There are four main types of publishing, and this is just a brief overview of them all.

1) Traditional publisher is usually what every writer aspires to. You will usually be offered a book contract giving them the exclusive right to publish your book. In return, they will pay for everything, from production through to marketing. Money is invested by the publisher, not by the author. A site with information and sample book contracts is sfwa.org

2) Self-publishing is just that, the author invests their own money in their book. The author will pay for printing, storage, distribution, marketing etc., with all the financial risk as well. For more information on self-publishing, see the self-publishing centre at inkspot. Inkspot has closed, so there will be no more updates, but it still has some useful articles in the archives.

3) POD or print-on-demand is like a combination of traditional and self-publishing. Some companies are selective and don't charge the author, like traditional publishing. Some charge a fee and are not selective, so more akin to self-publishing, but usually cheaper than having a thousand book print run from a printer. There is information about various POD companies at POD's. POD's store books electronically and can print one book at a time, as and when they are ordered, so no surplus stock cluttering up your garage.

4) E-publishing is where your book is an e-book or electronic book, not paper. Some e-publishers are selective and don't charge authors, some charge a fee. A few now offer the option of print-on-demand as well. There are two main types of e-book formats, the adobe PDF (portable digital file) and the Microsoft reader. The adobe acrobat reader is needed for PDF files and the Microsoft reader for the Microsoft reader files, both are available free from the Barnes and Noble website. There are thousands of free e-books available on the web, quite a few of them from ebookdirectory.com

For more indepth discussions and resources on publishing, see Annette Gisby's new book, Writing the Dream

Back to homepage