Answers To Your
QuestionsAnswers To Your
Questions
Can someone at Fast Books help me?
The management and staff at Fast Books are always willing to help you on the phone, depending of course on current production deadlines. (We're always a bit short tempered on Friday afternoon.) For more extensive assistance, take advantage of a meeting. The fee is $396 and rebatable off your complete service print price provided you go ahead with the job within 6 months.We encourage you to use the Books and Writers Network website for help with formatting, layout, book design, scanning, etc. Sign up for membership. It costs only $99 for 3 months. www.booksandwriters.net.au
How much should I charge for my book?
Many of our clients set a retail price that is twice the cost price of their book and make their investment back when they sell half their printing.
How much margin should I have on my camera ready pages?
This depends on the type of book: for example, margins in a book of poems are different than margins in a self-help title. The rule is: leave enough space for your thumbs, and don't push type too close to the gutter.
I can do everything but the cover. What does it cost to have Fast Books do it for me?
We charge $385 for typesetting and layout according to your design, plus $22 per scan for photographs. Please write a blurb for the back cover, containing details of the book. Something like: "This book is about... It tells the story of... The author is..." Try to keep your blurb to three paragraphs: short grabs, not entire life stories.
How can I sell my book through bookshops or get a distributor?
Australia-wide distribution requires large numbers of copies and a high promotions budget, and provides very little income to small publishers. We suggest you print only as many books as you need for your own use, at least to "test the waters" in your first print run.Sell your book on-line on the Books & Writers Network. Have a look at this: www.booksandwriters.net.au
The Books and Writers Website has a selected and annotated database of Australian bookshops, distributors, and library suppliers. Sign up for 3 months membership for $99. www.booksandwriters.net.au
How do I sell my books, then?
Be a successful business person and develop your own unique, creative book marketing plan. We suggest that you print only as many copies as you need. It's quick and inexpensive to print more books, when you need them, as you need them, on demand.
Is self-publishing a way to commercial success?
Yes, most definitely. Abraham H. Biderman's autobiography The World of My Past was self published in a small print run, and has gone on to collect two major Australian book awards: The Biography Prize (worth $12,500) and the Banjo Non-Fiction Book of the Year.
And congratulations to our honoured authors
Australia Day honours have been presented to many Fast Books authors including Sir Ian Turbott, George Gittoes, Joyce Stephens, Shelagh Champion and George Champion.
George Gittoes, AO
George Gittoes was made an officer in the Order of Australia (AO). George is a remarkable artist. He has, without any concern for his own nsafety, accompanied the Australian peace keeping forces to major trouble zones in the world, and sketched, photographed and later painted his remembrances of Somalia, Cambodia, the Western Sahara and the Middle East.
His drawings appear in the book Drawing on Peace, and the catalogue of his solo exhibition The Realism of Peace, his photos are included in Rwanda, and a fabulous CD is now available, titled George Gittoes on CD.
Sir Ian Turbott, AC
Sir Ian's memoirs Lands of Sun and Spice"tell the story of a remarkable man who has pursued a full, active and productive life.
"The book is essentially about people and is marked with humour, adventures and achievement. (The book) provides a commentary on a phase of colonial history that the world will never see again."
Sir Ian was born in New Zealand in 1922. He began a long career in the diplomatic colonial service following studies at the London School of Economics, and served in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, on Canton Island, in Antigua, and finally as the first Governor of the newly independent Grenada, before retiring into private business as a corporate executive headhunter.
Sir Ian is founding and present Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney.
Australia Day honours went last year to Joyce Stevens AM, for her work in social justice for women as a writer and community activist. Her book was printed by Fast Books and is titled Healing Women: A History of Leichhardt Women's Community Health Centre.
Is self-publishing vanity publishing?
Paying a publisher to publish for you is vanity publishing, but self-publishing the right number of books makes you a successful small business person.
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