
Opinion and Analysis
26th Apr 2011

Let’s Get Critical: The Pros & Cons of Self-Publishing

Typewriter

Cinnamon McCann, author of Self-Publishing in Stilettos: A Woman’s Guide to Publishing with Confidence, gives us some advice on being wary and wise when it comes to self-publishing…

So you’re taking the plunge and you’re going to self-publish your book. The good news is that modern technology has created a ton of self-publishing options for you, but that is also the bad news.

You need to be wise about your options and be wary of those that can take advantage of you and your cheque book. In order to be wise, you will need to understand the benefits and pitfalls of the different types of publishing options.

Vanity Publishing – Be Wary, Very Wary

These companies pose as traditional publishers claiming to be able to get an author’s book in stores. Instead of making money selling books to bookstores, they sell your book to you, charging exorbitant fees to design and print.

Don’t go to the vanity publishers for a long-term relationship. They are definitely commitment-phobes. Once your cheque clears and your books are delivered to your door, the relationship is over. Or at least until you need more books, because the vanity press owns your book’s design files.

In the end, authors find themselves with a stockpile of books and no one to help them with marketing. To add insult to injury, vanity publishers retain the same publishing rights as traditional publishers. That means the author is prohibited from publishing the book with any other type of publishing company, unless she wants to buy out her contract.

Although vanity scams thrived during the 1980s and 1990s, the advent of print-on-demand technology and the proliferation of print-on-demand publishers have almost put an end to the traditional version of vanity publishing.Still, some of the unsavoury tactics have had a rebirth in the print-on-demand publishers.

Print on Demand Publishing

Print on Demand (POD) is in fact a printing technology. It is used to describe the digital printing process, wherein you can print books in quantities one at a time or “on demand.”

However, a new type of publishing company has sprung up around this technology. POD publishers, like the old vanity publishers, are resellers of printing and other production services.

Be Wise

Unlike vanity publishing, you aren’t going to end up with an inventory of books. This is the biggest advantage of POD publishing. Books aren’t printed until someone places an order and pays for the book.

POD publishers may be well suited for online sales, but they are not as practical for bookstore sales. This is where it gets tricky for new authors. Many times online sales don’t work as well for new authors as they do for established writers.

Readers who shop online tend to know what book, topic or author they are looking for. It’s harder for people to browse through virtual bookstores online looking for a book to catch their eye. There’s less impulse buying with online bookstores than with traditional bookstores.

From a business standpoint, POD publishing has another big advantage over traditional publishing. It lets authors retain the right to go to another publisher or sell the book themselves.

Be Wary

It is wise for the buyer to be wary when starting a relationship with a POD publisher. You will still have to agree to the terms and conditions of the POD publisher. This will vary for each company.

So be sure to read and understand before committing. While many advertise free services, look out for fees that are added on as you register to have your book published.

POD publishers offer a whole schedule of production services, including design, distribution, fulfillment and other services that come at a premium price. It is important to keep in mind that POD publishing companies are typically in the business of selling their services, not books.

The services they sell may or may not translate into more book sales for the author. So it’s important to determine if you truly need their add-on services or if you could provide better results with your personal effort.

The unit cost of the POD printed book is significantly higher than in offset printing. Most POD publishers purchase printing from another company. When the POD publishers offer you printing services it includes an add-on fee over and above the actual cost of printing. This allows the POD publisher to still make money even if you are the only one buying your book.

Many of the POD publishers have their own online store in which they will sell your book. They can possibly get your book listed on Amazon or other online outlets.

You will earn a royalty on every book sold. The royalty calculations vary between POD publishers so shop around. It is important to know that your royalty will be less when your book is sold by a third party (i.e. Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc), rather than the POD publisher’s website.

Offset Printing

Offset is the traditional way to print books. The cost of this type of printing is very sensitive to volume. The more books you print, the less you pay per book.

The price per book will be significantly less expensive than most of your other forms of printing. However you are required to make a significantly larger upfront capital investment in the beginning.

Be Wise

Offset printing may give you a higher quality book. Just think about a photo that has been printed at the photo shop as compared to one that you run off from a copier.

The printed photo is crisper. The same is true when you compare offset to digital printing. With digital printing, you may not be able to print in colour. Even if you find a digital printer that offers color printing, the price can be astronomical.

Be Wary

If you decide to print your book this way, you will need to get two things ready: a storage facility and your chequebook. To make it worthwhile, you will probably print at least 1,000 books.

That means you have to store 1,000 books somewhere. (Don’t plan on using your garage, unless you want piles of soggy books sitting around. Books are like sponges. They absorb even the slightest bit of humidity…and odour.)

Printing usually takes four to six weeks and you will need to know how to talk to a printer. Before you talk to an offset printer, study up a little bit on the language you need to use when requesting a quote.

Digital Printing

There is a closely held secret that POD publishers don’t want you to know. You don’t have to go through them to have your book printed digitally. There are several good digital printers in the country. Just Google it for your city.

