PUBLISHING YOUR OWN BOOK

The New York Times recently wrote a story about self-publishing, noting that it’s come a long way from the old, expensive, disreputable ‘vanity publishing’ scams of a few years ago. Some major publishing houses now have a stake in the leading so-called ‘print on demand’ (POD) publishers, and although it’s still a one-in-a-million proposition, a few self-published books have made the leap to best sellers (though average sales is only 150). Mostly, these successes have come from the author’s own initiatives, using viral marketing, and primarily from online sales.

The ‘Big 3’ in POD publishing are:

Borders Group/Random House (Xlibris — $500 for graphics, proofreading, an ISBN number, LOC registration, copyright, online sales page, and a listing in major book vendors’ catalogues and online sites; softcover)

1stBooks ($698 for graphics, extensive marketing support, an ISBN number, LOC registration, copyright, online sales; softcover or hardcover)

Barnes & Noble (iUniverse — $459 for cover graphics, marketing toolkit, 5 free copies, an ISBN number, LOC registration, copyright, and a listing in major book vendors’ catalogues and online sites; softcover)

All three vendors also offer more extended services (hard copy, promotion etc.) at an extra charge, all three offer a pdf e-book version of your work, and with all three you retain ownership of the work, so you can shop it to a mainstream publisher later at no additional cost. Here is a table the Times provided with more information:

POS chart

I’ve been giving some though to who to get to publish my book, when it’s finished in June. I’m partial to New Society Publishers, since they promote themselves as ‘The Activist Publisher’ and publish exclusively “Books to Build a New Society”. They were the printers of Radical Simplicity, and they’re Canadian to boot. But one way or another, my book is going to see the light of day, and if that means self-publishing, so be it.

I know many bloggers have aspirations to land a book contract, and a few that I know have succeeded, though some of these contracts are a lot more generous than others, and none are for what I’d call big money. What do you think? Do you have dreams of publishing your work in more than the emphemeral world of the blogosphere? If so, would you self-publish? How would you get around the challenge that faces all new writers (exactly the same paradox that faces new university graduates looking for work): If you haven’t already been published, no one will publish you.

6 Responses to PUBLISHING YOUR OWN BOOK

Rob McNair-Huff says:

March 3, 2004 at 09:40

Count me as a published author with three books under my belt, and I have considered opting for some kind of self publishing for future projects, simply because the kinds of contracts offered by publishers are far from lucrative. Hopefully my latest book, which I am busy doing final editing on over the next week, will prove a success. If you are interested in bird watching and ever make it to the state of Washington in the U.S., consider picking up Birding Washington, which will come out later this year from Falcon Publishing.
Christopher Allen says:

March 3, 2004 at 09:52

I’m surprised that services like http://www.lightningsource.com/ are on this list. They do print-on-demand books, but you have to handle your own ISBN # (which isn’t that hard), getting listed various places, etc. I know that a number of people in the paper-RPG industry are now using services like these as it gives them more control, yet they don’t have warehouse.
Christopher Allen says:

March 3, 2004 at 09:53

(urgh) change “are on” to “are not on this list”
Michael says:

March 4, 2004 at 07:00

Thanks for the information, Dave.
John says:

April 7, 2005 at 17:10

Thank you very much for the information!I found your post while I was googleing for publisher and self publishing. I wasn
John says:

April 7, 2005 at 17:10

Thank you very much for the information!I found your post while I was googleing for publisher and self publishing. I wasn