Self Publishing

 

Self publishing is not vanity publishing, but a well-recognised way of avoiding the limitations of conventional publishing. Poetry is the poor relation in mainstream publishing, but that's no reason why your collection shouldn't be made a stunning production through self publishing. Several approaches exist, but marketing and distribution are often the critical elements.

Introduction

Self publishing is not a criticism of the publishing trade. Anyone who has worked with publishing houses knows the flair, experience and dedication they bring to their profession. Many books today are works of art and, for all the thousands of hours in manuscript reading and rewriting, editing, proof-reading, cover design, illustration, layout, printing, marketing and distribution — specialist skills acquired by long experience — books are astonishingly cheap. Many, the coffee-table variety in particular, are not in fact designed to be read, but to be displayed and admired.

Naturally, all this effort comes at a cost. Books have to be sold in quantity, and poetry books, alas, do not sell in quantity. Poetry has to be read and reread, quietly and carefully, and serious poetry today appeals to a vanishingly small segment of the reading public. Publishers and agents regret the situation, but can't work on thin margins. Anthologies forming part of teaching courses — textbooks, in effect — will turn a profit, as will works of the few poets who are household names, but for the remainder self publishing is probably the way forward.

Argument for Self Publishing

Several developments have conspired to make self publishing a popular alternative. People now live longer and naturally wish to comment on their lives, which are similar to those appearing in films and popular novels, but more complex, authentic and moving. History itself has changed, and communities and the individual lives of its members are becoming important areas of study. Increased leisure gives us more time for hobbies, and we wish to pass on our enthusiasms. We know more than our ancestors, and we travel more, making us more inclined to reflect on matters and commit those reflections to paper.

Equally important has been technology. Computers, word processing, desktop publishing and the Internet itself have moved publishing away from the literary trades and into the hands of the ordinary citizen. Boundaries are becoming blurred, and what was once the preserve of the raconteur and private diarist is increasingly a form of self publishing.

But though text messaging and Internet use has grown enormously, some communications need more permanent storage. From papers discovered on your weaving ancestors in East Anglia you have compiled a monograph on eighteenth century rural life. But who's going to be interested enough to buy a copy? If only a few hundred, then self publishing is your only option. University presses tell you that funding shortfalls make it impossible for them to bring out your study of the Carboniferous brachiopod faunas of northern Peru. What then? You can deposit the papers in the library vaults, but think of the perilous field trips and the long hours in the lab documenting the finds. Again self publishing is your answer.

Self publishing is not therefore vanity publishing where you are flattered into paying over the odds for the gratification of a talent that does not exist. No doubt a gradation extends from self publishing to vanity publishing, but many professionally-published novels fail to make an impact on the public, and not every scholarly work appearing under illustrious imprints has lasting value, (or sometimes present value, to judge from fraternity reviews). Self publishing needs to seen in context, as a response to a legitimate need in an increasingly diverse and pluralist society. It makes available what would otherwise not be available, and for that we should be grateful.

Types of Self Publishing

What form of self publishing?

You can do your own typesetting and pass the plates on to jobbing printers.

You can make your own electronic books.

Or you can hand the whole matter over to a print on demand company.

All are feasible, and relatively inexpensive today, but the additional work of marketing and distribution falls squarely on your shoulders. That is often the critical element, and one you may want to consider before plunging into the mechanics of self publishing.

You'll find more information, and Internet references on poetrymagic.co.uk.

email us   |   about poetry magic   | siteplan

 

Site Navigation


General

 

Publishing


Advanced Section


Poets