I have written a separate section of "The Writers Dictionary" for self-publishing because we get so many questions about what it means and about the process at the Writer's Center. You should also look up in the dictionary such elements as LC number, copyright, marketing, and so on.

To self-publish means that you are responsible for all the production and marketing bills. You also write the book. Of course, you take all the profits. I will say something more in a later section about whether you can expect profits.

In effect you become a publisher yourself -- a Prentice or a Hall or a Knopf.

I: Self-Publishing vs. Vanity Press Publishing

Producing your own book has a long and respected history -- Whitman, Poe, Elbert Hubbard, Crane. The uninitiated sometimes think that self-publishing is akin to vanity publishing but they are worlds apart. Vanity publishing is a deception since the pretense is that someone else has really chosen to do your book among all the manuscripts submitted. In fact, vanity presses are like stores -- they will serve any customer with the money. There is no good reason to go to a vanity publisher. There is good reason to self-publish, one reason being that you will learn about the arts and crafts associated with the business. Another reason to self publish is that you may have a project that is simply too expensive for either a commerical or small press. If you have the money and the audience, you may wish to commit your own funds to bringing the work before the public (i.e. "publish").

See "vanity" and "narcissism" in your dictionary before you begin a self-publishing project.

II: The Wrong Reasons for Self-Publishing

should be obvious. Self-publishers often do a book because no other publisher will handle any of their writing. If no one has indicated any interest in your writing, why do you think it suddenly will become a silk purse when you print it? Sometimes people self-publish because they don't want to do the work of getting a publisher. In brief, they haven't tested the general market. A few years ago a man came to me with a book he had written, A Catalogue of Catalogues and said that he wanted to self-publish it. He had never thought to try a publisher but on one call had one. See below about testing the market.

Sometimes people self-publish because they think they will make a lot of money. If you are not able to convince a publisher to market your book (and publishers really do like to make money), that is likely to be a negative sign about your manuscript's marketability.

III: Why and When You Self-Publish

Generally, self-publish under the following conditions:

A: You have a publishing track record but can't get an entire book published. This is not unusual for a poet, short story writer, essayist of even a novelist. Often they do enough public readings or lectures that they know they can sell enough books to recoup costs. They may hope that the self-published book will be picked up by a "real" publisher.

B: You may even need the book for classes they teach or workshops they lead.

C: My suggestion to most self-publishers of poetry, fiction, or essay is that they have had 40-50% of their work appear in juried publications (journals and magazines run by people you don't know) before they launch into a book. In other words, if other publishers say you are a writer then perhaps you can chance self- publishing.

D: Self-publish after you have tried the commercial market (give yourself at least a year to try to market the manuscript) if you are sure of an audience for your book. Sometimes publishers simply don't think it is worthwhile to print 500 or 1,000 copies of a book. For example, a friend of mine knew he had a market for a book about the Gypsies of Spain among social anthropologist and afficionadoes but that his book would not enjoy a large market. It took him five years but he did sell his 1,000 copy print run. I think this principle works best when the topic is quite specific and you have special knowledge of the field.

E: Self-publish if you don't care about the money and wish to have a book to give away that contains your memoirs or unpublished poetry or particularly unique cure for our economic ills. At the very least you will learn a bit about the business, some new terms, and -- if you don't get your hopes up (too far) - - some fun. In fact, I suspect that the best reason for self- publishing is to learn about the process. You could take a course, to be sure. On the other hand, you don't learn much about betting if you use monopoly money.

F: Self-publish if you are absolutely positive that no one understands you and that the only way to get your message to the world is to drop a book on its head. On the other hand, for less time and money, you could buy a computer and set up a home page and go surfing the internet to find kindred souls. It's cheaper and will save you room in the closet.

IV: The Cost of Self-Publishing

V: Thinking like a Publisher

VI: Books about Self-Publishing

VII: Marketing Your Book

See also in the Dictionary: Pricing, Vanity Press, Design.