Exploring Self Publishing — The Exciting Option, Part 1                     

As merger mania engulfs the publishing industry, markets for book manuscripts continue to shrink. There are simply fewer trade publishers today. Because the majority are now owned by huge conglomerates interested only in bottom line profits, they are less likely to take a chance on a mid‑list author.

To further compound the challenge, most books that are trade published experience a dismal fate. Joni Evans, past executive vice president and publisher of Random House, said in an interview in Lear magazine, "Only 10% of the books published by any house earn out their advances." What a frightening statistic. That says 90% fail!  Must this necessarily paint a gloomy picture? Not really. Actually, it may be a blessing in disguise.

Why Choose This Alternative?

Today many authors are opting to take control of their destiny and publish their own work. While 10 years ago self-publishing was a case of last resort, today it is often the first—and wisest—choice for non-fiction authors.

Many savvy writers use self-publishing as a springboard to more lucrative trade publishing contracts.How so? Here's the formula: produce your own book, promote and sell the heck out of it, then allow a major publisher to take over your proven product. Because you've removed the risk and shown the book is profitable,trade publishers are suddenly a lot more interested in climbing on the bandwagon.

This can also work in reverse. Let's say you previously sold a book to a New York publisher. They published it, then let it die a quick death. Now "your baby" has gone out of print. That's what happened to us. So we got the rights back, did some revision to update the book, then published it ourselves—and marketed it aggressively. That book, Big Ideas for Small Service Businesses, has gone back for a third printing. We are making much more money on our self-published version than we ever did on the one put out by Publishers Row.

Some enormously popular books were birthed by their own authors. The classic career counseling handbook, What Color Is Your Parachute? originated its climb to best-sellerdom as a self-published title. Author and clergyman Richard Nelson Bolles eventually released the rights to Ten Speed Press, where the book continues to move at a rate of about 400,000 copies a year. The total number of copies sold is over four million! In the early 1900s William Strunk, Jr. breathed life into a little book most writers still swear by today. He printed Elements of Style as a text for his English classes at Cornell.

Celestine Prophecy and Mutant Message From Down Under were self-publishing phenomena. Celestine Prophecy got an advance from Warner for $800,000. Marlo Morgan received a whopping $1.7 million advance from Harper for her Mutant Message. These dramatic success stories have left their imprint on the entire self-publishing movement.

Privately published titles typically command respect—and profits far above the typical 7 to 10% Royalties.Additionally, you maintain control. You call the shots: title selection, cover appearance, editing judgments, marketing considerations, etc.

Another appealing aspect is faster turnaround. With trade publishers, first you or your agent must shop the manuscript. Once it's accepted, industry averages are 18 months to publication.A self-published book, on the other hand, typically takes four to six months to produce. Period.

Part of the upswing in this movement is directly attributed to the support available to aspiring authors.While desktop publishing definitely made the whole production process less costly and more efficient, it should not be viewed as a panacea. If you're only doing one or two books, it probably isn't cost-effective to purchase typesetting software. And it isn't practical to embark on the learning curve required to master good design and typesetting.

There is also lots of help around now. We were pioneers in the book consulting field. Today hundreds of individuals and companies offer assistance with everything from editing and production to marketing and promotion. Some of them are excellent. Others are marginally qualified at best. Always check out their reputation and credentials.

While we're champions of this publishing alternative, we also say self-publishing isn't for every book or every person. It's extremely tough for most fiction and poetry. Even a good non-fiction book may be difficult to independently publish unless it is slanted toward a specific niche. Therein lies part of the secret.

© Copyright Marilyn Ross
Marilyn and Tom Ross are the coauthors of 13 books including the best-selling Complete Guide to Self-Publishing and the award-winning Jump Start Your Book Sales. Through phone consultations and ongoing coaching/mentoring, Marilyn empowers authors and self-publishers to realize their dreams. She can be reached at 720-344-4388 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Visit http://www.SelfPublishingResources.com for free meaty information on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing strategies.