By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 I started my first job in a printing company over 40 years ago. After a short stint in the pressroom, I was moved into the production office where I started dealing with customers. I have been dealing with customers in one way or another, ever since. I moved to New York over thirty years … [Read more...]
About Ron Pramschufer
Ron Pramschufer started in the printing business in 1969 and the publishing business in 1973. On the print side, he worked all over the printing plant including the pressroom, bindery, warehouse, production office, estimating and finally out into sales.
His first publishing venture included being a partner in an Annapolis, MD based publisher who specialized in books on Naval History. During his time here, he experienced all aspects of the publishing world.
His first self-publishing venture was to co-author a controversial political board game titled, Public Assistance, Why Bother Working for a Living and the game Capital Punishment. These games combined for sales of over 100,000 copies. Ron and his partner Bob Johnson appeared on dozens of TV shows and hundreds of radio shows and appeared in many hundreds of newspaper articles.
It is this early experience that has allowed Ron to help thousands of authors self-publish millions of copies of many thousand titles on a variety of subjects.
After many years of selling book printing to a variety of New York based publishers, Ron started RJ Communications, along with his old colleague, John Grady. RJ Communications developed one of the very first printer based Internet websites in 1997.
This early site evolved into the publishing services website, BooksJustBooks.com and later SelfPublishing.com. Ron's longtime customer and friend, Dana Cole joined him at RJ, soon after his original partner retired and is still his business partner today.
His original game partner, Bob Johnson teamed up with him to co-author the original self-publishing manual, Publishing Basics - Navigating the Self-Publishing Minefield. Publishing Basics is not in its 4th edition and has been read by over 50,000 authors and would be self-publishers.
Ron lives with wife of many years, Susann, an RN, in a town just North of New York City. His daughter, Stephanie is a 2nd Grade reading specialist in Harford County, MD. She is also the author and publisher of the successful children's book, Oliver the Clownfish series. She is married and has a daughter, Katelyn. His oldest son, Matt, is a graphic designer and web developer in Havre De Grace, MD. Some of his work includes the blog you are reading today. Matt is married and has a grandson names Wyatt. Ron's youngest son, Erik, is in his first year of University of Maryland Law School. His long time girlfriend was just accepted into medical school.
Ron is a straight shooting, Dutch uncle type. There is very little grey area in his area of expertise.... he won't steer you wrong.
Thor Distribution – The self-publisher’s answer to basic book distribution
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 Thor Distribution… Thor was started almost ten years ago as an entry level POD distribution method to pick up an odd sale or two that the author might not otherwise make out of his own inventory. Over time, it has grown from a few nickels and dimes to a great percentage of our … [Read more...]
Why should I buy my offset printing from SelfPublishing.com rather than directly from an offset printer?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 First off, while most printers can print a book, only a small percentage of offset printers are book printers … a very small percentage. Now put yourself in the printer’s place for a minute. Would you rather deal with one print buyer who prints a thousand titles per year or a thousand print … [Read more...]
During these bad economic times, do you still think it’s a good time to self publish a book?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 Normally I wouldn’t write about the same subject twice within a year but a lot has changed since I first wrote about this issue. If you pay too much attention to the fear mongering coming out of Washington these days, you’re probably hiding under a rock right now waiting for someone to come … [Read more...]
How much does it cost to publish an Illustrated Children’s book?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 The answer to this question has been a moving target over the past ten years. Technology has helped lower the entry level into the children’s book market but still not to the point where it makes financial sense to produce digitally other than for tests or family and friends. In other words,. … [Read more...]
What is the difference between a $275 cover design and one that costs $1500-$2500?
What is the difference between a $275 cover design and one that costs $1500-$2500? The easy answer, of course, is $1225. This is one of the most debated topics in many of the online news groups, although it’s mostly debated between designers who charge the $1500 price or more as justification for their pricing. In reality, there is very little visual difference in the final product between … [Read more...]
Judging a Book by Its Cover
A majority of booksellers agree that the cover design is the single most important element of a book. The truth is, a book is judged first and foremost by its cover. If you want your book to have a fighting chance among the more than 700,000 new books published each year, your cover must trigger an instant response. And it's not just customers who are influenced by your book cover. A … [Read more...]
Do I really need a professional book editor to edit my manuscript?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 You have finished your manuscript. Your ten best friends plus your mother have told you your book is GREAT. You have made up your mind that there is a market for your book beyond your ten best friends. You have decided to self-publish your book and hopefully become the next Tom Clancy. Your … [Read more...]
“Hey guys, what exactly is a ‘Pre-Flight,’ anyway?”
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 One of the services that Self Publishing, Inc. provides to its book printing customers is a Pre-Flight check of printer-ready PDF files that have been provided to print book covers and interiors. What exactly is a Pre-Flight check? Any pilots out there? Whether you think of your book as a … [Read more...]
What do you think about the purchase of Author Solutions?
By Ron Pramschufer, President - Self Publishing, Inc- Turning Authors into Publishers I held off answering this question for a bit until I could develop a solid opinion. At this point I’m not even sure if the check has cleared and Penguin isn’t showing any of their cards. The way I see it, this could either be a really good move for self-publishing authors or a very bad one. The first … [Read more...]
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