You have an idea for a book... you develop it... you work up a first draft... edits... edits... you let friends read it... you listen to their comments... more edits... you think you have a bestseller... submissions... rejections... edits... submissions... rejections... edits... you join the Write Words community...

I'm sure this process is familiar to many on this site, and it can be a bit disheartening at times.

So, I'm thinking now, 'Should I self-publish?'

I realise that a number of you have chosen the self-publish route. Was this your original plan, or was it Plan B/C/D...? Does your role as publisher interfere with your role as a writer? Do you still have time to write? Has your day job suffered at all? Did you have to set up your own publishing business? Is there a guiding body who can advise on how to get started as a self-publisher? Is it a good idea to approach a self-publishing company for their services? How does a self-published book get from the writer to the reader? How does payment get from the reader to the writer? Do readers have a tendency to avoid self-published books, or do they even care who the publisher is?

I'm considering self-publishing as my Plan B, so I've decided to start looking into it now. I realise it would cost me both time and money, but I feel a strong need to take my book project as far as possible, one way or another.

Any advice?

KHG

How does a self-published book get from the writer to the reader?

This is the 64,000 dollar problem. All the rest, as you say, just takes time and money. Finding people who you can then persuade to buy it is a wholly different thing. Non-fiction writers with a well defined market can do well, through fairs and local or special-interest media, and so on. Not so the humble novel writer, so it depends a lot on which you are. People don't care who published a book, it's true, but they expect to find out about books in reviews and interviews, and buy books in a bookshop, and you'll be very lucky indeed to get any foothold in either places.

There's a bit on self-publishing here:

http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/publicationadvice.htm

and, as you say, lots of experience - at least to the finding-out-about-it stage on WW

Emma

I haven't self-published but recently went to a seminar given by LuLu, the print-on-demand publisher which was originally based in the States but is now operating in the UK too. They seemed to be a good outfit. Basically, it will cost you nothing but £50 for the ISBN no.) to self-publish through them, unless you use their editing service or design service for the cover etc. What happens is that you upload your work to them, choosing your own cover image, font, size of book etc. and they print and sell books as people order them. You then get a proportion of the sale and LuLu keeps another proportion. It seems like timewise it could be fairly costly, but financially not. Your book will appear on Amazon. Also, the publisher name is not Lulu but the name you choose to call yourself - ie, you can create your own publisher name. The downside seems to be that you'd have to do all the publicity.
A friend has recently self-published through Authorhouse, but don't know much about them. The book looks good, though.
Susiex

Yes, Lulu are good - the books look good, though they're A5, not traditional book sizes. You'd need to budget for a full-on copy-edit, of course, as well as everything else. That's often where self-published books betray their origins. The downside with Print-on-demand is that the cost of the individual copies is quite high.

The Society of Authors has a good guide to self-publishing, which you can send off for here:

http://www.societyofauthors.org/publications/

and I've met many self-published authors through them, though I can't remember the criteria for self-publishers to join - I think you have to be able to show you're doing it as a commercial venture.

Emma

Ok, The Big Question:

So you've self-published....where do you see yourself going from there?


- NaomiM

<Added>

Ok, trick question. There is nowhere. You are back to square one again. Although self-publishing does prevent you from entering some of the competitions for unpublished writers.

Go into it by all means, but with the following expectations:

You will lose money.
It will not help you to find a Publisher or an Agent, unless your book is very successful.
It will not help you to find a Publisher or Agent for your next novel, and don't even bother to mention it in your covering letter unless the first was very successful.
Your book will not be successful.
Unless you have a ready market for it before you self publish, only a handful of people will ever know what you have accomplished however much you send on marketing it.
You cannot afford to market it.
All money you spend on marketing it will not be recoverable via the unit price of your product (book).
Only your friends and family will buy it - and half of those will expect free copies.
You will not be able to get it into the bookshops.
No-one will buy it off Amazon.
No-one will buy it from your website.
No-one will buy it from your self-publisher's website.
There will be typos. etc., in it which will make you cringe everytime you look at it.


I self-publish because I have a ready market for the books through Primary schools fairs and local craft fairs. I also have a ten year plan which relies on my continuing to write and saving up for the next publication. I don't waste time or money on marketing. And I treat it as a hobby.

- NaomiM