Why self-publish?

Over the last ten years the publishing industry has undergone rapid change, driven by business pressures and multinational companies. The result has been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there are more books being published now than ever before, and at a price that in real terms has decreased significantly. Driven by large companies, the Net Book Agreement fell several years ago, leaving the book market open to increased competition from new markets such as supermarket chains and other non-bookseller stockists. The result has been that publishers' margins on sales are now tiny, so the publishing industry has had to do some 'rationalisation' to avoid meltdown.

As a direct result, there are now fewer major publishing companies in the UK, and those that do exist concentrate on publishing high volume titles that have a proven track record, or publishing books by big names, TV tie-ins, and the like. So, more titles are being published but, paradoxically, there is less opportunity for new authors to get that elusive publishing contract. And in an industry already over-subscribed with submissions from would-be authors, that has created a black hole for most writers intent upon publication.

But there are other options. We've all heard of vanity publishing, where an author pays to have their own work published. Our advice is, DON'T! A vanity publisher will (a) tell you your book is the best thing since sliced bread even if it isn't, in the hope that you will sign up with them, (b) charge you over the odds to design and typeset your book, (c) promise to print copies of your book "to meet market demand", which because (d) they undertake no marketing, results in very few copies of your book appearing at all. They also pay you a small royalty (typically 5--15%) on sales actually made while keeping the rest for themselves. NOT a good deal.

But there is a third way. Publish it yourself. It might seem daunting, but like anything, publishing simply involves a range of skills and know-how which can be acquired with some little effort. The range of skills is wide, however; everything from design through print buying to marketing, so most people who opt to publish their own work employ the services of a company such as Matador to do the work for them.

What are the advantages? First and foremost, you retain control over your book at all stages of the production process -- what text style to use, the cover design, the cover price, the book's size, the number of copies printed... you have the final say on everything. That's not to say that you're left to it -- far from it. At Matador, for instance, we offer advice and guidance all the way, working with our authors to achieve mutual satisfaction. In addition, by publishing your own work, you retain the copyright to that work, which is important if you want to try and sell your book on to a commercial publisher at a future date, for instance.

Self-publishing is also a more appropriate means of publication for some types of book. Personal memoires, local histories, poetry, children's stories, special interest subjects -- all are well suited to going down the self-publishing route as they all have relatively easy to reach markets, or are intended for personal use only. Modern printing technologies now allow you to print just one copy of your masterpiece for personal use, 30 copies to give to family and friends, or 100 copies if you want to inflict your work on everyone you know at Christmas time! Seriously, though, there's no limit, upper or lower, to the number of copies you can produce.

With self-publishing you can also pick and choose what you want to do yourself and what you want to farm out to a company such as Matador. If you're artistic and want to design your own cover, no problem. If you want to sell your work through one or two local shops and are happy to arrange that, then fine. If you are adept at producing attractive looking text, then you can typeset you own book. Want an honest third-party critique of your work but don't want to commit to publishing just yet? We'd be happy. A reputable company offering to assist you in self-publishing should be able to offer you some or all of these services.