Self-publishing is great, but don't order too many - Ian McMillan

In one sense, the blog and the self-created e-book have taken over from this kind of publishing but I’m pleased to say that people keen to get their work in print will still, well, get their work in print because the look and the feel of words on paper can’t be beaten.

The main thing about the self-published book, I reckon, is not to be too ambitious with it; in other words, don’t have too many printed because if you want to make your money back you’re going to have to sell them.

Sometimes the self-published volume is intended to reach only a very tiny audience and the writer of, say, a family history, has had half-a-dozen copies done to give to friends and relatives. Sometimes a writer has been persuaded by ego or by slick salespeople that there’s no point having fewer than 5,000 printed, which means that you’ll always have 4,970 copies in your spare bedroom until the end of recorded time or until your house falls down, whichever comes first.

Believe me on this, because I’m One Who Knows.

Many years ago me and mates Martyn and Paul decided to self-publish a comic to sell in school when we did poetry gigs there.

We figured that books might be too expensive but that the young people would be able to find 50p for a comic. We had a vast amount printed; I can’t recall how many except that it was far too many. We took two big boxes full to a little school in the Midlands and did a performance to a joyous audience of about 200 and afterwards we told the head about the comic.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to sell a few,” she said brightly. We sat in the staffroom munching biscuits and had a little sweepstake on how many we’d sell. I said 76. Martyn said 52. Paul, ever the optimist, said 207.

The head came back: “We’ll take two,” she said, handing me a pound coin.

The reason I’ve been thinking about self-published literature is that someone loaned me a beautiful home-made book called Sixty Years in the Isle by John J Creaser; it’s a story of farm life in the Isle of Axholme from the 1920s to the 1950s and it’s a valuable social document and if John hadn’t sent it to a printer’s, it would never have seen the light of day and a fascinating story would have remained untold and that would have been a shame.

So all hail those who want to publish themselves! Just don’t have too many done…