How Much Would You Pay for a Light Novel Publishing Service?

[Snay]

Hello everyone, I am developing a comprehensive editorial service for light novels and would like to know your opinion on the cost. The service will include:

• Professional full-color cover illustration
• 7 grayscale illustrations
• Cover design + Logo
• Layout in light novel size (Japanese format, same quality)
• Printing of 1000 copies of your book
• Advertising on Amazon
• Creative advertising on social media
• Advertising with influencers
• Production of a Book Trailer (PV)
• Professional editing and proofreading by an editor
• Network of contacts with other published writers

Could you share how much you would be willing to pay for such a service? Your feedback will be very helpful in adjusting and improving the offer. Thank you very much in advance for your time and collaboration!

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

None. Money flows from publishers to authors in the form of royalties. Not from authors to publishers. This reeks of vanity presses. If I were going to contract publication of one of my works to an outside company, I would expect them to pay me for this.

 

[Snay]

None. Money flows from publishers to authors in the form of royalties. Not from authors to publishers. This reeks of vanity presses. If I were going to contract publication of one of my works to an outside company, I would expect them to pay me for this.

My idea was to offer authors this service where they can manage their books with the project management where the author keeps all the royalties but pays for the service of illustrations, promotional videos, and more. Like a promotional package instead of having to commission each person individually.

(I’m not doing this with bad intentions)

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

That's still effectively a vanity press in all but name. And I reiterate my earlier statement. I would expect a publisher to pay me for my work. Not the other way around.

 

[Tsuru]

None. Money flows from publishers to authors in the form of royalties. Not from authors to publishers. This reeks of vanity presses. If I were going to contract publication of one of my works to an outside company, I would expect them to pay me for this.

That's still effectively a vanity press in all but name. And I reiterate my earlier statement. I would expect a publisher to pay me for my work. Not the other way around.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

There are already services doing this - though about 2/3 of them are scams. Seriously (even had one of them offer me an editing job ... then tried to get me to by about 10K USD in hardware and software). I would do some research as to what they are asking and try to undercut it. If I had to name a price, I would probably say "$200 USD if it includes obtaining a cover that I have some approval on, and a percentage of profits, or just a percentage of profits if I have no approval on the artwork"

 

[Snay]

There are already services doing this - though about 2/3 of them are scams. Seriously (even had one of them offer me an editing job ... then tried to get me to by about 10K USD in hardware and software). I would do some research as to what they are asking and try to undercut it. If I had to name a price, I would probably say "$200 USD if it includes obtaining a cover that I have some approval on, and a percentage of profits, or just a percentage of profits if I have no approval on the artwork"

Thank you very much for your point of view. I just wanted to know because I had the skills and contacts, and wanted to know if perhaps some would be interested. It's not in bad faith, I swear.

Thank you very much for your opinion.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Thank you very much for your point of view. I just wanted to know because I had the skills and contacts, and wanted to know if perhaps some would be interested. It's not in bad faith, I swear.

Thank you very much for your opinion.

Hope you did not think I was accusing you of being a scammer - just that there is a long website of known scams offering services like that that I was following for a while (most of them have "Amazon" somewhere in the name of the company, even though apparently only one ever was associated with Amazon and was kicked from their official affiliates for being too shady). AND there are legit services too, making it a mine field for both authors and those offering these services..

Most of the scams initially charge between $400 and $1000 USD for "editing and promotional" services - and usually wind up charging far more in "fees and services" or "to avoid legal challenges" before the author sees even one penny back, if they ever do (this was a month or two back, but one author backed out when the price went to over $1400, another wound up spending over $4000 and only got back about $200 in royalties).

 

[Snay]

Hope you did not think I was accusing you of being a scammer - just that there is a long website of known scams offering services like that that I was following for a while (most of them have "Amazon" somewhere in the name of the company, even though apparently only one ever was associated with Amazon and was kicked from their official affiliates for being too shady). AND there are legit services too, making it a mine field for both authors and those offering these services..

Most of the scams initially charge between $400 and $1000 USD for "editing and promotional" services - and usually wind up charging far more in "fees and services" or "to avoid legal challenges" before the author sees even one penny back, if they ever do (this was a month or two back, but one author backed out when the price went to over $1400, another wound up spending over $4000 and only got back about $200 in royalties).

