Publishing and Book Design Basics: Elements of page design. This guide is designed to help self-publishers with common questions about the logistics of book publishing and basic book design. → Click Here
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author without the involvement of an established publisher. In common parlance, the term usually refers to physical written media, such as books and magazines, or digital media, such as e-books and websites. It can also apply to albums, pamphlets, brochures, video content, zines, or uploading images to a website.
Unlike the traditional publishing model, in which control of the publication is shared with a publisher, the author controls the entire process, including design, price, distribution, marketing, and public relations. The author may perform these activities themselves or they may outsource these tasks. In traditional publishing, the publisher bears the costs, such as editing, marketing, and paying advances, and reaps a substantial share of the profits; by comparison, in self-publishing, the author bears all of these costs but earns a higher share of the profit.
The $1 billion market of self-publishing has changed considerably in the past two decades with new technologies such as the Internet providing increasing alternatives to traditional publishing. Self-publishing is increasingly becoming the first choice for writers. Most self-published books sell very few copies, although there have been a few self-published books that have become best-sellers. The quality of self-published works varies considerably, with many low-quality titles on the market. ~ Wikipedia