Almost a year ago I self published a coffee table book, The Art of The Flatly. It was something I really wanted to do and bring to life, so I did it. I’ve gotten a few questions on Instagram about the process so I thought I would share here.
At the beginning of 2023 when I knew this was something I wanted to do, I saw Goldfish Kiss (One of my favorite OG bloggers) self published with Ingram Sparks, so I stated looking into them and chose that path to self publish.
Why Self Publish?
I chose to do this for a few reasons…
- Timeframe. I spoke to several published authors at Alt Summit and something I was hearing over and over was how long it took. That was not something I wanted to wait for. Being that I had already started the process, it was something I really wanted in my hands as quickly as possible.
- Money. Publishers and literary agents take a cut. Now, I expect if you go with a classic publisher your book would potentially go further, make more capital and the amount you are sharing with your team would be minimal.
- No one said yes. I sent about a dozen cold emails to publishers that I thought would be a perfect fit. I sent over the concept, a preview and a marketing plan for the book and got no takers. Could I have sent more emails and done a lot more leg work to find my self a litter agent and publisher, YES. My focus, however was to writing the book and about a million other things at the time.
- Control. Guess what? I am a control freak. I wanted this book to look a be a certain way, so self publishing allowed me to have the control.
What Skills do you need to Self Publish?
This really depends on the type of book you are publishing. Mine, being a coffee table book had a lot of layout work to it. Being that I am a graphic designer, the skill set I already had helped A LOT. However Ingram Sparks has layout guides, and there is always YouTube!
I used my family, A LOT. My mother is also a graphic designer so I tapped in to skill set quite often. I used Indesign to layout my book and Illustrator to design the cover. I also sent my book to be edited by my mother and my aunt more times than I would like to admit. Spelling and grammar are not my strong suits, so many sets of eyes is a good thing.
When I got my first copy in the mail, I found SO many mistakes, did another edit, I even had an error on the back cover. Editing wise, I think my book was easier than most, as it;s a coffee table book, mostly photography.
What does it cost?
The great thing about publishing with Ingram sparks is the fact that I can order one at a time. This was very important to me, not having a big budget or a publisher behind me. Buying 1500 books or something to start was not something I could afford, or wanted the pressure of. So I was able to sell my book as a pre order and order books from the publisher as orders came in.
The actual publishing process didn’t cost me anything. Just the price of the book. I used a provided ISBN number. Something to note about an ISBN, you need a different one for every style you publish. So if you want to write a book and publish both a hard and soft cover, you need two ISBN numbers. Ingram Sparks has a calculator so you can plug in your book and see what you are looking at as far as cost.
The price will go up depending on your cover style, how many pages and most importantly paper quality. Paper quality was my biggest struggle, I highly recommend asking for samples before you decide how it will print. I really wanted the Highest color quality but it just wasn’t in the budget. It doubled the cost of the book for me, which was just too much. (Keep in mind my book is about 350 pages, the book I have coming out this fall is much smaller and I will absolutely invest in the highest color quality.) I made the final decision comparing the samples they sent to me (for free) and the difference wasn’t big enough that I felt like I was struggling.
The samples can also help you decide on cover type, size of the book etc. Simply email them and they will send what you are looking for.
As far a cost of the book to me, The Art of The Flatlay cost me about $25 to print per book, plus $12 shipping. That is an 8.5 x 11 hardcover, matte finish, 348 pages, full color.
Other costs I incurred in the book, I paid an illustrator to add custom artwork to the book, I also had to pay for images that I styled for but did not shoot. I also put money in for marketing, I sent out 10 Influencer boxes with books for each as well as swag surrounding the book.
I purchased shipping materials like custom stickers, free mailers, tissue and packaging tape. I started a website and instagram for my book as well. The costs I incurred with marketing was all execution, as I designed everything my self.
Where was the book distributed
Ingram Sparks is also amazing because they put your book out there. By self publishing with them, and checking a few boxes, they made my book live on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and more. I chose to sell my book on my website. I did some test runs with the online shop before selling my book so I knew what I was doing (I sold sweatshirts, sticker sheets, etc), I wanted to have a good feel with the process.
Selling the book myself was the best option for a few reasons.
- I had the opportunity to see the book, sign it and use my own packaging to give an entire experience.
- I got paid right away. If someone purchased on my website the money came right into my account within a few days. If it was purchased through amazon, or another retailer, it took about 3 months to see the money, and there is not a GREAT way to track it. It’s the control thing again for me.
I also distributed books to small shops at a wholesale price. For me this was just a really cool thing to be able to get my book into some of my favorite shops like Pink Antlers Studio, Cami Monet, Hello Shops, etc. I adjusted the cost of my book for wholesale, had a minimum order and shipped them directly from the publisher to the shop.
Keep in mind I published this book 30 days after we moved across the country, so I definitely could have done more going door to door, gorilla marketing.
Things I wish I knew:
In Ingram sparks you have an option to make your book returnable, you can choose for it to be destroyed or to come back to the Author. In setting this up, I couldn’t imagine 1. destroying my baby, 2. that anyone would ever want to return it. Here’s the thing, this was meant for bigger retailers, book stores that Ingram chooses that will buy your book then have 160 days to see if it does well in their market. If they choose to return it, which a few people did, it comes back to you and you are charged for the book. This happened to me out of the blue and I was stilling on about 50 books. There was nothing wrong with them, they just were not being marketed to the correct people.
Every book bought off of my site was going to someone who really wanted it, not someone random. Moving forward I would not allow returns. This might prevent some buyers, but it will also prevent unwanted merch and returns.
Influencers: Think about this one. I had SO much fun curating PR boxes, it was literally a dream come true, and sending my book to some of my close friends and vendors, was amazing. I would definitely do it again, because I loved the fanfare, but it did not bring in sales or much content. As an influencer, I think it really depends on what the product is and if it will be successful. Again the joy of seeing my friends have my book was totally worth it, as well as the testimonials.
For the next one, I would probably rather send to small shops to potentially carry the book, and one or two Content Creators to get marketing materials.
Publishing The Art of The Flatlay and Sister book The Guide was SUCH a huge accomplishment for me, and something I just really wanted to do. The goal not being to make millions of dollars but to put my work over the past 10 years into one place and share what I know with a wider audience. That being said if a publisher came knocking tomorrow, I would absolutely open the door.
I hope this answers some questions and if you have more, leave me a comment or send me a DM/email/Etc.
XO,
Kelsey
