About Us
Great Authors Online is a new concept in publishing, required by today’s changing market and enabled by today’s changing market place.
Despite an avidly reading public, some types of fiction have become less popular and less profitable. As a result, many imprints that once published Science Fiction have disappeared from view. In addition, the imprints that survive are much more into fantasy than they are into Science Fiction. Increasingly, the surviving venues for Science Fiction & Fantasy have become “science fiction and FANTASY”.
Fortunately, a changing market place and emerging technology have provided an alternative to the traditional publishers.
In the old days, yesterday, you had a choice between going with a traditional publishing house or becoming a silly fool who did vanity publishing. The traditional houses are a noble institution, but a difficult one to work with. They can publish only a tiny, tiny percentage of the submitted manuscripts and with incredibly limited shelf space and resources, getting published is almost as much luck as skill. If you do sell your manuscript, it can easily take 18 to 24 months before you see it on the shelf.
However, in the past, you had to do it. The publishers controlled the shelf, and it was almost impossible to find market space for an independent book. Of course, there were always a lot of people willing to lie to you about that. The Vanity Press, still with us and now known as POD, Print On Demand, has always offered the same easy concept, no matter what the technology. “Y’all give us a lot of money and we gonna print your book”, for you to store, unsold, in your garage, waiting for your surviving relatives to burn after your death.
Here’s a hint. When someone asks you for money to “publish” your book, they aren’t publishers, they are printers, and they are con men. If your book is worth printing, someone will do it for you and give you money. Even in today’s market.
This is where Great Authors Online comes in. Two recent changes have made a new approach possible.
The first change is in the shifting market place. About half of all books are now sold by online vendors such as Amazon, Half.com, and Barnes & Noble. It is still a lot of work. Just listing your book for sale at Amazon and Ebay will get you virtually nothing. You have to do marketing and advertising, maintain your own web site, provide art work, process payments and learn how to ship to Bogotá and Helsinki, but it is now possible to sell books successfully without competing for the shelf space at Book Barn. This has opened the market to new book publishers like ourselves.
The second change is in printing technology. Limited run technology has made it possible to get a book to market profitably without printing, shipping, and waiting for the return of ten thousand copies. There is still considerable cost in getting the book ready for print, but the lower cost of initial print runs makes it possible for us to take chances on a higher percentage of the submitted manuscripts.
We provide all of the expertise and all of the capitol. Great Authors Online is a publishing house, not a vanity press. If we accept your book, we pay the costs, do the covers, typeset the book, and get it on the market in about a month. Our technology and marketing strategy allows us to take on smaller projects than the traditional publishing houses and allows us to take a few more risks getting to market.
Here’s the deal. You provide the book, a good book, and we produce and sell it and split the profits with you. Simple, easy and efficient.
Before submitting a book or novelette, you need to be aware of the limitations also. No upfront advance. If we accept your book, we be become, in effect, partners. You provide the text and we provide the expenses and expertise. If we make money, so do you. If we lose money, you get nothing, and lose nothing.
It’s a wonderful combination of modern technology, new marketing strategies, and old fashioned quality. If you want your manuscript considered, please click here. As we are NOT a traditional publisher, we are not interested in a thirty page section, typed double spaced on white paper. This is the modern world. Send your completed work and a synopsis in any electronic format. We'll even get you an answer in a few weeks at the most. We actually answer our mail.
Rodger Olsen
Senior Editor, Great Authors Online