In fact, Lightning Source (LSI), the company from which most POD publishers buy printing, will sell printing directly to publishing companies. If becoming a publishing company is not something you are interested in then LSI probably isn’t a good fit for you, but keep looking.

Nearly every major city has at least one good digital book press.

Be Wise

Like offset printing, digital printers are there only to print and ship your book–except that with digital printing you will have your book within days rather than weeks.

Books are printed as orders come in, just as with the full-service POD Publishing companies. Some digital printers like LSI can ship your book orders for you, but all of them provide these services.

Be Wary

Because digital printing is toner, not ink-based, it does not give the same quality as offset. This is particularly true if your book has photos. Although you can print in colour from a digital press, the cost can be sky-high. Overall, the process is best suited for books that are all text.

Electronic Publishing

These days you can bypass printing altogether and have your book formatted and distributed in electronic format. The process is really very simple. You format your book in one or more of the popular formats.

Then upload your book to your website or, better still, set up an account in an online eBook store. Readers who buy your book download it to their computer, eReader or smart phones.

Be Wise

The upside of publishing in eBook format is the cost. You can often have your manuscript converted to digital format for free, or for as little as a few hundred dollars.

eBooks can be used as your primary method of distributing your book, or as a means to an end. You can market your book first in electronic format, then as it gains in popularity move into one of the other forms of self-publishing. You can also make the electronic format accompany the distribution of your physical book.

Be Wary

The downside of electronic publishing is a total lack of standardization. There are multiple eReaders (like the Kindle, iPad, Nook, etc.) and multiple formats. It is up to you to match formats with appropriate readers. Adding to the confusion, like everything dealing with technology, there are changes announced in the market seemingly every week.

While self-publishing is not a guaranteed road to success, it offers many advantages. But first you have to ask yourself if you are willing and able to front the money, effort and time it will take to produce and market your book.

Those who decide to self-publish quickly realise that writing the book was just the first step toward being an author. Using the same passion you put into writing your book, self-publishing can be the rewarding conclusion to the process that began when you penned your first chapter.

For more from Cinnamon McCann, check out her website.

(Image via Cody Geary’s Flickr photostream)

3 Responses to “Let’s Get Critical: The Pros & Cons of Self-Publishing”

  1. Ellen says:

    Great post. I remember years ago the nightmare of figuring out how to print a zine – it turned into a pretty big financial outlay and bunch of zines sitting in (you guessed it) my garage. Thanks for the information on the printing options available to self-publishers – I’d love to see a post too on the pros and cons about the very idea of self-publishing. It seems like some people do it really well and with a purpose besides finding an easy route into print (so, people who think the best answer to problems with traditional publishers to avoid the traditional publishers) but many others slap their books together as vanity projects and in doing so water down the quality of self-published books, leaving most of us uninterested in checking out those books. I’d love to see your thoughts on traditional routes to publication vs. self-publishing.

    • Hi Ellen,
      Glad you enjoyed the post! I agree with you totally. I think it really depends on the ultimate goal of the author. Retaining my intellectual property rights was really important to me when it came time to publish, so I went the self-publishing route. However,if you are a person that only wants to concentrate on writing and not the business aspect of publishing, a traditional publisher may be your best option. Self-publishing the “correct” way is a lot of work and commitment. You will be running and managing a small business, overseeing editors, graphic design artist, marketing, and negotiating contracts.

      I put together some quick points on the pros and cons of self-publishing. I hope this helps answer some of your questions.

      Pros
      -Gives you control of the entire process
      -Shortens the time the book will get on the market
      -You own all the rights to the book
      -When your book makes money, all of the profits are yours
      -Helps you find your niche market
      -Tests the market to see how much interest there is in your book
      -Gets attention from a traditional publisher

      Cons
      -You pay for everything. No matter how hard you are willing to work, you will need some professional support. -If you aren’t careful, you will drop thousands of dollars getting your book published.
      -The buck stops with you. While you may have control of the process, you are also responsible for the problems and mistakes.
      -Publishing your book is running a small business. Even if you have the money to outsource every task, you are going to need to spend some serious time marketing the book online and in person.
      -If your book doesn’t make a profit, you don’t get paid. There is no one bankrolling your payroll!
      -You are an unknown in the publishing world, so you are going to have to work even harder to ensure that your book doesn’t appear “self-published”.
      -Distribution can be a challenge when self-publishing a book. Many self-published authors don’t have the retail distribution channels that traditional publisher have, which can make it a challenge getting into bookstores or other retail space.

  2. Judy Croome says:

    Cinnamon has dealt with this topic comprehensively. I’ll add that the creative freedom is intoxicating and the sense of being totally responsble for everything is scary. But I’m very glad I chose this route.

    As far as the future goes, I suggest that there will be a place for traditional publishing and independent (or self) publishing – each will be a viable and respected career choice for authors, depending on their personalities and writing goals. I’m a maverick at heart, so the independent route is like heaven to me (although I’m *really* on a steep learning curve!!!)

    Well balanced article – thanks!
    Judy Croome, South Africa

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