This publishing service is currently undergoing an identity crisis. TAF Publishing now comes under The Universal Publishing Group, which in turn is now run by The Book Producers Ltd. I suspect Elvis has left the building, and right now, I'm trying to decipher this maze of Russian Dolls, wrapper by wrapper - who left who - who runs what, and just exactly what it means for self-published authors. When I peel off the wrappers, work my way through the broken links, I hope to have an update on The Universal Publishing Group in 2012, which will enviably supersede this review.
The Author’s Friend is a division of
TAF Publishing, an Irish publisher of self-help guides for writers and authors. TAF Publishing was founded in 2009 by
Oscar Duggan and
David Jones and is based in Dublin.
“We call our service Assisted Publishing because that is what we do. Assisted Publishing is a rapidly growing alternative to traditional publishing routes. It is popular with authors because it puts the author in control of the publishing process.
We assist authors and writers of all genres (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, prose, biography, autobiography) and all markets. Authors who come to us may be aiming to publish to the widest public audience, or they may be seeking to publish privately or within their immediate circles. We help authors target their audience and publish to their niche, whether it's a blockbuster novel or a family memoir, local history study, community fundraising venture or even classroom projects.”
The Author’s Friend is clearing telling us the company publish a wide variety of book projects, with each author having different reasons and aspirations, but I am not sure any author or publisher would look to market a ‘blockbuster novel’ at a ‘niche’ audience; niche generally implies a small or specialised target audience.
What I like about The Author’s Friend is that it does not present specific publishing packages or programs, but instead, provides a menu of book publishing services from the completion of a manuscript through to marketing and promotion of the finished book. Most Irish
author solutions services base their services on providing complete packages, but with The Author’s Friend, an author can choose one or more services, be that editing, cover design, internal layout and typesetting, or submission of completed PDF files for printing and binding.
“We cover the entire range of publishing requirements, from manuscript preparation, to printing and binding, ISBN and legal deposit, copyright assistance, through to the marketing, promotion and sales of your book.
Availing of our services does not restrict you in any way. You can pick and choose the services you require. There are no restrictions in terms of book size, print quality, page count etc.”
I think, though, The Author’s Friend would do well to change the final line of the above – the unintended suggestion is that the service print quality has a variable, and that’s a no-no. What we have here is quantity being mixed with quality. Authors want a variable and flexibility in quantity, not in the quality of their book.
“MORE BOOKS FOR YOUR MONEY - the primary objective of The Author's Friend is to help you get your books into print. Check our pricing against any self-publishing company and see for yourself. With The Author's Friend you get substantially more books for your investment.”
That is a bold boast. Let’s put it to the test. I sent an online quote for a completed PDF submitted book file, requiring no editing or finishing, full colour cover for varying print runs of 100, 250 and 500 of a perfect bound standard sized paperback 6 x 9).
“YOU KEEP THE COPYRIGHT - Writers often overlook the importance of their copyright, and give it away in the haste to get published. Your copyright is important; it protects your work and identifies it as yours. It could prove very valuable if your book becomes a commercial success. With The Author's Friend your copyright belongs to you, not us.”
This is a common assurance made by author solutions services, but the reality is that only the most unscrupulous vanity publishers now believe they can get away with taking copyright from an author as well as first publication rights. Your book is copyrighted the moment you write it; publishing processes by law, like legal deposit and library cataloging, simply copper fasten that right.
ISBN and Barcode: Single fee of €25 applies. For this we provide you with a unique ISBN and scannable barcode.
Copyright Assistance: Single fee of €10 applies. For this we will ensure that your moral rights as an author are adequately asserted and help to address any concerns you may have.
It is not clear what the author is getting for the €10 they are spending on this service – is it simply the insertion of ‘The author has stated their moral right....’ paragraph at the start of their book? Ok, there is the advice The Author’s Friend may offer, but as in my previous paragraph, I’ve addressed copyright, and I didn’t charge anyone €10 for it.
Legal Deposit: Postage and packaging charged at cost. A handling fee of €40 also applies. 13 copies are retained from the original print run to be deposited at copyright libraries in Ireland and Great Britain.
Manuscript Preparation: We provide the full pre-printing and booksetting service - editing, proof-reading, typesetting, cover design. Charges vary but are usually based on an hourly rate that will depend on factors including:
• manuscript size or volume - word count, number of pages where editing and proof-reading is concerned. The job of proof-reader is seldom entirely separate from that of an editor and vis-a-versa. For this reason most proof-readers and editors will want to see a copy of the manuscript before quoting.
