouse to store them,” says the head of the company. Also, in addition to printed and electronic books about dogs, the Dogwise publishing house produces CDs and booklets with various teaching materials and toys for dogs.
There are two ways to publish books. The first - traditional - involves the production of book circulation in a printing house. This implies a fairly large amount of work, which will take some time (it takes, on average, 3-4 months to print one edition using the offset method). First of all, the pages of the future edition are typed. Then, after checking by a proofreader, they are printed on an offset press. Offset printing of books is the most common method of book production, which is especially beneficial for medium and large print runs. The larger the circulation, the lower the cost of printing one copy of the book. Separate sheets of the publication, which must be in hardcover, are collected in so-called notebooks. Thin brochures are stitched into a single book block. For this purpose, thread stitching (considered the most optimal), wire stitching and gluing are used. “Notebooks” are selected into the block manually, after which they are loaded into a thread-sewing machine. The book block is trimmed using a special machine to give it a semicircular profile. After which the circulation is pressed in a book press.
When producing hardcover books, the next stage of production is preparing the binding cover of the publication. It consists of two cardboard sides and a spine part, which is called the “leaf”. Then paper vinyl, balacron or other material that is used for binding is glued onto the cardboard base. In some cases, at the stage of gluing the cover to indoor unit A ribbon is attached to the spine of the block head in such a way that the remaining outside end of the ribbon can be inserted between the pages of the book and protrudes beyond the lower end of the block. This is how they make a lasse - a narrow ribbon that serves as a bookmark in medium- and high-price publications. The lasse can be wicker or fabric of one, two or several colors.
Once the binding cover and book block are joined together, the entire book is placed under the press again. The last stage of making a book is the shading operation. As a result of this procedure, narrow pressed strips are created along the entire spine of the publication at the edge of its cover. Thanks to this, the book opens more easily and can remain open without additional help. Before packing books into boxes, if provided, they are wrapped in paper dust jackets or covered with film.
With this traditional way production great importance has a correctly calculated circulation of your new book. If a book published with a circulation of 3-5 thousand copies is not sold within one year, it turns out to be unprofitable for the publishing house. For a small enterprise whose turnover should be higher, these terms are even shorter.
They sell finished book products through specialized retail stores. The problem is that in retail trade, as in the book publishing business, there are only two largest federal players - the bookselling chain "Bukva", which belongs to AST (has about 450 stores), and the united chain "New Book - Bukvoed" of the publishing house Eksmo (over 100 stores). Of course, first of all, the owners of these networks promote their own products. According to some data, about 70% of the assortment of the New Book chain consists of Eksmo publications and only 30% are products of other companies. Cooperation with such networks is also difficult for young publishing houses because of the high discounts they require for the opportunity to display other books in their stores. If for some small bookstores the discount is about 10-15% of the wholesale price, then large federal chains sometimes require a discount of up to 60%, which makes it unprofitable for small publishers to work with them. The number of independent retail outlets decreases every month, which is not surprising. Indeed, despite other unfavorable factors, the level of profitability of bookstores varies depending on the format from seven to fifteen percent.
Online stores have become an alternative to regular book retail stores. According to players in this market, the annual increase in sales via the Internet for book companies is about 100%. But still, most of the publications are sold through specialized sites, which, due to the absence of usual retail costs, can offer their customers more favorable prices and a huge assortment. In addition, they can deliver books throughout the country, while most large book publishers are located in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Their only drawback is that the buyer cannot “live” evaluate the book he is purchasing, but he has the opportunity to read reviews from other readers.
The second way of producing books, which is most common in the West, is that the book is first sold and only then printed. The so-called digital printing on demand is just gaining popularity in our country, but experts are more than optimistic. Its undoubted advantages are the absence of large costs for printing a publication (now the price does not depend on the circulation, you can print even one copy of a book, even if it costs a little more than offset printing) and the ease of making a book.
Now publishing a book takes several days, not months, as before. Printing is carried out using simple equipment, which includes a computer, printers, cutters and a hot melt glue machine. You can also buy special automated lines that carry out the entire cycle of work - from printing to binding. The cars occupy about 5-6 square meters. meters and can be operated by only one operator. Printing a book, not counting editing, layout, and proofreading, takes less than half an hour. This version of the publication is more of an auxiliary version, rather than a main one. With its help, you can produce small editions (including one-piece copies) of rare literature to order or to study demand.
