Our Offer
Some Basic Information
Copperhill Media Corporation is not a vanity publisher. We are a small print-on-demand (POD) publishing house, and we provide printing, distribution, and marketing services for our authors. Our books are listed in online stores such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks.com, and more. In addition we maintain our own online bookstore.
In all truth, there is no guarantee that resources like Amazon, B&N, etc. will accept all works submitted to them, but so far we haven’t experienced any rejection. We also do not guarantee that you will find your book on the shelf of a real brick & mortar store. Traditional bookstores are usually reluctant to accept POD (print-on-demand) literature, and we do use POD to keep the necessary investment to a minimum. Keep in mind that the majority of books are sold online.
Most importantly, our publishing services are free of charge to our authors. At no time will we ask you for payments as far as the publishing process is involved. The only exception will be when you wish to purchase copies of your book from us – the first copy is free.
Yet another important fact: All of our authors whose work we accept will own the copyright of their work. Copperhill Media will provide and own the ISBN for the work.
Our Business Model
Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation. – William Arthur Wood
Remember the slogan from The Three Musketeers, “One for all, and all for one?” At Copperhill Media we strive to create a loyal author community, where everybody – Copperhill Media included – supports everybody in the quest for successfully selling our books.
The way we see it, the author’s success will be our success, and our success will be the author’s success.
Author Services
Copperhill Media provides a number of free services to promote each new author’s work.
- Copperhill Media will format your manuscript and create a cover. We will work with you during the process, but we must insist that Copperhill Media has the final say.
- Copperhill Media publishes primarily paperback literature and eBooks (including Amazon Kindle). The final decision of whether a hardcover makes sense is with Copperhill Media.
- Listing on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks.com, and others. Note: There is no guarantee that these resources beside our own store will accept all works submitted to them.
- Listing on Copperhill Media online bookstore.
- Author pages on Copperhill Media website.
- HTML code to include e-commerce on your website or blog.
- Online press releases by Copperhill Media with possible (but not guaranteed) inclusion in Google News, Yahoo, MSN, etc.
- Book Reviews through blogs where possible.
- Promotion through Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Digg, and more.
- Listing on Google Book Search (we send only excerpts, not the whole work).
Please be aware that all these activities are not a guaranteed path to success. As we said before, we need the support of everybody for everybody in our community. We do offer these services without charge. However, in the end we need the author’s support, for instance, through his/her website. We strongly recommend that each author does his/her work, for instance, by initiating contacts to local libraries, bookstores, etc. We will continue extending this website and provide more valuable marketing information.
Author Pages on Copperhill Media Website
Copperhill Media’s website enjoys increasing attention, and we thrive to update it on a regular basis which, in turn, helps to increase its ranking. Each of our authors will be able to add posts to our website. These posts are, of course, uncensored, unless they contain racial slurs, sexual or offensive language, and contents of the same nature. We encourage each author to post frequently and include a hyperlink to their website or blog. It’s called shameless promotion, and we encourage it. And after all, this service is free of charge!
Apply as a Guest Writer on FrogenYozurt.com
FrogenYozurt.com is our most successful website to date. It is run by Wilfried F. Voss, the president and owner of Copperhill Media. As of July 2010 the website draws 10,000+ unique visitors and creates 100,000+ page views per month. Feel free to copy your posts from the Copperhill Media website to FrogenYozurt.com. It will definitely help to boost the attention to your website and, consequently, your book. Needless to mention, but this service is free of charge!
Don’t have a website or blog?
Every author, new or established, should have a website or blog. It’s mandatory! Really. If you don’t have your own website, we can help you. And yet again, there are no charges. If you are an approved writer, you get this service for free. We will set up a WordPress blog for you, which you can use without major restrictions. The only investment to make is for the registration of the domain name through a web provider like GoDaddy.Com or others. The costs are roughly $10 per year, and you pay the web provider, not us. We feel that you should keep the right for the domain name, especially when you use your name as the domain name in the form of http://www.MyName.com. The only “downside” would be that we insist on adding very few Google or Amazon advertisement on your blog. This will helps us to compensate a little bit for the operational costs.
