SelfPub3: Author Business Campaign

By Alliance of Independent Authors

SelfPub3 is a concept and a publishing era defined by the concept: that any author (with the requisite skills) now has the means to establish a sustainable and scalable business.

It is also a campaign from the Alliance of Independent Authors (#selfpub3.0) that works with authors, readers, literary organizations, and creative industries to support independent authors in acquiring the three necessary skills: writing, publishing and creative business.

The SelfPub3 era, the era of author enterprise, began around 2018. In this era, writers are moving beyond exclusively signing all rights to a single 3rd-party publisher, or exclusively self-publishing with one platform or service, into true creative and commercial independence.

This short book outlines both the concept and campaign and aims to explain to self-publishing authors why SelfPub3 is important, the tools and techniques driving this trend, and how to take part in this movement that is enabling authors in more number than ever before to earn a living from writing and publishing books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Nov 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781913349417

Book preview

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION

In 2018, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), published a guide to what we called Self-Publishing 3.0, a new vision of authors as business owners creating publishing businesses based around Web3 technologies. The guide aimed to educate, empower, and support authors in understanding Self-Publishing 3.0 and what it meant for them, providing authors with the knowledge and tools they need to maintain control over their work and make informed decisions about what was best for their writing and publishing.

This book is the second edition of that guide to Self-Publishing 3.0, now more commonly referred to as SelfPub3.

When the concept was first introduced, SelfPub3 was seen as a revolutionary approach, empowering authors with more control over their intellectual property, pricing, and direct interaction with their readers. It emphasized the value of authors running their own micro-publishing businesses and introduced the drivers and business models that were firing the SelfPub3 era.

Since 2018, the technological and publishing landscapes have rapidly evolved, necessitating an update. Moreover, with the growing acceptance and implementation of SelfPub3 principles, some of what were seen as futuristic ideas have now become common practice for many indie authors.

This updated edition reflects these changes and advancements, provides up-to-date advice, and continues to support authors in navigating this exciting phase in the evolution of self-publishing.

At ALLi, SelfPub3 is a concept and a campaign.

The concept is that Web3 tools and technology makes it possible for authors to earn a good living from writing and publishing books.

The campaign encourages each author to examine what they want to achieve with their books, to explore all their options, and to avail of those that best feed their creative and commercial objectives. Our campaign also advocates for author education about these options throughout the literary and publishing sectors.

As a concept, SelfPub3 encourages authors to create independent publishing businesses, trade their publishing rights and other intellectual property on a non-exclusive basis. In this vision, authors rely on independent enterprise, empowered negotiation, and informed decisions, putting their own transactional website at the heart of a sustainable and scalable global, digital business that publishes wide, sells direct, and selectively licenses rights.

The campaign recognizes the challenges today’s authors face and works with writers and others to overcome them. It works with other author associations and representatives, and literary, publishing, and creative industry organizations, to foster author empowerment and entrepreneurial authorship—and to lobby the literary, publishing, and creative industries to support this shift.

SelfPub3 is linked to Web3 and powered by four drivers:

Direct sales: Creating a sales-centered author website to sell your books from.

Wide publishing: Publishing your book in all possible formats via all available retailers and libraries.

Selective rights licensing: Being mindful of your rights and licensing them advantageously.

Author collaboration: Working with comparable authors to grow together.

The purpose of this short publication is to encourage authors to explore the opportunities and challenges of publishing as a business.

To that end, we consider key concepts and their possible implications, outline possible business models, look at how authors profitably license and exploit their publishing rights, and how true independence is the key value on which these opportunities rest.

Throughout, we emphasize the importance of holding the creative, empowered mindset of the truly independent author. SelfPub3 recognizes that writing and publishing books is a long-term endeavor, that each author starts at zero and must produce the first words, then the first book, then continuously develop their books and their business, all the way to profitability.

It acknowledges that publishing is always a team effort, as much for the author-publisher as for any publishing house, and that good self-publishing services and assistance are key to sustainable success in