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You're faced with a choice. Should you submit your manuscript to Ocean Cooperative or hire one of the self-publishing companies to print your book? The self-publishers will certainly accept your work - their business model does not entail rejection of any normal manuscript - and you will be the "publisher." Ocean Cooperative Publishing accepts all manuscripts for consideration but not necessarily for publication. Successful submissions are published by Ocean Cooperative under one of our OCP imprints such as Encompass Editions.

But in both cases you will be asked to pay a fee and for many authors that fee will be a deciding factor. It's tricky comparing cooperative publishers with self-publishing companies, but the tables below make a careful attempt. It's here that the cooperative publisher's willingness to absorb costs on their authors' behalf makes itself felt.

The comparisons of cost and features in the tables below are based on Ocean's investigation of various self-publish web sites and may be subject to error or change. In every case - including Ocean - there is a fee and a per-book cost. When attempting to calculate your earnings as an author, take care to compare royalties based on distributed sales. If there's no distribution, there can be no distributed sales!

If the details of the tables that follow are more than you want to be bothered with, here's a quick cost summary of comparable packages based on the publisher's fee plus 100 copies of a 200-page book. But remember, as your publisher, Ocean Cooperative does not require you the author to purchase any copies whatsoever.

Xlibris Professional: $2582
I-Universe Select: $1776
AuthorHouse Essential: $1866
Self-publishing.com: $1618
BookSurge Basic: $2354
Ocean Cooperative Publishing's Launch program: $1485

Good comparing!

Summary: Ocean Cooperative's Launch program includes an additional $384 worth of pre-publication services: designer consultation, National Library of Canada Archives CIP and a paper proof, and offers printing costs that are less than half. Adding in the cost of 100 books (the average number of copies an author purchases in the first year of publication, the comparable Xlibris Professional Package will cost the author $1299 in books, $384 in add-ons, plus the initial $899 fee for a total of $2582. Compare Ocean Cooperative's Launch cost for the same package: $1485, a savings of more than $1,000 with Launch.

Summary: Ocean Cooperative's Launch offers custom designed interiors, paper proofs, and Library of Canada number while I-Universe Select does not. Select will add on a Library of Congress control number (LCCN) for $75, but I-Universe does not offer custom design and paper proofs at this level of service. Authors do not own their book designs under the I-Universe Select plan. Authors save $5.12 per book with OC Launch and earn an additional $2.28 per copy sold through wholesale channels. Authors who purchase, for example, 100 copies in the course of the first year, pay $1701 under the Select program. Ocean Cooperative's Launch partners pay a total production fee of $1485 for a 100-book run.

Summary: AuthorHouse Essential package costs $300 less than Ocean's Launch program, but does not include a Library of Canada number or paper proof. Adding the cost for 100 books, the total publishing cost comes to $1670, compared to OC Launch at $1485. Most notable is the difference with net sale profits. Ocean authors receive $5.27 per book. AuthorHouseÕs royalty is only $1.70. Ocean allows its authors far greater flexibility in book design, pricing and discounts and they receive nearly $4 more per book from wholesale sales.

Compared to Self-publishing.com, Ocean's Launch program saves its authors $100 and they receive a Library of Canada CIP number and a paper proof before printing.

Authors who hope for distribution through Self-publishing.com must purchase a minimum of 100 books from that company. This increases their initial out-of-pocket expenses by an additional $619 compared to Ocean's authors, who receive world-wide distribution through Ingram regardless of the number of copies bought or sold.

Though BookSurge advertises custom design services, as part of its basic package the company determines the cover image and the sample covers reveal that they are in fact using templates, which are then customized.  To get something closer to that offered by a publisher such as Ocean Cooperative, authors can purchase an upgrade in design service for an additional $500. An LCCN costs an additional $75, and a paper proof is not available. A BookSurge suite of publishing services that would deliver something roughly comparable to Ocean's Launch would cost authors $1374, $475 more than Launch. Authors publishing through BookSurge do not retain design rights. 

Among the larger self-publishing companies, only BookSurge offers comparable printing prices to those Ocean passes on to its authors. However there are some serious restrictions. BookSurge owns the design rights to your book and you are not permitted to use those designs should you decide to print or distribute somewhere else. Also, authors who aim to distribute through bookstores should bear in mind that Amazon (who owns BookSurge) is not on good terms with independent bookstores, and that Amazon sets the wholesale discount at their own discretion.

If you've arrived at this page from outside the Ocean Cooperative web site, click here to go to our home page and learn more about our innovative publishing model.

Our office telephone number is (613) 659-3666

You can e-mail us at: words@oceancooperative.com