How do publications work in Greece?

His creative team iWrite.gr, therefore, solves the riddle for the first time in Greece, explaining in a few lines exactly what happens when a book is published, who is involved and what services the investor (whether he is the author or the publisher) pays for. We're not so much concerned with getting you to work with us as we are with getting the knowledge you need so you don't fall (or fall again) a victim.
The diagram below is a brief description of the publishing process...

iWrite Publications is a publishing house created by writers for writers. For us, publishing is not a rigid business process, but our passion. For this reason we could not but offer the freedom to each author to choose from various publishing models. From the conventional to the self-publishing model.
As we saw above, publishing a book goes through 8 basic steps. If one of them is not implemented correctly, your book (and your investment when you are the financier of your project, that is, when you choose the self-publishing model) is in serious danger of "passing" without anyone noticing. And this is exactly what happens to 99% of authors who choose conventional publishing houses and pay 1.500 to 2.500 euros for the publication of their work. Why is this happening;

First, what's wrong with the above release chain? You don't know why you never asked and why they didn't take care to inform you properly. The reality is unfortunately very… prosaic. Publishers treat such releases as "financial injections" for their businesses, in an attempt to reduce the damage created by their failed investments in other books.

For this reason, they follow the whole process (carefully or not depends on the publishing house) up to the point of the printing press and the receipt of the 300 or so copies. Then they do a quick and hasty promotion (few press releases, 1-2 ads in their own publications - when they exist - usually unrelated to the subject of your book, etc.), distribute your book to some bookstores and that was it… they leave you and your work to your own devices. So the book sells poorly and is considered a failure when it is not to blame! It's like opening the most elaborate and impressive restaurant in Greece, but not informing almost anyone!

Unfortunately, we know the above first hand, since in the creative team of iWrite there are writers who fell victim to exploitation or amateurism (however, they managed to be recognized in their field), but also professionals who experienced this process from the "inside" as long as they cooperated with conventional publishing houses, which did not want to follow the technological and educational trend of the new era. It is not a theory, but a sad and prosaic reality.

Unfortunately, we know the above first hand, since in the creative team of iWrite there are writers who fell victim to exploitation or amateurism (however, they managed to be recognized in their field), but also professionals who experienced this process from the "inside" as long as they cooperated with conventional publishing houses. It is not a theory, but a sad and prosaic reality.

So isn't it an oxymoron for them to ask you for such a large investment from the start and then not support you with their expertise and acquaintances? Don't even give you a "tool" so that you can display your work yourself and correctly?

So where does the 1.500-2.500 euros go? We will not tell you that they overcharge their services, because we simply still have good faith in the Greek businessman. But we will tell you that they are investing your own money in the most wrong way, pushing your project to almost certain failure. So where does your money go?

Publishing is divided into three stages: a) book preparation, b) book printing and c) book sale. Stage a) involves many professionals to prepare your project: philologists for editing, illustrators and graphic designers for pagination and cover mockup. Graphic designers are almost always necessary, but philologists are not (there are plenty of writers who feel confident about their work)… so why pay for a service you might not need?

In stage b) your work is printed. If the publishing house has basic experience, they will be able to print your work for a relatively low price (from 700 to 1.000 euros usually for 300 copies). At the end of this stage you have 300 copies in your hands. So what do you do?

At this point, the publishing house usually supports you a little at the beginning: that is, they send some press releases, maybe some advertising in a publication they cooperate with (without worrying too much if it coincides with the subject matter of your work) and add to the catalogs of the books they sell and the your own work. And that was it... in theory you may be told that your book will go to all bookstores in Greece, but in practice it may not be found anywhere. It would be more correct if they told you that "your book can go to all bookstores in Greece, as long as the booksellers ask us!".

Somehow, at the end of stage c) your project is usually doomed from the start. You will manage to promote your book within the circle of people you have, giving a maximum of 30 to 100 copies (50% of the price of which goes to intermediaries). In two-three months at the most your book will be forgotten and in 1-2 years at the latest they will tell you that you can pulp the unsold copies (a very difficult time for any author).

