Hi there. My name is Scott Duffy, and welcome to my book writing log. I have documented the process of writing my last two books on this site, and have started my third. This book will be called Visual Studio Team System In Action, and should be available in 2005.

Self Publishing

In some respects, this is a truly amazing world we live in. I can understand why the major computer book publishers are scrambling to adapt to the changing market.

For one, there is the Internet. Who needs to buy a $50 computer book any more, when there are tons of free resources out there? Of course, there are still plenty of reasons to buy books, but the competition is fierce - it's hard to compete with free. Only the best books can compete.

The other reason for change is the coming boom in self-publishing. Self-publishing is easier now than it ever has been. Sure, this segment makes up a very small percentage of the total market, but in 5 years that share could be 10 times larger than it is today. And in 10 years? Who knows.

There are two major ways to self-publish. E-books and on-demand publishing.

E-Books

The appeal of e-books (from both the publisher and consumer side) is easy to understand. With e-books, the per-unit cost of publishing is near $0. That is, your cost to create the e-book is the same whether you sell 1 or sell 1 million. With traditional paper books, each book costs anywhere from $5-$10 to print. The low cost of printing appeals to publishers because it reduces the up-front investment required in printing. Consumers like this too because it lowers the retail cost of a book.

The cost of distribution also is near $0. Physical books have to be packed into a box, put onto a truck, delivered to a warehouse, put onto another truck, delivered to a store, and unpacked. E-books are downloaded. So again, reduces costs, which makes e-books cheaper still.

You can also get into issues such as inventory -- the cost of storing the book in either a warehouse or a store shelf. And what about the cost of shipping that consumers pay when they order books off the web? There is also the risk, of course, that a book sells copies less than the number of copies printed. "Returns", as these are called, are shipped back to the publisher -- more costs. And so many books end up losing money for the publisher.

So whereas an in-store book can cost $25, and one purchase online can cost $30 (taking into account discounts + shipping costs)... an e-book can cost $9. And that is almost all profit for somebody.

You can choose to create an e-book yourself, or there are several online services that will help you for a small fee. E-books can be purchased through online bookstores such as Amazon.com, or you can sell them directly from your web site (no middlemen).

On-Demand

There is a trend in book publishing called Print On Demand (POD). As with e-books, there are several options.

There are full-service publishers that act like a regular publishing house, in that they have editing, proofing, sales and marketing services available. You work with an editor (of sorts) who takes you through the process from beginning to end. This process can be expensive, but if you take the risk, you get to reap all the reward.

Full Service POD Publishers
AuthorHouse - http://www.authorhouse.com/
BlitzPrint - http://www.blitzprint.com/

Then there are publishers who allow you to self-publish. That is, they provide the tools for you to get your book printed, but almost everything is up to you. These services are typically cheaper. Getting a single book printed could cost less than $10.

Do It Yourself POD Publishers
Lulu - http://www.lulu.com/

I'll update this list as I do more research. Stay tuned.