The Publishers Challenge Part Two

This week we are going to delve into some history. I will explore two Publishers that I find intriguing. Since age goes before beauty, I will present to you a company that is family owned and has been in business since 1933! This is MP Morris, who started as a commercial printer then switched to specializing in the short-run book industry. They publish quantities from one hundred to five thousand.

Do not let the fact that they been around so long make you think they are “dinosaurs” for nothing could be farther from the truth! They have a state-of –the art facility, which appears quite modern according to the picture that they have on there Web Site. Another thing is, they are known somewhat for there cookbooks, which has a separate web site and is a different division. You find that site at www.morriscookbooks.com.

MP Morris has a lot of options and to determine the price you first haft to decide on the size of book you want to do. Just for sake of the contest, I will look at 51/2” X 8 ½ at lets say… two hundred pages (or one-hindered sheets since they consider a page one size of a sheet of paper).

Let us go for five hundred copies, which using there pricing chart, comes out to $ 2.88 a copy. Which calculates out to $1440. So what services do you get for that amount? There is the standard sixty- pound page for the basic price and full color stock covers that cannot be customized other than title. All there covers have a gloss finish which resists stains and spills, protects the finish, and enhances colors. They also offer a professional design services with many options available. Cover design can be multiple or full-color and can include almost any desired form of art medium. When it comes to a marketing plan, they have tools that you can download to help promote your book.

Breakout your machete for we are headed to the Amazon! Amazon dot com, that is. They are the owner of BookSurge, our next contestant in are little contest. They were started by a group of Authors and were acquired by Amazon dot com in 2005. I sent an email to David Fredland of BookSurge inviting him to my little contest and he responded with a wealth of information. He informed me that from his perspective there are “four factors to giving your book the best possible advantage.” These four are:

1). Editing

2). Formatting

3). A eye catching cover design

4). A Great Marketing plan.

I started this contest with three aspects, Price, book layout (including the cover) and marketing. However, if he wants to include Editing, we will include it for at lest for this article. From my research, I have learned the importance of making sure your manuscript is about as perfect as you can get before submitting it to an Editor. Now, what is BookSurge’s prices for there most affordable package? The answer is something they call Total Design Freedom Publishing Program. It goes for $799 this is what you get:

Ten free books:

Inclusion of images in your Book interior –Ten.

Unique Custom Cover

Custom interior Book formatting

ISBN Assignment and bar code.

Online listings with leading retail and wholesale.

There is much more information than this on there web site. It is well worth checking out. It is probably the most extensive and creative web site I have seen used by any book publishing company, so far.

This concludes this segment of the Publishers Challenge! Let me know  if there are other companies, you want me to do the challenge with.