It is reasonable to ask yourself here: why did I invest so much money for 300 copies? Why didn't they offer me to print 200 and the rest of the money to go to marketing efforts (paid advertisement in a paper with a relevant theme or some website of the book, etc.). After selling 30-100 copies in my circle why didn't I print that many in the first place and especially why did they put so many middlemen in between? The questions are many and meaningful, but almost no editor will give you an answer...

So the question remains: is there any method of self-publishing that "works"? But clearly, there are hundreds of authors abroad who have dared to invest in their books themselves and are now living from them. But the main thing is that hundreds of thousands of authors managed to make their dream come true, that is, to see their book printed with a highly professional result, reach the readers they wanted from the beginning and even cover the initial cost of their investment! In short, to chase their dream and finally succeed... for free!

So what did they do? First, they didn't work with a conventional publishing house. Logical, because self-publishing is by its very nature an alternative and modern form of publishing, something completely foreign to what conventional publishers are used to doing. So why pay handsomely to someone who simply doesn't know what it takes to self-publish successfully? Rhetorical questions…

What steps did they take? For the most part, they chose to start with a small investment (€500-€1.000) and use the amount carefully. They initially printed as many copies as they needed to cover their initial investment (i.e. 30-100 copies), paid only the professionals they needed (graphic designers, philologists or both) and with the rest of the money they made sure to make promotional moves or to acquire the marketing tools they needed (eg an effective website, the possibility of promoting the book through social marketing tools, viral videos, etc.). Many of them managed to pay back their investment in just 2 months and then with the same money to proceed with additional moves, able to bring them more profit since there was no longer the cost of stage a).

Of course not. iWrite Publishing is an innovative publishing house composed of people with rich studies and expertise.

The self-publishing model is one of the many publishing models we use, and perhaps the most demanding, which is why it's being updated the most. Of course, iWrite's self-publishing is influenced by the European way of self-publishing, adapted to the Greek culture, and has no relation to other genres presented and the only thing they have in common is the synonymy. When an author is asked to invest his money to keep 100% of his commercial rights there we are asked to be very careful both in terms of information, protection and in terms of the implementation of our commitments. In any case, whether an author chooses the self-publishing model or some other model, our creative team should work for free in terms of both professional proofreading and drafting of the technical study, believe in the author and his work and then, after discussing with him, to propose the publishing model that suits him so that both sides are happy, with the ultimate goal of becoming a serious professional team and then a publishing family.

Before that we will ask, as we ask each of our writers, to do a good market research in order to ascertain the level of quality of the services we offer.

As we said at the beginning, we hope this text will be a "weapon" in your effort to invest properly and see your work printed as you really dream. So who can you trust?

First of all, you want very good professionals with experience in the publishing field to edit your book literary and artistically. You also want people who know the modern digital printing technologies commonly used in successful self-publishing models. In addition, you want professionals with great familiarity and deep understanding of new online technologies, since this is the author's weapon for proper, effective and inexpensive promotion and advertising of their book.

Finally, it would be ideal if the professionals you find can step into your shoes, that is, be writers and have tried the self-publishing model in the past. In other words, they have tried what you are thinking of doing now and they have succeeded.

All of the above is fulfilled by the creative team of iWrite.gr, whose members are characterized by university studies in Greece and abroad, extensive experience in the field of publishing and marketing, as well as by their love for books. And the most important thing is the same authors who have tried self-publishing and thanks to it they finally managed to see their books in a number of bookstores in Greece and online bookstores abroad, having even found a publisher to invest in them within a few months!

In Greece there are proven to be many creative people who are looking for a way to express their ideas. The creative team at iWrite has the knowledge and experience to help you, but we want to believe that there are other young professionals like us out there to make our job easier.

In any case, before closing any deal ask to know prices from several sides. At iWrite we know we are the most competitive in price, professional output and service. But before you ask us to get passionate about your book, we want you to feel confident about it, too.