The staff of a small specialized book publishing house includes editors and sales managers. In principle, all other functions can be transferred to contractors, as many do small companies. Among their full-time employees there are often not even layout designers or proofreaders. Many printing houses offer services not only for printing a book, but also for preparing it for printing.
Sysoeva Lilia
- portal of business plans and manuals
Today the publishing business is one of the most popular in Russian Federation. Now there are about 16 thousand of them! This figure is primarily due to low cost entry into this market, but it is very difficult to stay here. In addition, the success and profitability of a particular publishing house is difficult, and sometimes simply impossible, to calculate.
This market is open due to its specificity. Judge for yourself, because food consumption is a limited phenomenon. Furthermore or otherwise the consumer will not be able to physically consume. That's why the dilemma inevitably arises: buy a product from this manufacturer or give preference to its competitor? It's different in the book business. A person can have as many books as he needs! If a consumer purchases a book, it does no harm to another.
Before starting a project, you must first find your specialization and choose the direction of literature that you will publish. Also, think about your target audience, how you will convey the finished product to potential consumers. If you think through everything down to the smallest detail, then the chances of success are great: our country is large and any useful and good book has more than a million potential readers.
Investments
The low price of entering the market is exactly what will play into the hands of any novice businessman. Attracting large investments for one or two books is not required. If you calculate the cost of publishing one book with a circulation of 10 thousand, you will end up with about $1. Accordingly, you will need to invest from 5 to 10 thousand dollars.
You will have to rely solely on own strength! This is because you will not be able to get a loan or help from any bank. This is solely due to high risk business. The author may not submit the work on time, and the book may not be in demand at all. Such force majeure situations are the most common occurrence in this market, so you will need to prepare for this from the beginning!
In this case, the following options for financing projects are observed:
First option: attracting private investors. Considering that you do not need a large amount of money, many people are willing to invest in book publishing. Some do it for the sake of their status, some for the sake of their soul, but many still count on good profit. The main thing is to correctly present the next project (of this or that book).
Second option: Small publishing companies often turn to their “big brothers.” “Kids” come to reputable publishers with a good idea, and if they are interested in it, then funding is guaranteed. This practice is quite common in Russia.
Specialization
Beginning businessmen should not even dare to think about the versatility of their publishing house. At a minimum, this will require a fairly large staff. If you still want to become a generalist in your business, then you will need to divide the publishing house into several editions of different specializations.
In addition to personnel issues, such publishing houses will have to resolve large mass various problems: working with several printing houses, large volumes various books, branching into a network of distributors.
Advice:
If you are just starting out, then you just need to first choose a specific niche in which you are at least slightly versed. Just don’t choose fiction - this genre is not suitable for starting a small publishing house.
What is in demand today?
Several areas can be listed:
- Cooking books.
- Floriculture.
- Homestead farming.
- Esoterics.
- Psychology.
If we consider statistics for Russia, the following facts should be noted:
- 20% of total sales are occupied by action-packed books and educational and applied literature.
- 15% - children's, teenage and fiction literature.
- 8% - modern prose, science fiction, fantasy, as well as business literature.
Of course, from such calculations we can safely conclude that fiction is a real chance for a newly founded publishing house. However, you will have very, very many competitors! Moreover, large publishing houses will simply “crush” you. It is best to occupy a narrower niche.
Examples: "Rosman" - aimed exclusively at children; “Armada” is science fiction, “BBPG” is books about everything related to wine.
If you follow this example, there is a high probability that you will achieve success after the second edition.
Publishing business from scratch and selection of authors
This is the most difficult part of the publishing business and all the difficulties are only doubled for those who are just starting to develop in this business. This is because already established “sharks of the pen” will definitely refuse to work with a newcomer, since large publishing houses can offer attractive terms of cooperation.
Example: The annual budget for promoting individual authors can reach $100 thousand! At the same time, the likelihood that a publisher will be able to easily enter the market with a newcomer is very small. Of course, no one canceled the nuggets that had not yet been noticed. A striking example: the Zakharov publishing house believed in the young, then unknown author, Boris Akunin, who is known to many today!
A successful tandem is the key to success
Remember that you can become famous thanks to the author! How the publishing house "Sofia" became recognizable because of its author Paolo Coelho. However, there are only a few such examples. It is simply impossible to calculate this factor. Even a young publishing house can receive up to thousands of manuscripts, of which only a fifth can be recommended to the publishing house. But out of this number of authors, 2-4 thousand copies, no more than 20 will be sold and only one or two authors will create real bestsellers.