Technical Note
All of our websites and blogs are based on WordPress, an easy-to-manage content management system. If you can handle a word-processor, you can handle WordPress. And if you have questions, simply ask us.
Royalties
As we know out of experience, the most important question is in regards to royalties.
First, royalties are based on the list price, and to assure competitiveness we must set a reasonable list price. Also, please consider that we have to grant a substantial discount to online stores such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc.
1. Sales through Copperhill Media online bookstore
eBook – Royalty = 50% of US list price
Hardcopy – Royalty = 35% of US list price
2. Sales through Wholesale Orders
eBook – Royalty = 40% of US list price
Hardcopy – Royalty = 15% of US list price
Further details can be gathered through our contract which we will post soon. As of today the contract is under review by our legal counsel, but we will send you a copy after you have gone through our submission process (See Guideline and Submission Form). After all, there is no obligation on your behalf unless you have signed the final contract.
Book Pricing
The following demonstrates a few examples of paperback works based on black & white interior and full color cover. Note: The final list price is based on number of pages.
150 – 200 pages : US$13.99
201 – 250 pages: US$14.99
251 – 300 pages: US$15.99
301 – 350 pages: US$16.99
351 – 400 pages: US$17.99
The list price for non-fiction works may be above these examples. The final determination of the list price depends on specific market aspects.
Authors wishing to buy their own books receive a 50% discount. The first copy is free.
Quality of our Books
The common misconception is that POD (print-on-demand) books are of low quality compared to traditional offset printing. All of our books are printed and distributed through Ingram, the largest book distributor in the United States, and there is no noticeable difference in quality compared to traditional offset printing. As a matter of fact, POD provides better paper quality than most high-volume paperbacks (think of those $6.95 pocket-size novels with slight brownish paper). The only quality issue may be with complex technical images, i.e. with very thin lines, and we will work with you to rectify any quality issues.
What happens after you have been accepted?
If you have submitted your application with all the necessary information (See Manuscript Submission) and you have been accepted (the acceptance process takes usually one to two weeks), we will send you our contract. It’s a standard contract without – as we believe – any hooks. Unfortunately, the fun of writing and publishing does not include contracts. We encourage newly accepted authors to read the contract carefully. If there are special conditions and circumstances we have missed, please let us know, and we will consider contract modifications.
As soon as you have signed the contract, we will ask you for the full manuscript. We may request some additional information from you before we send the contract, but we will not ask for the full manuscript unless we have agreed on the legal side of the business.
With the reception of the full manuscript we will start the editing process. This process will also involve you, the author. In the first editing run we will concentrate on the story line, and possibly make some suggestions. In the next step we will create a detailed report addressing your writing. We will check for overuse of words, too much use of passive terms, and more. Our intention is to work with the author and keep his/her writing style and even prevent misunderstandings of complex historical, technical, or other details. The duration of the editing process may vary from author to author and from book to book, but it usually requires several months, unless you had your work already edited by a professional service.
As soon as we and you approve the book’s content, we will create a cover, which takes usually a few weeks. We will ask for your preferences and then create a few options.
With the content and cover approved we will submit the book to Ingram for printing and distribution. Ingram will send us a print proof for the final approval. If there are no problems, we will order a number of copies, one of them reserved for the author. With the reception of the order we will include your book in our online bookstore and list it through our Amazon seller account. Ingram, in turn, will work to list the book to online bookstores as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others, but this process may take several weeks. Usually, our Amazon listing appears a few weeks before Ingram’s.
The completion of all these activities also completes the actual publishing process, and the toughest work is still ahead: The marketing (see our marketing activities above).
And yet again another reminder that success is not a guarantee. Success comes only with blood, sweat, and tears. Marketing the first novel of an unknown author is the toughest task in the business world. It’s a challenge, and we will work with you to face that challenge.
MORE QUESTIONS?
Just in case we haven’t explained every aspect, and you have more questions, please feel free to contact us.
