Self-Publishing in the 21st Century: Is it for you?

What do Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, Anais Nin, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Bronte sisters have in common? All of them self-published books at various times in their careers. None of them, though, had the remarkable (and, at times, confusing) array of self-publishing options which modern authors have today.

Right now the world of self-publishing is booming. R.R. Bowker , which creates the International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs), reports that in 2009 non-traditional publishers created 764,448 titles, an increase of 181% over the previous year. In contrast, traditional publishing houses (Random House, Harper Collins, Penguin, etc.) produced 288,355 titles, down slightly from the year before.

Digital technology plays a large role in this upswing. Electronic books were still a novelty in 1998 when the Rocketbook, the first handheld e-book reader, was introduced. They have grown and proliferated along with the sophistication of the various e-book reading devices. While books for Amazon.com’s Kindle now account for 80% of e-book commerce, the 2010 introduction of Apple’s iPad, along with readers created by Sony, Barnes and Noble, and others stand ready to provide competition. Publishers Weekly Magazine recently questioned the longevity of mass market paperbacks, wondering whether e-books would someday eclipse them as the “third” format for books in the next few years. Amazon.com announced that in April 2011, ebooks outsold physical books, paperback and hardcover combined.

Another digital innovation fueling the self-publishing explosion is Print on Demand (POD) technology, embodied in a machine capable of producing one book at a time for a commercially viable cost. Less than ten years old, this new technology is truly revolutionary. Traditional publishing still relies on the economics of offset printing, which requires a press run of several thousand copies to make the per-copy price low enough to render a profit. When a title is no longer selling in quantities large enough to justify these big print runs, publishers must send the title out-of-print. POD provides interesting new perspectives on this dynamic.

Should you Self-Publish?

What are your goals? Exploring this question will help determine if you should try self-publishing, and, if you decide to try it, which self-publishing format to pursue. Frequently mentioned goals include such things as:

· Attracting a commercial publisher for the work. (Reality check: Though there are some famous examples of self-pubbed books becoming so successful that a major publisher buys the rights, a commercial house typically wants to see sales in excess of 10,000 before they get interested. Most self-pubbed books sell fewer than 100 copies.)

· Building a reader fan base that will help attract a commercial publisher for future books. (The indie band analogy. See Jeff Vandermeer’s book, “Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21^st-Century Writer,” for a detailed discussion of this concept. )

· Obtaining feedback on your writing from reviews, reader comments, etc.

· Having a product to sell in conjunction with speaking engagements on the author’s topic of expertise.

· The desire to hold your baby--er, book--in your hands at long last! (Don’t be embarrassed, every writer longs for this! And with POD technology, it is easier and less expensive to achieve this goal than ever before.)

· Making contacts in the publishing business that will lead to finding an agent and/or commercial publisher in the future.

Types of Self-publishing

Traditional Self-Publishing (You Form Your Own Independent Press)

Like traditional publishing houses, the books are produced by an offset printer. A print run of at least 500 copies is typically needed to create a realistic per/unit price. The books must be stored by you, the publisher, who then ships them to wholesale and retail outlets. Books can also be sold through the press’s or author’s own website.

The typical discount breakdown for small presses is: 40% off the suggested retail price when sold directly to retailers, 55% off list price when sold to wholesalers like Ingram and Baker and Taylor (who then resell to retailers and libraries at 35%-40% off list.) Large online retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble will also buy and stock directly from you, the publisher, but will expect a 55% discount.

Pros:

· You own all rights and control all aspects of production and distribution.

· Your book can be bought and stocked by libraries and bookstores through traditional wholesale distribution streams, the same system the traditional publishing houses use.

· Books can be submitted to traditional review venues and will stand some chance of being reviewed if national distribution on traditional terms can be demonstrated.

· If costs are controlled and books sell well, the author-publisher can make significant profits.

Cons:

· Requires a substantial monetary investment, involving the financial risk that the books won’t sell.

· Extremely time-consuming, if the author seriously pursues a small press model for success.

