You can publish anything on your own, said self-published author Mary Mourad.
Read “on your own in large print. Self-publishing in Egypt, as Mourad reveals, is not an easy endeavor.
“By Monet is Mourad’s first work. She explains the process having written the book, while a friend designed the cover.
The first step for the authors is to hand a copy of the cover or contents page – containing title, author, and print house stamp – to the National Organization for Books (Al-Hay’a Al-Amma Lel Kitab)
In exchange for that sheet of paper, you receive an ISBN – the magic number that registers your book and allows you to publish it for distribution or sale. An ISBN also protects privacy rights and ownership.
“If you want to sell, you need a publishing house, said Mourad, who is also the director of Nuun (the letter ‘n’ in Arabic) publishing house. “You need to register as a company to register your profits, costs, liabilities, receipts, for marketing, etc.
Mourad discovered that one could incur delays, or worse – payments – even while working with a publisher.
However, your first challenge in self-publishing is making decisions at the printing press.
“Paper comes in hundreds of quality and colors; said Mourad, “white has shades.
Font, binding, and illustrations and production speed determine the price of printing. Books can be published as cheap as LE 1.5 to LE 15 per copy for novels.
Printing houses usually insist on a minimum order of 1,000 copies; 10 of these are given to the National Organization for Books.
Distribution and marketing are the most difficult challenges.
If she could do it again, Mourad said, she would still self-publish but make smarter decisions. “I’d have gone to (hire) distributors from day one, and done more marketing, said Mourad.
Yet there is another way.
“The publisher is the link between the author and the market, said Dar Al-Shorouk Board Member Amira Aboulmagd. Shorouk is one of the biggest publishing houses in the country, originally founded in 1942. Shorouk is the authorized publisher of some of the most successful novelists in the country, including Arabic Booker Prize winner Youssef Ziedan (“Azazeel ) and Khaled El-Khamissi (“Taxi ) among many others.
The publisher takes care of registration and printing decisions, ensuring your book is found in bookstores and marketed.
On the flipside, the book goes through edits to which the author may not fully agree, it can be published later than the author expects and it may end up with a cover quite different from what the writer had in mind.
“If the author has a request, it has to fit in with the economics of printing, said Aboulmagd.
Few authors are aware of details of the printing process, said Randi Danforth, development editor at the American University in Cairo Press, publisher of Edward Said and Naguib Mahfouz’s translated work.
Publishers have categories within which books are considered. AUC Press is an academic publisher, said Danforth, producing “works that make a contribution to scholarship. They may thus consider books “with a narrow but scholarly audience. At AUC, authors are published within the eight categories found in their catalog.
Walk-in proposals are discouraged while approaching publishers. “Some people are good storytellers but they’re not good writers, and the other way round, said Aboulmagd.
Shorouk directs authors to their online questionnaire, where they submit information about their work, why they wrote it, and a sample reviewed by the board.
Sometimes the process is fortuitous, as with Rehab Bassam of “Orz Belaban Leshakhseen (Rice Pudding for Two). Bassam, who works with Aboulmagd, showed the latter her blog. It was an instant success at the Shorouk office, who designed a project that ended with them launching Bassam’s work with two other blogs-turned-books.
Book proposals to AUC Press entail a short description, working title, word count, illustrations if any, and a table of contents indicating the subjects it would cover. The proposal helps produce a “skeletal idea of the book, said Dandforth.
If accepted, authors work on these proposed or finished projects with editors. At this stage, said Danforth, “there is a lot of consultation.
Works like a medical book, for example, may be valuable but need to be re-written, said Aboulmagd.
“Fiction can be tricky, added Aboulmagd. “Some people don’t want you to touch their work; others can be more flexible.
“The publisher is a kind of critic and hopefully the author responds, Aboulmagd said, noting regular work developed a smoother working relationship.
Authors are sometimes consulted about the design. “We don’t want them to hate the book, Aboulmagd, also children’s books publisher at Shorouk, said, “but their role is minimal in the illustration.
Titles of the work may also change, Danforth said, as “they might need to be more marketable.
A “mock-up of what the book should look like upon printing, is finally sent to the author to make sure it is to their satisfaction, Aboulmagd said.
Once the blueprint is ready, the publisher takes responsibility for the book’s production, distribution and promotion.
Authors are paid through royalties on their book sales on a monthly or annual basis. If affordable, these royalties, ranging from five to 10 percent of the book’s price, are paid in advance, said Aboulmagd.
Local publishing houses, Mourad revealed, ask writers to share in printing and other costs.
Others may publish your work, but not have clear distribution or marketing plans, an author who wished to remain anonymous said. This led to competition among writers in the same publishing house in addition to several delays.
Publishing in Egypt tends to be a gamble. You can publish anything, as Mourad tells you, but as she later adds, “Of course you don’t make any money out of it.