Required Personnel
Forming your staff should begin with finding good editors . If in the grocery business the most important thing is the director of product sales, then in a publishing house absolutely everything rests on the editors! They are the ones who select the manuscripts that will eventually be published.
It is these specialists who must imagine who will be able to read this or that “masterpiece” and how to correctly convey information about the book to the reader. The cover must match affordable price, choose the right sales channel.
Product Sales Director - the second most important person. Because there are situations when a book becomes a bestseller in a kiosk at a bus stop, but is not sold at all in large stores!
Very large companies have more than 500 employees, but to become a good publishing house you don’t need to have so many people under your command! Here's an example:
- "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber" — this publisher operates without any staff at all. The three founders of the company are involved exclusively in the process of creating a book at the level of merchandising and general concept. The rest is done by contractors!
Distribution
As we mentioned earlier, a businessman will not need large funds to open a publishing house. Production does not take much time: from approval of the author's manuscript to the release of the book for sale, it takes about 4 months. However, this is only part of the job!
An important problem is the lack of an effective sales system. In Russia it is quite difficult to convey a book to a potential reader: the country is very large, and there are quite a few stores. Any wholesale companies and distributors that distribute finished book products from Moscow to other regions focus exclusively on large publishing houses and large volumes.
Therefore, if in the first couple of developments your book does not have a popular name of the author or there is no confirmation that you really have a bestseller on your hands, the distributor will not want to cooperate with newcomers in the publishing business. However, even if the wholesaler agrees to sell your product, this does not guarantee you high levels sales Since the book can simply get lost on the edge of the far shelf.
Optimal output:
It’s worth starting to promote your products yourself! No one can do this better than you. So you should take things into your own hands:
- Establish contacts with retailers.
- Agree on product support.
- Conduct a promotion.
- Convince the store that your book should have a prime position on the display!
And this is not a complete list of your obligations! Moreover, your efforts will not cost you much, and they will definitely bear fruit.
Important point: You should count on all stores in the capital and regions! There is no point in gathering all your strength and distributing the book exclusively to well-known bookstores in the center. Since, according to statistics, they sell bestsellers only in accordance with 1-2%, and ordinary ones are sold in single copies.
Publishing business from scratch and entrepreneurial risk
Eg:
The publishing house was able to make a name for itself on one of the authors. On the one hand, this is very good - you don’t need to spread yourself across several authors, the public is already reacting to his name, etc. But there is a downside - now your success and reputation will depend on his “pen”. In addition, not every author can produce (or rather, almost no one) one masterpiece after another. Sooner or later, sales for any author decline as more interesting writers enter the market.
If in such a situation the publishing house is unable to diversify, then 100% will be left with nothing. This is a fairly typical situation for those involved in publishing.
Another option:
You may start having disagreements with the authors! For example, a writer will demand higher bonuses and working conditions, or he will want to experiment! Such turns may not suit you. In addition, the author may be lured away by competitors.
The law will not be on your side, since everyone will be on the author's side in this matter. You will not be able to sign a contract for future books. So you won’t be able to keep writers near you. Moreover, a small publishing house will not be able to offer a high fee, unlike large players in the book market.
In addition, starting similar business You should remember two important points:
- Firstly, the success of books cannot be calculated. It often happens that a book fits all the canons and is simply bound to become a bestseller, especially since the author is famous and the plot is interesting. There are no sales! Any marketing technology in the book market guarantees only 20% of success, the remaining 80% depends on how much the reader likes the book.
- Secondly, you won’t have a chance to sell your business! This is because there are no assets in the publishing business that would be of interest to investors. Nobody needs unsold goods that will gather dust in a warehouse! Everyone is only interested in the authors.
Compare all the possible risks and think about whether you want to get involved in such a “paper adventure” or not? Remember that if things go well, you can provide yourself with not just a comfortable life, but live peacefully in a mansion on the seashore!
Book publishing- one of those types of businesses that, perhaps, require practically nothing except an idea, small investments and basic business organization. This makes it similar to semi-virtual businesses such as programming or Internet projects. Most of the stages here are easily, as it is now fashionable to say, “out-sourced.” How much does it cost to start and maintain your own publishing business?
From the outside it may seem that book publishing house -business large, or at least medium. Many still remember the publishing houses of Soviet times, which occupied entire buildings, and those of a smaller caliber - at least a separate entrance. And there are corridors along which editors, proofreaders, technologists, and, of course, eternally dissatisfied authors scurried about.
