Why self publish?

The problem

Conventional publishing is becoming ever more focused on the blockbuster and the best seller. Unless you are an established author - and how do you become established? - or a celebrity in some other sphere, publishers are less and less willing to take the risk of publishing you.
  You can hardly blame them. Conventional publishing is an expensive business. Bookstores increasingly demand a massive marketing spend from the publisher before they are willing to promote their books in store. Large numbers of copies, sometimes running into the millions, have to be printed and sent out to stores with no guarantee of a sale. Many, often up to 80%, of those copies come back unsold, to be pulped or remaindered - sold at a massive loss. No wonder publishers are keen to minimise their risks by sticking with what they think are safe bets.

The solution

As in many other fields, the digital revolution is sweeping through publishing and radically changing its cost base. A manuscript typed on a home computer can quickly and easily be transformed into a book format ready for printing. And book production itself is going through a revolution. No longer is there a need for a minimum run of several thousand to produce copies at acceptable cost. Today, a single copy can be printed as and when required and sold profitably at a normal price. The Print On Demand (POD) era has arrived.
  The POD revolution is more than technological. Self publishing completely changes the relationship between author and publishers. Now authors can publish their work easily and cheaply and receive a much larger proportion of the revenue than the few per cent they would have been paid in the past, while retaining the full copyright of everything they write. And just as it enormously widens possibilities for authors, this revolution also benefits the environment. No longer are millions of books produced in the - often vain - hope that someone will want to read them. POD books are only printed when someone orders and pays for them.

HOW IS IT DONE?>>