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Self-Publishing

The term self-publishing is used to describe processes used when an author publishes works of fiction or nonfiction without the use of a commercial publishing house, which typically buys the copyright of a creative work in return for royalties paid to the author. This entry describes key moments in the development of self-publishing, from the invention of the printing press through to the current day when the affordances of 21st-century digital technology have allowed for more than 1 million self-published titles to be created in 2018. According to the 2018 Bowker Report, self-publishing is in the strongest growth period in its history.

For centuries, publishing depended on access to the means of mass production. This changed irrevocably after the development of digital means of production to the point that today the author, not the platform, can be the publisher. This entry examines early forms of publishing and the various forms of self-publishing through the centuries.

Early Publishing

For hundreds of years following the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in 1439, the costs associated with owning the means of production were prohibitive, so mass publication was provided by a limited number of publishing houses. The model for these businesses is to purchase the rights to a work from the author in return for royalties on sales. Royalty percentages are determined by the publishing house and the author (and the author’s agent, if they have one). The commissioning editor coordinates peer review of the manuscript proposal and/or sample chapters before taking the proposal to an Editorial Board that determines whether the proposal is worth publishing. This decision is a professional judgment as to the projected sales of the published work. Authors are paid an advance on their royalties, based on minimum projected sales.

A second peer review, of the full manuscript, is organized when the manuscript is submitted. Authors are typically set up with a staff editor, who may make adjustments and structural changes to the manuscript and will organize production processes such as indexing. The house takes on the responsibilities and costs of designing, editing, printing, distributing, and marketing the book.

Vanity and Subscription Publishing

One of the earliest self-publishers was American inventor Benjamin Franklin, who had the financial means from his other businesses and investments to use his own printing press for 26 years to publish his annual Poor Richard’s Almanack from 1732. The book, an early form of personal journalism containing essays and an annual weather forecast, became one of the most popular publications in colonial America, selling an average of 10,000 copies a year. This form of self-publishing was known for many years as vanity publishing because the author published to a market without the work being evaluated by a commercial publishing house for its potential commercial success. Instead, the author paid a publisher to print and distribute a publication. For example, English author Jane Austen paid London publisher Thomas Egerton to publish her first novel Sense and Sensibility in 1811 after it was rejected by commercial publishers. In the 20th century, French author Marcel Proust paid for the publication of his early works after publishers declined to do so.

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