Tips for writers 4
The fourth set of our new pages of tips for writers
Self-publishing – is it for you?
- Do you really want to get your book published at any cost? Have you
tried agents and publishers, and made sure that your work is as good as you
can get it before submitting it? If so, then it might be worth considering
self-publishing.
- Before deciding to go for self-publishing, you should think through
what is involved. Certain kinds of books lend themselves to this approach.
If you have a book which you can sell after your lectures, or as a promotional
tool, or there’s some local or specialist interest in what you have written,
then self-publishing can be a good idea. If you’ve written a novel and want to
get it published, you should think hard about how you’re going to market it.
- The arrival of print on demand means that self-publishers can now
publish their book for a few hundred pounds. Print on demand machines can
produce one book at a time and, although each copy costs a bit more than if
you ‘batch print’ (which might mean a thousand copies in one run), you are in
a much better position as you have not had to raise the money to finance
printing the thousand books and neither do you have to store them. The stock
risk, which over the years has dogged publishers, leading to overstocks and
remainders, can be a thing of the past. You can order one book at a time if
that is what you need.
- The advantage of this is that you can set up your book for print on
demand and, once it is published with an ISBN, anyone who wants a copy can go
into a bookshop and order it, or they can buy it online. The order will go
through the wholesaler to the print on demand printer and the book will be
printed and supplied in the same sort of timeframe as it takes to get a copy
of a book from a publisher’s warehouse.
- You should note that there is an absolute distinction between
self-publishing and vanity publishing. In the former you are the publisher
and you make the decisions about pricing and orders. It’s also up to you to do
the marketing for your book, unless you have paid someone to work on this for
you. Vanity publishers charge up front for printing the books. You never have
the confidence of knowing whether they have actually printed them and you
certainly can’t check whether they are doing any marketing.
- Only you can decide whether you want to take things into your own hands
and self-publish. If you are successful you can kick-start your writing
career and find a publisher. If you are less successful, at least you will
have the pleasure of seeing your book in print and the opportunity to take
things into your own hands and to sell it.
Chris Holifield
WritersPrintShop,
our self-publishing service
What is
self-publishing?
WritersServices' self-publishing:
an Overview
Tips for Writers 1: Improving
your writing
Tips for Writers
2: Learn on the job
Tips for Writers
3: New technology and the Internet
Tips for Writers
5: Promoting your writing (and yourself)
Tips
for writers 6: Other kinds of writing
Tips
for writers 7: Keep up to date
Tips
for writers 8: Submission to publishers and agents
© Chris Holifield 2008-9
