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Authors Can Learn...
(This is a quick view of the AUTHOR HELP
and GO FOR THE GOLD drop-down menus.)

♦ First Things First 
♦ Why You Need Your Own ISBN
♦ About Book Editing
♦ How To Copyright A Book
♦ How To Find A Publisher
♦ About Book Marketing
♦ Whether You Need A Web Site
♦ Author Resource Links
♦ Informative Publishing Tips
♦ Link To Buy A Single ISBN
♦ Link To Buy Ten ISBNs

HOW TO GO FOR THE GOLD:
♦ How To Find A Literary Agent
♦ You May Need A Book Proposal
♦ See Sample Book Proposals
♦ See Sample Query Letters
♦ You May Need A Distributor
♦ About Children's Books
♦ About Publishing Poetry

Updated July 26, 2010

Should I Self-publish?


You have two choices: you can self-publish or (try to) land a publishing contract with a  major publisher. This site can show you how to do either. Understand going in—landing a contract with a major publisher is a major challenge.

Actually, you have three choices: The third choice is vanity publishing.

Ron Pramschufer at Selfpublishing.com provides a good comparison of vanity publishing versus self-publishing. Vanity publishing just doesn't add up.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SELF-PUBLISHING AND VANITY PUBLISHING?

To be a true self-publisher, you must own the ISBN. Vanity publishers won't let you do that—a true self-publishing company will usually insist you own the ISBN. At the very least, they will make it clear up front that you can use your own ISBN. Vanity publishers squirm when you ask if you can use your own ISBN. Read why below.

Most of the following information is gleaned from an article by Brian Taylor, written October 19th, 2003. The entire article can be found at: publishingbasics.com. 

Here are some basic facts new authors should know:

Fact number one: Major publishers will not look at you or me as a potential best-selling author.

We just aren’t famous enough, nor are we an already successfully published author. If you have a platform (public image) like Joyce Meyers, Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton, you can get a major publisher's attention (because the public already knows about you). Our best (and usually only) choice is self-publishing. We need to understand our choices and be aware of the traps that await eager, but unsuspecting new authors. Only 2-3% of the thousands of manuscripts submitted are accepted by major (or traditional) publishers. A large publisher receives, on average, 300 manuscripts per month. Only 2% of accepted manuscripts will make the publisher any money. That means most of the books published make little or no money for the publisher or the author.
 
Reality check: traditional publishers are extremely picky. It's not whether your book is good or whether it will help people. It's always about the money. The only question a major publisher asks is, "Will it make us money?"


Fact number two: A “self-publisher” would be an individual who is engaged in the publishing of printed material.

It's as simple as that. If you have ever produced a brochure with Microsoft Publisher, you already have self-publishing experience.


Fact number three: The Publisher owns the ISBN used to identify your book (and you need to be that publisher).

Your self-publishing journey starts with the purchase of a single ISBN (see banner at bottom of this page). If you don't own the ISBN, you do not own all the rights to your book (and you are giving away money for no good reason).


Fact number four: If you do not own the ISBN that appears in your book, you are not the publisher nor are you self-publishing.

On the other hand, look closely at the definition of vanity press. If you are not the publisher (the ISBN owner) but are paying a publisher to publish your book, your book is being published by a vanity publisher.… Period…. No matter what they call themselves.


Fact number five: Only a handful of publishers will let you use your own ISBN, allowing you to be the publisher of record. A short list can be found on the Author Resource Links page.

If you own the ISBN, you will be listed as the publisher, even though you are paying a publisher to produce your book. That publisher falls under the category of  a true "self-publishing company." It can be confusing. Just make sure you buy your own ISBN and the rest will fall into place. Vanity publishers will fade away once you insist on using your own ISBN.

EXCEPTION: If a major publisher wants to publish your book you don't need to own the ISBN. As a matter of fact, you won't own the ISBN. No problem. They will pay for everything and then pay you for each and every book sold. They will market your book to major bookstores and take all the risk. You risk nothing. Just make sure you get a good contract (get advice from a publishing contract attorney). You should be able to re-negotiate many of the terms if your book has potential. If it sells well, the publisher will want another manuscript and you will be in an even better negotiating position for your next book.

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Note: The only practical way to approach a major (traditional) publisher is through a professional literary agent.

