Publishing an eBook - Publisher or Publishing Services Company?

1. Publisher

A publisher is a company that will invest its own money and resources into taking the manuscript from the author and adding a cover, assisting in the creation of a great title, helping to establish the right price and controlling the printing process before it takes on the role of distributing the eBook or book to the bookstores. In return, the publisher will make money from when the book is sold and pass on a small commission to the author for their effort in writing the content.

When you go through a publisher you will be giving up a lot of your rights with regards to intellectual property such as your manuscript and cover designs etc. It is for this reason that you distinguish between a publisher and a publishing services company. Do not allow a service provider to claim rights and ownership of your work.

Publishing Companies Are:

Penguin

Harlequin

2. Publishing Services / Author Services Companies

A publishing services company will be less likely to put any of their own money into your eBook. As an author, you should be well aware of what contracts you sign as many of these publishing services will still require for you to not only bring in your intellectual property (your manuscript / content) but also invest your own money into the costs of publishing. Their role is to assist you and provide you with paid services with various processes in getting your manuscript to market.

Therefore, I find that many of these self-described "publishers" are in fact "Author Service Providers" or "Self Publishing Service" companies. These companies are there to assist you and provide services to you. And many of these services are very valuable and they do play a role in assisting you in getting your eBook / Book to market. Just be sure to make you are getting value for money and are not giving up any of your rights or intellectual property.

It is also important that when you speak to people or are being interviewed that you do not refer to these "publishing service" companies as your publisher.

An example is a POD Publishing (Print on Demand) company. They take your manuscript, print it and deliver it to the customer but do not invest money into your eBook or book. They provide you with a service and take a commission of each sale or require you to pay an upfront fee for using their service.

As with any agreement, you will need a contract that clearly states the financial terms involved and also what services will be provided in return for the fee. This contract will also include termination provisions and what liability each party will take on.

Examples:

Smashwords

Lulu

eBooksInternational.co

FastPencil