Product Description

A dynamic step-by-step guide to creating everything from tourism books and niche market magazines to specialty tabloids, using a home computer. Having built his own publishing business from scratch, Williams is uniquely qualified to shorten the learning curve by sharing the soup to nuts of what he has learned.

He begins with a basic premise: Start a publication on something known, or about a specific area. The publications that have made him successful are local papers, speciality magazines, and guides. Once subject and venue are determined, it's time to consider software tools, arranging an office for productivity, how to get advertisers, how to market your product, whom to hire (and how much to pay them), and all the other aspects of profitability.

In the sea of publishing books on the market, here's one that tells everything publishers need to know in one place. This revised version includes updated technological information on software products and addresses current fluctuations in the market and the changing business environment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167322 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
A gold mine of unique publishing ideas, with step-by-step plans for implementing them. Use it as your introduction, inspiration and road map to becoming a successful publisher. -- Dan Poynter, The Self-Publishing Manual

A great idea stimulator. Covers the publishing of magazines, travel guides, real estate guides, weekly newspapers and directories, as well as books. -- John Kremer, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books

Williams gives away hundreds of trade secrets, sharing with us what he himself learned by trial and error. -- Betty Hodges, Durham Morning Herald

From the Publisher
Have you ever wanted to publish a magazine, guide book, or weekly newspaper and make substantial profits, while working from your home? Tom Williams has done just that in his own successful publishing career, and he can tell you how to run a high-return, home-based publishing company in this practical how-to format.

About the Author
Experienced on both sides of the editorial desk,Tom Williams has written for magazines ranging from Esquire to Writer's Digest, and is the author of 14 books. He has also started, edited, and published city and regional magazines and is editor-in-chief of Venture Press, a home-based book publishing company specializing in historical reprints, civic picture-histories, folklore, and oral history.

In 1979, he bought the Mecklenburg Gazette, a weekly newspaper in North Carolina. In three years, he increased circulation 400% and revenues by 1000%, and sold out to a newspaper chain for 50 times the purchase price. Subsequently, he founded Venture Press.

He started and published many magazines, including Tar Heel: The Magazine of North Carolina (state-wide), the New East Magazine, NCEast Magazine, and Washington Magazine. He published association directories and chambers of commerce "quality of life" magazines, newcomer guides, and tourism guides.

Williams is a student of hard knocks. He learned how to position his publications for success on his own and shares his knowledge with us in his books.

Customer Reviews

Fine for inspiration looking for a niche, but...
It is apparent the author does have a wealth of publishing experience in various endeavors. Still, I would have preferred more detail in each of the publishing phases, rather than a quick once over of each.

This is an excellent book if you are interested in publishing, but are not sure what you wish to publish. In other words, let this be a starting point. Then, if you decide to publish:

A - books, get Avery Cardoza's Complete Guide To Successful Publishing, or

B - community newspapers, get How To Produce A Small Newspaper

C - magazines, get Launch Your Own Magazine, and How To Start A Magazine, and Starting & Running A Successful Newsletter or Magazine - YES, YOU WILL WANT ALL THREE OF THESE!

Good Overview; Would Benefit From Narrower Focus
Although Williams certainly offers a great number of helpful tips and forms for those interested in pursuing publishing ventures, I agree with other reviewers that this book would have benefited from a narrower focus rather than trying to tackle the three major varieties of publications (not to mention their sub-varieties) in a single book. Though they certainly share similarities, there are enough differences to keep someone interested solely in newspaper publishing (or whichever focus is yours) rather bored for much of the text.

This is especially problematic in the chapters seemingly directed toward "all" of the publication varieties. The chapter on printing, for example, is actually heavily geared toward book printing with only a short section on printing newspapers, which seems to have been tacked on almost as an afterthought.

Specific technical information, too, is in slightly short supply. Even after reading through the entire book, I'm still a little uncertain about the nature and purpose of things like halftones and color separations, despite Williams' frequent mention of them.

Nevertheless, this is still a decent starting place for the ambitious novice publisher. Williams' advice is overall quite sound and relevant enough for me to keep the book around as a reference tool for my projects.

A great publishing resource...
Gives a good overview of the challenges of small mag/newspaper etc publishing and gives alot of nuts and bolts type tips. Better to spend a little money on alot of good advice then to make the mistakes and learn the hard way. The author writes like a veteran of learning the hard way and thankfully he is sharing his knowledge.