Self Publishing Advice

I was recently talking to a fellow illustrator about some of the challenges I’ve had self-publishing my first book. Since I finished writing and designing “Caught Creatures”, I thought I’d write down some of my own experiences and opinions.

Keep it simple

Basically, my over-riding principal is that if I kept things very simple, I’d save time and money. Since I was spending my life savings on the thing, this was ultimately very important. Here’s what I did: I found a book that I really liked, that was already self-published. By “liked” I’m talking about the quality of the printing, binding, paper, and the overall format. I bought the book, looked at how it was put together, and made note of the printer.

The interview

Then, I interviewed the artist via email, and found out how they liked working with their printer. (They did, which is very good to know.) Basically, I blogged about them, and then went and told them about it along with a few questions. (It’s always best to do a favor before asking for one.) This approach seems to work, so use it as it will save you both time and money.

Creating

Then I created the book, art and all. I decided against getting any quotes for the book until the art was almost done, because I didn’t want to put the cart before the horse. I really pushed myself to finish the art and not worry about anything else. (Or, I probably wouldn’t finish it.) For me, this was vital, since once you start talking to a printer, you’re thinking about marketing not making the art. (At least, I would.)

Research

Looking around, I’ve learned that most of the comics and many of the art books in the US are printed in Canada. So, I got a Canadian & local quote from a printer that I know does good work. (This includes the printer from #1) This usually takes about a week or so. I gave both printers a copy of my example book (from #1) so that they would include all of the publishing details. (Cover stock, paper weight, matte aqua cote, ect.)

I chose a format that seemed to be widely used. (For me, a mini book). I didn’t really research as to *why*, but I figured that there was a reason that so many books that were self-published were a similar format. I made my book the same format and same the page count. (Hoping that I was saving money by doing this.) This may go counter to some marketing (something standard rather than different), but for me the price was extremely important since it was coming out of my bank account. Making a good relationship with a printer might allow you to talk to them about formatting options. Since I knew that making the art was the real challenge, I just forged ahead with that first.

I chose the Canadian company from #1 because they a) printed the book that I already liked (I said, quote me the exact same book; same stock, same matte finish on the cover, etc.) and b) they were like 30% cheaper. Shipping was pretty expensive, but overall it was still a much better deal.

Layout and proofing

I then finished laying out my art, then proofed the heck out of it on the best color printer I could find. I printed the whole book 6-7 times with color revisions each time. I *only* stopped because it was time to send in the final art if I wanted my books in time for Christmas. (Again, back to point #2a; I started to get more and more anxious after talking to the printer.

I asked my sharp copy writer friend from work to go over the book, and fix the 50 errors that I couldn’t see anymore. Then, I fixed everything, and let her look at it again. She gets a free book, and I get a print run with far less mistakes. (I’m sure that there is one in there somewhere, but I don’t wanna jinx it.

Final countdown

Finally, I made a pdf of the final art, and sent it to the printer. A couple of weeks later, they sent me color proofs. (Again, just color printouts) I okayed those, and sent it back overnight with a signature. Then, more waiting. Wait a 6-8 weeks, and you should have it in hand.

Other random thoughts:

• Though it was challenging, I’ve been holding myself back from something like this for years. It was far easier than I realized, but I’m a lifelong pessimist.
• Once I sell half, I’m doing another book. I started my project on July 20th, at Comic-Con. I figured it would take 6-8 months to do this whole thing, but I’m pretty hungry to get out of corporate life.
• It took a couple months less than expected, which is great. According to Sanjay Patel, (Little India), he paid a print broker to find his printer. Though he likes his printer much, he said that this was the one mistake he made. Don’t do that.
• Most printers take PDF, so that’s easy for most of us. Just set up your file correctly (CMYK and all of that). 1/8 inch bleed should be sufficient. I built my art with 1/4 inch, but then reformatted the whole dang thing.
• Really, it just takes dedication to finish the thing. For me, I was blasting through pages like sawdust for the first 6 weeks, but as I got down to the nittygritty of formatting, title pages, thank you pages, and all of the finishing touches, it took more and more time and work
• The last 6 weeks I thought that I was *almost* done, but then still spent another 40-60 hrs just cleaning up the little details.
• For small runs, a digital print will likely be a cheaper/faster option than standard off-set printing. For me, off-set turned out to be cheaper, but that was only because I was doing 1000 copies. If it were 500, digital would have been cheaper. Just find out all your options.
• Don’t make mistakes with your art/text. Proof the heck out of the art. Have lot’s of people proofread your text. If you end up having to change things in the last minute, it will cost you big bucks. Slow down, and save money.

Anyway, that’s my experience with Caught Creatures.

UPDATE: Well, I now have the books in hand, and I must say, that they turned out *great*. A couple of my concerns in the artwork (some banding in the gradients) were not in the art at all, and the colors turned out richer and finer than expected. (#6 paid off)

I don’t know what I would do differently at this point. Probably I’d print more books, if I had $$$, to get the overall price down. It’s one of those difficult things; print a gazillion w/o seeing them? OR, print a more reasonable number, and then print more next time. I chose the second option.

UPDATE #2: I’ve now finished my second and third books, and I still adhere these ramblings.

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Daniel m. Davis is the co-owner (with his wife Dawna) of Steam Crow LLC,  a Phoenix, Arizona studio that creates characters/stories/goods with a monster imagination.

He also creates the Monster Commute, a 5 day a week monsterpunk adventure comic.