Don’t worry, I haven’t taken it badly at all.

And thank you very much for the information. I’ll be looking into it further. Sorry if my questions don’t sound professional at the moment. I’m asking with the best intentions.

I’ll do thorough research and learn more about the topic. Thank you very much, I appreciate it!

 

[Deleted member 166076]

I'd consider breaking the services up into parts and charging for the individually. Book covers is one thing, trailers another, and marketing another. However, book printing is usually done by a publisher or distributor for indie authors. Like Draft2Digital which has print on demand where authors pay nothing for the printing and just get a set amount of royalties from the sale. With publishers there is usually a contract involved with an upfront payment and a percentage of royalties involved.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Oh look, a vanity press.

 

[Gray_Mann]

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the publishing/editing industry, so can someone explain to me what a vanity press is? From the general tone given here, I gather they aren't a positive thing.

 

[MajorKerina]

Vanity press is where the author pays to have the book published rather than the publisher paying for the privilege of publishing the material. Best case it allows you to have a physical book in case you want to pursue other publishers who will actually pay you for your work.

 

[PancakesWitch]

My idea was to offer authors this service where they can manage their books with the project management where the author keeps all the royalties but pays for the service of illustrations, promotional videos, and more. Like a promotional package instead of having to commission each person individually.

(I’m not doing this with bad intentions)

that's no different than just publishing the book yourself on amazon, at most it would only make it easier for self-publishing because you would have to pay someone for it, but it still ultimately just indenpendent publishing. You would need to offer these things for free within the contract, and ask for a cut of the sales for it to be an actual publishing company.

 

[laulau20]

Vanity Publishing vs Self-Publishing

Finished writing a book that you just can’t wait to see on the shelves (virtual or otherwise)? You’ve got an undoubtedly exciting journey ahead of you ; however , you might also have hundreds of...

www.rowanvalebooks.com

Here is the difference between vanity publishing and self-publishing. what business are you leaning on?

Vanity publishing is usually more geared toward politicians spreading their propaganda or some billionaire who wanted to be known as an author even though their writing skills sucked. (As its name says, vanity. you just wanted to publish to get your name known.)
Self-publishing, on the other hand, means the author is in charge. The difference lies in marketing, where to sell the book and the motive behind it. Money also plays a part. As @AutumnPlunkett says, you have to break down all the prices so the author can choose which service they need.

 

[Tsuru]

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the publishing/editing industry, so can someone explain to me what a vanity press is? From the general tone given here, I gather they aren't a positive thing.

Vanity press is where the author pays to have the book published rather than the publisher paying for the privilege of publishing the material. Best case it allows you to have a physical book in case you want to pursue other publishers who will actually pay you for your work.

that's no different than just publishing the book yourself on amazon, at most it would only make it easier for self-publishing because you would have to pay someone for it, but it still ultimately just indenpendent publishing. You would need to offer these things for free within the contract, and ask for a cut of the sales for it to be an actual publishing company.

The 3 musketeers of "no pfp", with great explanation skills, kindness and brains. (it is a praise btw combined with a joke)


A toast to this heroes.

 

[Gray_Mann]

A toast to this heroes.

I believe Pancakes has me blocked though. Not sure. You can never tell on this site. They just....never respond to you ever again

Wait, maybe I'm confusing them with someone else. More than one person with Pancakes in their name right?

Hell, I might be confusing this site with another site actually.

 

[LilRora]

If I had a book I wanted to publish paperback I'd probably pay up to about 30% of income, depending on a lot of the details. Also I haven't studied the market so I've no idea what the expected prices are.

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

5 dollars, i keep all royalties, 160.000 words per volume, increase illustrations to 30 per volume (all colored), increase the print copies to 1 million, and I MIGHT consider it...
(We're all trolling, right?)

 

[PancakesWitch]

I believe Pancakes has me blocked though. Not sure. You can never tell on this site. They just....never respond to you ever again

Wait, maybe I'm confusing them with someone else. More than one person with Pancakes in their name right?

Hell, I might be confusing this site with another site actually.

I don't have you blocked. If I dont respond something is because I deem it not worth it.