Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing

Self-Publishing and
Independent Publishing

Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing take more effort and require more initial investment by the author. But, you keep control of every aspect of the final product, and you keep all the profits from your book.

You may read stories of great success in self-publishing, and references to famous authors who started out that way. Be skeptical, and remember what we said about the high school basketball star and the NBA – it doesn't happen to most authors. When it does, it's because they put a great deal of time, effort, and money into marketing. Still, many authors are finding success today with Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing.

Self-Publishing means that you handle every part of the process yourself; you become a publisher.

You select a professional to edit your manuscript (after which you make the needed changes).
You find a book cover designer to create a cover for your book that will make people want to buy it.
You hire a professional to take your manuscript and set it up for printing with the right margins, the right font, chapter headings, and so forth.
If your book is non-fiction, you find someone to create the index.
You obtain an ISBN number to identify your book so that stores can order if they choose.
You ask people in your field to review your book and collect their comments to use on your cover or inside and on your website.
You select the best printer for your type of book and number of copies.
You arrange for distribution, storage, and shipping.
You create a website for the book.
You create a marketing plan and carry it out.
You register your book with the Library of Congress and register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright office.

Now there is nothing that says you have to do this all yourself…you don't!

With Independent Publishing, you work with a company like The Silloway Press that will act as your personal project manager to help you identify the best resources for your book, will monitor the work, and will make sure that everything comes together to meet your schedule and budget.

Unlike many "self-publishing" companies you find online that force you to choose one of their packages, with Independent Publishing you choose exactly the services you need and no more.

The main characteristics of Independent Publishing and Self-Publishing are:

The author bears the entire cost of publication and handles all marketing, distribution, storage, etc.
The author chooses where to obtain the necessary services, and can put every part of the process out to bid.
By the choices made, the author controls the quality and quantity of the finished book.
The author owns the completed books, and keeps all the profits from sales.
The time to produce a book from completed manuscript to finished book is months rather than years.
There are no royalties paid because the author already owns the books and content. This is an important test: if someone offers to publish your book for a fee, and then pays you royalties, you are NOT self-publishing!

In summary, the pros and cons of independent or self-publishing are:

PRO – Independent Publishing	CON – Independent Publishing
As the author you receive all the profits from sales and have the potential to make a sizeable profit on each book sold.	The author pays all costs of producing the book and is responsible for all marketing and distribution.
The book can be available for sale quickly so a time-sensitive topic can be on the market rapidly.	The author has to be – or hire – a project manager to be sure that all the parts come together as and when needed. The author must have a good marketing plan to avoid ending up with a garage or basement full of unsold books. This all takes time, money, and effort.
You can do as much or as little of the book production you want, and subcontract out the rest.	Bookstores generally will not want to carry self-published books unless you offer standard discounts and returnability, though they will order them based on customers' requests.
As the owner of all rights, you have the option of creating additional materials based on the book such as e-books, CDs, DVDs, articles, seminars, etc. The sale of these items can increase the sale of the book, and vice versa.	Self-publishing is generally not a good idea for fiction unless you do it for your own satisfaction and don't have dreams of selling a lot of books.
An independently published book that sells well may be attractive to literary agents and commercial publishers.

Print-on-demand (POD) companies offer a type of self-publishing that can be a low-cost option for some people. POD is not a publishing type – it is a technology that uses digital presses rather than traditional offset presses. Digital presses allow for much simpler and quicker setup and printing but the cost per copy is higher.

POD makes sense for a smaller number of printed copies, and also for reprinting limited amounts of an already self-published book. POD publishers are often fee-based and offer a specific and sometimes limited range of services. The finished books belong to the publisher who pays the author a royalty on sales. The royalties are usually significantly more than the royalties paid by a commercial publisher.