How to Find Free Publishers
When you are trying to locate a free publisher for your book, the waters are fraught with publishers who will promise you the world but then later hit you with hidden fees. If you do not wish to navigate these dangerous waters, then online e-book publishing is another way to secure a free publisher.
Ask your publisher about any hidden costs that come with "free" publishing. When a company offers to publish your book for free, realize that “free” usually means there are hidden charges along the way to actually printing your book and getting it distributed. Before accepting any terms with a free publisher, make certain you aren’t being unduly charged for the following services:
- Ask about any refundable deposit or setup fees. Publishers sometimes request a good-faith investment on your part toward your book’s success. These publishers then promised to refund the fee under certain conditions, but they usually draft the legal document in such a way that the fee is virtually unrecoverable.
- Ask about hidden fees for advertising your book. A publisher may require you to purchase ad space in print magazines for your book.
- Ask about hidden fees for pre-production services like editing your book and preparing the artwork.
- Ask whether there are stipulations on how many books must be bought or sold. A free publisher will sometimes include a clause to require you to purchase a specific number of your very own book. This could be anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand copies, which could end up being expensive. A variation of this is when the publisher requires you to guarantee a minimum number of sales for your book.
Look for a free publisher online. Services like Smashwords.com and Createspace.com allow authors to publish their works as e-books and have their works offered for sale in marketplaces such as Apple’s iBookstore and Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore. For those who find electronic distribution of their works sufficient, these services would be a good fit.