Self Publishing

Self publishing is largely similar to vanity publishing.

In fact, a quick trip through some of the most popular writers’ forums, will show that many writers regard it as practically the same thing.

The primary difference between self publishing and vanity publishing is in the printing and binding methods and in the work done by the writer.

In self publishing, the writer generally undertakes the editing, proofreading and (generally digital) typesetting or print formatting of the document.

Self publishing, by its nature requires the writer to be able to produce short print runs; generally much shorter than a commercial printer would undertake. As a result, modern desktop publishing, printing applications and hardware have been developed to facilitate this. The self publisher will also bind the books once printed and market them for sale.

Self publishing doesn’t necessarily need to involve printed books or publications. The advent of blogging could easily be argued to be a form of self publishing, as the writer is in full control of what is published on the website.

Equally, the advent of ebook publishing has enabled paper-free self publishing to take off in recent years.

For more information on self publishing and some idea of what motives are most often behind it, take a look at an excellent Wikipedia entry on self publishing.