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Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory, Vol. 1, pp. 7-10 (1977). Pergamon Press Printed in U.S.A. HOW TO SUCCEED IN PUBLISHING WITHOUT REALLY TRYING CHARLES OZNOT, A. B. (Camford) Managing Director C. A. Milverton Entrepreneurial Publishing Associates, Inc. Editor’s Note: When we were soliciting articles for this first issue of LAPT, we contacted a great many people involved with the library acquisitions process, bookdealers as well as librarians. One of the persons we did not contact was Mr. Charles Oznot, author of the following piece. Nor did he contact us directly; rather, James Thompson, whose “Current Awareness for Better Library Acquisitions” also appears in these pages, informs us that, on arriving at work the morning he intended to mail his own submission off to us, he found Oznot’s article on his desk, labelled only “For LAPT.” After reading through the piece, then, Mr. Thompson felt conflicting emotions - on the one hand, he knew that Oznot was the exception, rather than the rule, among publishers; but on the other hand, he felt that Oznot should be “given enough rope to hang himself.” Thus, he submitted the article along with his own, allowing the Editors to make the decision, and we have chosen to publish it here as submitted, ail efforts to reach the author at his most recent place of business having failed. We can only reiterate that Mr. Oznot is the exception, rather than the rule, among publishers. ABSTRACT The author stabs at the very heart of the cash flow crisis by delineating a semiquasistochastic inference model for a non- industrial secondary retail service with a high probability of profit in the seven-figure range, requiring effiien t utilization of a limited semi-professional staff; without working hard. So, you want to make a million dollars in publishing, and you’ve never even delivered newspapers? Well, now there is a virtually fool-proof method of doing just that, and for all practical purposes, no actual publishing is ever required. This novel method not only has been created in the face of publishing’s current capital problems, but, in fact, has flourished in the very environment which is driving other publishers to the wall and wholesalers to Chapter 11. Cash flow - one hears so much of this mysterious object. What is it, and where did it come from? Basically, the cash publishers are interested in flows from book buyers, of which the most important are libraries, through publishers to publishers’ creditors, such as printers, authors, and other irritants. The trouble stems from the fact that librarians (except Federal Librarians), having little acquaintance with large amounts of money, like to hold on to it and 7

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Page 1: How to succeed in publishing without really trying

Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory, Vol. 1, pp. 7-10 (1977). Pergamon Press Printed in U.S.A.

HOW TO SUCCEED IN PUBLISHING WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

CHARLES OZNOT, A. B. (Camford)

Managing Director C. A. Milverton Entrepreneurial

Publishing Associates, Inc.

Editor’s Note: When we were soliciting articles for this first issue of LAPT, we contacted a great many people involved with the library acquisitions process, bookdealers as well as librarians. One of the persons we did not contact was Mr. Charles Oznot, author of the following piece. Nor did he contact us directly; rather, James Thompson, whose “Current Awareness for Better Library Acquisitions” also appears in these pages, informs us that, on arriving at work the morning he intended to mail his own submission off to us, he found Oznot’s article on his desk, labelled only “For LAPT.”

After reading through the piece, then, Mr. Thompson felt conflicting emotions - on the one hand, he knew that Oznot was the exception, rather than the rule, among publishers; but on the other hand, he felt that Oznot should be “given enough rope to hang himself.” Thus, he submitted the article along with his own, allowing the Editors to make the decision, and we have chosen to publish it here as submitted, ail efforts to reach the author at his most recent place of business having failed. We can only reiterate that Mr. Oznot is the exception, rather than the rule, among publishers.

ABSTRACT

The author stabs at the very heart of the cash flow crisis by delineating a semiquasistochastic inference model for a non- industrial secondary retail service with a high probability of profit in the seven-figure range, requiring effiien t utilization of a limited semi-professional staff; without working hard.

So, you want to make a million dollars in publishing, and you’ve never even delivered newspapers? Well, now there is a virtually fool-proof method of doing just that, and for all practical purposes, no actual publishing is ever required. This novel method not only has been created in the face of publishing’s current capital problems, but, in fact, has flourished in the very environment which is driving other publishers to the wall and wholesalers to Chapter 11.

