Reasons to self-publish, or start your own niche publishing company (or not)

Like any good uncorporation, breadpig aims to do things a bit differently. Last year, we published a tutorial for how LOLMagnetz generated $30,000 in profits (for charity, but profits nonetheless). We donated $15,000 to the SF/SPCA that December of '08 and the rest went back into Breadpig, Inc. to purchase more inventory and fund our next project, the xkcd book, xkcd: volume 0.

Thanks to many of you who are reading this, the xkcd book has been (and continues to be) a great success!

From the 3-stop book tour alone, we raised enough to build "the xkcd school" in Laos; we'll be visiting it in 2010 with a few books in hand to confuse the schoolchildren with. On top of that, in a little over three months of sales, Breadpig earned $53,000 in profits (all for Room To Read, of course). We're coming up with some fun ways to let you, the breadpig legion, decide what literacy & education projects it'll be used on. In the meantime, we'd like to show you exactly how we did it.

Before we begin, this tutorial - nay, this entire book - wouldn't exist if it weren't for a few crucial people: Marie Mundaca, LeeAnn Suen, and Liz Nagle. At first, I had no idea what goes into producing a book -- these 3 people were absolutely invaluable in bringing this project to fruition. They're thanked on the copyleft page, too, but I'll praise them at every opportunity I get. And our partners at Room To Read, chiefly Allison Rouse, have been incredibly supportive. This list wouldn't also be complete without thanking everyone who helped pull off our book tour: the indefatigable Jenny 8. Lee, Craig Silverstein, Trevor Blackwell & the Anybots crew, Craig & Kirsten Nevill-Manning, team reddit, and all of you wonderful people who showed up, bought a book, or just told someone about it. (Thank you all!)

Reasons to self-publish books:

(or start your own publishing company)

It's not really that hard to create a quality product

Think of it like getting t-shirts printed; if you're willing to put in the work to design & layout (or hire someone who can) you only need to find a printer and choose paper stock. The crucial element for success is having an established audience. Breadpig had very little to do with the success of the xkcd book, it's thanks to Randall's devoted fan base, which he's deservedly built up over the years by delivering a high quality product (and ad-free!).

Ownership

If you're the talent, you own it all -- always and forever. Traditional (read: not breadpig) publisher typically want rights. Oh, and you get all the profits, too (as well as losses, tho). And if you're starting your own publishing company, a la Breadpig, be prepared to strike deals that aren't the same as traditional publishers. As an upstart, you can't offer Barnes & Noble front table placement (so you know, that's the prime location in a bookstore) and aren't going to throw serious coin at advertising, so try a model that starts with the talent getting a majority of the profits.

You're already "Internet famous"

Perhaps the most obvious reason to not go the traditional publishing route is because you already have a loyal fanbase. Bonus points if they're already buying your merch to keep you out of a dayjob. This is absolutely the case with xkcd, so the best argument a traditional publisher can make -- "lots of advertising & marketing experience and dollars to make your book a bestseller" -- loses a lot of strength. The editorial experience can always be contracted; you've already done the marketing & PR departments jobs by growing a readership.

Reasons not to self-publish books

The industry isn't exactly growing

OK, maybe you can go the e-book route now that Kindles and iPads will apparently be surrounding us during our morning commutes by this winter, but overall, this isn't a super industry at the moment if you're not publishing Twilight.

Books are heavy and take up lots of space

You'll likely need to make your first order in mid thousands, which means a lot of dead tree in your fulfillment center / basement / livingroom if you can't move it. You shouldn't think twice about doing print on demand (quality has gotten really impressive) if you're unsure about your audience. Profits are smaller, but there's no risk. Have a huge hit and you can bootstrap your self-published sequel.

So, you're ready to start. And this entry is ready to end (Click here for Part II: the step by step guide to publishing a book).