I'm obviously in favor of self publishing; I've done it and will
again. I've also helped clients self-publish. It's not the only way to
go, but it is a totally viable option today.
A Brief History of Printing and
Publishing
It's amazing, but books haven't been in existence all that long, at
least not in the form we think of them today. While it's true that many
early societies had written language, it wasn't until moveable type was
created that books in the form we know them began to come into
existence.
Surprisingly, moveable type was actually created in China in about
1040CE; metal moveable type was invented in or Korea around 1230CE*.
We're more familiar with Johann Gutenberg, who invented
letterpress printing which led directly to books as we know them. The
best known is the Gutenberg Bible, which was printed in 1454. Until then
books, when they did exist, were written or copied by hand, one at a
time. It was a laborious process.
It wasn't long before presses were established to print books to sell
to the public. This created great controversy between the printers and
the Church of Rome, which wasn't sure laypeople should be allowed to
read the Bible. In fact, it can be argued that the printing press and
the subsequent distribution of books and ideas is what led to the
reformation, to science, and to almost every element of our modern
society.
In a sense, we've come full circle, for it's now possible to
economically print one book at a time which is a relatively new
phenomena.
Trade Publishing
It's difficult to say when trade publishing got started - perhaps as
early as early as the 1450s, when a printer in St. Albins, printed eight
books. But what the term, trade publishing, means today is a company
that publishes books for sale and distribution to bookstores, libraries,
book clubs and other special markets. The trade publisher assumes all
costs of production and pays authors a royalty on sales. The key is the
phrase "assuming all costs of production." If you're paying any of the
design, printing or other production costs, your self-publishing.
You get a trade publisher when a trade publisher offers you a
contract for your book. The contract will, among other things, spell out
the royalties (percentage of sales) you will receive. The key to making
money with a trade published book is, of course, is the marketing.
Note that even if you're working with a trade publisher, you are
likely to end up doing a great deal of the marketing of your book
yourself - unless you're already a famous author, much, if not
most, of the marketing of your book will fall to you.
Generally, when someone says they want to get their book published
they are thinking of trade publishing.
Print On Demand
Print on demand (POD) is a term that simply means it's possible to
print even a single copy of a book at a reasonable cost, perhaps around
$3 or $4 a book.
In other words, there's no need to print unless there's an order to
back it up. POD is a result of digital printing which means, over
simplifying, that the ink sits on the paper rather than being embedded
in it as it is with traditional printing. The printing is actually done
from camera ready copy so there's no need for printing plates.
Many trade publishers now use a POD process, even though they still
tend to print books by the thousands rather than one at a time.
POD is cheap and simple, but doesn't offer the same economies of
scale that traditional printing and short run printing does. With
traditional printing the 1000th copy is cheaper than the first; with POD
the first copy and the 1000th copy cost the same.
Self-publishing
Self-publishing is when an author pays the production costs of a
book. Until the 1990s, the cost of printing for the most part prohibited
anyone but trade publishing houses and vanity presses from successfully
publishing books. Now, technology means that it can make economic sense
to print one book at a time.
Today it's possible to contract with a Print On Demand publishing
company to publish your book yourself. You will pay all the production
costs. But they are low enough now so it may make sense for you to do
so.
Most of these companies offer some sort of distribution. At a minimum
they will offer your book on their website; the better ones have a deal
with Amazon and/or Barnes and Nobel and some can also arrange
distribution through Ingram, the world's largest book distributor - a
distinct advantage.
If you are successful at marketing your self-published book well, you
can actually earn a great deal more money than you would if the book had
been put out by a trade publisher because you retain all the profits,
rather than a percentage of the net.
But it's not easy money. The marketing of a book is no small task.
Some people self-publish in order to get the attention of a trade
publisher; some because they believe passionately in their book. While
there are success stories in self-publishing, there are also lots of
failures.
As you probably guessed, I'm in favor of self-publishing. Not for
everything of course. But if you've got a book you believe in and you
haven't been able to sell it to a trade publisher, self-publishing can
be a wonderful option.
One At A Time or Short Run
There's another option for self-publishers, and that's short run
printing. Here you order 500 or 1000 books at a time and because of the
quantify are able to take advantage of economies of scale.
Most short run printers use a version of POD technology which helps
keep costs low.
With this option, however, you have to set up your own distribution
as well as handle all the marketing. The initial investment is also
higher, although the profits are potentially higher as well.
Vanity or Subsidy Press
Vanity or subsidy publishers are scams, pure and simple. Oh, before
POD, a case could be made for these short run books, but POD is so
inexpensive that there's no reason to pay someone thousands of dollars
to publish your book.
How do you tell the difference between a vanity publisher and a
legitimate print on demand service? It's getting more and more
difficult, but the real clue is the high entry cost. Anthologies of
essays or poetry that you have to pay to be included, or buy an
expensive book are also rip-offs. A vanity press will take anyone; a
good POD publisher has at least some discretion.
Even if you only want 10 copies of your aged aunts rather poor poetry
for the family archive, you'll save money using a reputable POD
publisher.
