Supported Self-Publishing

Last year, commercial publishing houses in the United States put out more than 100,000 new titles. But they rejected more than 10 million others—which means that the odds of getting any book published by a traditional publisher, from small publishers to university presses to the big publishers like Random House, are roughly 1 in 100.

Working with a professional editor or coach or editorial/publishing consultant can shorten the odds, but any reputable person you hire will tell you that the odds are still against anyone paying you for the rights to publish your book.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't try, of course. By all means, follow the advice in the article on How the Commercial Publishing Industry Develops Material. Many bestselling authors tell of how their manuscripts were rejected by a series of agents and editors before they found a publisher. But if you reach your tolerance point for rejections—or if you decide to skip the rejection process altogether—that doesn't necessarily mean you need to put your manuscript in a drawer and forget about it. You can publish it yourself.

Start Your Own Publishing Business

The ambitious way to publish your book is to set up your own publishing house, with its own name and logo. You do as much yourself as you can, and hire whatever help you need—editors, designers, printers, distribution consultants. You market and promote the book yourself. In effect, you set up a publishing business and run it yourself.

Or Work With a Print-On-Demand Publisher

If you don't have the time or money or energy to set up your own publishing operation, you might consider what is being called "supported" self-publishing through a print-on-demand publisher. Examples of big players in this field include iUniverse, Xlibris and AuthorHouse. Most of them do most of their business over the Internet; you e-mail them your manuscript, and they e-mail you proofs of your text and cover that you check on your computer screen. There's still a fair amount of work involved for the author, but the publisher designs the book inside and out and makes sure it is available for sale online, including on Amazon.com. You pay, of course, for the services; iUniverse, for example, offers a series of packages starting at $499 for five books.

Other smaller supported self-publishing houses can offer attractive alternatives, both in terms of price and service, providing more personalized support—phone conversations, face to face consultations, whatever is necessary—to help authors. After all, not everyone is accomplished enough on the computer to do some of the things that the big self-publishers expect them to do.

The bottom line: by all means, yes, try to get Random House to buy your book, get it onto the bestseller list and make it into a movie. But if that doesn't happen, and you decide you want a few copies of your book to give to friends, relatives, neighbors, work associates, the grandkids, your writers' group or anyone else, consider self-publishing.

Look around for the right fit for you in terms of quality, service and price, and if you can't find someone to answer your questions in a way that makes you comfortable, keep looking.

Timothy Harper
Long Dash Publishing

Timothy Harper is a book coach and editorial/publishing consultant based at www.timharper.com and a founding partner in Long Dash Publishing, a self-publishing/print-on-demand publisher that has helped hundreds of first-time authors publish their memoirs, family histories, poetry, cookbooks and more.

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