The first question you should ask yourself is, “Why, do I want to self-publish?” Is it because you want to share what you’ve written with others? You’ve always wanted to be a writer? You can make more money? You don’t want to deal with a publishing house? You know what’s best for your book? You don’t want to wait to see your book in print?

If you answered yes to anything but the first two questions, stop here, do not pass go; do not collect two hundred dollars. You are doing it for the wrong reasons and are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Let me start at the beginning and give you a brief history. Before digital technology, everything was printed on large presses, in significant quantities. However, there developed a group of “publishing” houses that were categorized as vanity presses. These were publishing houses that printed quantities of twenty-five hundred or more, charged the author an inflated fee, which covered all the costs, including the printing, with little or no marketing or follow up once the book was printed. They took anything from anyone, regardless of its merit, who was willing to pay the price. They became synonymous with self-publishing, and in turn, a self-published book was scorned by most of the industry.

Fast forward to the 1990s, a new technology developed for the mass market, digital printing. It allowed books to be printed, economically, in as little a quantity as one. A new age dawned for the self-published author, Print-on-Demand. Basically, print-on-demand meant that as an order came in for a book, that book was printed and shipped, eliminating the need for large inventories, stored and sitting in a warehouse. Initially it was heralded as a “second coming” for the self-publishing industry. And, initially, it was. At its onset there were a limited number of publishers who embraced this technology and saw it as a way to produce well-written books at a fraction of the cost and take a chance on an author that may have a well-written work, but had not yet hit the mainstream, Cold Tree was was one of these pioneers. For the first three to four years of the introduction of print-on-demand, this held true. New authors emerged and the industry as a whole began to take a new look at the self-published book. Many obstacles for the self-published author fell away and it seemed that this truly was a viable alternative.

Enter the sharks and bottom feeders.

As with any rapid growth industry, everyone sees a quick buck. No regulations or code of ethics made and make first time authors easy prey. The first time author has very little working knowledge of a very complex industry and an enthusiasm for their work, which combined, allow them to be very susceptible to claims a company will make them the next J.K. Rowling. This allowed a resurgence of questionable companies, who are no better than the early vanity presses, to once again make a self-published book suspect. Obstacles that once were falling away came back with vengeance. Unfortunately, the companies that were still doing it right and living up to the early promises of this new technology were thrown into the fire with all the rest. Once again, an uphill battle ensued for good, solid self-publishing houses and the well-written, though as yet, unheralded author. In truth, average sales for a self-published book is less than one hundred copies. It has come full circle.

I have seen way too many query letters that claim to have the next big book sensation, sure to be picked up by Oprah. Unfortunately, the reality is, they’ll be lucky to have it on bookstore shelves. Not because it is poorly written, but because publishing is a business and business is driven by economics. An unknown author sells fewer books. Period. It takes months of hard work and a lot of luck to get your book noticed. As a footnote to this, combined, traditional and POD, there were 560,626 new titles on the market in 2008. By the numbers alone you can see what the self-published author is up against.

Why bother?

OK, if you are still reading this, then you have not thrown up your hands and said, “What’s the point of even trying?” and moved on. It is true, that what I have described above are just a few of the many obstacles to self-publishing your book. However, I still believe, that done right, a self-published book has a solid place in the literary world.

What do I mean by done right? It means that your work has been edited, designed and produced by professionals who know the industry and know how to prepare your book so that once it has been published; it has every chance for success. To do it any other way is to set your work up for failure. Contrary to the Hollywood scenario, just because it’s published does not mean you are suddenly off on book tours, media junkets and are in every bookstore in the United States. Publishing any book is hard work, regardless if it is self-published or traditionally published by a “big” house. You must think of self-publishing as a stepping stone, one that could lead to bigger and better things. The chances are slim, but they are there. As with any new venture our enthusiasm for our own work can often cloud our judgment. You must separate yourself from this to make a good, sound decision on which direction to take. We are all susceptible to this; it’s just human nature.

Define professional.

Let me give you a brief description of what defines a professional in the book industry. A professional is someone who works with books for a living and/or has a working knowledge of the industry and the marketing that it takes to make a book a success.

We can start with one of the most important, and maybe the most important, aspect of publishing your book, editing. A good editor is worth their weight in gold. If you plan to publish without using one, stop now, as I said above, you are setting your book up for failure. A good editor will help develop your story, be sure the flow is there for continuity, check any facts, as well as check for grammar, punctuation and spelling. Your friend down the street who has a degree in English does not qualify, nor does a Ph.D. qualify someone to edit your book. A good book editor has solid experience and is specialized in their field. Hire the best editor you can find. Suffice it to say, they can make or break a book.

A book designer is not only good at making the book visually pleasing to the prospective reader, but they must design for content and marketability. These both figure heavily into end sales. Remember, book publishing and book design is about business, not art, yet both can be achieved with a critical eye and knowledge of the industry. If your cover does not measure up to like books, of the same genre, published by name presses, the potential reader will pass it over without even giving the writing a chance. Unless you are trained in the field, do not design your own cover. This does not mean you can’t have input, but hire the best and listen to their recommendations.

The book designer’s job also extends to the interior as well where a good designer will check the flow of the copy, in format, to reduce hyphenation, eliminate bad page breaks and shy away from widows and orphans; single words that drop to the last line in a paragraph. They also watch for extreme spacing between words, where a new chapter starts, and know the rules for adding footnotes, appendices and page numbering.

The third item is production. Regardless if you’ve followed the first two recommendations, if you let a shoddy printer handle your book, you’ve wasted your money. If the cover of your book is yellow, and the approved proof is yellow, it’s supposed to stay yellow. Sounds simple right? Believe me, it’s not.

We used a POD printer for a book we produced and all was fine through the proof and first printing. With the second printing, the cover turned a bright orange. Same files. Their response, “Too bad, not our fault, must be the files.” Needless to say we pulled the book, trashed the bad copies and selected another printer. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.

Poor color, poor binding, generally bad printing can destroy all your efforts. No one will overlook it.

Summary.

These are the highlights, and as I mentioned earlier, self-publishing is a hard road, but if done right, success can be found. I have always been an advocate of new authors and the well-written word. Self-publishing can open doors. If you go into it with your eyes open, and realistic expectations, and it can be a very exciting and rewarding experience. Cold River is committed to help authors achieve this goal.

So you want to self-publish?

Peter Honsberger

Owner/Principal Partner, Cold River Studio;

Former CEO/Partner, Cold Tree Publishing

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