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Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (print on demand) technology. It may also apply to albums, pamphlets, brochures, games, video content, artwork, and
zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very s ...
s.
Web fiction Web fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines. Unlike ...
is also a major medium for self-publishing.


Definitions

Although self-publishing is not a new phenomenon, dating back to the 18th century, it has transformed during the
internet age The Internet Age refers to the time period since the Internet became widely available to the public for general use, and the resulting impacts on and fundamental changes in the nature of global communication and access to information. The beginni ...
with new technologies and services providing increasing alternatives to traditional publishing, becoming a $1 billion market.Jennifer Alsever, Fortune magazine, 30 December 2016
The Kindle Effect
Retrieved 9 November 2017, "...has become a $1 billion industry..."
However, with the increased ease of publishing and the range of services available, confusion has arisen as to what constitutes self-publishing. In 2022, the Society of Authors and the Writers Guild of Great Britain produced a free downloadable guide to the various distinct types of publishing currently available.


Self publishing vs. Hybrid Publishing and Vanity Publishing

In self publishing, authors publish their own book. It is possible for an author to single-handedly carry out the whole process. However increasingly, authors are recognizing that to compete effectively, they need to produce a high quality product, and they are engaging professionals for specific services as needed (such as editors or cover designers). A growing number of companies offer a one-stop shop where an author can source a whole range of services required to self-publish a book (sometimes called "Assisted Self-publishing Providers" or "Self-publishing Service Providers"). This should not be confused with *
hybrid publishing A hybrid press is a publishing house which can be broadly defined by its source of revenue. The revenue source of a traditional publisher is through the sale of books (and other related materials) that they publish, while the revenue of hybrid pu ...
, (where the publisher and author collaborate and ''share'' costs and risks. In return, the author may be required to surrender some control and/or rights in return for the publisher's financial and other contribution) OR * vanity publishing, (where the author pays for the cost of all services, but also signs a restrictive contract which usually involves surrendering significant rights). It has been suggested that the best test for whether a company offers "Assisted Self-publishing Services" or "Hybrid/vanity publishing" is to apply a variant of "Yog's Law", which states the following: * Yog’s Law: Money flows ''toward'' the writer. * Self-Publishing Corollary to Yog’s Law: While in the process of self-publishing, money and rights are ''controlled'' by the writer. Therefore if a company offers services to the author without claiming any rights, and allows the author to control the entire process, they are assisting the author to self-publish. Whereas if the company takes some rights, and/or takes control of artistic decisions, they are a hybrid publisher or a vanity publisher, depending on the degree of involvement.


History


Early examples

Historically, some authors have chosen to self-publish. Successful examples are John Locke, Jane Austen,
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
,
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
,
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...
, Marcel Proust, Derek Walcott, and
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
. In 1759, British satirist
Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768), was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric who wrote the novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' and '' A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'', publishe ...
's self-published the first two volumes of ''
Tristram Shandy Tristram may refer to: Literature * the title character of ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'', a novel by Laurence Sterne * the title character of '' Tristram of Lyonesse'', an epic poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne *"Tristr ...
''. In 1908, Ezra Pound sold '' A Lume Spento'' for six pence each.
Franklin Hiram King Franklin Hiram King (8 June 1848 – 4 August 1911) was an American agricultural scientist who was born on a farm near Whitewater, Wisconsin, attended country schools, and received his professional training first at Whitewater State Normal Scho ...
's book ''Farmers of Forty Centuries'' was self-published in 1911, and was subsequently published commercially. In 1931,
Irma S. Rombauer Irma S. Rombauer (October 30, 1877 – October 14, 1962) was an American cookbook author, best known for ''The Joy of Cooking'' (1931), one of the world's most widely read cookbooks. Following Irma Rombauer's death, periodic revisions of the book ...
, the author of ''
The Joy of Cooking ''Joy of Cooking'', often known as "''The Joy of Cooking''", is one of the United States' most-published cookbooks. It has been in print continuously since 1936 and has sold more than 20 million copies. It was published privately during 1931 b ...
'' paid a local printing company to print 3000 copies; the Bobbs-Merrill Company acquired the rights, and since then the book has sold over 18 million copies. In 1941, writer
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...
chose to self-publish her final novel ''
Between the Acts ''Between the Acts'' is the final novel by Virginia Woolf. It was published shortly after her death in 1941. Although the manuscript had been completed, Woolf had yet to make final revisions. The book describes the mounting, performance, and a ...
'' on her
Hogarth Press The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and n ...
, in effect starting her own press.


