Bloated Toe Publishing: Partnerships

Our Partnership Program is geared towards authors and writers who have projects that focus on their local area of residence, and on customers who have very limited finances. Why are we focusing on the little guy?

Well, I was just like you. I love to write, and I hoped to publish. I had researched and developed a manuscript that told the history of a nearby village of fewer than 500 residents. When the time came to try to get the material published, I was overwhelmed by the many steps that had to be taken in order to get a book on the market. Not a staple-bound book, but a book that would fit in well on the shelves of any library or major bookstore, a glossy, professional product.

I was intimidated by the costs, the decisions that had to be made, the extended time factor, and the general consensus that what I was doing was in all likelihood a losing proposition financially. Most writers in that situation are just happy to see their name in print. Breaking even is a milestone that few will surpass.

It doesn't have to be that way, and we have proven that.

Oh, and by the way, that first small project on a town of fewer than 500 residents? Gross sales in nine months exceeded $20,000.00.

We have successfully produced books of local interest, and if that's the type of writing that you are working on, you'll be glad you found us. This is our territory.

You CAN have your work published, you CAN own all of the rights to your work, and you CAN make it a profitable venture. We know, because we have done it. With our Partnership Program, that is a niche that we fill. You do not need to "think big" to be successful. To many would-be authors, success can be breaking even, making a thousand dollars, or making several thousand dollars.

We produce a strictly professional project, and have had many compliments on the look of our books. You can view them by going here.

If you have a project of your own, or one that you would like to publish to raise money for your historical society or some similar group, we can do it. It will look great, and it will be something you'll be proud of.

Making a profit is often not that important to writers who produce works of local history or local interest. They finish a project, get their name in print, and absorb the costs. The personal satisfaction and sense of accomplishment are reward enough.

We feel that making a profit is important, as profits lead to more writing projects. When we started, we had no intentions of producing just one book. We wanted to do more.

We have done that successfully, and through us, you can do the same. We can guide you through the process and take most of the burden off of you. Your main requirement is to produce a completed manuscript and supply the photographs or drawings you would like to use.

Most of the rest is up to us, guided by your ideas as to how you would like your finished project to look. When your book is ready to be introduced to the public, we can guide you and work with you to get sales started and to make your project a success.

Now, remember the adage "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." That is solid advice. Is there a "catch" in what we offer? There is no catch, but there is one very important term to note, and we want to make sure it didn’t slip by without notice. Above, we noted that you need only supply a completed manuscript, etc. The keyword there is "completed." By completed, we mean edited, proofread, and prepared so that when we receive it, it is ready for the publishing process to begin.

Don't be alarmed. If your manuscript is not "completed" according to those criteria, it doesn't mean you won't have your book, and it doesn't mean you won't make a profit. It likely means that any profit will be smaller than originally projected, since the cost of editing and proofreading will eat into the gains. We will still work our hardest for you to produce your book within a two-month timeframe.

Our Partnership Program is excellent for those with limited finances. If we review your material and choose to partner with you, it involves a much lower fee in advance, and we then share in a percentage of the sales. But here's an offer you won’t find anywhere else. We don't take ALL of the profits from every sale until our fee is paid. Instead, we will share in the profit on every book until all of your books are sold. Starting with the sale of your very first book, the profits will be split by percentage, so you and Bloated Toe will each receive a financial return from the sale of every single book. That way, you have the benefit of our assistance in selling your work. If your book doesn't sell, we lose money. So, we'll work hard at selling your book, and so will you. This type of arrangement allows aspiring writers to become published authors, and it allows us to share in the excitement of your success.

That will depend on the contract we agree upon with you, but each partnership is created with built-in financial profit for both parties. Generally, the percentage split will be in favor of the author, something like 30-70 or 40-60. For example, with each retail sale of your book for $20, and a 30-70 division of profits, you would receive $14 from the sale of each book, and Bloated Toe would receive $6. Under the average contract, you would have to sell roughly 300 copies to break even financially. With a printing of 500 copies, that would leave you with a little more than 200 copies to sell, and with your take of $14 per book sold, the potential net profit for you is close to $3000. There is great flexibility in designing our Partnership Program contracts. Some can end up with a 70-30 split in favor of Bloated Toe, but with little initial cash outlay by you, and more financial risk by us.

With a Partnership, you get real value for your money. This Partnership will not only include the full production of your book, but if you choose, it may include our warehousing a supply of your books, accepting online orders via our website, preparing shipping labels, putting your books in protective packaging, and shipping them to the customer within 24 hours. Those are things that you may not be prepared to handle, but we can handle them for you while you are out selling your books in other venues. That way, both partners are actively involved in sales. Teamwork increases your chances of success.

Remember, if we partner with you, you are in effect getting a loan to produce your book, but a loan that is open ended. Payments on that loan will not come from out of your pocket. If your books are never sold, you won't make any payments. Bloated Toe assumes financial risk to partner with you, and most of our payment and profit can only come from the sale of your books, right down to the final copy. Your initial financial outlay will be far below what you would pay other publishers to produce your book.

We do this because we want to do it, and we want to do it for several reasons. We want to help others like us get past the hurdles of becoming an author. We love books, and we love producing books. We do want you to make a profit, which will keep you coming back to us with more projects. We want the satisfaction of seeing others succeed, and we like the challenge of making your project a personal success story. And, in the process of all of that, we want to make new friends, and make enough profit to continue with more Partnerships.

The cost to you will likely fall somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 in initial cash outlay. That is money that you will pay in advance to Bloated Toe in two installments, half when we agree to partner, and the other half when we send the final layout to the printer.

Subsequent printings will be handled by Bloated Toe under the same terms as the initial Partnership, with adjustments made to reflect the number of copies ordered. That gives us additional incentive to do a great job for the life of each contract. We will be working with you and for you to sell all of your books. Since we assume financial risk for your original book production, we want to continue to share in the profit from our work. Your partnership contract will indicate that future printings of that particular work will be done by Bloated Toe.

Yes, you will receive ten free copies of your book. Those free copies will not be part of the number contracted for, but will be extras paid for by Bloated Toe. Of the actual number of copies in the contract (500, 750, 1000, etc.), each copy is bound by the terms of the contract. If Bloated Toe decides to give one of those copies as a gift, you will be paid the amount due as if the book had been sold. Likewise, if you decided to give one of the contract books as a gift, Bloated Toe will be due the amount as if the book had been sold.

That's simple.

We want aspiring writers to control their work and enjoy the results, like we have done. We love doing what we do. We succeed if you succeed.