That is a challenge as well, but I can show you how to properly approach a literary agent. If an agent agrees to represent you, he will sell your book to a major publisher and the money will roll in (maybe—See info on Traditional Vs Self-Publishing page. 

Who cares about the ISBN and why does it matter?

It only matters if you self-publish. Every order for the book goes through the publisher (the actual owner of the ISBN) and that publisher gets a "piece of the action" from every book produced (two to four dollars on average). That "piece of the action" belongs to you, the author, not some vanity publisher that doesn't invest a dime. If you publish with a true self-publishing company, you keep all the profit minus actual print costs.

The ISBN identifies the book title and who published it. The ISBN is used to track a book title throughout the book industry from publisher to seller and everywhere in between. 

With the proliferation of digital printing technologies and Print-On-Demand (POD), many new companies have sprouted up.

These companies offer many different combinations of book creation services that can confound and trap an eager writer.

Unsuspecting authors wind up paying top dollar for a so-so book or, far too often, a sub-standard book. Either way, bookstores won't touch it.

Basically, you need a publisher who can provide professional editing, front and back cover design, and interior layout (sometimes referred to as "typesetting").

Then you need that publisher to get you listed in the Ingram database used by every bookstore to order books. Listing with Ingram also automatically makes your book available on every online bookstore, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. That's about it.

Finding a publisher that will do all that for you while letting you use your own ISBN is the trick.

Most won't. There are a precious few publishers that will. Again, a short list can be found on the Author Resource Links page.

The good news is this: Self-publishing can be a door to a contract with a major publishing house.

In today’s book industry, there is a stigma attached to self-publishing that must be overcome.

The stigma comes from the proliferation of poorly developed, poorly edited, and poorly designed books that are being produced by vanity presses, online publishers, and sloppy self-publishers. In 2002, M.J. Rose wrote a telling article on the growing trend of self-published authors being noticed by traditional publishers. Self-publishing can often be a door to a major publishing contract.

The key to overcoming that stigma for self-publishers is to produce a quality product that is indistinguishable from any other book produced by trade publishers.

If a vanity press is publishing your book, there might be a stigma associated with that particular company and there is not much you can do about that.

Fact is, there are very few vanity presses  that do not have a recognized stigma within the book industry.

Bookstores will not typically stock books produced by vanity publishers (mostly because they are non-returnable, but also because of the typical inferior quality of vanity published books). Vanity publishers don't even require editing. I am currently working with an author who paid a vanity publisher over a thousand dollars for editing. It looks like a fourth-grader did the edit. Most of the 120 page book wasn't edited at all. These people have no shame.

What can happen to your book if it is recognized as being published by one of these vanity publishing companies?

Mainstream book reviewers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers may (will most likely) ignore your book.

Distributors, in particular, won't consider your book if you don't own the ISBN. 

If you  self-publish using your own ISBN and imprint (publishing name), there is at least an opportunity for your book to avoid being recognized as a vanity press or online publisher. In such a case, the onus is on you as the publisher to produce a quality book and beat the stigma associated with self-publishing.

That is doable and I can show you how. The manager of our local Barnes & Noble bookstore was so impressed with the cover of my wife's book, he took it home to read and three days later called to inform her he was putting ten on the shelf (non-returnable). When I invite you to subscribe to my monthly publishing tips newletter, I don't have any tricks up my sleeve. I just prefer to work with writers who seriously anticipate seeing their dream in print sometime in the future and want to publish a book that meets modern publishing industry standards. 

QUESTION: What if a major publisher like Randam House wants to publish my book? 

ANSWER: THEY will own the ISBN, THEY will be the publisher of record, THEY will pay for everything and THEY will make most of the money on your book. That's ok—YOU will make lots of money too, and maybe, just maybe, you will be a guest on OPRAH. (While you are waiting to hear from Random House and Oprah, plan on self-publishing.)

NOTE: As I mentioned, self-publishing is not your only option.

You can seek representation by a professional literary agent hoping to land a contract with a major publisher. The detailed process is found in the GO FOR THE GOLD menu. It's always worth a shot. You have nothing to lose but time. Just develop some thick rhino skin to help you deal with rejections.

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♦ Next, weigh Traditional vs Self-publishing.

You are on the Why Self-Publish? page.


Updated July 26, 2010

Selfpublishing.com