Stigma

Traditional publishers are extremely selective in what they publish, and reject most of the manuscripts submitted to them. In spite of that rigorous selection, they then assign an editor to polish the work even further, a proof-reader to check for errors and a designer to produce the cover. With no support, a self-publishing author is very unlikely to produce a book to that professional standard, unless they are astonishingly talented. For that reason, self-published books have garnered a deserved reputation for being of lesser quality than mainstream books. Before the advent of the internet and POD (Print on Demand), most self-publishing authors had to resort to a
vanity press A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a publishing house where anyone can pay to have a book published.. The term "vanity press" is often used pejoratively, implying that an author who uses such a service is pub ...
, which was very costly and acted as a barrier to publication. Now, ebooks can be published at virtually no cost and the market has been flooded with poorly produced books. Some estimate that as much as 70% of published ebooks are so bad, they are unreadable. However, some self-published authors are now taking a professional approach, using services like critique groups,
beta reader A beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of literature or other writing (similar to beta testing in software), who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author. A beta reader provides advice and comments in ...
s, professional editors and designers to polish their work to a professional standard equivalent to traditional publishing. Such authors are achieving success equivalent to traditionally published writers, lending respectability to self-publishing.


Technological changes

A huge impetus to self-publishing has been rapid advances in technology. Print-On-Demand (or POD) technology, which became available in the mid-1990s,Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Self publishing
Retrieved 5 November 2017
makes it possible for a book to be printed after an order has been placed, so there are no costs for storing inventory. Further, the Internet provides access to global distribution channels via online retailers, so a self-published book can be instantly available to book buyers worldwide. Advances in
e-book readers An e-reader, also called an e-book reader or e-book device, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals. Any device that can display text on a screen may act as an e-read ...
and
tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...
s have improved readability, making ebooks more popular. Amazon's introduction of the ''Kindle'' and its self-publishing platform, ''
Kindle Direct Publishing Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon.com's e-book publishing platform launched in November 2007, concurrently with the first Amazon Kindle device. Originally called Digital Text Platform, the platform allows authors and publishers to publish their ...
'' or KDP, in 2007 has been described as a tipping point in self-publishing, which "opened the floodgates" for self-publishing authors. The
Espresso Book Machine The Espresso Book Machine (EBM) is a print on demand (POD) machine created by On Demand Books. It prints, collates, covers, and binds a single book in a few minutes. Introduced in 2007, EBM is small enough to fit in a retail bookstore or small ...
(a POD device) was first demonstrated at the New York Public Library in 2007. This machine prints, collates, covers, and binds a single book. It is in libraries and bookstores throughout the world, and it can make copies of out-of-print editions. Small bookstores sometimes use it to compete with large bookstore chains. It works by taking two pdf files, one for the text and one for the cover, and then prints an entire paperback book in a matter of minutes, which then drops down a chute. The '' Library Journal'' and Biblioboard worked together to create a self-publishing platform called Self-e in which authors submitted books online which were made available to readers. These books are reviewed by ''Library Journal'', and the best ones are published nationwide; authors do not make money this way but it serves as a marketing tool.


Advantages of self-publishing

# Speed. In traditional publishing, an author must first find an agent, then the agent must find a publisher, then it may take a year or more for the book to go through editing and be allocated a 'slot' in the publisher's calendar. With self-publishing, it is possible to release a book within a few weeks after it is finished. # No start-up costs. It costs nothing to upload a book to most publishing platforms, and print copies do not have to be paid for until a customer orders. # Artistic control. A traditional publisher may demand changes to meet market demands. # Control on pricing. The author decides the price and can change at any point of time. # A greater share of royalties. Self-published authors may earn four to five times more per unit than if an author works with a traditional publisher, sometimes 70 percent of the sale price. # Pitch books straight to the readers. There is no intermediary censoring what might be shown to the public. The route to readers is more direct.


