It seems that every day the avenues for self-publishing increase. The first big impetus came from new print-on-demand technology, which obviated the need to print fixed quantities of books: often these ended up sitting for decades in in garage of some hapless self-published author. E-books, the current big transformative phenomenon, threaten to do away all together with the paper and printing aspect. So far, however, their main impact has been on fiction; most digital book experts believe that traditional print nonfiction is in no imminent danger of disappearing.

Putting out your own eBook is in many ways simpler than producing a traditional, bound, print-on-paper solution. But for many self-published authors, the ability to present signed copies of their work to friends, acquaintances, and business associates makes it imperative to produce a print edition.

P.O.D. technology gave rise to such large-scale commercial self-publishing operations as XLibris and iUniverse (now gathered with Author House into one company called Author Solutions), followed by Lulu.com and Blurb.com and Amazon’s CreateSpace. But with Ingram’s Lightning Source print-on-demand facility open to all customers, there’s no reason authors have to restrict themselves to the big internet-driven operations.

Many medium and small (not to mention major) publishers have adopted the “subsidy publishing” as at least part of operating model. While a big operation like CreateSpace or Lulu or are in some ways the most convenient and obvious choices, they’re less likely to provide a self-publishing author with the kind of custom advice and guidance a smaller house might.  Below I discuss a few smaller subsidy book publishers, in no particular order and without recommending one or the other. As with everything else in the publishing world, it all depends on finding the right “fit.”

But first a few words about the big self-publishing operations. All of us independent editors have heard cautionary tales about the several Author Solutions imprints (XLibris, iUniverse, Author House). Probably any of the comparable biggies (Lulu or Blurb) is preferable to these (of the two, Blurb is arguably the more “refined.”)

Create Space, being an Amazon.com operation, offers the advantages and disadvantages that come with that territory: good access to the book world’s biggest e-tailer, and a leg-up when it comes to getting your eBook on a Kindle or an AmazonFire e-Reader. With Amazon now also entering the field of print publishing, perhaps they will soon have all the print credentials one could want. Still, being tagged as an Amazon product cannot be particularly helpful if trying to gain access to the world of Barnes and Noble, which still remains by far the largest bricks-and-mortar retailer.

Here I’m going to mention a few of the smaller operations I’ve had some experience with. All of them offer customized, individual service, and know the value of a well-edited manuscript. They are: Greenleaf Book Group in Austin, Texas; Epigraph Publishing Services in Rhinebeck, New York; Easton Studio/Prospecta Press in Wilton, Connecticut; and Troy Book Makers in Albany New York and Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Greenleaf and Easton Studio/Prospecta’s lists are dominated by business books, but by no means exclusively. Greenleaf has a particularly large list and seems dedicated to proving the validity of the independent publishing model. Last year it published a new book by the bestselling author John Gray.

Easton Studio/Prospecta is the brainchild of digital book marketing consultant/guru David Wilk.

Epigraph is the subsidy arm of Monkfish Publishing, which specializes in philosophical-metaphysical-religious works of fiction and nonfiction; the self-published list reflects some of the same interests.

Troy Bookmakers—the joint creation of independent booksellers Eric Wilska of the Bookloft in Great Barrington and Susan Novotny of the Book House in Albany/Market Block Books in Troy— is a good example of how some bricks-and-mortar bookshops are reinventing themselves. By guaranteeing distribution in their own bookstores, these publishers make themselves a particularly attractive resource for authors writing about relevant regional subjects.

I know other independent bookstores around the country are also finding ways of connecting with self-published authors—Tattered Cover in Denver, for example, has special promotional programs aimed at this group. Who knows, it may not be long before we’re back to the original 19^th-century model of the bookstore-publisher!

What a difference a year makes! The Self-Publishing Book Expo yesterday at the Sheraton New York Towers was great, unlike last year. If you are interested in seeing who was there and what they were talking about just go to www.selfpubbookexpo.com/ Incidentally it is now free to go into the exhibit hall (unlike last year) so any of us in the city can just pop in. You only have to pay the $125 of you want to attend the panel discussions. Here are a few of the highlights:

There was a panel called WHY A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIEND moderated by Toni Sciarra and on the panel were Danelle McCafferty, Joan Sanger and Nan Satter. They offered to evaluate a few pages of the attendee’s manuscripts at a “Special Manuscript Evaluation Session” later in the afternoon, for free, and apparently it was very successful. I didn’t attend their panel because I wanted to check out the one on Social Networking and they were given at the same time.

SOCIAL NETWORKING with Cindy Ratzlaff and Lisa McKenzie was truly eye opening. I won’t bore you with the details but they are offering an online course soon and I am going to try to take it. You just can’t believe the marketing impact this social media phenomenon can have if you know how to use it. That, of course, is the trick.  You can find out about this at http://SocialMediaAcademyforWomen.com It is not just for women they hastened to add.

The afternoon panels on publicity and tips from self-published authors and book design were less interesting but the final panel called A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE was riveting. It was moderated by Jon Fine, Director of Author and Publisher Relations at Amazon. He is a lawyer and used to work at Knopf and is a most impressive young man. I asked him if he were Don Fine’s son and he smiled and sweetly said “no.” Also on that panel were Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords and Cevin Bryerman who is with Publishers Weekly. He was a last minute stand-in because some of the expected panelists couldn’t make it.

Here are a few surprising (to me) stats:

• Kindle sales have surpassed hard cover sales at Amazon
• There were 8000 independent booksellers when Kevin Joined PW about 10 years ago. Today there are 2000.
• Three years ago eBooks make up .05 per cent of the market. Today they account for 8 per cent of the market
• Smashwords, only two years old, has published 9000 authors and 20,000 books. Their advice to self published authors: Be nimble and publish in every format, eBook, Print on Demand, PDF and hard copies.  Consider these “just another format for consuming words.”

“This is the most exciting time there has ever been to be in publishing,” said Mark.

The bottom line is QUALITY.  They all concluded with that.  And that’s where the IEG comes in.