self-publishing, main feature

Distribution.

Who owns the books when they come from the printer's.

Who gets paid.

Self

veinglory said:

As a result as an exchange elsewhere I would be curious to know what people would see as the *single* most important feature that would make a company a 'self'-publisher rather than a traditional publisher?

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Do you pay them, or do they pay you, and who distributes the book?

Whether the author created the name of the publishing company. A self-publisher IS the publisher and gets to pick the name of the entity that shows up on the cover and title page.


My Dream Book
Written by Bob Smith
Published by Smith Publishing Co., LLC

etc., etc.

A single factor isn't helpful—the test for determining the "nature" of a publisher has two factors.

• Does the author have legal title to the books as they come off the press? If yes, it is probably self-publishing. If no, it is either commercial or vanity publishing.
• Does guaranteed capital flow as the first copy comes off the press point toward or away from the author? If toward, it is commercial publishing. If away, it is either self- or vanity publishing.

N.B. "Guaranteed capital flow" means accounting for all required capital expenditures necessary to publish a book. That includes mundane things like copyright registration, contract drafting and review, and so on, in addition to obvious things like advances (and, conversely, up-front or back-end fees and/or required purchase of copies by the author).

Jaws said:

A single factor isn't helpful—the test for determining the "nature" of a publisher has two factors.

• Does the author have legal title to the books as they come off the press? If yes, it is probably self-publishing. If no, it is either commercial or vanity publishing.
• Does guaranteed capital flow as the first copy comes off the press point toward or away from the author? If toward, it is commercial publishing. If away, it is either self- or vanity publishing.

N.B. "Guaranteed capital flow" means accounting for all required capital expenditures necessary to publish a book. That includes mundane things like copyright registration, contract drafting and review, and so on, in addition to obvious things like advances (and, conversely, up-front or back-end fees and/or required purchase of copies by the author).

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True -- but when a newbie asks about a publisher in the Bewares Board, the question of whether that publisher's books wind up on bookstore shelves is a good test. Distribution is orderly, and expensive. It requires advance selling, i.e. familiarity with the contents of the book, and advance materials, which gets you cover flats and sales copy and advance quotes and all that end of things. Nobody stays in business if they distribute books that don't sell, so you've got editorial gatekeeping.

Newbie authors don't always understand capital flow, but they're usually capable of going to their nearest big bookstore and seeing whether a given publisher's books are on the shelves there.