Since the majority of Coalition members are Novelists, we'll start with a look at getting your books published. In successive discussions we'll examine how to get other media like comics, music and video out to a mass audience.

Up front, is the standard of finding an established publisher and getting them to publish your books. Though still a potentially lucrative option, it is one which is fading quickly as old school brick and mortar publishing houses are circling the wagons as the industry is changing around them. Established publishers are sticking with proven authors and aren't open to new names or first-time novelists unless they already have a name attached be it their own or someone else's.

The most likely method of getting published is one most of us know well and that's doing it yourself. So, there's tons of outlets online to help you publish your book and we're not going to try and tackle all that info. What we will take a look at is the process of getting your books turned into a finished product.

The primary pipeline for turning your manuscript into a finished book for sale goes like this; Once you've submitted your edited manuscript, interior art and cover artwork the different parts will be converted to a pdf file and then be loaded into a printer to make a master hard copy. This is normally one of two and lately with some companies you have to pay for this as well. Depending on the company, the master copy will be loaded into a copier and a print run will be made of however many books you ordered. This is a much more cost effective method of printing than the old typesetting system. Ultimately, what all the fees you pay cover the cost of making the digital copy, the master copy and the materials for the print run with an amount over cost as a profit. So when you're told you can get your books at a lower cost, that just means they've come up with a way to produce the books more cheaply.

Okay so the process most popular for making the hard copy books is the Perfect Bound Binding process. All that means is; the printed pages and cover of your book are pressed together, cut and treated with hot glue which when cooled holds your book together. No big mystery. As for the 'special UV covering' on your covers all that is is a simple thin layer of plastic placed on your cover to give it a glossy look and give some protection for the ink against UV rays. Also no big deal.

Truthfully, what you are paying for when you put together your content is the convenience of not having to do it all yourself. In all actuality, these processes with just enough know how and experience can be done single-handed so to speak. However, though getting the software, hardware and consumables to make your books is more than feasible the costs of getting all you need vs the time it takes to learn and operate said pipeline can be daunting.

The goal of the Coalition is to cut down as much of the expense of the process as possible by building a production pipeline from the skills and resources possessed by Coalition members. There are those of us who are quite versed in the preparation of your manuscript and artwork into the various formats self-publishing suppliers use and the plan is to make the Coalition your first line of production.

Next we'll discuss a very hot and potentially lucrative (but full of pitfalls) method of printing; e-publishing.

SPC!