H is for Hardback or Hello There!
Hardback books as a self-published, indie author
There’s a bit of a myth out there that if you self-publish, you won’t ever get to see your book in print, or in shops, and certainly not in hardback form. The myth perpetuates the thought that most self-published authors make money via e-books and kindle unlimited.
There is some truth to it, but there fact remains that if you have the tools to produce a paperback version of your book, you also have the capacity to produce a hardback version.
KDP and Ingram Spark both allow POD of hardbacks (last time I checked!) and I certainly have mine listed for both, and while the sales are less on those compared to paperback, it’s a nice addition to be able to offer your readers nonetheless.
There are also so many options out there now to get your hardback printed offset and you can make them as pretty as most of the other big books you see out there, with special editions, sprayed edges, foiled book covers or whatever you like really. Of course, the downside if you usually have to front up the cash to print these, unless you do a kickstarter and meet whatever target you have set yourself to cover the costs of printing them.
BookVault in the UK are a good example, but there’s many more, both domestic and abroad (though watch out for delivery costs from abroad which can be prohibitively high). It’s really about the purpose of you producing the hardback.
https://bookvault.app/special-edition-book-printing/
I have mine on POD as I don’t expect I could sell 500 or 1000 copies, or if I could it would be difficult in terms of storage etc etc, but maybe you’re doing this full-time or you have the space to store them and are quite happy to punt copies in person at fairs or you’re happy to send out deliveries each day and use ads to sell them direct from your own site.
In terms of logistics, hardback books are a different size/dimension from paperback, so you will need to reformat the manuscript to fit (it’s just 1 click on Vellum to do so, but much more laborious if you do it yourself, or more expensive if you pay a formatter), and you will need to resize the cover to include bleed at the edges etc but most good cover designers or illustrators will be able to do that for you, no problem.
I guess there’s a bit of a romance about hardcovers and I do view them as a nice add-on rather than an essential but I also think we need to dispel that myth that we can’t nice things too, if we are indie authors.
Hello There
I guess I wanted to also say hi and introduce myself to everyone again at some point this year as the subscriber number has grown a lot recently and many of you might not really know me and who I am.
Obviously, I’m Stuart White, a school teacher (secondary biology), dad of 2 and founder of WriteMentor, but I’m also an indie author.
I chose to pursue this path after receiving an agent offer in 2022 and deciding to decline it, despite the lure of being told my book would be pushed at London Book Fair to publishers and potential offers of IP work amongst other things.
When weighing that up, I realised that if I went down that road, even if everything went amazingly well, which is unlikely to - so few people have that experience with traditional publishing - I’d not see my books being read for many years, I’d lose so much control of the process and I’d spend my life dependant on the whims of others and their decisions and be sitting constantly wondering when I’d get emails from agents and editors and essentially become an extremely low paid freelance employee of a huge publishing industry that rewards only celebrities and their shareholders.
It wasn’t for me.
So I began meticulously researching how I might publish my own books and the various ways you can approach it, spending many months researching and asking questions of my pal, Sally, who had just taken the plunge before me.
So many people say things like, if you can’t get a traditional deal, then just self-publish, like it’s (a) easy and (b) a consolation prize or secondary goal that you only resort to if trad publishing doesn’t work for you.
I don’t view it that way at all, and being in a fortunate position to turn away from traditional publishing and consciously make that choice that cemented that in my own mind.
And it’s not just true of me - so many indie authors are choosing to stay indie, even when things blow up for them because they know if you start signing away too many rights, they’re going to be worse off with a publisher than doing it themselves. Most of them take care to cherry pick what they will allow a publisher to buy from them - ie the things they don’t want to or can’t do themselves, like audiobooks or maybe print or hardcover versions that they might not want to deal with.
I’ve seen a few recently like that where the indie author keeps the e-book rights as that’s where much of their income comes from and they get good royalties on those and maybe the things they value less and make less from, they are happy to just take the cash from the publisher on those and let them deal with the distribution and selling of those.
Anyway, I’m happy with the course I’ve chosen, even if it’s not always easy - sometimes it can be hard to motivate myself when there’s immediate deadline, as I don’t have to fit in with a publisher’s schedule, and sometimes I just have darker moments where I lack the energy to keep pushing with my books. I always come out of it, but it does happen, so things are not all rosey.
I’m working on another couple of books to release this year (trying to be less ambitious and put less pressure on myself!) and I’ve written something that I think might work better via traditional publishing, so I’m not totally closed to trying to sell the right project via that pathway, but it has to be on my terms. I’m getting older now and I do worry about giving away all my rights (and the potential inherited rights to my children etc) of my intellectual property.
It might sound a little lofty and serious to think this way but if I can pass on these rights to sell my work to my kids and it can make them a nice side-earning when I’m gone, I’ll be delighted.
PS - this is my reminder to you to include your writing, whether via your ltd company or yourself, in your will to be passed on to your children. I did this recently and it heartened me greatly and really boosted my motivation to know that when I’m gone, my kids will take charge of my work and can even add to it, should they wish.
Until next time, take care everyone and May the Force be with you!