What is Collaborative Publishing?

At XCEO we developed the concept of Collaborative Publishing in order to circumvent many of the drawbacks of self-publishing. You may have heard the terms "team publishing" or "catalogue publishing" referenced in the self-publishing arena, but Collaborative Publishing is different. We do not sell our services, nor do we want to undertake the evaluation manuscripts. We are seeking authors who, because of the loss of creative control of their work, the small probability of being published or because of the time delay of actually getting the book to market, would like to publish their work independently. Unlike publishing houses, we will only publish books under the XCEO name which are creative, timely and produced to our standards of quality. Other publishers are willing to compromise quality in order to grow their library, paying authors to publish with them. The disadvantage of publishing with that type of firm is that your book is then associated with all others in their catalogue. Although it is advantageous to work with a publisher with a large library, distributors and retail chains are aware of this tactic, meaning that the value-added to your book is insignificant. Collaborative Publishing at XCEO is moving in a new direction. While we are actively seeking new authors in order to grow our library, we will only accept the highest quality books and will not pay authors to publish with us.

With Collaborative Publishing, we work as a team to avoid the disadvantages associated with self-publishing. For a more detailed look at the different methods of self-publishing please click on The Collaborative Publishing Advantage. Generally, the more books a publisher has in its library, the more power that publisher will have with distributors and retail chains. Most self-publishers are on their own in terms of marketing, distribution and retailing their work. While self-publishing is a great experience, having published Corporate Rise in 2005, we can tell you that it is at times a frustrating process! By publishing together, XCEO is able to guide authors through the self-publishing process and link them to services necessary for book production (i.e. indexing, layout, cover design, editing, etc.). The XCEO team can also provide insight into how books get placed in retail chains and sold on the internet, how wholesalers and distributors are approached, and what type of marketing strategies can be used to increase sales. Again, the XCEO team will not actively take-on any of these endeavors, but we do know how to link you to qualified professionals for every step in the process.

Publishing with XCEO is an innovative alternative for any author who has decided against publishing with a large publishing house, but who does not want to undertake independent publishing without help. There is certainly strength in numbers. Moreover, we believe that having an experienced and dedicated team to answer questions and guide writers through the publishing process is invaluable.