Disadvantages of self-publishing

#Stigma. Self-published books still have to combat prejudice due to the lack of gatekeepers to ensure quality. # No physical presence. Traditional publishers distribute their books to high street bookstores on a sale-or-return basis, which is unaffordable for a self-published author, and libraries routinely order from the publisher's catalogues. # No advance. Traditional publishers will usually pay an advance, so the author receives some payment for the book even if it is unsuccessful. # No free support. Traditional publishers pay all the costs associated with producing the book, and will provide an editor and cover designer at their expense. # Cost. The obvious corollary of the above is that the self-published author must pay all their own expenses. Though it is possible to publish a book free of charge, marketing and promotion are expensive. # Marketing and promotion are time-consuming and costly. Marketing is a task that many authors are not skilled at. UK author Rachel Abbott was working "14-hour days" promoting her book ''Only the Innocent''; while she eventually made it to the UK Kindle bestseller chart, she still had difficulty getting the publishing world to take her book seriously. Another writer, Ros Barber, thinks self-publishing is a "terrible idea for serious novelists" since the requirements of marketing and promoting a book will prevent one from writing, and he continues to recommend the traditional approach. # Plagiarism. It is relatively easy to download the text of an ebook and republish it with minor changes under a different title.The Atlantic, Joy Lanzendorfer, 6 June 2016
Stealing Books in the Age of Self-Publishing: Many authors who sell their work directly on platforms like Amazon are having their stories plagiarized, which can take an emotional and financial toll.
Retrieved 31 October 2017, "...Rachel Ann Nunes ... First published in 1998, A Bid for Love did well enough to spawn two sequels ... Mullens' book, titled The Auction Deal, looked like the same story with much of the same language..."


Publishing platforms

In order to be purchased by a customer, the completed book must be hosted on a publishing platform. Amazon's Kindle is the largest of these but there are others.


Kindle Direct Publishing

Kindle Direct Publishing Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon.com's e-book publishing platform launched in November 2007, concurrently with the first Amazon Kindle device. Originally called Digital Text Platform, the platform allows authors and publishers to publish their ...
or KDP is Amazon's e-book publishing unit ( see main article)


IngramSpark

IngramSpark lets authors publish digital, hardback and paperback editions of their books. It distributes books to most online bookstores. Bricks-and-mortar stores can also order books from IngramSpark at wholesale prices for sale in their own venues. It is run by
Ingram Content Group Ingram Content Group is an American service provider to the book publishing industry, based in La Vergne, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries. Shawn Morin is CEO, and John R. Ingram is chairman of Ingram Industries. History The ...
.


Apple

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
sells books via its
App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the c ...
which is a digital distribution platform for its
mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
s on its
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
operating system. Apps can be downloaded to its devices such as the iPhone, the iPod Touch handheld computer, and the
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...
. Apple pays authors 70 percent of its proceeds at its Apple iBookstore where it sells
iBooks iBooks may refer to: * iBooks, the former name of Apple Books. * ibooks Inc., a book and comics publishing company founded by Byron Preiss Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005)


Smashwords

Smashwords Smashwords, Inc., based in Los Gatos, California, is a platform for self-publishing e-books. The company, founded by Mark Coker, began public operation in 2008. Authors and independent publishers upload their manuscripts as electronic files t ...
is a California-based company founded by Mark Coker which allows authors and independent publishers to upload their manuscripts electronically to the Smashwords service, which then converts them into multiple e-book formats which can be read on various devices.


Barnes and Noble

Barnes & Noble pays 65 percent of the list price of e-books purchased through its online store called Pubit.


Kobo

Kobo Kobo may refer to: Places * Kobo (woreda), a district in Ethiopia ** Kobo, Ethiopia, a town * Kōbo Dam, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan * Mount Kōbō, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan People First name * Kōbō Abe (1924–1993), pseudonym of Japanese w ...
is a Canadian company which sells e-books, audiobooks, e-readers and tablet computers which originated as a cloud e-reading service.


Scribd

Scribd Scribd Inc. is an American e-book and audiobook subscription service that includes one million titles. Scribd hosts 60 million documents on its open publishing platform. The company was founded in 2007 by Trip Adler, Jared Friedman, and Tikh ...
is an open publishing platform which features a digital library, an e-book and audiobook subscription service.


Lulu

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, ...
is an online print-on-demand, self-publishing and distribution platform. GmbH BoD (2001), (since 1997 as ''Libri'' GmbH), is the "original" in self-publishing.


Web fiction

A major development in this century has been the growth of
web fiction Web fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines. Unlike ...
. A common type is the web serial. Unlike most modern novels, web fiction novels are frequently published in parts over time. Web fiction is especially popular in China, with revenues topping US$2.5 billion, as well as in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
. Online literature in China plays a much more important role than in the United States and the rest of the world. Most books are available online, where the most popular novels find millions of readers. They cost an average of 2 CNY, or roughly a tenth of the average price of a printed book. Shanda Literature Ltd. is an online publishing company that claims to publish 8,000 Chinese literary works daily. Joara is S. Korea's largest web novel platform with 1.1 million members, 140,000 writers, an average of 2,400 serials per day and 420,000 works. Joara's users have almost the same gender ratio, and both fantasy and romance genres are popular.


