CSB expansion of publishing service

Brasschaat, June 3, 2010

Dear friends,

With pride I can announce a new expansion of the CBS. 

Earlier this year we published our first book, A Changing China, available worldwide through Amazon. The process involved our entire editing staff, and outside consulting from US publishing experts, as well as the development of relationships with international printing companies and with Amazon. Several authors have since then approached us about producing their books under our imprint. The first of these books is already in production, and is due on the shelves in mid July.

Although our key editors are based in the U.S. and Europe, we are able to use our China and India-based editorial staff for research, fact-checking, copyediting, and layout, thus significantly reducing production costs, while producing a book that’s up to American business press standards. 

If you would like to set up your own publishing house, feel free to contact Maria Trombly in Boston and she will happily walk you through the process of finding printers and distributors, registering for ISBN and Library of Congress numbers, and getting your book listed in Amazon and other online booksellers. If you expect to be writing a series of books, this can be a worthwhile project. Expect to take about a year to do your first book, then a few months each for subsequent projects — less, if you are able to assign dedicated staff to each book.

If you would like to get your book published through a traditional publishing house, we can recommend a couple of agents we work with here in the United States who can help prepare a book for acceptance — including restructuring the book, rewriting it if necessary, and creating a business plan for its marketing, sale and distribution. Today’s publishers are extremely risk-averse, and are increasingly expecting authors to do all this work up front. The process of publishing a book through a traditional publisher takes a year at a minimum, and often two or three years, depending on at what time you enter the annual marketing and production cycle, and how quickly you are able to place the book.

The China Speakers Bureau model is one where the author picks up the initial editing, layout and production costs, in return for higher royalties on every book sold. 

Benefits:

• Publishing is faster. You can have a printed copy of your book in your hands within two to six months, depending on how much work you need done on the content, and how many revision cycles the text, layout and cover design go through.
• You can distribute the book internationally through Amazon, but you also can have as many copies printed as you like through a printer in China or any other printer of your choice. You own the PDF files of the book, as well as all content, both text and graphics. You retain all copyrights, and can take it to another publisher at any time.
• You make the final decisions about the content and design of the book, independent of any outside editorial or marketing considerations.
• You can market and sell the book through your own channels, through speeches or through your website. We can also recommend book marketing agencies that can help promote and sell your book.
• Your royalties through our printer are higher than with a traditional publisher. If you sell the books through your own website, you will also get additional Amazon affiliate fees on each book. You can also order books in bulk at an average price of $6 to $8 per book, and sell them at any price you wish. China Speakers Bureau does not keep any royalties or sales commissions on your book.
• You don’t have to order a large initial run of the book — just a couple of proof copies and a handful of copies for yourself. When people buy the book from Amazon, our printing company will print individual copies and ship them directly to the customers.

For more information, or for a custom proposal, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Fons Tuinstra