self-publishing books about harp

[Karen Johns]

[barbara-brundage]

Thank you, Karen. But just to avoid confusion, I was talking about in my other life with publishers and being a kindle edition and a bunch of apps in the app store and all:

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2122

I *wish* I could make that kind of money publishing harp arrangements or performing. 🙂

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the arrangements when you get around to them.

[Karen Johns]

Ahhh, I see! That explains a lot- I had no idea you did this too. It’s also nice to connect a face with a personality

I’m sure I will enjoy playing those arrangements- I sure

[Dwyn .]

Yes, I really do understand this.

[barbara-brundage]

And I’m saying that it’s a question of scale. You can’t just stick a new book title in amazon marketplace; they won’t let you. And the number of possible sales lost this way doesn’t begin to make up the cost of doing it. I assure you that the people at Vanderbilt are not fools.

[kreig-kitts]

If you don’t really want to make money on it, there would probably be cheaper ways to publish it. You could create an electronic version and put it on your professional page, or your Facebook etc. if you have one.

If you want to have some hard copies for posterity’s sake, you could look into a print-on-demand publisher that will produce however many copies you want for a fee, then keep them or give them away or whatever you want to do.

[carl-swanson]

Dwyn- I just read this email. Thank you for the information and I will pass it on to Vanderbilt Music, which now owns the copyright and is the publisher of my book, A GUIDE FOR HARPISTS.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I am preparing a collection for publication, and printing, if I do more than 20 copies, will be around $200 plus set-up charges, so more like $250, and then I have to find a way to promote them so people know they exist, and have them actually part with $25-30 to hopefully cover my printing and other expenses. And harpists do not buy music they way that they should. My three publications were all submitted to the Journal for new publications and have never been listed. It’s a dismal picture. So, buy music, even if you don’t necessarily need it. It’s the only way to keep the ball rolling. Years ago, Don Henry would tell me the only way he could keep publishing music was by selling accessories. There are thousands of harpists in this country, and if each one bought 20 different pieces of music a year, that would be a sizeable market. What is really sad is that you have to pay through the nose to make a cd, to do a debut recital, to publish music, and it shouldn’t be that way, but in this country, it has been that way since the 1910s. And there are far too many people waiting to take your money to “help” you get ahead.

Those of you who are well off should seriously consider sponsoring another harpist who is not, to equalize opportunities for all. How many harpists can come from a poor background and have a chance at a career?

[barbara-brundage]

> if I do more than 20 copies, will be around $200 plus set-up charges

Do your own engraving, set the book up yourself, have it done with a good xerox machine (most printers use a xerographic process these days for runs of less than 500 or a thousand anyway). Someplace like Kinkos or an office supply store can coil bind it for a couple of bucks a copy. Get some colored cover stock for the covers. The copy machines behind the counter that they don’t let you mess with are a whole ‘nother thing from the crud machines out front. Get good stock for the pages; don’t let them pick it up and charge you–you get it and take it to them.

Or just publish it online at someplace like lulu, if you don’t want to deal with setting up a shopping cart on your own site.

Take care to learn what they require (they all hate comb binding with a passion and many dealers won’t even take a comb bound collection, for example.)

[barbara-brundage]

Oops lost part of my reply. Last paragraph should have read:

If you want dealers to stock it, take care to learn what they require (they all hate comb binding with a passion and many dealers won’t even take a comb bound collection, for example.)

[barbara-brundage]

Or see if L&H or Vanderbilt wants to publish it. It’s less profitable, but much less hassle to let them take care of everything.

[Sylvia]

2 cents worth.

[barbara-brundage]

Yes, I know, Sylvia. That’s why I said I was confused earlier in this thread when people began talking about publishing music. It’s such a different thing.

[Sylvia]

I’m happy this thread has given other publishers an opportunity to speak, no matter what they are publishing. My books were self-published at the local Copy Zone.

[barbara-brundage]

Well, for anyone else wanting do something like this, I’d suggest using lulu or one of the other POD systems. Your cost is much less, and so are the hassles. All you need is the ability to create a pdf that meets their specs, and an idea of what you want to charge. Mike Parker uses lulu for his excellent “Child of Pure Harmony”, for one.

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