Cash flow - one hears so much of this mysterious object. What is it, and where did it come

from? Basically, the cash publishers are interested in flows from book buyers, of which the most important are libraries, through publishers to publishers’ creditors, such as printers, authors, and other irritants. The trouble stems from the fact that librarians (except Federal Librarians), having little acquaintance with large amounts of money, like to hold on to it and

7

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8 OZNOT

admire it for the longest possible time. Publishers’ creditors, on the other hand, never go into libraries (this includes the authors) and don’t sympathize with the librarians’ explanations as to

why it takes six months to pay a “Net 30” invoice. The publisher, in short, is caught in a squeeze between two powerful forces.

But now there is a way to take advantage of this process! Essentially, what you must do is create a third entity, one even larger and more sluggish than libraries, and then find a way to

eliminate your creditors. The result is that all the cash piles up in your hands and stops flowing altogether. You earn the interest, and the world is yours. Sounds impossibly attractive, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not; just follow this easy prescription and watch the “cash flow” flow in to you:

Step 1: Subject Analysis

The first thing you must do is make a list. (Every successful venture necessarily begins with a list.) Make a list of broad subjects of current and immediate popular interest. They should ideally be subjects so broad that it would take whole encyclopedias to cover them. I might suggest Feminism, Black Studies, Third World Politics, Energy Resources, Corruption . . . . You get the idea.

Step 2: Title Construction

Now you need to expand the topics on your list in order to make titles. Remember: you’re

dealing with encyclopedic subjects; so, go for “reference’‘-type titles (They involve more cash.)

So, construct your list thus: Encyclopedia of Feminist Studies, International Encyclopedia of Third World Politics, Yearbook of Energy Resources, etc. If in doubt, call up some local reference librarians and ask them what sort of reference books people are asking for. Remem- ber, if you want the cash, you must identify the need.

Step 3: Publicity

This is the hard part, for it requires both a small cash outlay and someone who can read and write. The outlay is for the cost of printing a large number of impressive-looking brochures, announcing the imminent publication of your list of reference titles. Be sure to include a photograph of the “completed” set; a good way to do this is to print up cheap paper jackets and put them over volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and photograph the spines with your titles showing. At first, when your resources are tight, you can have all the jackets reading the same, on the assumption that most potential customers won’t look that closely.

Next, you’ll need a sample article or two. Here’s where the person who can read and write comes in handy. For a small fee, he will read articles relevant to your title in some other reference works and paraphrase them for you.

Also, it won’t hurt to have an impressive list of Editors, Contributors, and Consultants. For a couple hundred dollars, almost anyone will agree to be a Consultant, and you can easily construct a distinguished list of Foremost Experts. Of course, you never have to actually consult them.

Finally, it helps to name libraries which have already subscribed. (It encourages a library to think that it is getting something that State U. considers essential.) This is hard at first, though with a little imagination you should be able to create a University of Eastern West Virginia Consolidated Library System, or some such. After the thing gets rolling, you can use the names of everyone who subscribes to any one of your titles on your subscriber list for all the other titles.

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How To Succeed in Publishing Without Really Trying 9

Step 4: Announcement

Now comes the critical part. Having printed up some thousands of brochures, you must get them into the hands of the right people in the libraries. A few hundred dollars will buy you a list of addresses, and you can get a Bulk Rate permit from your town’s post office. But since

you plan on advertising quite a number of titles, you’d better play it safe and attribute them to

several different publishers, with different addresses. Don’t worry about the fact that the mailing envelopes for all the brochures will bear the same postmark and the same Bulk Rate number. Nobody will notice this. As for the addresses on the brochures, every large city contains firms whose only business is to forward mail, and such firms are listed in the yellow

pages (available at your local library).

Step 5: Pricing

These are, after all, large reference books on critical topics. Librarians will expect to pay through the nose for them. SO, put on a really steep price, which will, of course, increase the cash flow (to you!). But how, you may ask, are you going to set this cash flowing when you

don’t actually have a product to sell? The answer is surprisingly simple: give the customer the alternative of paying in advance at a substantial discount. Make it at least 10 percent, so he’ll have no choice but to prepay. Offer to send him a proforma invoice. Set an imminent deadline for the discount; so, he won’t have time for second thoughts.