Self-published bestsellers

While most self-published books do not make much money, there are self-published authors who have achieved sucess, particularly in the early years of online self-publishing. The number of authors who had sold more than one million e-books on Amazon from 2011 to 2016 was 40, according to one estimate. * ''
Fifty Shades of Grey ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It became the first instalment in the ''Fifty Shades'' novel series that follows the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, ...
'' by E.L. James was originally published online as ''
Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this i ...
'' fan-fiction before the author decided to self-publish it as an
e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
and print on demand. * The science fiction novel '' The Martian'', by
Andy Weir Andrew Taylor Weir (born June 16, 1972) is an American novelist and former computer programmer. His 2011 novel '' The Martian'' was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott. He received the John W. Campbell Award fo ...
, was originally released as chapters on his personal blog, and then self-published as an eBook in 2011. The rights were purchased by Crown Publishing which re-released it in 2014; the novel went on to become a bestseller and then a major motion picture starring
Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Ameri ...
. * Blogger
Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...
's self-published book ''The Revolution Was Televised'' became an instant hit, winning a prominent review within two weeks of publication by critic Michiko Kakutani in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. Sepinwall hired an editor and spent roughly $2,500 on services to get his book ready for publication. * Minnesota social worker
Amanda Hocking Amanda Hocking (born July 12, 1984) is an American writer of paranormal romance young adult fiction. Early life Hocking was born and raised in Austin, Minnesota. After high school, she studied Human Services while working in a group home for p ...
uploaded several books in 2010 and sold a few dozen copies. She published several more manuscripts and within a few months was making enough money to quit her daytime job. She later won a deal with Macmillan publishers, and went to being a millionaire in a year. She sold her series to
St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...
in 2011 for two million dollars. * Swedish author Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin wrote a book in 2010 which helped get children to go to sleep; his ''
The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep ''The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep: A New Way Of Getting Children To Sleep'' ( sv, Kaninen som så gärna ville somna: en annorlunda godnattsaga) is a 2011 children's book written by Swedish author, psychologist and academic Carl-Johan Forssén ...
'' title featured amateurish illustrations with "clunky prose" and a monotonous storyline, but parents bought it for the catchy subtitle of "A new way of getting children to sleep". He released it on CreateSpace and it became a bestseller. * Erotic romance author Meredith Wild sold 1.4 million digital and print copies of her books, and founded her own publishing company called Waterhouse Press; she founded the firm in part because she felt that her novels were "not being taken seriously" as an indie author. An advantage of having her own imprint is that it is easier to get books into chainstores and big-box retailers. * The breakout hit ''
Wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
'' by
Hugh Howey Hugh C. Howey (born 1975) is an American writer, known best for the science fiction series ''Silo'', part of which he published independently through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system. Howey was raised in Monroe, North Carolina and b ...
was self-published originally and garnered more than a million dollars in royalty monies, and has generated over 5000 Amazon reviews. *
James Altucher James Altucher (born January 22, 1968) is an American hedge-fund manager, author, podcaster and entrepreneur who has founded or cofounded over 20 companies. He has published 20 books and is a contributor to publications including ''The Financial ...
's ''Choose Yourself'' (2013) sold 44,294 copies in its first month, debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's top non-fiction list, and was a ''Wall Street Journal'' bestseller. * Victoria Knowles achieved notoriety in July 2014 when her self-published book ''The PA'' reached the number one spot in the iTunes chart for paid books. * Matthew Reilly's self-published ''Contest'', the first of his action-thriller novels, in 1996.


See also

*
Alternative media Alternative media are media sources that differ from established or dominant types of media (such as mainstream media or mass media) in terms of their content, production, or distribution.Downing, John (2001). ''Radical Media''. Thousand Oaks, ...
* Author mill * Dōjin *
Independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...
*
List of self-publishing companies Self-publishing is the publication of media (e.g. books, music, art) by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. However, the author may engage professionals or companies to assist with various aspects of publication, ...
*
Samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
*
Self Publish, Be Happy Self Publish, Be Happy (SPBH) is an organisation founded by Bruno Ceschel in 2010 that aims to help aspiring photographers to self-publish their own books. It does so through workshops, talks, exhibitions, live events, on/offline projects and pu ...
* :Self-published books * Small press *
Predatory open access publishing Predatory publishing, also write-only publishing or deceptive publishing, is an exploitative academic publishing business model that involves charging publication fees to authors without checking articles for quality and legitimacy, and withou ...
* Vanity publishing *
Web fiction Web fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines. Unlike ...


References

* {{Authority control Publishing