An impression of the physical scale of the business may also arise from the fact that a printing complex with printing presses, a bookbinding shop and a permanently hungover warehouse manager finished products. In reality, everything is not like that. The publishing house may occupy only one room, or may not occupy it at all. We need a general director, an accountant, Chief Editor, Head of Sales Department and Head of Production Department. All these functions can be successfully performed by 2–3 people. Or even just one person, who also happens to be an author. Theoretically, it is possible to create a publishing house even to publish one book, if its popularity is guaranteed.
All this became possible thanks to the emergence personal computers, more precisely, the growth of their power to such an extent that they can easily cope with desktop publishing systems, that is, in simple terms, layout programs. In addition, publishing books as a type of activity today does not require licensing.
It is no coincidence that the small publishing business is currently experiencing a real boom. If in the Soviet Union at the end of the 80s there were only about 200 state publishing houses (many of which are openly dying today), now about 1,500 new private publishing houses appear every year, and the total number of titles published annually, according to various estimates, ranges from 50 to 100 000. Many publishing houses are created for the purpose of printing no more than 5 books, and this is not reprehensible. Business profitability ranges from 30 to 100%, and you can earn your bread and butter by publishing just one or two books. If only they sold out.
Business Basics
Let's start with the fact that the publishing house does not physically produce books. They are printed by a printing house. Its main functions are the preparation of the manuscript (which ends with the production of the original layout) and the subsequent sale of books (usually wholesale).
It is necessary to start a publishing business by registering a legal entity (CJSC or LLC). This procedure has no special features compared to other types entrepreneurial activity, so there is no point in talking about it in detail. Just need to create entity, the charter of which will specify such type of activity as publishing books. If you have no experience in registering legal entities, then it is better to use the services of companies specializing in this. In Moscow, turnkey registration will cost approximately $500–600 including all fees, authorized capital, legal address, seal and other attributes of an official business.
In principle, you can register a publishing house as a PBOLE. Previously, bookselling companies did not like this, because there were problems with VAT offset (for books it is only 10%, but books are not subject to income tax). Now PBOYULs pay this tax, so there is no fundamental difference in the choice of form of entrepreneurship.
There is currently no need to obtain a license to publish books. The Law “On Licensing” individual species activities" (as amended on August 8, 2001) the book publishing was not included, although first it was necessary to obtain a license from the Ministry of Press of the Russian Federation. Book publishing does not apply to such a licensed type of activity as the media, since, according to the definition of the law “On the Mass Media”, the media implies a “periodical printed publication” on a regular basis. Books are published once, not counting, of course, reprints.
At the same time, book publishing remains within the legal framework Russian legislation, including such laws as “On State Secrets”, “On Copyright and Related Rights”, etc., so the lack of licensing does not mean that you can publish anything and any way you want.
It is also necessary to mention the mandatory registration with the Russian Book Chamber bookchamber.ru This will allow you to receive international codes ISBN. Without such a code, it is theoretically possible to publish a book, but this creates certain difficulties for wholesalers and retailers; moreover, books that violate the publishing rules will not be purchased by libraries. ISBN codes are relatively inexpensive (about 500 rubles apiece), but in Russia publishing houses, especially regional ones, oddly enough, are trying to save on this. There are three ways here: do not use the code, “copy” (that is, steal) the code from any other book, and finally, use the code received from the Book Chamber repeatedly. And all three cause problems with bookselling, introducing confusion into commodity accounting, which is most easily organized precisely by unique numbers ISBN.
In general, the activities of the Book Chamber should not be neglected: although it plays a minor role in advertising, it notifies libraries about the release of new publications, sends copies to the largest libraries and collectors, which publishers are obliged to provide from each publication (this is about 15 copies, usually they are given away the printing houses themselves). The Book Chamber is also involved in determining the UDC and BBK codes; they reflect the subject of the publication. For 350 rubles, the Chamber’s experts will select them for you, although in this case you can copy these codes from a similar publication.
Idea
Of course, to publish books you need ideas. Here, according to the classical laws of marketing, it is necessary either to publish a book that has no similar one, or to make it better than others (and/or cheaper). Many books are now published with narrow professional groups in mind. In general, it can be noted that it is profitable to publish useful books. Definitely not worth messing with fiction, unless, of course, you stumbled upon a brilliant author. But to promote even a brilliant author, you are unlikely to have the same means as titans like Eksmo, AST or Rosman.
When thinking about whether or not to publish a book, you need to understand who is interested and needs it, whether they will buy it at the expected price, and how to promote it to the market. To get an idea of what is currently selling well, you can go, for example, to the Ozon online store www.ozon.ru and see which books are considered bestsellers there.
