Planning to Publish with Peter E. Randall Publisher

Planning To Publish...

A few words of caution when considering subsidy or custom publishing: It is not reasonable to assume that your book will have a substantial bookstore sale except perhaps locally. More and more bookstores, especially the chain stores, are buying primarily from distributors and the latter rarely order from small publishers unless the book has received substantial national publicity. Fiction and poetry are very difficult to sell, even for established authors. We make these statements not to discourage you but to make certain that you have realistic expectations for your book. Despite what other subsidy or vanity press publishers tell you, it is unlikely that your book will make a profit unless it is targeted to a specific market, which can be reached through direct mail and on the internet. With proper attention to production costs, print order, and a strong marketing effort, we have found that many of our authors at least break even and some make a small profit.

We are in this business because we love books and we want to see authors treated fairly and realistically. If your motivation is to have an attractive, accurate, quality book, we can produce it for you. We know of no subsidy publisher offering terms and conditions which are as fair to authors.

In order to provide an accurate estimate we need to see the entire manuscript, to know if the manuscript was prepared by typewriter or a computer, the types and number of illustrations, if any, whether you want hardbound or paperback binding, and the expected print order.