Rum Runner Publishing wants you to be the most successful author that you can be. To achieve this, Rum Runner uses the following guidelines for itself:
• Establish Rum Runner as a publisher of reasonably priced, high quality books.
• Establish a special relationship with each author so that everybody gets the same quality service.
• Publish books in multiple formats (printed, PDF and eBook formats) to ensure maximum availability.
• Market each book through predefined and personalized marketing strategies to pull maximum readership.
Rum Runner Publishing works on a profit (royalty) sharing basis. It is clear to us that we make money only when you do. So, no effort is spared to make YOU the runaway success you can be.
Going through Rum Runner Publishing pays authors a royalty of 35% of net book revenues. This is an exceptionally high rate by comparable standards.
Rum Runner prefers interacting with authors directly. We do not care if you use ghost writers (we can even help you identify sources for outsourcing), but the expense of a ghostwriter is borne by the author. Rum Runner Publishing plays no part in the preparation of the copy. However, we do edit your book once it's written.
FAQs
1. How should I get started?
•Identify a specific market of one million potential readers. For example, a Wedding Guide to the Best Honeymoon Spots targets the 2 million+ readers who get married every year in the United States. The idea is to move away from a book that every reader wants to read to a book that a specific section of people want to read.
•Submit your book idea to Rum Runner Publishing at info@rumrunnerpubs.com in the specified format.
•With the help of Rum Runner Publishing, identify the platform you plan to use to sell your book. For instance, the Men of the Wedding book attracted whopping sales because the author had a popular Blog that ranked very high on search engines like Google.
2. How do I submit copy?
•Submit your book concept (an outline with two sample chapters will suffice) to Rum Runner Publishing at info@rumrunnerpubs.com.
•We’ll review your material and contact you. If we like what we see, we offer you a contract, establish a time line, enroll you in a Book Publicity 101 course, collaborate on your marketing and publicity plan and get your book published.
Any book you send to us must be your own original work. You must own the copyright and all publishing rights. The author retains ALL RIGHTS to his/her work.
3. What do I need to send you?
We expect you to submit:
a. The Book Title
b. The Premise of the book
c. Your Target audience
d. Your Platform for selling (e.g., a blog, social networks etc). We will help you to define this, but we want your initial thoughts
e. Table of Contents with a brief outline of each chapter
f. Two samples chapters
g. Planned length of the book
h. Your qualifications for writing such a book (for nonfiction/how-to books)
Submit your work in Word format (.doc) or in PDF format (.pdf). To submit your work, you must have a valid e-mail address that you check at least every other day. We are a virtual publishing company and we correspond with authors by e-mail. Please do not send us your manuscript via the Post Office, unless we ask for it that way.
4. What kinds of writing do you accept?
Rum Runner Publishing is accepting fiction and nonfiction books. That means how-to guides, reference books and guides, “list” books (such as 1001 Things to Do if You Dare), travel guides, and culture-specific books (like The Feckin’ Book of Everything Irish) are all being accepted. Don’t forget about biographies, histories, and other nonfictions selections, as well as the wide variety of fiction books out there!
5. Are only completed copies accepted for publishing?
Your manuscript does not have to be complete for you to submit it to us. However, you should be within six months of completion
6. Can I submit a work that is already published?
Rum Runner does cater to republishing in a new format. For instance, if your book is already available in print, but you would like to put it into electronic format, we may accept such a submission as an eBook-only publication as long as this does not violate the terms of a previous contract with another publisher. You must own the copyright and all publishing rights of the previously published book.
7. Why should I consider Rum Runner Publishing?
Self publishing is not the piece of cake it is made out to be. Most self-publishers succeed in releasing one or two titles with a highly limited distribution. They waste too much time and effort chasing complicated marketing strategies that ultimately bring them little sales.
On the other hand, Rum Runner brings the expertise of its team of authors, copywriters, editors, designers and marketing experts to your work. By following an established and tested marketing strategy, authors can expect wider exposure and greater success in the shortest period of time.
Part of our investment in you is to enroll you, free of cost, in a Book Publicity 101: How to Build Book Buzz course. Rum Runner also allows you access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive distributor channel. As such, writers get more time to do what they do best – writing.
8. How can Rum Runner Publishing give authors maximum royalty?
Suppose you created a book titled “Fly Fishing Secrets” with a list price of $12 for the printed book and $10 for the eBook. Your royalty will work in different ways with different retailers:
Printed Book Sales - $12.00 Retail
- Books sold directly through Rum Runner Publishing bring you the highest royalties. Retail is $12.00, minus printing and shipping (about $3.50). Your royalty is 35 percent of $8.50, or about $2.98 a book.
- Selling through a large retailer results in a different royalty. For instance if the book is sold through Barnes and Noble, then they will get the book through Lightning Source at a 40% retailer discount ($7.20). Lightning Source will pay Rum Runner the $7.20 minus printing and shipping costs (about $4.20 depending on the size of the book), thereby sending Rum Runner $3.00. Of that total your royalty will be 35 percent or $1.05 per book.
- Sales through almost any retailer will be similar to this Barnes and Noble example.
Ebook Sales - $10
- Books sold directly through Rum Runner Publishing brings you a royalty of $3.50 per sale (35% of $10.00).
- Selling through Amazon.com brings your royalty down to $1.23, because Amazon pays the publisher a royalty of 35% for E-books. Amazon will pay Rum Runner Publishing $3.50 for the sale and Rum Runner Publishing will pass on 35% of the $3.50, which equals $1.23.
- Sales through almost any other website will fall somewhere between these two extremes.
This illustrates how important it is to market and launch your book from the right platform. It is vital to drive buyers to those locations that bring you the most money.
9. Where will my book be available for purchase?
Rum Runner’s in house shop will carry every title we publish. Outside of that, your book or eBook will be available through such sources as BarnesandNoble.com, and Amazon.com, as well as a number of other U.S. and U.K. distributors.
10. Why publish in printed and eBook formats?
On a national basis, only one in four printed books makes any profit. Our philosophy is to prove the value of the book and its associated marketing plan through print on demand and eBook sales. Amazon head Jeff Bezos claims that 35 percent of Amazon’s unit sales are now Kindle editions.
11. What is Rum Runner’s position on novice writers?
We welcome novice writers because we believe that there is a spark in every writer. All it takes is for someone to discover that spark. Dan Poynter, the king of self-publishing, once said that his mission was to see that people do not die with a book still inside them. At Rum Runner Publishing, our mission is to see that no author dies with a quality nonfiction book in them.
12. What is the expected trend for eBooks and online sales?
As more and more people turn to online sources for information, the need for quality eBooks that address specific niches will rise. Reader demographics are also changing in favor of this transition. As young readers overtake the market, there is a corresponding rise in online activities. These factors have led to surveys putting the expected growth of eBooks at 60% or more annually. Keep in mind that all this growth is happening at a time when the general book market is facing a huge financial and readership crisis.
