#3 A book that will pay for itself

Nobody wants to lose money publishing a book, but a large number of people are content if they "break even" and never realize a profit.

Your break-even point is the number of books you need to sell in order to cover your out-of-pocket expenses.

For example, if you pay $5,000 for editing, design, printing, and binding 2,000 books and you sell your book for $20 each, you're break-even point will be 250 books. After that, it's all "gravy." Don't kid yourself. Nothing about being the publisher of your own book--or anyone else's--is easy.

Regardless of your financial goal for your book, always calculate your break-even point and work hard to meet it as soon as you can.

An easy way to by-pass break-even calculations is to use POD (print on demand) technology. You print only the number of books you have orders for. You can even go through a business such as LightningSource and have the books printed as they're needed.

(Before you go to print-on-demand, check out cautionary notes by the following:
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America ,
BooksJustBooks, Ezine)

My advice is to build the book for the market. Make sure there's a need for what your book offers, and with a ton of courage and a half ton of good luck, you'll achieve break-even within six months.