Self-publishing puts you in control
of:
your rights
your marketing
your future
Authors have turned to self-publishing for as long
as books have been around.
Some of the most celebrated books in the English language were initially
self-published including The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, The Elements of
Style, and The Joy of Cooking.
These authors turned to self-publishing either because their manuscripts were
rejected by traditional book publishers or because they had the gumption to
publish and sell the books themselves.
In the mid-nineties
a new technological breakthrough called print-on-demand (POD) changed the face
of self publishing. POD allowed for books to be digitally stored and printed one
at a time as ordered thus virtually eliminating the need to print
physical inventory in advance of publication. By doing so, the upfront costs of
publishing dropped dramatically. In 1931 Irma Rombauer and her colleagues spent
$3,000 to modestly publish The Joy of Cooking. Today, an author can
self-publish for as little as a few hundred dollars.
Other innovations
followed. The largest POD printer, Lightning Source (LS), is owned by the large
book wholesaler Ingram which supplies books to an estimated 90% of all the
commercial book resellers in the US including Amazon and probably your local
bookstore. By combining the functions of printing and book wholesaling LS is
able to make your book available nearly anywhere books are sold. This low-cost
turnkey printing/distribution system can produce supply to precisely meet
demand, thus eliminating one of the greatest risks self-publishers and
conventional publishers face—that of over printing. These developments, coupled
with the rising significance of the internet to book marketing and particularly
Amazon, have given authors new reasons and courage to self-publish. For
established authors, POD offers an inexpensive way to get previously published
works back in print and to keep them in print indefinitely. Sometimes the reason
has to do with timing. When Andy Kessler self published Wall Street Meat,
shenanigans on Wall Street were all over the front pages of newspapers and his
book became an overnight bestseller. He felt he couldn’t wait the year or two
that a conventional publisher would have taken. Sometimes the reason is creative
and marketing control, as was the case with Amy Fisher when she self-published
her memoir about killing her lover’s wife. She did not wish to be
sensationalized and she knew that no commercial publisher could have resisted
the temptation to do so. Some authors self-publish for monetary reasons. Robert
Kyosaki and Donald Trump recently self-published Why We Want You to be Rich.
They explained on Larry King Live that self-publishing allowed them to donate a
half a million dollars to their pet project—teaching business skills in public
schools.
These are all valid
reasons to self-publish. When you have spent years writing a book and a
traditional publishing contract is nowhere to be found, why not self-publish?
You’ll be in good company. Or maybe self-publishing just seems right to you from
the start. It was pure gumption that got Irma Rombauer to self-publish The
Joy of Cooking. It’s a lot easier today then it was back then, but old
fashioned gumption will never go out of style.
Some
related links of interest:
If
you are one of 97% of authors whose manuscript has been rejected by conventional
publishing companies, you may take some solace (or delight) in the following
links:
Rotten Rejections: Letters publishers wish they had never sent
http://www.writersservices.com/mag/m_rejection.htm
Famous Rejections
http://www.scribesworld.com/writersniche/articles/FamousRejections.htm
Famous self published authors and rejections
http://www.simonteakettle.com/famousauthors.htm
Also of interest:
SELF
PUBLISHING STIGMA PERISHING
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53996,00.html
