Business Review: Is Marathon Publications the Best of All Worlds? - Technorati Business

Business Review: Is Marathon Publications the Best of All Worlds?

Author: Karen Larkin
Published: August 04, 2011 at 5:54 pm

The publishing world has been rocked with dramatic changes in the past decade, presenting both opportunities and headaches for writers. Now Marathon Publications has developed a business model seeking to combine the best of past and present publishing avenues into a new hybrid.

Why Develop a New Model?

Existing publishing models exclude too many talented writers. Consider the pros and cons of each.

Traditional Publishing

Pros: Hemingway, Michener, Grisham and hundreds of others made millions from the sale of their books using traditional publishing methods. The writer contracts with an agent, who presents his work to publishers. A publisher purchases his manuscript, he receives a handsome check and moves on to the next project.

Cons: Production and marketing techniques employed by traditional publishers have become so expensive that publishers can no longer afford to risk investing in authors who are not known commodities. Talented or not, only 1 in every 5,000 authors is offered a traditional publishing contract. Traditional publishers have also been slow to embrace e-books and print on demand (POD). Meanwhile, sales of e-books eclipsed those of printed books in 2010.

Self-Publishing

Pros: Self-publishing allows authors to retain ownership of their work and receive 100 percent of all royalties.

Cons: Publishing and writing require vastly different skill-sets, yet the author suddenly finds himself responsible for print specifications, formatting, cover art, ISBN number(s), book distribution, marketing, and more. Perhaps the greatest challenge is that the writer is no longer free to write. He has become a publisher.

Independent and Vanity Publishers

Pros: If your goal is to become a published author, vanity publishers can make it happen.

Cons: Costs typically range between $6,000 and $30,000, and marketing is not included.

Enter Marathon Publications

Marathon Publications, Inc. partners with new and developing writers, sharing both risks and rewards. Like traditional publishers Marathon's goal is to publish quality, marketable books. Unlike traditional publishers, Marathon's production and marketing techniques, while high quality, are extremely cost efficient. These cost savings allows the company to focus on nurturing both raw talent and existing authors.

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