Self-Publishing – What, Why, How – and Why Now?
From my Newsletter, January 2009
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Today I want to write about the question of self-publishing versus a commercial publisher. In the past this was an easier decision. Self-publishing required quite a bit of money, and many people didn’t have the wherewithal to do it. But now, with on-demand publishing, this choice has become a viable option for many. So how do you decide? And does it work?
First some definitions. On-demand publishing means that instead of ordering thousands of books from a printer which are stored in a warehouse, the printer has the file on what is essentially a great big Xerox machine, and prints copies one at a time, as needed, to fulfill orders. The quality of the printing has improved greatly and today it takes a professional to tell the difference between offset printing and Xerox-style printing.
The economies are obvious. You don’t have to put up money upfront-beyond what’s needed to design the book, and any editing you want done – it all gets taken out of each sale. No shipping the books, no warehouse costs.
But there are many new companies (One just bought another. See: NY Times: Books) that seek to jump in and make it easier for would-be authors to self publish. Lulu is one of the biggest. I did some research on these myself, and I felt that they are keeping too much of the profit for themselves, and doling out “royalties” to the author in a way that will prevent you from ever really making money off your book even if it sells. It’s much smarter (and cheaper) to go to one of the on-demand printers who target real publishers, and hire out the design yourself. (Examples: CreateSpace and Lightning Source)
But that leads to the next question. Selling the book. Distribution is still the issue. Can you get the book into bookstores? Do you need to? And can you promote the book to likely buyers?
First things first. Most bookstores today won’t touch books by these new companies like Lulu, because they know most authors are not supporting them with necessary promotion to move them off the shelves. So you can’t count on that. However, if you have a way to directly reach your audience already or venues to sell the book that are not bookstores, you have a much better shot. Keep in mind too that Amazon can function today like a distributor, and it’s fairly easy to have your book put up on their site.
OK. So let me introduce another element. Since most publishers today are looking for authors who have a “marketing platform” and they expect you to do a lot of the work yourself to promote the book even after they publish it, what do you have to gain from letting them take the profits when you are doing all the work? (Your income from a commercial house consists mainly of the advance, which is applied against royalties, and if it earns out–that is, if you sell more books than were predicted by the advance–you get royalties twice a year, which usually don’t arrive for a year and a half after the book is first published)
In short, for the right person, I think self-publishing is a very smart move right now. Here are the characteristics of a good candidate:
* Strong opinions about what the book should look like
* A definite market for the book
* Some kind of marketing already in place (website, email newsletter, etc.)
* Willingness to show up and do the work once the book is created
* Passion for the subject
If this is you, call me and let’s see if your book fits the Printed Voice profile. See the next section for more information.
One thing you can’t have, or you have to let go of: the idea that only the imprimatur of a major publishing house makes you an author. If you are just looking for approval from someone else that you are a good writer, this is not the way to go.
Note that I think if you are writing fiction it’s probably still too hard to go this route, because novels still rely more on the old-style things of publishing: reviews, library sales, and and other things that commercial houses do a good job with.