Self-publishing - the basics

This blog, like my book, is aimed at people who would like to see their ideas in print through self-publishing. As the self-publishing author of several award-winning books, some of which have been translated into several languages, I felt like it'd worth spending some time sharing my experience. I have received a lot of requests from various prospective authors in the last few years and I hope this blog will be useful to them and other similar-minded people.


One of the first questions that come up when someone wants to see their work in print is to consider whether self-publishing is the right option for them. So to start with I'll look at what the options are to get a book on the market. There are three main ones.


The first and obvious way to get published is to do so through what I call a traditional publishing house. This is an established, often well-known, third-party publisher. Now, even if this is what you want to do, it is not so easy to achieve. And I guess if you are reading this self-publishing blog you will have found this out by yourself so I won't go into details here although there is plenty more info about getting published the traditional way in my self-publishing guide.


Another option that you might like to explore further is the use of a Print-On-Demand company (also referred to as POD company). POD companies offer publishing services and will publish your book, any book, for a fee. They may be a convenient way to publish your work if it is mostly intended for your friends and relatives. Indeed, POD companies often do not use offset printing and instead - as indicated by their name - print your book one at a time whenever an order is made. There are many reasons why in many cases this will not be suitable. Again, they are discussed in more details in my self-publishing guide.


Now, the third option is that of self-publishing your own work. This is the object of this blog. Definition first: true self-publishing is when the author of a book takes on and pays for all aspects of its publication, including but not limited to its production, distribution, marketing. In other words, you will take care of all the things that a traditional publishing house would normally do for you, if you were only the author.


This does not mean that you literally do everything yourself, but that you will be managing the whole publishing venture, bringing in outside help when required from specific contractors along the way (eg printer, illustrator). You will be running and financing a small business whose goal is to produce and sell a single product: your printed book. In most cases, the business’s goal is to make a profit over time even if it is usually not (and should not be) the main reason for self-publishing.


There are many aspects to producing, distributing, marketing and selling a book and this is the reason why this blog is dedicated to discussing the time-consuming but rewarding process of publishing your own work.