ADVENTURES IN PUBLISHING COIN BOOKS

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V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 1, January 5, 2014, Article 17

Mike Shutty submitted this account of his experiences as an author of two recent numismatic books. Thanks! -Editor

I enjoyed reading about the experiences described last fall (E-Sylum v16n37) about Paul Torongo’s foray into numismatic self-publishing using Amazon’s Create Space. I would like to add my experiences to the dialogue. From the start, let me say that I am in the writing business to have fun and extend my collecting experiences. That said, it is nice to have readers and to sell a few books along the way.

In the past three years I have written two coin books. The first book was entitled One Coin is Never Enough and was published by Krause in October 2011. The second book was entitled Communion Tokens: A Guide for Collecting Scottish, Canadian & United States Tokens and was self-published through Wasteland Press in July 2013. Consequently, I can compare the two experiences. Keep in mind that I am virtually unknown, so unlike David Bowers or the many other popular writers, there is no pre-publication anticipation or excitement for my books.

I originally sent a copy of One Coin is Never Enough to Whitman in March 2009 and after nine months was told that the book read too much like a dissertation. I re-wrote it in a friendly tone that I had honed by writing a couple of articles for The Numismatist. The following March, I called Debbie Bradley at Krause, and she graciously listened to my pitch and asked me to send a few chapters and a book proposal. The book was accepted in July of 2010. Working with Krause was a wonderful experience, and Debbie was very upbeat about the project. I had to add about six chapters to broaden the appeal, so I spend all winter writing and taking photos. Once I was done, the waiting period began. The book was edited, and it hit the market in the Fall of 2011.

Unfortunately the book did not sell very well. I was crushed, as I had worked on it for years. I submit that it is the best psychological study of coin collectors available. The book was recognized for an Extraordinary Merit award from the Numismatic Literary Guild in August 2012, but by that time the book was poised to go into “remainder status.” This is when all the books are marked down to fire-sale prices. As for me, I kept my $3000 advance and purchased a new computer to write the next book. I know that everyone at Krause wanted the book to succeed, so I feel bad that we did not succeed together. All told, only about 700 books sold – but it is still for sale in a number of venues.

I learned a few lessons from this experience that led me to self-publish the next one. First, I learned what all seasoned writers know: you have to promote your book. Books do not sell without some sort of push. Second, the wait is very long from submitted manuscript to actual release. Third, the new writer has limited control over the book if you sign-on with a big publisher. Now this was not a problem with Krause, as they were easy to work with and shared my vision – the added chapters were a good idea and the design was great. Fourth, mainstream books sell at high volume, whereas niche books will appeal to few. To be frank, most collectors are busy collecting, so price guides and catalogs are the books that sell. Introspective books about collectors are not big sellers.

Since I had been collecting communion tokens and could not find a guidebook, I decided to write a short one to test out the idea of self-publishing. Communion tokens are not that popular, so I knew that there would be few readers if I decided to pursue this idea. On the plus side, it is a guidebook, and collectors like this kind of book. Besides, I could not help myself, I like the tokens too much not to write something about them!

I perused many self-publishing websites, requested nifty publishing guides, and talked to aggressive sales reps. But most helpful was Mark Lavine’s book entitled, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing (4th Edition), published in 2011. This book reviewed most of the publishers vying for your dollars and dreams. He provided a detailed accounting of royalties and other costs, plus reviewed each publishing contract. Peter Bowerman’s book, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher was also helpful for its broad sweep and in outlining the challenges of going it alone.

I chose the print-on-demand (POD) route and decided to go with Wasteland Press. Wasteland Press had one big advantage over other companies – namely, black & white photographs of any number were free of charge. This is important for coin books. They offered several packages but all of them include book cover design, ISBN, and exposure through Amazon and other online retailers. Plus, they have their own bookselling website (Books123.org).

I decided to take the time to format my book completely in MS Word; as such, I set the margins for the 6x9 page size, inserted all photos in TIF format, and added captions using text boxes. I took all the photos and used Photoshop to adjust the lighting and size before inserting into the manuscript. Of course, one of the fun aspects of all this was that I was purchasing tokens for the book during the whole process – collecting takes on a whole new slant when you need one for the book. I designed the cover using a public domain photo of a Scottish church, adding type, and superimposing my favorite tokens along the bottom. It was a great experience to do it all!

After sending the manuscript and cover design to Wasteland Press, they had an electronic proof for me to review in less than two weeks. The instructions were to list your corrections and send it back. A day later, a new proof was sent. I made more changes. This process continued several times until I was discovered reciting certain paragraphs from the book in my sleep. I got sample book a week later! Two weeks later, a box of 75 books arrived on my doorstep.

I developed the following marketing plan. I started a blog, entitled Collecting Communion Tokens, and I sent copies to family, collecting friends and a few dealers that I particularly enjoyed buying from. I took out an ad in the TAMS Journal for three issues at $85; I also put a short promo in the free classified section. I purchased 100 book boxes from ULINE at $0.60 each. I crafted an Author’s Page on Amazon and promoted the book on my blog. Wayne Homren graciously announced the publication of the book in The E-Sylum. Finally, I put the book up on eBay for a Buy It Now price of $12.

So how is business? Slow is the answer. But of course, I am writing about communion tokens, not large cents or silver dollars. In the first quarter, I sold 26 at Books123.org and 12 more privately. My first quarter (July through September) royalty check was $63, plus about $130 for the private sales. I have $1005 total costs. Twelve books were given as gifts, including one to the ANA library. I do not have the second quarter earnings yet, but I sold about 20 privately this time around. All told, I plan to keep my day job as a psychologist.

I have left out the best part, and it is this: I have met many folks through the blog such that the world of communion tokens has opened up from a relatively lonely pursuit to an socially active one. In fact, the blog has taken on a life of its own and has satisfied my urge to write. At 80+ postings and about 800 hits per month, it is becoming a meeting place. In closing, let me say that writing a book – even if it is just about your own collection – is great fun! I am currently working on a more in-depth analysis of communion tokens despite the lack of a market for such a book.