Smooth Sailing Press

Tadpole Press
...4 Kids

Blue Crab Press
Epicurean

Why Self-Publish?


What is Self-Publishing?

One of the fastest growing segments of the publishing industry today is Self-publishing. There are many reasons why authors seeking publication find this alternative to traditional publishing attractive. The foremost reason is control. Self-publishing allows the author to have as much control or input as they would like regarding the creation and selling of their book.

As a self-published author, you are responsible for the full cost of producing your work and are responsible for major marketing and distribution choices. Therefore, the printed copies, the copyright, and all money received from book sales are exclusively yours. You choose how you spend your marketing dollars to promote your new book.



In addition, many first-time authors find it difficult to be picked-up by a traditional publishing house because of a lack of sales history by the author. The traditional publisher is more inclined to publish books by established authors or well-known personalities even if not written as well as other manuscripts it rejects. With self-publishing, you can test your book's sales potential by self-publishing a small quantity through a subsidy publisher like Smooth Sailing Press. At Smooth Sailing Press we have the capability of producing beautiful books in any form that will compete head to head with any traditionally published book in the marketplace. There are few limitations to what we can produce. By printing overseas, we have the same capabilities as all of the big names in the industry.

Since profit is not always the driving force in writing a book, we offer print runs as small as 200-500 with reorders as small as 50 copies in some formats that we produce “in-house.” This allows an author that has written a book with a limited audience, or who is skeptical about the expense in publishing a book the opportunity to bring a quality book to market. These books often fill specific needs of an organization, a business, or tell your family history.


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In-House Printing Specifications

For short run books like those described above we offer printing in one-color text (black ink) for interior page printing, with one-color (black ink) artwork or photos, in two popular book sizes (5 13/16" x 8 1/4" and 8 1/2" x 11") printed on 70lb text paper.

Short run books in quantities of 250-500 copies can be produced with the following binding styles:

• Perfect Bound – with a wrap around matte finished full color cover.

Standard paperback books are an example of perfect binding.  The pages and cover are held together by an adhesive which keeps its strength and resiliency for a long period of time. This binding is great for many types of books, including novels and collections of short stories.

The same basic concept as perfect binding is used, except that an additional cloth tape is added to the spine for strength and style.    The pages and cover are held together by an adhesive which keeps its strength and resiliency for a long period of time.  A durable translucent paper that adds to the vibrancy of the color printing is used as a dust jacket.  This binding style also has a retro chic quality and is good for any type of book.

• “Lay-Flat” Plastic Comb Binding – with a matte finished full color, 2 part cover.  Used on 8 ½” x 11” books only.

We offer plastic comb binding with a soft cover for an additional 45¢ per book charge over the cost of the standard perfect bound book.  Plastic comb binding is ideally used for books which must lie flat, such as manuals, how-to books, or workbooks.

Our hardcover book features a durable cloth binding and a full-color dust jacket. The additional space provided by the interior of the dust jacket allows us to print descriptive copy about your book and your author biography on the inside flaps, while the back cover may include, for example, excerpts of reviews or endorsements.

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Reasons to Self-Publish

Expediency

Most traditional publishing houses work on an 18-month production cycle. Once we receive all of the necessary materials, we can have your book completed and ready to ship in only 30-40 working days for in-house projects and in 3 months or less for projects printed over seas.


Author Control

Your book should reflect you the author at your very best, assisted by professionals to give you a marketable book that you are proud of.  Self-publishing gives you the final word on the direction of your book. In traditional publishing, the author has very little say in the final out come of the project.  But with self-publishing the decisions are exclusively yours and not limited by third parties with intentions and interests different from your own.


Profit

Since you will primarily handle your own promotion, why not self-publish and keep all of the profit for yourself?  A traditionally published author would receive a few dollars up front and 5-15% royalties on the wholesale price of the book.  After self-publishing, if your book becomes a hit, publishers may come calling. Your high profit margin will give you the upper hand in negotiations.


Possession

As a self-published author, you own all rights to your book. If you use a traditional publishing house, they will own all rights. If they lose interest in your book and take it “out-of-print,” you will not be able to print additional copies unless you purchase those rights back.


Best of Both Worlds

With Smooth Sailing Press, you get the best of both styles of publishing.  Because we do both traditional and subsidy publishing your book will receive the benefit of association with an emerging name in publishing to the industry.  When we at Smooth Sailing Press market our own imprint titles, we can present yours also.  This puts your books in the hands of buyers that you could never reach on your own with one title.  Unlike standard subsidy publishers, we are selective about the titles we publish.  We will turn down a title if we feel it does not fit in our family of titles.  We don’t want to just be your “Printer,” we want to be your “Publisher”.

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Self-Publishing Process

Now that you have completed your manuscript and have done all of the editing that you know to do, it is time to begin the process of taking it to print.  Because you have found your way to our website, let us assume that you are considering Self-Publishing.  If this is the case, Smooth Sailing Press will you chart your course through the steps of self-publishing.  If your interest in Smooth Sailing Press is having your manuscript considered for traditional publishing, the first step is the same...in the process of taking it to print. 

Step 1 – Contact Smooth Sailing Press

Write:                Smooth Sailing Press
                  Attn: Submissions Department
                         9306 Max Conrad Dr.
                          Spring, Texas 77379

When sending your manuscript to Smooth Sailing Press by mail, please send both a printed copy and a copy on disc or CD.

If transmitting by email, please add the manuscript file as an attachment.

 
Step 2 – Smooth Sailing Press will Contact You

Once your manuscript has been submitted, the publisher will contact you to go over the details and answer any questions you may have.

Step 3 – Publishing Agreement & Project Cost Proposal

Step 4 – Manuscript Preparation

Step 6 – Printing Proof Copy

The publisher will make the requested changes as marked on the returned First Proof Copy of the Pre-Press Manuscript.  The corrected version will be sent to printing and a Printing Proof Copy will be created for approval by the author.

This Printing Proof Copy is mailed to the author for verification that all of the requested changes have been made.  The author will initial each page to signify approval and return the Printing Proof Copy to the publisher.

The remaining 50% balance for the printing cost is due to the publisher with the returned approved copy of the Printing Proof Copy of the Pre-Press Manuscript.

Step 7 – Printing

Step 8 – Shipping & Warehousing

Shipping from our warehouse…

Note:  For orders printed overseas, the price quoted to the author includes the ocean and land freight to our warehouse.  The author will be billed separately for freight from the Smooth Sailing Press warehouse to the destination of choice.

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