Why I started my own publishing company
(and how you can too.)
This essay was sent to paid subscribers of my newsletter We Are All Creatives last year. I am unlocking the feature here for free for new readers of Own Your Own Imprint.
Sandra Bullock as the kick ass publisher in The Proposal. (I’ve got a book with the same name!)
The recent Substack party in London was full of interesting people and made me feel that being a writer is the best job in the world.
What was great about it was that everyone there had embraced being an independent creative. In fact - they weren’t just embracing it - they were joyfully celebrating it. There were people in the room making six-figures from their Substack alone. Careers refreshed, transformed, developed and enhanced by starting a newsletter.
It’s not always like that. I’ve been publishing books with traditional publishers for nearly twenty years. When I meet someone new and I tell them that I’m published by Harper Collins or have been on the Sunday Times bestsellers list, there’s an agreeable nod – a sign that I’ve passed some secret test. But when I say that I also self-publish - it’s a different response. A sympathetic tilt of the head, a pitying look from their interpretation that my publishing career is on the slide.
I might start telling them this. That I’ve make a strong six-figure income since I started independently publishing over lockdown, when my traditionally published thriller was stuck in a bottleneck of other books whose releases had been delayed because of Covid.
With no income coming in, I had to take action. I had a romantic comedy The Singles Table in my bottom drawer, had it professionally edited, a lovely cover designed and uploaded it onto Amazon myself. It was an ebook bestseller, in their top 100 for nearly three months, so instead of giving my next Tasmina Perry novel to a publisher, I chose to release that one myself too. And the next one, and then the next one. I’ve also taken on other authors, my tiny imprint taking flight.
If you’ve ever been rejected by an agent or a publisher, if you’re depressed by the fact that freelance word rates have hardly gone up in twenty years or you’re an established author disappointed with sales or one who just wants a new challenge, listen up.
Traditional media is changing. Yes, books are still selling in big numbers, there is an insatiable demand for content, and boy, is it a buzz to see your name on a bestseller list.
But shelf space devoted to books in the supermarkets has shrunk considerably, meaning the top band of authors gets thinner. Bottom line - unless your name is Richard Osman or Colleen Hoover, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to make a decent living as an author, at least the traditional way.
But there’s another way and you’ll be surprised by how many people are doing it…
A quick primer on indie-publishing.
You have a manuscript and want to get it to market? The old way was finding an agent who would sell it to an editor at a publishing house who could send it out into the world usually around a year after they acquired it.
The new way is this. Publishing with Amazon, Apple and Kobo. All you need to do is sign up to their publishing platform, have a professional manuscript ready to go and you can be a published author in 48 hours. And your revenue stream? Royalty rates are 35% or 70% (if your book is priced over £1.79). If you sell your book for say, £3.99, you get to keep around £2.70 and you get your monthly royalties cheque around 6 weeks later. Through Amazon you can also release print on demand paperbacks and hardbacks.
‘For a long time I felt that my career and my finances were out of my control,’ says women’s fiction and Carnegie prize nominated author Rachael Lucas, who started indie publishing in 2021. ‘I was offered another traditional deal with one of the big publishers but turned it down and took the plunge. Choosing indie publishing meant that I could make the decisions that enable me to live the life I want to on my terms. I'm writing this from my farmhouse in France bought with the income from my independently published books. I love the freedom that this way of publishing has brought to my life.’
Liz Fenwick is traditionally published by HQ, but when she wanted to expand the story-arc of one of her popular characters, she indie-published Delivering Christmas, a festive novella to tell their story.
Traditionally published authors try independent publishing…
Prestigious lifestyle brands with an existing fan base are also choosing to independently publish. Petersham Nurseries’ beautiful book - a gorgeous ‘through the seasons’ volume of recipes and family anecdotes was released themselves. Go to one of their lovely stores or restaurants (their original greenhouse tea-room is my local cafe!) and you’ll see the book artfully displayed. They have a retail outlets, a large mailing list and a huge social media following - why not go direct to market?
And when I bought the new book from celebrated horticulturists The Land Gardeners, I noticed that they had self-published too. Like the Petersham Nurseries book, it’s beautiful, a gorgeous gift and you’d never know that they’ve done it themselves.
Big, fancy brands try independent publishing…
Indie publishing is flexible and nimble, one of the main reasons why I love it.
You don’t have to wait for the publishing slot your publisher gives you (this can be up to 18 months from the delivery of your manuscript.)
Want to change or refresh your cover? You can do it on the KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) dashboard in less than five minutes.
Want to jump on a trend? If you can write fast, you can have a trilogy released long before a traditional publisher will release one book.
Desperate to fulfil a life goal and write your own cookbook but don’t have your own restaurant or mega Instagram following? Hire a photographer, take pictures of your food, send them to a freelance designer whilst you are dealing with the printers, (all the big companies like Clays and CPI, used by the traditional publishing giants will do small print runs for indie authors,) and there you go. A cookbook you can start to promote, (just as a traditional publisher will ask you to do.)
It’s also a brilliant way to get noticed by traditional publishers. Lucy Score and Hannah Grace are two self-published authors who sold a lot of books independently and went on to land traditional deals and places on the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller lists. The Land Gardeners have also done a deal with Thames and Hudson for international editions.
Most of all, it’s empowering. You’re not waiting around for permission to get published, you don’t feel frustrated when you hate a cover or a marketing campaign - because you’ve signed it all off yourself.
If you start your own imprint, you can take on other authors, as I have…
Over the next few months on this Substack, we’ll do a deeper dive on how to polish, brand and market your books if you decide to take the indie-publishing route.
They’ll be pictures and stories from life at my fledgling publishing imprint (think Clarkson’s Farm - we don’t have Caleb and tractors but we have swans and cake at our riverside office.)
In the meantime, have a think about what you want to publish and why.
Do you want the status of being with a Big Five publisher? The validation that comes with being picked up by an editor. (Harper Collins is one publisher that throws wonderful parties. It’s a great perk!)
Do you need the support network from a publishing company? The truth is that even if you are with a traditional publisher, many covers are now designed remotely by freelancers, manuscripts may be edited by a freelance editor. How the publishing process actually works is often not that different whether you are indie-published or traditionally published. But some people like/want/need an in-house editor who oversees the whole process and guides your book from start to finish. If so - try traditional publishing.
But are you commercially minded? Do you have a strong sense of what you want and how you can achieve it? Do you think that the future is direct to consumer, cutting out as many of the middle-men as possible? Do you want to get your book out there quickly and start to make money fast? Money that comes to you within weeks, not months. Do you want to acquire a back-list that you own for evermore - a backlist you can think of as a literary pension? If you’re nodding your head to any of these questions then indie-publishing is worth seriously considering.
Over the next few months, I’ll guide paid subscribers through the skills you need.
Recognising what books work in a competitive marketplace.
Finding good editors/cover designers.
How to write a great blurb and create a compelling literary package.
How to market your books through digital channels.
How to get paperback and hardback editions done and into bookshops.
Think of Rachael in her French farmhouse bought with indie-publishing income and let’s get moving!
If you want a 1:1 chat about any of the above, I have a very limited number of founding membership available, which include two 35 minutes Zoom calls (or one meet-up for coffee if you are in the central London area) about your creative project.
Best wishes
Tasmina