No this isn’t a how to on becoming a published novelist. It’s a story about a dream becoming a reality if only for a few years.
In nineteen eighty six Chiffon Publishers sprang into being. We were the first On Demand Publishing company although you will never find us listed as such. To become a short run publisher we needed to be able to print one book or a hundred on demand. There were no print programs to print the way we needed. There were many booklet printing programs but none of them fit our need.
I dug in and wrote a print program for the computer so we could take one sheet of paper and print four pages of a book. Take a sheet of paper and turn it sideways. Now you need to print page four on the left side and page one on the right. Flip it over and print page two opposite page one and page three opposite page four. Fold it in half and you have in order, pages 1,2,3,4. Do that for a six hundred page book numbering each page in sequence. Put the raw book in a book press, hot glue the spine, wrap the book cover, and you have a book. To make it “professional” you must trim the edges.
We carried our books to every trade show in the southwest looking for equipment to make it easier. There wasn’t any. The funny part is, everyone at those trade shows were telling us we couldn’t do it like we were doing it. They were all taking notes. Six years, or a few more, later On Demand Publishing became the phrase of the day. They came with more money, more contacts inside the publishing industry, and brand new equipment designed around publishing one book or a thousand on demand. That brand new equipment was going for close to a million dollars. Something the large name brand bookstores and big publishing companies could afford. We couldn’t.
I don’t regret we didn’t patent our On Demand book publishing idea. There are a lot of authors out there who can get their stories published where before one had to be an insider in the industry. With Amazon and all the others involved in web publishing even more opportunities have opened up for the unknown writers of the world.
If one wants their stories in printed book format there are several companies that do that. Regretfully we are no longer are in the game. Your book makes a heck of a conversation piece. I mean come on, it isn't on the computer. It's on the kitchen table or the end table. Or you ordered a dozen and put them in every room in the house. Nothing says I have arrive like having YOUR book, with your name among all the other great authors on the book shelf. Move over Mark Twain.
Chiffon Publishers made that possible for several authors. Hard to say who was more proud, me or those writers.
Lulu.com is one of those companies. There are others.
Have fun with life
It’s too darn short to take it seriously
Barbie Lee
Chiffon Publishers 1986-2002
Comments
You made a difference
Thank you, the access to self publishing has changed the publishing world. It has helped publishing evolve from an bound old man dictatorship to a larger freer outlet bound only by the desires of the reading public.
Huggles
Michele
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book
Our reward is the abundance of writers
Thank you Michele
The stories we get to read are no longer fed to us by what the establishment thinks. I like the true story about the author who made the NYT Best Seller list. He hadn't even wrote it..., yet. Can we say oops?
Our lives are richer more full because all the independent authors are no longer locked out. Someone else would have done the same given time. It had to happen.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Barbie Lee
Take a bow.
Your note speaks to the ego-satisfaction of self-publishing. That certainly is part of the function of a "vanity press".
More important is the blow you landed to the seamy side of the process; the side of the publishing industry that preys on the frustrated author.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to negotiate the route to a "published" book. I bought and read all the books, including directories of literary agents and publishers. I sent out hundreds of query letters and dozens of manuscripts.
The results:
1.) Incredible frustration, and
2.) An introduction to a group of amazingly cynical people.
The offers poured in. First came the letters from professional editors who would take my manuscript and "polish" it into a masterpiece. Then were the offers for seminars to learn the trade. And then came the offers to represent me as an agent . . . if I paid them a certain amount of money that allowed them to go that final step beyond the average literary agent.
Some offers were valid, but most were out and out scams. If you like a taste try this wonderful site, which does its best to hold the scoundrels feet to the fire.
http://pred-ed.com/peala.ht
On the other hand . . . on demand printing also allowed created a mini-industry that fleeced the unsuspecting. Google "sue Publish-America" to see the kerfuffle.
The recipe seems to be; take one motivated author, stir in the frustration of a gatekeeper system like the publishing industry, Take as much money as you can.
Because of your efforts the wheels were set in motion to greatly relieve frustration.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Ahhh yes the con artists in sheeps clothing
Angela Rasch,
I thank God "they" didn't pull you in.
Stories are writers babies. Authors put their blood, sweat, and tears into birthing the child and are prime game to those who would use that to bleed the life out of them.
All the con has to do is massage the ego of the author telling him or her how great their next "Gone With the Wind" novel will be. All it takes to grease the runway to success is..., MONEY!
The writer will mortgage his house, borrow money from his family, friends, whatever it takes because he has been assured his novel is the next Tom Clancy "Hunt for Red October"
People! you NEVER EVER give money to a publishing company or agent or anyone promising you fame and fortune is waiting in the wings for you. The first clue you are being fleeced is, "all you have to do is give a little money." I guarantee that little money will never be enough because they always need more until there is no more to be had. And then they are gone. Don't bother calling them or emailing them or sending them letters. You're broke and they no longer have time for you. They have new authors to turn into the next Zane Grey millionaire.
You can set your heart on the moon but the sad truth is writers are like movie stars. For every famous movie star you see up on the big screen there are literally thousands that didn't make it. Accept your novel as you accept your children. You gave birth to it and if it turns into something famous then you been double blessed. And if it doesn't then you been blessed in writing a novel or story or stories.
The horror stories abound of authors self publishing with a Vanity Publishing Company. That's self publishing for you who aren't clued in. They do print runs in the thousands. Authors mortgaged their homes spent their savings and end up with a garage full of books because they had no clue they needed to be distributed. And bookstores seldom take on unknowns. And if the book doesn't sell it is called a "remainder". And is sent back to the author.
You want a book and the book agents and publishing companies won't give you a tumble? Go to the On Demand Publishers and stay away from the Vanity Publishers. Yes there is a difference. On Demand will print you out one or a thousand books but only what you order. Order one. Look it over before committing to any more for family and friends. You can make corrections on the fly. The second book can have all the corrections in it you wanted.
The book business is full of sharks. Use what God gave you between the ears and research before you jump in.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl