How Phenomenal One Press Got Started

The owner of my small press is my husband. He’d been in sales like – forever, even got a degree in Marketing. When I started my writing endeavor, got my first contract from a small press, he figured, we could do a better job at it. You know what – we did.

Here’s how we did it.

START YOUR OWN SMALL PRESS – Don’t just self pub

Phenomenal One Press was started with the full intention of building up a list of authors besides just moi’ (which we do, F. Raushawn who is our teen author of SPECTRUM - a free read you can find on our webpage www.phenomenalonepress.com check it out). But in order to do that correctly, we had to do research. Remember, every publishers business model is different, if you decide to go this road, sit down and think about what you want to accomplish and how.

We gained an LLC, registered our business name, put up a website, decided what amount of work we wanted to do, and what we were willing to pay someone else to do.

Created a business plan, a marketing plan and a Book marketing plan.

Set realistic goals – it usually takes any business at least 3 years to see true success and maintainability – and starting a small press is starting such a business.

Released 2 books the first year a middle grade and an upper ya book. Create media kit, marketing packet.

Started promoting books 6 to 8 months before release (that meant getting covers made prior to finalized editing).

OUR STAFF

We recruited college interns that wanted to learn the business. Built contracts with an events coordinator (and one day will get a publicist), two editors (one for full edits and another for proof-reading prior to sending to print), gained a printer, a distributor (to distributes to the big guys and requires very little work for us initially), artist and everything else we either do ourselves or contract as needed.

GARNER SUPPORT and KNOWLEDGE

We joined IBPA which was a wealth of information and Mid Atlantic Book Publishers Association. Also, we started to network with other small pubs who were extremely supportive and helpful.

OUR PRINTING, SALES, MARKETING Goals

We decided that for us, we wanted to do a little less of the initial leg work and did a digital print run of 2K books for ARCs and market test. The goal was to sell 1,500 and give away 500 before the book actually printed (realize that large publishers print 10K or more and giveaway a larger % of their books than a small pub can afford to). It was successful most of the time by setting up blog tours, soft ads on active blogs, and word of mouth. Also, ebook release a bit early helped to get buzz started for the print. Once the initial print run is sold out – we print with multiple print on demand providers (because we own our ISBNs) that offer returns for booksellers.

LESSONS LEARNED

When marketing your book make a budget, realize that you don’t have to do it all in one day – so pace yourself. It’s your product and you have a long time to sell it, but take the time to build the right marketing profile for the specific piece of work you are selling. Also, it’s more profitable and less stressful if you promote the same genre/age group for the first few years before branching out. Always be professional and seek ways to improve your business model. Give your business time to see its potential.

SOME THINGS THAT MATTER

Pricing – if you can’t be competitive in your pricing, don’t even bother. Cover – compare your cover with others and see if it meets the muster (they are your first marketing tool). Editing – don’t you dare skimp on this – not one bit, try to get at least one professional editor and one proofreader. Ebooks – a must do for small pubbers since it offers a way to get book out there with as little of cost as possible. Marketing – must be consistent and takes about 3-6 months to be realized. Timing – DON’T RUSH!!!! Take your time, build your buzz, make your product shine – remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.