It is easy to prepare books that are not subject to copyright: texts of laws and regulations (well-commented laws are especially valued), reprint old ones for which the copyright has expired (for example, you could make good money by publishing F. Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot” on wave of popularity of the series of the same name - here, by the way, only the AST publishing house came to the rescue). It's easy to make books of advice, horoscopes, jokes from the Internet. But they are difficult to sell due to high competition and the inability to print large editions at first (and this is the key to a competitive price); moreover, the author of such nameless material may later be revealed.
In a word, a start-up publishing house needs an intelligent book, which has practically no competitors and which the reader is ready to take without saving. There is also a rule: the number of future buyers should be an order of magnitude greater than the expected circulation. It is advisable to have a priori resources for promoting the book (that is, notifying potential readers about it). It’s good if the author himself has the appropriate resources (known in the right circles, trusted as an expert, has a popular website, etc.).
As a rule, a good book still has an author (or a team of authors). It is necessary to conclude a copyright agreement with him. The agreement regulates the mutual rights and obligations of the author and publisher. The author undertakes to submit the manuscript to specific date in a form determined by the publisher (usually a Word document). As often happens, the author is responsible for violating the copyrights of third parties, as well as for disclosing state, commercial or departmental secrets. The publisher is usually unable to track this. The latter, in turn, undertakes to publish the book (you can determine the minimum circulation and deadline) or reject the submitted manuscript (you can specify the conditions for rejection - delay in delivery of the manuscript or its low quality). The agreement also stipulates the procedure for paying royalties (royalties). Basically, the fee is determined as a percentage of the cost of the circulation (the publishing price of the publisher multiplied by the circulation of the book - the scheme also applies to payment for reprints). The typical fee for the Russian market is 7–12%, although other rates are possible, as well as a fixed payment for a manuscript with the right to publish a certain edition.
It is beneficial for the publisher to enter into an agreement for the transfer of exclusive rights to publish a specific book, which provide for the rights to publish and sell books throughout the world, including publication in other languages, partial or complete assignment of rights to third parties. Exclusive rights can be temporary (for example, 5 years). But again, since time flies quickly, it is more profitable for the publisher to have perpetual rights. Sample texts of copyright agreements can be easily found on the Internet.
Having concluded the contract, all that remains is to wait for the author to bring the manuscript. We must immediately come to terms with the fact that not everyone who promises to write a book will actually do it. Writers are creative and changeable people. Therefore, at first it is better to work with those who bring ready-made manuscripts.
From manuscript to original layout
So, the manuscript is in the publishing house. Let us describe a standard technological cycle in which individual elements can be optimized.
The editor-in-chief is the first to review the manuscript. He evaluates its quality, logic and structure. Here it is useful to involve experts. If a fundamental revision of the manuscript is not required, then the editor gets down to business, who (in an interactive mode with the author) hones the book’s structure, vocabulary, terminology, grammar, and style. The editor's work is paid within a fairly wide range; it depends on both the volume of the book and the quality of the manuscript. Even in major cities it is not difficult to find an editor (you definitely need to hire one with experience) who will undertake to process the book for 20–40 cents per page (as a rule, the editor is given the text without illustrations). That is, a 300-page book with 30% illustrations will cost about $50–100.
After the initial editing of the book, the manuscript is given to the layout designer. The payment for his work depends on the complexity of the layout and the qualifications of the layout designer (after all, he can also design a book to varying degrees). Here, the variations in labor payment are also large, but if you again focus on the prices of large cities, then the upper limit lies in the range of 0.5–1 dollar per page, although you can find much cheaper ones. As for choosing a layout program, this is a matter of taste and professionalism of the layout designer himself. Despite the snobbery of professional designers, I assert with full responsibility that even complex layouts are not difficult to make up in “native” Word, especially since the manuscript itself is often prepared by the author in the same program.
The typed manuscript in the form of a printout (what used to be called “proofs”) is handed over to the proofreader, whose work is simpler than that of the editor - he only proofreads the text and corrects grammatical errors (after the editor’s work, there are much fewer of them than in the author’s text) and layout errors. Therefore, the work of a proofreader is paid less: 10–20 cents per page. The proofreader marks the corrections with signs understandable to the layout designer, and the latter enters them into the layout of the book.
It is advisable to coordinate editorial and proofreading changes with the author (this may be specified in the contract). Just like the last word, the printing culture demands that the signing be left to the author. He receives a final layout and is obliged to give the go-ahead for publication with the elimination of the shortcomings he noted (within reasonable limits, of course).
