Still Learning

I always love a learning curve. If you're in doubt, blogging is a new sport for me. I understand that blogging is the new journalism, a democratic journalism where everyone has a say. And, of course, I read blogs from time to time--especially those that mention our books, but I still have plenty to learn.
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For instance, yesterday I thought it would be a clever idea to add a place on this blog where Google's AdSense could place an ad. I didn't suppose we would make much moola from from it, but it was simple to do and it seemed like a thing one does with a blog.
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Unfortunately, the first ad Google paired us with was one for an Internet vanity publisher so it looked like we were endorsing this company. Please note, I deleted the ad toot sweet.
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I've spoken at a number of writer's conferences where one of the other presenters was from one Internet vanity publisher or another (sometimes called an "print on demand" publisher or subsidy publisher), and I was on a panel with one a couple of months ago.
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I'm not saying there isn't a scenario where using using one of these company's services might work—on one level or another—for an author. For instance if you want 40 copies of your memoir for friends and family, this might be a simple way to get them. But it isn't an entree into becoming published in the sense that you'll find your book on the shelf at Barnes & Noble in Trenton, New Jersey. Or in a library in Batavia, Illinois. The costs and distribution structures used by the Internet vanity publishers don't work in the book trade where trade wholesalers usually need a 55% discount off the retail price (retailers require 40% or more and normally buy through wholesalers) and books are returnable to the publisher from the bookstores if they don't sell.
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Some of these vanity presses even make rational-sounding promises about helping you market your book. Be especially wary here.
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I questioned a representative of an Internet publisher at one of these conferences and he finally admitted most books from his company sell fewer than 50 copies. Only a handful had sold 500.
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If you can't find a conventional publisher for your book, you might investigate self-publishing. Read Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual first. In it he lists book printers real publishers use and you can get your cost per book down so you can afford to offer it to the stores and wholesalers. Don't forget editing, design, marketing and a hundred other tasks handled by the conventional publishers go into self-publishing.
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Another thing I'd like to learn is how to format these paragraphs with indents or at least a space between them so I don't have to put those periods between them.
—Steve Mettee