· Author must have room to store the inventory.

· Author must bear the costs of shipping to wholesalers (retailers usually pay for their shipping). The rising cost of shipping has seriously impacted the world of small publishers in that wholesalers like Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and large online retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, are now buying in very small quantities, making the shipping costs ruinous.

· May be difficult to get reviews in traditional trade publications (Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, etc.) due to self-publishing stigma, though many new review sites catering to independent presses are proliferating on the Internet. IndieReader.com is one example (but they charge a $25 “vetting fee” and a $125 listing fee – in my view, a questionable practice). Foreword Magazine (a longtime player in the indie press movement, but if they do not choose to review your book in their magazine, they then offer to review it on another of their websites for a price, ranging from $99 to $300 -- another questionable practice, IMHO.) [Update: Publishers Weekly announced on August 23, 2010, that they would begin a quarterly publication devoted to announcing self-pubbed titles and choosing a select few for review.  A hefty $149 will be charged for the listing.]

Electronic Publishing

Electronic books began in the 1990’s. They are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with as methods of reading digital works proliferate and future possibilities for interactivity and instant revision seem limitless.

Pros:

· Little or no initial investment if an author can format his own work.

Kindle books can be uploaded for free using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service. To prepare your book for iPad readers and other reader formats, Smashwords.com can oblige and offers an extensive instructions on how to format and to meet the Apple and Nook publishing requirements, which are more involved than Kindle.

· Often a better profit margin for the author than with any other publishing format, including contracts with royalty-paying traditional publishers and, for the self-publisher, nothing is lost to shipping costs to the retailer. The current royalty offered by Amazon is a whopping 70% of the suggested list price.

· Marketing and promotional opportunities are easier and less expensive due to the growing legion of internet sites focusing on digital media. (“Pajama marketing” so to speak -- i.e., you can make global contact with potential readers while sitting at your breakfast table--in your pajamas!)

· There are an increasing number of e-book review sites available.

Cons:

· E-books are still only a small segment of the market. Fifteen percent is the figure at this writing.

· No physical “book” to have and to hold, to take to book signings, or to hit library shelves (but this can be remedied with a POD version of the digital work).

· E-books will typically not be reviewed by traditional print review sources -- PW, Library Journal, Kirkus, etc., probably because those journals see their current audience (bookstores and libraries) as purveyors of print rather than digital media. Stay tuned, this could be changing very soon.

Print-on-Demand Publishing

A digital file (usually an Adobe .pdf) is uploaded to a POD machine which creates a perfect bound, trade paperback book.

Pros:

· You have a physical book to read, sell, etc., but you do not have to maintain an inventory, as the books are only produced when they are sold.

· No shipping costs charged to author/publisher if the retail seller is also the POD manufacturer. Some wholesalers are even providing a POD service. Ingram is associated with Lightning Source

· This is a great option for books that are past their commercial prime. If a publisher has let a book go out of print due to waning sales, authors can ask for a reversion of rights and then make the book available via POD.

Cons:

· POD books are still expensive to produce compared to the offset printed books that they will compete with in the marketplace. This may make it difficult to yield a decent royalty to the author when pricing it competitively with other trade paperbacks.

· Bookstores will not generally stock POD books. Don’t let a publishing site mislead you on this. Just because the book is available through wholesale distributors does not mean that it will be offered for sale at retail outlets. Bookstore owners may be happy to special order the title for a customer, but they will usually not stock it on spec because POD titles are often non-returnable, have a short discount, and may carry unusually high prices compared to similar, traditionally-produced books.

· Most POD printers are actually part of a subsidy press operation, whether they present themselves as such or not. (See below.) The quality of the final product varies from company to company.

The Subsidy Press

This is NOT technically self-publishing. In this business model, a company offers to publish a book for an author at the author’s expense, carries that book in its catalog, and distributes the book through its own or other channels. In days gone by, this business was referred to as a “vanity press.”

