Self-Publishing

The history of self-publishing has been filled many failures and some very notable successes. Some authors that have been successful through self-publishing are Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, and Edgar Allan Poe. Many marvelous stories would never have been published if their authors had not become self-publishers. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and the Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs would never been known if the authors had not taken matters into their own hands (Ross & Ross, 1985, p. 4-5).

Unfortunately, when librarians think of self-publishing, they have the tendency to think of vanity publishing otherwise known as subsidy publishing. Vanity publishers will publish anything including things that only the author and maybe a handful of their family or friends want to read. They are not interested in whether or not it is commercially viable or not because the author, not them, is responsible for all the production, distribution and promotion costs. The vanity publisher merely takes the manuscript and turns into a book usually for a very stiff fee. People who go to vanity publishers generally do not expect to sell their works (Chickadel, 1980, p. 16-17). However, in self-publishing even though the author pays all the costs like in vanity publishing they not only write the book they arrange for the design, printing, marketing, and distribution. In addition, although there are some people who attempt to self-publish who should not, most of them that do self-publish do so expecting to make money. Therefore, if they self-publish the chances are that they go in believing that they have a marketable product (Chickadel, 1980, p. 17-18).

Many authors cannot be published through traditional publishing companies, de...

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...or will never hear of it. On the other hand, if they can learn to do them well or if they can afford to pay for professional services upfront; they can produce a work of sufficient quality to be worth acquiring.

Bibliography

Chickadel, C. J. (1980). Publish it yourself. San Francisco: Trinity Press.

Henderson, B. (1973). The publish-it-yourself handbook: Literary tradition & how-to without

commercial or vanity publishers. Yonkers, N.Y: Pushcart Book Press.

Ross, T., Ross, M. H., & Ross, M. H. (1985). The complete guide to self-publishing: Everything

you need to know to write, publish, promote, and sell your own book. Cincinnati, Ohio:

Writer's Digest Books.

Print Isn’t Dead, Says Bowker’s Annual Book Production Report. (2011, May 18). In Bowker.

Retrieved February 19, 2012, from

http://www.bowker.com/en-US/aboutus/press_room/2011/pr_05182011.shtml