WRITERS. Before deciding whether to seek a traditional publisher for your book or go the self-publishing route, consider a new team-publishing concept introduced by Net Minds.
Net Minds is a new crowd-powered publishing platform designed to give authors more rights, project autonomy, and team-building tools. Through the NetMinds software platform, you can select and “hire” the editors, designers, and publicists who seem best qualified to help you produce and market your book. Your team members can either be paid cash, royalties, or a combination of cash and royalties. You and your team determine how quickly the book will be produced and published.
The NetMinds team-publishing approach addresses several problems in today’s tumultuous publishing industry. Authors are frustrated by shrinking advances and unfair royalty rates offered by publishers who also expect them to market and promote their own books. Creative professionals who are skilled in editing, designing, and promoting books either have diminished job security, heavy workloads, and/or low freelance fees.
Many self-published books fail to sell many copies, partly because most authors don’t have the time or full range of skills needed to do everything involved in producing and promoting a top-quality book.
The founders of NetMinds encourage you to organize and run your book project like a new business startup.
Tim Sanders, CEO of Net Minds urges authors to “Take a great idea, build a talented team to help, make deals, develop the product, launch it, and get paid.”
By developing tools to make “book start-ups” possible, Net Minds wants to flip traditional publishing business models to give more rights to the author and greater recognition and rewards to everyone who contributes to the book’s success.
LINKS
Blog Post: Choosing Between Traditional and Alternative Publishing by Tim Sanders