The profits of subsidy presses come primarily from selling books and services to their authors, not from selling books to the reading public. As a result, authors usually end up paying more (and sometimes much more) than if they had simply self-published the work. Because subsidy presses publish all (or nearly all) books offered to them, they offer little or no additional legitimacy among those knowledgeable in the business.

In what some regard as a disturbing new trend, some traditional publishers have recently opened subsidy presses of their own with a not-so-subtle hint that hopeful authors can increase their chances of winning a traditional publishing contract with the house if they first pay to have their book published. Harlequin did just this in late 2009. Other, smaller houses have followed. Writers’ organizations universally cried foul and the company eventually removed “Harlequin” from the name of the venture, but continued it through a partnership with Author Solutions, a consortium of subsidy presses.

Before dealing with a subsidy press, be sure you know exactly what you are getting for your money and what each party’s rights and obligations are. Read the proposed contact carefully, think through your goals, contact some of their authors, and try to envision how orders for your books would actually be generated. Then visit the watchdog websites listed below before signing a contract with any company.

How can you distinguish between a subsidy publisher marketing itself as a “self-publishing company” and a company simply offering services to authors who want to self-publish? Often it is a matter of degree. A basic question is: Who owns the ISBN? But there are many other considerations. The current wave of self-publishing popularity has caused a proliferation in companies purporting to help an author “self-publish,” but are in fact subsidy publishers in disguise.

Many offer both services simultaneously, like Amazon’s Createspace (known as “Booksurge” prior to its acquisition by Amazon). If you carefully read their website, you can publish your book through them without setup fees or charges, but they don’t make it easy to do – and they will eagerly try to up-sell you on their publishing “packages,” which arguably are more “subsidy press” in nature. Publishing venues like Createspace, smashwords, and lulu.com offer legitimate services providing you with real options. Just be on guard, because the slope between digital self-publishing and a subsidy press can be a slippery one.

Good Sources For More Information

Before signing up with any company, self-publishing or otherwise, check out the “Writer Beware” link on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association site, SFWA.org. This is an aggressive watchdog site alerting writers to unfair practices and unpleasant surprises. It offers a wealth of links to other sites, and this function alone provides a valuable introduction to the digital publishing world--the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

Another good watchdog site is: Predators and Editors.

A frank and informative essay by David Carnoy on his own self-publishing odyssey can be found at:http://reviews.cnet.com/self-publishing/

An on-going experimenter in self-publication is sci-fi author and Boing-Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow. He has been chronicling his year-long self-pub journey for Publishers Weekly. http://tinyurl.com/2a7v499

April Hamilton has written an Indie author guide and offers free information on how to format a Kindle Book that is much more detailed than Amazon’s own how-to section:

 http://www.aprillhamilton.com/

Selfpublishing.com is a company set up to help authors self-publish, and offers a full menu of options, from editing to printing. I personally know nothing of the quality of their end-product, but their website FAQ tab offers an excellent information about self-publishing -- and their discussion on ISBNs is even more comprehensive than Bowker’s own site.

An extensive POD company database has been compiled by Dehanna Bailee, comparing the costs and services of the current POD providers: http://dehanna.com/database.html

Agent Agnes Birnbaum, in a Publishers Weekly cover story “New Ways to Publish,” offered her own take on self-publishing as the new “slush pile”:

[T]the self-publishing route offers a vital new opportunity to evaluate slush-pile writers. Where we once had to go only on as little as a gut feeling, self-published authors can now come with a track record of selling their own work or getting media attention, which can show us writers who are ready to benefit from our investment. http://tinyurl.com/23zu35b

For those interested in forming their own independent press, an excellent site to visit to get an idea of printing costs, etc., is Morris Publishing. Morris is a short run offset printer that I have used in the past and would definitely use again. (Pricing comparison: a 250 page book with a full color cover would cost about $5.86 per book for a 100-copy print run. This is lower than just about any POD price per/copy, but you must purchase 100 instead of one. If the print run is 1,000, the per-unit cost is reduced to $3.63 each. (this figure does not include other costs, like shipping, tax, ISBNs, etc.)