Adventures in Publishing (Part One)
A blow by blow account of Donovan Street Press's progress so far....
Being the 56th edition of Assorted Nonsense, the official newsletter of Donovan Street Press Inc.
The Early Days
I used to play a lot of boardgames as a kid.
Even now I get together with extended family to play boardgames on Friday or Saturday nights once a month or so.
Running a small indie press feels a bit like playing a boardgame. A classic boardgame like Monopoly, or an obscure (but favourite) like Hotel.
You start from scratch, move your token around the board, make the occasional fateful decision, and gradually work your way up from nothing to… slightly more than nothing. If you’re smart, and lucky, and (in real life) work hard, maybe you’ll win. But in both (for me, at least) it’s less about winning and more about the game. About figuring it all out, about the camaraderie with the other players, about having a few laughs and having fun.
Mind you, winning’s nice too. Especially when you’re part of a team that might appreciate winning.
Other Times and Places was the first book officially published by Donovan Street Press, though before the company was incorporated, and while the notion of my own indie press was just a twinkle in my eye. The title of the book is obviously a tip of a hat to my first novel, A Time and a Place. OTAP is a collection of my short stories, some previously published. The book came out on December 6th, 2019. It was an experiment. I wanted to see how to publish a book from beginning to end. There was no thought of approaching any other publisher. For one thing, I didn’t think any other publisher would be interested in a short story collection. For another, I wanted to publish it myself.
I didn’t know much about the various publishing services out there back then, about publishing directly via Amazon and Apple and Kobo and Barnes & Noble and so on, so I chose a self-publishing service called Lulu Press Inc. I employed a gentleman named Éric Desmarais to design the book for me; he had done a terrific job with A Time and a Place for Five Rivers, the indie press that first published that book. Jeff Minkovics did the cover (he had also done the original cover for A Time and a Place).
When my first author’s copy of Other Times and Places arrived in the mail I thought there’d been a mistake. The envelope it came in was unbelievably thin. I didn’t believe there could be a book in it. I opened the envelope to reveal a tiny little book. Other Times and Places isn’t a long book, and I had chosen a small format. It was hardly a book at all.
Author’s copies of Other Times and Places cost me $6.58, factoring in shipping. At first, I charged $7 a copy at book fairs, thinking I couldn’t really charge more for such a miniscule book. Later, I used it as a loss leader for my other books, charging only $5. People snapped it up for $5. It made a great stocking stuffer at Christmas fairs. Jeff’s cover makes it look fun, featuring my daughter Erin’s illustration of a sword and wand-wielding platypus with a spaceship swooping overhead, all elements in the stories contained within. It might be a little bit of false advertising; although the book contains no adult content, it’s not exactly a book for kids. It contains some fun little stories (I think) but also thoughtful, philosophical content.
Last year I created a new, large print, big version of Other Times and Places. That’s the one for sale everywhere now. I charge appropriately for it ($10 from me; $11.99 online). According to my records, I only have 8 copies of the original, smaller version of OTAP here in the house, and it’s not for sale anywhere else. So if you have a copy of that first edition, you can consider it a collector’s edition, for what it’s worth.
I haven’t tried really hard to sell Other Times and Places over the years. The new version is up online and I generally take a few copies with me to book fairs. I’ve made a half-hearted effort to track sales of Other Times and Places since it came out. Via Lulu, Amazon, Draft2Digital, the Write Cup Bookstore Cafe (run by the fine folks of Partridge Island Publishing), and various book fairs, I figure it’s probably sold just short of 100 copies over its lifetime.
I paid Éric Desmarais $175 to put Other Times and Places together. The cover design cost $100. An evaluation copy from Lulu cost $15.43 and later (according to my records) another $14.11. I remember paying my daughter Erin for the illustration on the cover but I didn’t record the amount; I seem to recall $100.
It didn’t cost me anything to have the book edited: Robert Runte (who also edited A Time and a Place) edited it for me for on a quid quo pro basis; I think I still owe him my part of that arrangement (sorry Robert!). Robert also generously included a foreward for the book (I owe him for that, too).
That’s a total of $404.54 simply to make the book, which is actually quite reasonable to get a book out the door; many indie authors pay thousands for a single book (I don’t recommend that).
Still, it’s probably safe to say that Other Times and Places hasn’t quite made its money back yet. I ordered 60 author’s copies of the original version from Lulu for $394.84, and have parted ways with all but 8 of them, most at a loss. Updating the book cost little because by then I was formatting some of my books myself (using a program called Vellum). It cost me $17.34 to evaluate a matte versus a glossy version of the new, larger edition, and $93.90 to ship 20 copies of that edition, which, with shipping, made the author’s copies $4.67.
So, not counting additional overhead (such as the cost of Vellum and tables at craft fairs etc), Other Times and Places has cost me a total of $910.62 since its creation. That has bought me 80 physical copies of the book to sell myself (and on consignment) and the ability to make it available for sale online.
I would estimate that it’s earned about $500 so far. Factoring in the cost to purchase more copies to resell, I would need to sell at least 148 more copies to see the book earn back its investment. (That’s 39 more than the amount of subscribers to this newsletter, and 147 more than have probably read this far!) So, if you could all see your way clear to purchasing 2 or 3 copies, I would be much obliged…
Takeaways
As much as I enjoyed collaborating with Éric (who I would without reservation continue to recommend) I know now that I can save money on book design by doing it myself using a program such as Vellum. Fancier books such as Adventures in the Radio Trade do require a professional (and a more advanced software program) such as Éric and Bibliofic Designs. Using Vellum myself would have saved me $175 and made it easier to recuperate my investment
It was silly to charge less than each copy of the book cost me. Although I considered it a loss leader, I doubt it contributed to the purchase of any of my other books. It was a foolish business decision. I should have charged at least $8 for each copy of the original version
Like many newbie authors, I wasn’t thinking of writing as a business at this point. I just wanted to see how to publish a book from beginning to end, and get it out into the world
I should make a greater effort to move copies of Other Times and Places, including placing it on consignment at the stores that have begun to carry Donovan Street Press Inc. books (it is currently available at the Write Cup Bookstore Cafe in Saint John, New Brunswick)
Stay tuned for the next step in the evolution of Donovan Street Press Inc. in the next edition of this newsletter.
The Gates of Polished Horn
“…whimsical yet unsettling…” ~ The Toronto Star
What happens when you’re face-to-face with a truth that shakes you?
Do you accept it, or pretend it was never there?
Award-winning author Mark A. Rayner smudges the lines between realist and fabulist, literary and speculative in this collection of stories that examines this question—what Homer called passing through The Gates of Polished Horn.
We discover the cruelty of creating synthetic consciousness. A woman is worried that her husband is having an affair but discovers it's much, much worse. A time traveler uncovers a reality-bending fact while observing the death of Socrates. Waldo, of Where's Waldo fame, has an existential crisis. A traveling salesperson is killed on the highway, and this is just the start of his journey through the gates.
Infused with comic insight and tragic vision, this collection invites readers into new realities that
touch on our shared humanity.
“Mark A. Rayner’s formidable storytelling is on full display in this thoughtful and diverse collection. He’s a fine and creative writer whose characters and storylines are quirky, inventive, and often very funny. Bravo!”
~Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
Thanks for reading!
Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram
This has been the 56th edition of Assorted Nonsense, the official newsletter of Donovan Street Press Inc.