If you have selected the traditional Dorrance subsidy publishing program, we undertake clearly defined, limited promotional activities for your book and begin to prepare your book's promotional materials upon receipt of finished copies in our warehouse. A Dorrance author knows in advance the promotion budget and promotion efforts we will perform.

Our staff prepares and prints approximately five hundred direct mail pieces announcing your book. Each contains an order blank and can be used to purchase copies of your book directly from Dorrance. If you supply us with sufficient names, we will mail one hundred of these pieces to your personal list. You will receive a supply of these direct mail pieces for your own use, and the remaining pieces will be kept on file for possible future use.

The promotion staff compiles a review list made up of approximately seventy-five local newspapers, specialized magazines, trade journals, publications, organizations, or libraries to which copies of the book are to be sent. These copies are mailed with information (stating author, title, price, and publication date) requesting the recipient mail us a copy of any review which may be published. We also subscribe to a national clipping service which scans national media for mention of Dorrance books and authors.

Most Dorrance titles do not receive reviews in national media. In instances where reviews or publicity in local or specialized publications are received, you will be sent copies of those which are brought to our attention. It is important to keep in mind that reviews are beyond our control since the editor of each publication decides which books to review. We also have no influence over the content or opinions expressed in reviews.

A smaller publicity list is also compiled, containing approximately twenty-five local or specialized radio and television stations, newspapers, and magazines to which we send publicity releases written by the Dorrance promotion staff. The purpose of mailing this publicity information is to attempt to gain some exposure, such as news items and feature stories in publications and, in the case of radio and television stations, author interviews. National publicity and appearances are rarely obtained, but our experience shows that our authors may receive some attention from local and/or specialized publications and stations. Publicity generated in this way can help to stimulate some interest in your book.

We send introductory letters, enclosing jackets or covers and ordering information, to approximately twenty-five bookstores in your area and in other areas where you tell us you are known. We offer books on consignment and, if acceptable to you, we will offer to help try to arrange autograph parties.

We send publicity releases and jackets or covers to approximately one hundred wholesalers, distributors, and jobbers primarily as reference materials providing the name, subject, price, and availability of your book. We will also prepare a catalog listing for your book which will appear in the Dorrance Catalog of Publications, which is bound into the Publishers Trade List Annual, a reference volume to the book trade. And we will submit your book for listing in Books in Print, another reference publication. Your book will also be featured in our Online Catalog.

In the case of non-fiction and other specialized subject categories, we send introductory letters, jackets or covers, and ordering information to approximately 25 outlets which feature books or merchandise related to the subject of the book.

It is helpful to our efforts if you, the author, work in cooperation with us. This involves contributing whatever personal assistance you have to offer. If you are an able speaker, this may involve speaking engagements. If you are a creative promoter, contribute your ideas to the project. If you are a salesperson, make your "pitch" to the bookstores, libraries, etc., in your vicinity. Please be sure to let us know, in advance, about any promotion you plan to implement on your own. In our Promotion Data Information form we mail to all new Dorrance authors, we request that you suggest to us any ideas or opportunities known to you which can supplement our own efforts.

Subsidiary Rights

Subsidiary rights are comprised of book club, paperback, hardback reprint, paperback reprint, serial reprint, dramatic, motion picture, television, radio, translation, and other such rights. While Dorrance does not usually seek out opportunities for the sale of subsidiary rights, should an opportunity present itself, Dorrance may sell the subsidiary rights for your book. At your request, a limited number of letters and books can be submitted to specified agents, editors, producers, or magazines. It should be noted, however, that the sale of subsidiary rights of works published by Dorrance occurs with only a small percentage of our authors.

Order Processing

Bookstores, wholesalers, jobbers, and libraries can order Dorrance titles directly from us using our catalog, which is bound into Publishers Trade List Annual, as a reference, and also appears on our web site. Most orders which are received are a result of the limited promotional efforts which we agree to perform on behalf of your book or from your own efforts.

For the convenience of our book buyers, Dorrance is pleased to offer our toll-free 800 telephone ordering number. Our merchandising staff is available to take orders for your book and to creatively initiate additional interest in Dorrance titles.

We calculate appropriate discounts, credit the author's payments account, prepare an invoice, ship the book(s), and bill the customer. Our authors need not be concerned with shipping or invoicing as we handle these services for them.

Book Sales and Author Payments

We do, of course, hope--as does the author--that some book sales will result from our limited promotional efforts. Dorrance attempts to increase awareness of your book's availability and to generate some interest in it, specifically in local and/or specialized media and outlets. It should be noted, however, that nationwide distribution is rarely achieved for Dorrance titles.

Should you become a Dorrance author, you will receive (twice each year as detailed in the agreement) a statement of any sales activity that may have occurred, along with a check for any author payments derived from book sales according to the following:

If, after your personal supply of author copies is exhausted, more books are desired, you may purchase additional copies of your own books at 45 percent off the retail price. Because we are obligated to keep an inventory of books for a minimum of two years following the date bound books are first available, we cannot provide these additional copies authors may desire free of charge. Upon termination of the contract, all copies in inventory are available to you at no further cost except the cost of shipping.

Most books we publish do not sell as well as their authors hope they will. Your natural enthusiasm for your book should be tempered by prudence; you should proceed with our agreement primarily because you want to see your work in print, not because of expectation of sales, and you should not jeopardize your financial security to accomplish publication.

Only in a very small percentage of cases are sales sufficient for authors to recoup the entire sum paid to Dorrance for production of the work.