Fifty years ago, when the RNA started, publishers were the gatekeepers for any author seriously wishing to be read by strangers. Vanity or Self-publishing was basically limited to retiring ambassadors and poets with patrons, producing privately printed volumes for circulation to a select audience. Note: privately printed – everything else the author had to do for himself. Plus ça change. 

Fast forward to 2010. All forms of communication have become easier and more widely accessible. That includes the physical production of books-for-sale in print (now predominantly paperback) or electronic form. To some people, the idea of the Gatekeeper Publisher suddenly sounds elitist (or, intriguingly, the opposite: lowest-common-denominator populist), anyway not very 21st-century. At the same time, in January 2008, Sky’s Book Show reported a YouGov poll finding that more people wanted to be an author than do any other job. Result: a huge market for services to would-be-published authors. 

The Internet makes it very easy for anyone to look hot, no matter what their substance, or lack of it. When a major international publisher decided to open an ‘Assisted Publishing’ venture in November 2009, a flurry of comment on the blogs threw up tragic stories of authors who had paid money they couldn’t afford and broken their hearts in pursuit of their dream. So know the territory before you set out.

Self Publishing or Author Turns Publisher

In addition to writing the book, the author has to do or delegate:

• Editorial, lay out, proof reading, prepare the text for printing
• Design the cover, set cover price, write blurb to puff the book
• Deliver in acceptable form to printer, get ISBN number
• Set up and service distribution system (to wholesalers/Amazon/retail bookshops), send copies to copyright libraries
• Market the book
• Warehouse copies, or use Print on Demand (POD) printers, such as Lightning Source

 
Things to pay attention to:

• Quality of the finished book
• Budget not only for all your costs, including marketing, but also your time.  You’re a publisher now.
• The huge discounts some book chains demand on buying the book
• Keep accounts as you go.

You can hire in experts to help you with every stage. The internet makes them relatively easy to find and get estimates from. There are several guides to self publishing, such as Aiming at Amazon by Aaron Shepard. The books and all rights are owned by the author, who keeps all proceeds of sales.

When it worked

Former RNA Chairman Catherine Jones set up a dedicated publishing venture for her first co-authored, non-fiction title, Gumboots and Pearls. It was about the lives of army wives, by a couple of women who were. They knew their market, sold everywhere the British Army had a presence, and kept up a charm offensive to bookshops and wholesalers that eventually got them a phenomenal 16,000 volume sales. Catherine will tell you that, for a while, selling the book was a full time job.

The advantages that Catherine and her co-author had were:

• a very clear market, which they knew well
• they were efficient and businesslike
• they were persistent and resilient in the face of rejection
• Catherine could sell you a dead rat if she put her mind to it. 

When it doesn’t work

Usually because you don’t have a Unique Selling Point or the time/temperament to keep on hand selling. Wholesalers, retailers and readers won’t come to you; even if you get some nice reviews and a slot on a Book Programme. Catherine Jones says she wouldn’t touch self-publishing fiction with a barge pole, because you’re not going to find a USP.

Vanity and Subsidy Publishing or Author Pays ‘Publisher’

Vanity Publishing (VP)
This is really paying for printing. The author pays a VP to produce the physical or electronic book. The VP will offer a package that may claim to include many of the services listed above, but is effectively a printing/electronic text service. It is nearly always more expensive than if the author sourced the advice/services individually, though it will save you time. More important, the quality of the finished product can be very disappointing indeed. VPs generally only cover ‘Distribution’ if you are going for the POD option, where distribution to wholesalers and Amazon is a service provided by the printer. ‘Marketing’ is often no more than being listed on their website. Author generally retains all proceeds from sales, however. But you do need to check the contract carefully.

Subsidy Publishing (SP)
The author is invited to consider herself a partner in a sort of joint venture and subsidises some or all of the costs of editorial, printing, distribution, warehousing and marketing. Often the SP emphasises that your manuscript has been selected from a number of submissions and that it will receive independent editing. It will also contract for a number of rights (authors should avoid anything ‘exclusive’ or that surrenders copyright to the SP) and offers payment on the basis of a royalty on books sold. These elements make the SP look more like a traditional Gatekeeper Publisher but in practice, the quality of marketing and distribution is comparable with Vanity Publishers. Yet the books themselves remain the property of the company until sold. So authors have found themselves having to pay an additional sum to buy their books in order to get out of a contract with a Subsidy Publisher. ‘Assisted’ Publishing is Subsidy by another name.

Author Beware!
Some vanity publishing services are sound, as long as you limit your expectations. Some are out-and-out scams. Two good sites for finding out exactly who you’re dealing with and picking up warnings are Preditors and Editors http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/peba.htm and Writer Beware http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/ 

And never forget, as with everything else, Read the Contract – and don’t commit to anything you can’t afford!

www.jennyhaddon.com