The path to the printing house
The further fate of the layout depends on the chosen printing method. Currently, there are essentially two of them: digital and offset (plus letterpress printing, which is already rarely used).
Alas, there is no opportunity to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this or that type of printing. Let us only note that offset, in terms of printing costs, is effective for circulations of 1000 (preferably 3000) copies. And the larger the circulation, the lower the cost of printing (an expensive operation is the production of printing plates). Cheap printing starts from 5000 copies. Printing houses give very large discounts only for circulations of 100 thousand. Up to this threshold, the cost of printing depends almost linearly on the number of pages in the book and the circulation.
To order offset printing, you must submit transparencies to the printing house - a layout of the book on transparent film However, almost all manufacturers can produce films themselves or through subcontractors. It is better to coordinate the layout requirements with the printing house you choose. There are two ways to make transparencies - photo output and printing on a laser printer.
Photo output is certainly more attractive for two reasons: it provides almost completely black color, ideal resolution (from 2400 dpi and above), and accurate reproduction of halftones in illustrations. Even expensive laser printers are not always capable of this. Disadvantage - relatively high price(as a rule, it is ordered as a service; your own photo output machine is an expensive pleasure). In Moscow, photo output costs about $1 for one A4 film. You can save money by printing on large sheets(several pages per sheet), however this will require appropriate preparation of the layout.
It is cheaper to make transparencies on a laser printer; for this, instead of regular paper, you need to use “transparency” or tracing paper. There is, however, a subtlety here: “for offset” the transparencies are made “emulsion down”, that is, it is necessary to print the layout in a mirror image. Only postsript printers or printers with postscript mode emulation can do this on the fly. You can get around this by producing PDF files in between.
When the layout is ready, all that remains is to place an order at the printing house, choosing paper for the book and cover. This is a matter of taste and largely depends on the purpose of the publication: budget is one thing, gift giving is another. It is even more difficult to decide when you want to make a book both cheap and well designed.
Paper for the book itself (“block”, that is, a book without a cover) costs from 14 thousand rubles per ton (newspaper) to 22–27 thousand (offset; its price largely depends on the degree of whiteness and density). To calculate the required amount of paper, you need to multiply the sheet area (for example, 60 by 90 cm) by the number of printed sheets (usually 16 book pages of 84x108/32 format) and by the paper density (60–70 g/sq. m). The paper is sold in "rolls", so it is important to know the format of the book. For example, the printing format 60 x 90/16 corresponds to size A 5; this book requires paper with a roll width of 60 cm.
Paper can be purchased both from agent companies and from printing houses. It is impossible to answer for sure where it is better to buy. Firstly, not all printing houses offer paper in required assortment; secondly, you just need to compare prices. As a rule, companies selling paper hang around printing houses. You can negotiate with them - they will deliver the paper in the required quantity to the printing house. In general, on all such issues it is better to consult directly with a local technologist.
As for the paper on the cover, it should be thick, it can be smooth or corrugated (“shell”, “linen”, “hammer”, etc.). Usually sold in sheets. It’s better not to save money here and buy good imported paper, which costs about $1.5 per kilogram.
In general, attention should be paid to the cover Special attention in terms of both design and printing. After all, the potential reader receives the first visual and tactile sensation from it. It may be worth spending money on lamination or, at least, varnishing (it will increase wear resistance) and save on the block itself (famous publishing houses often resort to this trick). You can also splurge on binding (that is, a hard cover), but this costs much more and limits the choice of paper for the book.
Do not forget that a book can stand on a store shelf for a long time, and saving on the quality of paper and printing will lead to
that after being viewed by a dozen readers it will lose its presentable appearance. To achieve high quality cover, it can be printed separately from the book, using the services of a small printing house. There, perhaps, they will make the order more quickly and accurately. In addition, if you bring your own covers, you will insure yourself against printing by a printing house of a “left edition” (that is, in excess of the ordered quantity, which will then end up on the market at a dumping price).
That's it, the book is ready. All that remains is to take it to a pre-rented warehouse and start selling. How is a separate conversation, but you need to think about it, of course, before you start publishing a book.
As you already understand, the beauty of the publishing business is that almost all operations can be easily outsourced: you don’t need to have an author, an editor, a proofreader, or a layout designer on staff. You just need to be able to find them and come to an agreement. They may be in another city and another country.
All you need is an idea for a book and the ability to sell it.