• degree of complexity where typesetting or cover design is involved. For example novels and works of fiction are typically easier to typeset than academic or non-fiction works.
• prices charged for Cover Design will vary depending on whether artwork and/or illustrations are supplied or if these have to be sourced/originated. The Author's Friend provides standard book cover templates that can be customised and individualised from as little as €120. We can can provide a full, bespoke design service.
Printing and Binding: prices quoted will be based on job specification provided and will factor in a number of considerations. These will include book format size, number of pages, black or colour printing, inserts and illustrations, binding and finishing.
Delivery - Charged at cost. Collections can be arranged.
Sales and Marketing - Books are taken on sale or return basis. The Author's Friend takes 35% commission of the selling price for every book sold.
We can quote for any job and advise you on your options if you are unsure.Contact us today for a no obligation, free quotation, or use our online service.
The Author’s Friend do not make it clear if the 35% commission they take is exclusive to sales through their website bookstore or on all sales through any channel. If it is, authors need to bear in mind that the retailer is also going to take a discount of anywhere between 30% and 55%. Nevertheless, the sale or return contract The Author’s Friend have with retailers is a strong point to help get your book stocked, but this only works best using their short digital print run option and having the physical stock to put on shelves rather than relying purely on the POD (print on demand) model, which is when a book is printed only after an order is received for it from a customer, through a retailer.
The marketing services offered by The Author’s Friend are tagged with the bold headline – ‘
Helping You to Sell Your Books’. Again, the emphasis is on ‘Assisted Publishing’.
We can promote your book to bookshops and libraries. We can help you take advantage on the business platform that is the worldwide web, with the potential for exposure to almost 2 billion internet users worldwide.
Every title we help to produce is included in The Author's Friend Online Catalogue. We provide free web space including guest books, picture albums, review sections and any number of interactive facilities to generate interest in your book.
We can also give you advice and guidance in carving out your own online presence, including web hosting, domain name registration, blogging and social media, networking etc.
The Author's Friend offers you access to extensive media contacts (TV, radio, national and local press). We can help you put together media packs, press releases etc. We can even help you to prepare and host your own book launch or book signing - important functions that help to get publicity, but also to you sell your book.
The Author’s Friend use
Gemini International, also based in Dublin, for their printing, and this is one area I have a little bit of a concern. It is fine if an author is based in Ireland and expecting the vast majority of sales to come from there. But if an author envisages book sales on the UK market, customers buying a book sourced and printed in Ireland may incur more shipping and packaging charges, specifically POD titles. Ideally, having now expanded to 30 plus titles in their catalogue in the last year, The Author’s Friend could benefit greatly from using a print partner like Lightning Source to fulfil their UK orders.
Prices for books from The Author’s Friend are above average, ranging on Amazon UK from £10 to £15 for a paperback. TAF do support their own bookshop, but I would prefer to see more books visible on their website.
Regarding print costs on my quote, The Author's Friend come out pretty strongly. My quote resulted in the following prices per unit:
100 copies - €425
250 copies - €899
500 copies - €1489
Other service costs if required:
Book cover design - €100-€350
Typesetting - €250
The cost of small print runs with The Author's Friend is less than many of their competitors, but the higher print run figure (250+) creeps above some of the competition. Nevertheless, even at a cost of €2.97 per unit at a 500 unit print run, it is pretty competitive. If an author submits PDF interior and cover files, there is no set-up charge incurred.
In conclusion, if you have a book for the Irish market, TAF may be the way to go. I’d would like that they provided pricing samples online. If they are going to go the way of DIY self-publishing, and offer an a-la-carte menu of services, then, that must be something they should do outright. They need to think more globally. I do think TAF have a really strong catalogue of books, author guides as well as self-published books, and they are betwixt and between a publisher and a publishing service. Six months ago that may have been ok in their business strategy. Now, it isn’t.
Maverick’s Book Republic has arrived and stolen some of their steam, and
Checkpoint Press has moved to much more traditional publishing, while still maintaining their self-publishing wing.
I’m putting the issue of TAF not coming back to me on a print quote aside, and giving them the benefit of the doubt for Irish authors...
RATING 6.8/10
Universal Publishing Group (The Author's Friend) - Reviewed (Updated Jan 2012)