Step 6: Capital Inflow

This is the well-earned reward of intelligent endeavor. As the checks begin to arrive, you merely deposit them in an interest-bearing account (not necessarily a local one), reserving only what you need for the fairly modest expenses of the next set of brochures. As your capital base increases, your outlay for promotion can increase correspondingly, and with it, the sophistication and flashiness of your announcements.

There are, of course, more profitable ways of disposing of this ever-increasing capital than banking it. But the alternatives are also less secure; there is a certain appeal in a non-term

deposit which can be removed immediately, should a necessity arise for sudden relocation. But this decision will ultimately depend on how strong a lure speculation holds for you.

RISKS TO BE AVOIDED

No business can be run in a free-enterprise economy without incurring some potential hazards. The following guidelines, gleaned from the author’s own experience, will help you recognize these dangers and avoid them before they become critical.

Partial Fulfllm en t

It’s wise to occasionally put out a Volume 1 of some of your hypothetical subscription books, even if this does entail some additional investment. Your customer base consists of people who do, on occasion, talk to each other, and if a potential subscriber begins looking into your project too closely, it will be to your advantage to have a few librarians situated around the world who can say, “Oh yes, we already have the first volume of that set.” An occasional prompt refund in response to a claim will have a similarly beneficial effect. Remember, in business, reputation is everything.

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Inquiries

Librarians often establish procedures for regularly inquiring as to the reason an ordered

publication has not yet arrived. However mechanistic and inefficient, this idea is here to stay, and you’ll have to deal with it. A basic “not yet published (NYP)” report will generally suffice,

and the simple and continuing truth of this motto has an appealing aura about it. Telephone inquiries, however, require an inordinate amount of your time; so, you’ll be better off omitting your number from the announcements and brochures.

Refunds

Eventually, some librarians will decide not to wait and to ask for their prepayment back. As explained above, an occasional refund enhances one’s trade image. Other than this, such requests can be ignored. If, after a period of some years, a large number of such demands mounts up regarding one particular title, you should refund the original payments for that work (reserving the accrued interest, of course). After all, you can count on getting it back with your next announcement.

Speaking Engagements

I have noticed an increasing number of invitations from librarians to address them on the subject of reference book publishing. Several committees of one of the librarians’ societies are continually interested in this. I advise against accepting such invitations, as the people involved can be rather badgering about their unreceived books. But it’s always a good idea, if you encounter someone from one of these comittees, to assure them that you’re prepared at any time, wherever they wish, to answer all their questions. Also, assure them that your publi- cations are already in the press, and don’t forget to send them a few of your Volumes 1 (see above) as proof of this assertion.

The Federal Trade Commission

This presents a very sticky problem to which there is as yet no clear solution. On February 2, 1976, some F.T.C. regulations concerning mail-order merchandise became effective; these rules, as I read them, seem to make Steps 1 through 6 above somewhat “illegal,” if carried out as stated. I don’t know what the courts will do with this, but you’d better read up on it just to be safe. (The rules were published in the Federal Register, October 22, 1975, pp. 49492 ff.)

Besides, illegality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? Of course! And I’ll tell you, when I behold the million dollars in my unnumbered bank account, it is beautiful!

Editor’s note 2: The Federal Trade Commission regulations to which Mr. Oznot alludes do, in fact, exist. They state that it is illegal for a “seller” to solicit mail orders unless he/she expects to be able to complete shipment to the “buyer” either within a clearly stated amount of time or within thirty days after receiving the order. If the seller fails to meet either of those deadlines, the buyer may (a) consent to a revised shipping date, or (b) cancel the order, expecting a prompt refund of any prepayment.

However, an addendum to this law states that such restrictions “shall not apply to subscriptions, such as magazine sales, ordered for serial delivery, after the initial shipment is made in compliance with this part.” Whether hypothetical sets like Mr. Oznot’s should be considered a “serial delivery” is debatable, but the overall impact of the law upon publishers needs to be investigated.

One committee of the American Library Association that is concerned with such problems is the Bookdealer-Library Relations Committee.