Information AboutSelf-publishing |
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BUSINESS ASPECTS The key distinguishing characteristic of self-publishing is the absence of a traditional publisher. Instead the creator or creators fulfill this role, taking editorial control of the content, arranging for printing, marketing the material, and often distributing it, either directly to consumers or to retailers. Less often, the author prints the material, usually using a Xerographic process or a Computer Printer . In some cases, books are Printed On Demand with no Inventory kept. This places the bulk of the financial risk for the venture on the creators, with many self-publishers ultimately subsidizing it rather than making money from it. PRINTING AND PRODUCTION QUALITY Many self-published books utilize printing and binding techniques chosen for their suitability for short press runs. They may be printed with a xerographic process rather than offset printing. In many cases the lavish full-color cover used in mass-market publishing is not present. Bindings suitable for short press runs, like staples, comb bindings, or wire-bindings are often used rather than the perfect binding or signature binding typical for larger press runs. Techonology has enabled high-quality short-run print jobs to be successful. Because professional-quality typesetting suites, such as LaTeX , are available as Free Software , the typesetting of a self-published book may be as good as a traditionally published work. However, these tools require some technical skill, and many self-published works are formatted using a Word Processor , which can give less appealing results in comparison. The development of relatively low-cost Desktop Publishing software has put more powerful tools in the hands of self-publishers, but without any guarantee that they will be used to professional standards. Authors using lower-cost, short-run techniques are often focused on content rather than appearance. They may wish to avoid a polished appearance for reasons that have little to do with cost, such as maintaining an Anti-establishment aesthetic. Because bookstores believe that cover appearance and content is important for successful sales, self-publishing authors that plan to distribute their books through mainstream distributors and bookstores often strive to achieve an overall appearance similar to that of the major publishing houses. This in turn mandates a larger initial press run, because of the set-up costs involved for offset press work. MOTIVES FOR SELF-PUBLISHING There are a number of reasons that writers choose to self-publish, most often however, they choose to self-publish because their work is not of interest to a commercial publisher. Publishers must be confident of sales of several thousand copies to take on a book. An otherwise meritous book may not have this potential for any number of reasons:
Occasionally an author may choose to self-publish for reasons of control. When working with a publisher, an author gives up a degree of editorial control, and has little input into the design of the book, its distribution, and its marketing. This has been a substantial motivator in the rise of comic book self-publishing. In the late 1970s, creators such as Dave Sim and Wendy And Richard Pini chose - in spite of offers from publishers - to publish their work themselves because they wanted to retain full ownership and control over it, and they believed they could do the job of publishing more effectively than a publisher that did not have an ownership stake in the material. This was facilitated by the development of comic book specialty shops, and the distribution network that serves them, which is more open to small- and self-publisher material than traditional bookstores have been. Numerous cartoonists have followed their example since then, and by the late 1990s, the majority of comics (in terms of titles) were self-published. They remain a small percentage of overall sales, however, with sales of a given book often falling short of 1000 copies. A similar movement took place in the music industry during the same period, coming largely out of the Punk Rock phenomenon, as some musicians eschewed deals with Record Label s and published their own recordings. VANITY PUBLISHING ''Main article: Vanity Press '' Self-publishing is sometimes difficult to differentiate from "vanity publishing". The latter term is a pejorative one, usually referring to situations in which a publisher contracts with authors regardless of the quality and marketability of their work. They appeal to the creators' vanity and desire to become a "published author", and make the majority of their money from fees charged to the creators for publishing services, rather than from sales of the published material to retailers or consumers. In his guide for would-be self-publishers, ''How to Publish Yourself'', author Peter Finch unequivocally states that such presses are "To be avoided at all costs". Vanity presses often try to disguise themselves, calling themselves "joint venture" or "subsidy" presses (neither term is accurate; in a vanity press arrangement, the author undertakes all of the risk (unlike a Joint Venture ), and pays 100% of the cost of publication (unlike in a true Subsidy arrangement)). The Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Of America website maintains one of the most comprehensive scam-alert sections in the publishing industry, and works hard to keep writers and potential writers aware of the risk of being scammed by duplicitous vanity presses. So-called vanity presses may not necessarily engage in deception or fraud, however, and some creators knowingly and willingly enter into such deals, placing more importance on getting their work published than from profiting from it. Because there is no independent entity making a judgment about their quality, and because many of them are published at a loss, self-published works are often perceived as equivalent to vanity-press works, or equally deserving of skepticism from distributors, retailers, or readers. EXAMPLES Many works now considered classic were originally self published, including the original writings of William Blake , Virginia Woolf , Walt Whitman , William Morris , and James Joyce . Self-published works that find large audiences are rare exceptions, and are usually the result of both excellent writing and tireless promotional work by their writers. There has long been a tradition of political self-publishing or Print On Demand publishing, particularly of ideas that the mainstream might consider 'fringe' or 'radical', such as Anarchism , early Socialist Manifesto s and so on. (q.v. Samizdat , Freedom Of The Press ) Fanzine s are examples of self publication, and have been particularly popular amongst Science Fiction and Punk Music audiences. Dōjinshi (Japanese Anime / Manga fanzines) are another example of self publication. CD / DVD burning hardware on home/small business PCs has led to an increasing number of graphically intensive works (graphic novels/comics, portfolios) being self published in digital form as a cost reduction measure. This hardware has also allowed self publishing to extended beyond the printed page providing the option of producing mixed media works, combining text and graphics with sound and video. Web Publishing is another kind of self-publishing, enabling authors to publish their works at little or no expense. DISTRIBUTION Most bookstores do not stock self-published or vanity-published books. This is primarily due to the perception that the work is inferior and/or that the publisher will not be able to adequately market the publication. Another concern is that a self-publisher will not be able to meet the demand in the event the book proves popular. In addition, many self-published works are not offered with the usual 55% discount off the retail price that most retailers require and many self-publishers do not offer a return service that bookstores are accustomed to. This is mainly due to the higher cost of self-publishing versus the mass-produced major titles. Many shops get all their books from a handful of major suppliers (e.g., Bertrams and Gardners in the United Kingdom, Eason and CMD is Ireland, etc.), and these distributors are reluctant to carry self-published material for the same reasons. Instead such minority interest works will tend to find a market within their own niches, being advertised in relevant magazines, sold in specialty outlets, by mail order, through local retailers, etc. Self-publishers have themselves, on occasion, founded their own publishing operations. An example of this is in Scotland as a means for one person to produce anarchist Pamphlet s and Fanzine s, but is now a large internationally based publisher of radical books, CD s and literature, putting out work by well known figures such as Noam Chomsky , Arundhati Roy , Guy Debord , Murray Bookchin , Penny Rimbaud , Gee Vaucher , Jello Biafra and many others. The Internet opens up a world of new possibilities. Unknown, underground writers can build personal webstores devoted to the sale and distribution of their short stories, Chapbook s, and poetry, and reviewing and promoting the work of fellow underground artists and scribes. While enjoying a "rogue" status in the publishing community, such ventures may not be as profitable or enjoy as wide a distribution as commercial publishing ventures. However, their work can reach an audience literally as fast as e-mail, they can set their own prices, and they don't have to share any of the income they do take in with agents and publishers. SEE ALSO
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