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| Importance of Sales | |
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| Complete Catalog of Titles |
When was WordTech Communications founded? We started as a provider of editorial services in 1998, and moved into publishing poetry in 2000. Because of our growth, we incorporated as a limited liability company in 2003. How many people work for WordTech? WordTech is composed of two individuals: Lori Jareo and Kevin Walzer. Lori manages the daily business and production operations, while Kevin manages the editorial selection process and book/web design. Why are you called "WordTech"? It is not a very "poetic" name. We call ourselves WordTech because we make use of cutting-edge technology to bring the written word to the largest possible audience. Technology is what makes it possible for us to publish as many books of poetry as we do. Why do you have so many imprints? WordTech is committed to publishing as wide a range of poetry as possible, and we do this through different imprints with specific stylistic and thematic focuses:
How do I submit to WordTech? Each imprint has two open submission periods per year, with no reading fee required. Please see the "submissions" link on the menu at the top of the page for specific deadlines and requirements.
Who designs your books? Generally design is handled in-house. We strive to use fine typography on the interior text pages, and compelling artwork on the cover. Authors are responsible for permissions fees on externally-provided artwork. WordTech can also design covers using in-house artwork. What is the press run of your books? WordTech uses print-on-demand technology for our books. Our printer is Lightning Source. "Print-on-demand" means that the book is printed in batches as small as one at a time on a digital press, instead of being part of a large offset press run. The quality is equivalent to standard printing, with glossy four-color covers and nice text paper. Why does WordTech use this printing approach? Our decision to use print on demand is simply an economic one. It is much less expensive to do the setup of a print on demand/digital print book and then print as needed, than it is to invest thousands of dollars in an offset print run of 500 and hope it sells out. Offset printing, which is the traditional printing approach, is extremely expensive to reprint, which means the book would probably go out of print after the press run sold out. By contrast, the digital printing method of POD costs the same per unit whether we are printing 1, 100, or 1,000. This means that we can do more books at a reasonable cost rather than just selecting one and sinking all of our resources into that one title. Isn't "print-on-demand" only used by online vanity presses, such as Xlibris or iuniverse? Will my book be stigmatized because of this? These types of companies saw the cost benefits of POD before traditional publishers did, which allowed them to charge amateur authors a much smaller amount to publish their titles. The cost benefits, however, can be used by small presses as well. In our view, the only way to overcome the stigma associated with POD is for legitimate presses with very selective standards to be open and unapologetic about its use. Will using print on demand make my book ineligible for publishing awards that specify a minimum print run? We feel that specifying a minimum press run reflects outdated attitudes about small-press publishing; in the old regime a smaller print run meant the book would likely go out of print quickly because of the cost of reprinting. POD makes this obsolete. As such, for contests that specify a minimum press run, we will support the application but we will disclose that your book is POD, and then let the administrators determine eligibility. For those contests that do not specify a minimum press run, we will say nothing because it is not a condition of eligibility.
What will I receive if I am published? Published authors receive a 10% royalty on the net profits of their sales, payable annually, as well as five copies of their book. Finally, we provide each author with 10 review copies of the book to send to journals where you have published. We find that authors are generally better at placing their books for review in literary journals because they have already developed relationships with the journal editor. Is there an author discount on the book? Authors receive a 40% discount on their titles. Will I receive royalties? All WordTech authors receive a 10% royalty on the net profits of their book, paid annually. This figure excludes author sales (copies purchased by the author at the author discount). To calculate net profits, we determine the total revenue the book received in the past year; then we subtract costs incurred by the book, such as advertising, direct mail, and printing; and then we subtract any author sales. The final number is the basis for calculating the net profit. If the number shows a profit instead of a loss, the author will receive a check for 10 percent of that amount. Do you nominate your books for literary prizes? WordTech will support
the author in any award nomination they pursue. Authors are responsible
for identifying the awards, completing initial paperwork, and covering
any required costs (submission fees, printing costs for submitted copies
of title, postage).
How do you distribute your books? Our books are distributed through Ingram, the largest book distributor. Our printer, Lightning Source, is a subsidiary of Ingram, so all of our titles are automatically picked up by the Ingram database. This means they are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and independent bookstores. How do you market your titles? WordTech uses the following marketing program for all of our titles:
Are your titles returnable? No. Here's why: Publishers doing traditional press runs expect returns of their titles, and in fact usually budget a certain amount of dollars for returns in doing financial projections for the title. They can do this because the expense of printing has already been incurred, and it costs them little to accept the return and issue a credit to the returning bookstore. Print-on-demand works differently. We do not pay for the printing of a book until an order is placed. This is a crucial aspect of our budgeting process; we would go out of business if we operated differently. By paying for printing only upon receiving an order, our printing costs are directly tied to our sales. If we were to accept returns, we would still owe money to the printer even though the book did not result in a sale, and we would not be able to sell the returned book, as our distributor does not keep inventories. On a large scale--say, if a bookstore ordered a large number of copies for an author signing and then returned most of them--we would pay a great deal of money for destroyed merchandise. This would quickly put us into bankruptcy. Therefore, we always advise bookstores to order conservatively and not to order fifty copies if they only expect to sell ten.
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©2004 WordTech Communications, LLC PO Box 541106, Cincinnati, OH 45254-1106 / [email protected] |