The process of publishing a body or work can be exhausting. Stephen King related in his book On Writing about the time he began submitting work to magazines as a teenager, stating that he would stick the rejection slips on a nail he had in his wall. Eventually, so many had built up that he could no longer fit them onto it.
It is unknown whether King had ever considered self-publishing, because it wasn't an option since he was not making enough as a school teacher to support his family, as he confessed in his book.
But for those who can no longer stand the idea of not having a published book, and have the means to do it themselves, it is wise to invest much time into knowing this area of the publishing industry beforehand.
The divisions of the self-publishing industry involve self-publishing, vanity publishing, and subsidized publishing. Each is unique and should be fully understood before consideration.
Self-Publishing – On Your Own the Whole Way
Self-publishing is no joking matter, and not for the light of heart. According to "How Self-publishing Works" by Tom Harris for the site HowStuffWorks.com, publishing can be relatively inexpensive when compared to other ventures, but Harris points out that self-publishing is a business with a product that should be designed to meet consumer needs, not serve the desires of the author.
In addition to having to produce the body of work and pay for it, a self-publisher must consider hiring an illustrator or photographer as well as a copy editor. In order to give the book a professional appearance it must contain an ISBN number, a price, a description on the back, and an author bio as well as a Library of Congress catalog number so as to have it in libraries.
Another decision that is strictly on the business side of publishing is deciding how many copies to print. More may come off the press at a lower price per copy, but having 10,000 copies of a book that only sells 2,000 can take up a lot of space in one's garage.
Following this mistake, a self-publisher may consider paying for storage.
Vanity Publishing – Publishing a Book With None of the Perks
Vanity publishing is sometimes referred to as self-publishing, but it is not.
A vanity press is a company that charges authors to publish their work. One example of vanity publishing is that of the anthologies produced by Poetry.com.
Poetry.com is a site that allows authors to post poems shorter than 20 lines. Shortly after a poet's poem is on the site, it is not uncommon for him or her to receive a letter in the mail informing them that the submitted poem is a semi-finalist in contention for the $10,000 prize on the site. Additionally, the poem will be published in an anthology that the author will be offered a chance to buy.
Compilations of work that have true merit will not often share a marketing plan that views the artists whose work will be displayed as the main retail customers, but Poetry.com's do. The site also provides the service of putting poems on novelty items such as plaques and coffee mugs.
On a last note regarding vanity presses, they are known to take work of any quality, as noted by Johnston Clifford, who coined the term in 1960 when a British publisher was offering to publish poems in an anthology for a price.
Subsidizing a Book – The Advantages of a Publishing House With the Stigma of a Vanity Press
Subsidizing a book means just that. An author will submit a body of work for review and will be offered a publishing contract (more often than not) that is similar to traditional contracts, except the author will make the initial monetary investment.
Subsidy presses include Vantage Press, a New York publisher that has been in the book business for more than 50 years and gives its clients royalties of 40%, as per this author's personal experience.
Subsidy presses offer authors the full amenities of a traditional publishing house such as having a publicity department and a national distributor, but they also carry the name of a company known in the book business for publishing work that authors pay to have on the market.
The publicist will make contact with any newspapers that may be interested in the author's work. This information is derived from an in depth pamphlet the author fills out, offering information about schools attended and organization membership.
Additionally, the author's work will be posted on all major online bookstores, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders. When it comes to scheduling book signings, a subsidy press will make arrangements for shy authors who can direct them in terms of scheduling and location, but they will not schedule any type of promotion that the author does not initiate, as it is not the goal of all authors to sell books, so much as have them published.
One last detail that sets subsidy presses apart from vanity presses is that a subsidy press offers more legitimacy with its use of distributors such as Baker & Taylor, and Ingram. Without these distribution centers, authors will not be able to have their books on the shelves of stores like Borders and Waldenbooks.
Is it Worth it to Self-publish?
Self-publishing deals more with personal goals. If an author just needs to have a book he wrote in print, then, yes, self-publishing is the way to go. If an author wants to learn about selling and promoting a book to the public, then he could most definitely self-publish.
The writing industry is changing rapidly. Some authors are getting book deals based on traffic to personal blogs (web self-publishing). And with the changing times and technology, the rules change as well.
The best one can do is arm themselves with knowledge in order to protect themselves from potentially bad decisions, and shady business deals. The world of self-publishing is wracked with both.
