Most authors would love to see their written works in published form even if they have to resort to self publishing. The traditional profit making publishers are restrictive in what they will accept. Their editors decide if a written work is publishable and will make money. These publishers assign an editor to an author and when the work is finished the book is printed, distributed and marketed through normal channels and media. The author sometimes receives an advance payment based on the expectation of sales and other criteria like the fame of an author. The author does not take on any financial risk. An alternative way to get published is self publishing. Books, manuals, pamphlets and other written works are completed by printing and binding them into hard cover or soft cover finished products. Commercial publishing houses buy rights to written works, get those books printed and then sell or otherwise distribute the books. Vanity press publishers are available to those authors who are willing to pay all of the production costs in the form of fees. This is a form of self publishing that is more likely to cost the author money rather than bring in a profit. One reason for this is that there is no one responsible for determining the quality and marketability of the book at the publisher as is the case with a traditional commercial publisher. Subsidy publishers also charge the author a fee but they also take on some of the financial risk and all of the production decisions and they purchase rights from the author. They charge the author a fee and upon publication and sales the author will receive royalty payments. The author will have no say in the design or other production aspects of the book. Subsidy publishers help the author to get the book published but publish the work under their own imprint. For those authors who want to handle all the production of their books there is what is called true self publishing. They can put every aspect of production up for competitive bids to get the best prices and they pay for everything that is done. Self publishers control all the design of the work, the distribution and the marketing. The author retains all rights to the written work and they receive all the profit. Completed books remain their personal property and they can distribute and sell them in any fashion. They can achieve as high a quality finished product as they are willing to pay for with publisher software . The author has complete control and takes on all of the risk of the project. Today there are also some web based printers who offer short run print on demand publication of written works. Files are uploaded electronically and the author can select their choice of a variety of packages including design and marketing. Some POD (print on demand) publishers have connections to Internet outlets such as Amazon. Self publishing is an alternative available to authors who cannot get published through traditional publishing houses. Many self published books are offered for sale but marketing and getting distribution can be very difficult.
