What is Self-Publishing?

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The Definition

What is self-publishing? It seems an easy enough question, right? Almost self-explanatory (look at the “self” here again!). Simply put, self-publishing is when an author publishes a type of media (for example, a book) without the involvement of an established publisher. In the literary world, the author is involved in the entire publishing process, including printing, distribution, and marketing.

If you look for the definition of self-publishing on the internet, you will find something similar to this. Yet, what this definition doesn’t tell you is how beneficial self-publishing can be! But maybe this is a topic for another post…

A lot goes on between an author writing a book and publishing it. The process has many phases and even though one may think it’s an easy one, that’s rarely the case. There are writing considerations, budget issues and A LOT of planning involved to get the words in a page to become an actual physical book (or in the eBook era: an electronic version of it).

A Little Bit of History

One thing is for sure: authors nowadays have way more options and resources when it comes to publishing their work. Authors were not always able to publish their own books and only well-established, big publishers were free to take part in the process.

The concept of storytelling is an old one. Ancient civilizations were known to share stories first verbally and then through inscriptions and drawings on the walls. Much later on, in the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg made it all easier with the creation of the printing press, starting what was known as the Printing Revolution.

The concept of a machine that could print something was revolutionary at the time, even though it may seem trivial to us nowadays. In fact, the effects of the Printing Revolution were so meaningful that we still see its impact to this day. The idea of being able to spread information quickly and to a large group was the root to the publishing industry we have at present.

The Birth of Self-Publishing

All this sounds about right, but when did authors get from turning to big publishing companies to publishing their own books?

Well, technology has a lot to do with it. In fact, it has everything to do with self-publishing. From the rise of eBooks and desktop publishing in the 1990s, to eReaders in the mid-2000s to today, self-publishing was born. It made sense that now that authors had endless resources to help with publishing, they would take part of the process themselves, to be involved in their own work from start to finish.

Too Much to Handle?

Okay, now that you know that people are able to produce and consume media at a crazy pace, and that a lot goes on between writing and publishing a book. But, how can we sort things out?

While this may all seem too much for you, as an author, to handle, there are ways to make the process easier. Even though you can do self-publishing all by yourself, also called independent publishing, you have a second option: to hire a company to help you. They will be able to take care of things that you may not have time to do or do not have enough expertise at and will leave you with more time to do what really matters: writing.

It may come to you as a surprise that many great books were actually self-published. A lot of amazing authors said that, after receiving many rejections from established publishers, they decided to give a shot at self-publishing. And we are grateful they did! The Martian by Andy Weir, Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, The Shack by William Paul Young, and Eragon by Christopher Paolini, just to name a few… All these were self-published (and are so good that later they all became movies!)

How Can You Self-Publish?

Back to the matter at hand, it is very unlikely that an author will have the necessary skill set to carry all the aspects of self-publishing since it requires a lot of knowledge about not only the book industry. It requires some knowledge on promotion, marketing, and logistics, which leads us back to the second option… self-publishing with a company.

We want to reiterate that although some authors and professionals within the publishing industry may have a large skillset and expertise in a lot (or all) of these areas we mentioned, no one expects them to. It is completely normal to rely on your field of work and be very good of it, and have other people around you help with the things you are not so confident about.

If this is your choice, you will have a professional TEAM (yes, multiple people) to help you at every step of the way, to give you guidance and support. When self-publishing with a company, authors get the help they need to succeed and to make the final version of their book the best that it can be.

Check us out here if you are interested in utilizing our editing or marketing services and we can sell those copies!