| You have finished writing your book. Now you | | | | foremost, a business. Technologies introduced in |
| want to figure out how to get it published. The | | | | the last ten years have put book publishing within |
| traditional way is to approach established publishing | | | | the reach of more people than before. There are |
| companies and get them interested in the project. | | | | desktop publishing programs which supply the |
| But times are changing and you may want to | | | | tools needed to design a book and its cover so |
| publish the book yourself. Well, it's the right time | | | | the commercial printer can produce your book. |
| to do that! Publishing has never been easier to do | | | | The other big game changer in publishing is |
| or less expensive. | | | | print-on-demand. Print-on-demand is a printing |
| There are two options in "self publishing". | | | | method in which new copies of books are printed |
| Subsidy publishers/printers. The terms subsidy | | | | only when an order is received. This is done using |
| publisher and subsidy printer are essentially | | | | digital printing. While the unit price is higher than |
| interchangeable. A search for self publishing | | | | with offset printing, there are several advantages. |
| resources on the Internet will yield subsidy | | | | The setup is quicker and set up costs are lower |
| printers. Subsidy printers offer more services | | | | than offset printing. |
| than the usual commercial printer. The services | | | | Large inventories do not have to be kept, |
| may include transforming the manuscript into | | | | reducing warehousing, handling, and inventory |
| book format, creating a book cover, registering | | | | accounting costs. |
| the book with various book databases, possibly | | | | There is little or no waste due to unsold product. |
| some distribution, editing, and, perhaps, limited | | | | Digital or print on demand printing is frequently |
| marketing. | | | | used by subsidy printers, self publishers, and by |
| You pay the subsidy printer for each service | | | | traditional and academic publishers looking to |
| selected. Almost all of these printers put one of | | | | manage the costs of their backlist or to do test |
| their International Standard Book Numbers | | | | marketing. |
| (ISBNs) on the book. To members of the book | | | | You can, of course, still choose to use what is |
| trade, the owner of the ISBN is considered the | | | | called a "short run" with a commercial offset book |
| publisher. While this option works well in some | | | | printer. A typical short run is 1,000 books. The |
| circumstances, for general book trade purposes, | | | | lowest "short run" I have found with an offset |
| these books are not usually well regarded. This is | | | | printer is 500 copies. Offset printing is relatively |
| because they tend to have been poorly designed | | | | inexpensive per book ordered and the price per |
| and edited. Also, book traders know that they | | | | book drops with increases in the ordering quantity. |
| rarely come with an intensive marketing campaign | | | | "Offset" printing is a mass production method of |
| which is what it takes to sell large numbers of | | | | transferring images from a plate to a rubber |
| books (thereby making a profit!). | | | | blanket and finally to the printing surface. It is the |
| Self publish. The second option might be called the | | | | most common method of printing in use today. |
| true self publishing option. In this case, the author | | | | As a self publisher, you can use a mixed strategy. |
| takes on all the roles of the publisher. This includes | | | | Employ print-on-demand as the standard way of |
| having the book edited, designed, printed, | | | | having your book available in small quantities. An |
| registered, marketed, distributed, and sold. Writing | | | | example would be a single order of up to 1000 |
| a book can be a tough, time-consuming | | | | books. Opt for the offset print run to fulfill single |
| experience. Publishing a book can be even more | | | | orders over 1000 books. |
| challenging. | | | | Self publishing can be very rewarding. Effort and |
| This option works well if you are willing to learn | | | | research on your part is required, but is well |
| how to do each of the steps required to publish a | | | | worth it. The information in this article will help you |
| book and understand that publishing is, first and | | | | add to your resume - published author! |