Shots Across The Bow

At Last! The Big News!

As of today, I am no longer unemployed.

Even better, as of today, I am officially self-employed. I figured if I was going to work for a jerk, I might as well work for myself.

Yes, I have joined the ranks of the fearless entrepreneurs, stoking the mighty engine that drives economic expansion even in the face of governmental interference through excessive taxation and regulation.

Over the past several weeks, I've been filing paperwork, acquiring equipment and supplies, talking to vendors, and doing a little industry research. Heck, I've even got one client on board, and a couple more prospects.

Ladies and gentleman, please welcome PHD Publishers LLC, your educated choice in micro-publishing.

So, what is micro publishing? Well, you're reading it right now, at least, in one form. New technologies have allowed the average person access to traditional media processes that before had been out of their reach. While blogging is a very visible part of that, it is really only a small piece of the whole picture. Just as blogs complement the traditional news media, micro-publishers like PHD Publishers LLC will complement traditional publishers.

Think of us as a microbrewery; they're not out to compete with Anheuser-Busch, but to offer the public a variety of options that the big brewery can't afford to offer. They serve the niche markts that are too small for the big boys. In the same way, PHD Publishers LLC will take advantage of the thousands of talented writers whose work may not be mainstream enough to warrant the attention of Warner or Random House.

My mission is two fold. First, I will run a small, independent press, specializing in genre fiction, and releasing 12-20 new titles per year. I'll be marketing these PHD Press releases directly to independent bookstores, as well as to the big chains through a distributer. The books will also be available through Amazon, and/or the PHD Publisher website, currently under construction. The titles will also be available as e-books, if the authors wish. Additionally, PHD Press will provide low cost, quality editions of classic books in the public domain, like Huckleberry Finn, A Christmas Carol, or Around the World in 80 Days. These PHD Classics will be available through the web or mail order.

The second mission will be to provide a one-stop solution for people looking to self publish their work. The big publishers have such a high overhead that they really can't afford to take a risk on an unproven author. They reserve their time and efforts for proven talents, making it increasingly difficult for new authors to break in. It's far easier for Tom Clancy to get a steaming pile of horse crap (The Teeth of the Tiger) published than for a young unknown to get a truly unique story even noticed. Looking through the Writer's Market illustrates this point. One major publisher puts out 60 books per year, but gets 3000 submissions. Another publishes 175 books, but only 5% of those are from new authors. While many may be rejected for good reason, even if only 10% of them are good, that's 300 quality books that will never find an audience. One of the most celebrated examples is James Redfield, whose The Celestine Prophesy was initially self published. While not every author will see a similar success, his story certainly shows that there is a market for books rejected by the big publishers. But there was no cost effective way for authors to reach that market.

Until now.

In the past, a rejected author's only recourse was the vanity publishers, who, for a substantial fee up front, would promise to edit, format, print, bind, and market the book, "just like a real publisher." Unfortunately, the reality rarely lived up to the promise, and most authors wound up several thousand dollars out of pocket, with a garage full of books they couldn't sell.

But today, there is another option; self publishing has become both cost effective and efficient. Rather than requiring a press run of several thousand copies to achieve a reasonable cost per book, new printing and perfect-binding processes make printing even a single copy inexpensive, which brings just-in-time inventory management to the publishing world. Rather than maintaining an inventory of several thousand copies of a book, with Book On Demand (BOD) printing, the writer can order copies of their work as they sell them, reducing the amount of capital tied up in inventory to the point where self publishing becomes a viable option for virtually everybody.

Self publishing is also expanding into a brand new area, electronic publishing, or e-books. While still in its infancy, by dispensing with printing and binding altogether, an author can make his work available to the entire Internet community for the price of an account on a webserver.

Which leads us to PHD Publishers LLC. We offer all the services a self publisher needs, proofing/copy editing, formatting for print or e-book, ISBN registration, printing and binding, whether short run (100-200 copies) or BOD, and web hosting for e-books, or author's book stores. It is our purpose to provide all the support the new author needs to break into self publishing, or to prepare their manuscript for traditional publishers.

So, that's what I've been doing with myself the past few weeks. I'm very excited about this project since if it works out, I'll be able to make a living doing something I love, which is worth the risk I'm taking.

Wish me luck!

Posted by Rich at June 1, 2004 10:40 AM | TrackBack