Book design has generally been collaborative since the invention of printing. A designer usually works with a range of people within the publishing and printing industries. A printed book is  the culmination of a group effort, between author, publisher, editor, designer and printer at least; often other specialists are also involved to realise the book. With the rise of self-publishing the traditional relationships between different actors has significantly changed. The person creating the content, designing its form of communication and distributing it may now be the same.

There are three main publishing models that can be distinguished that have a different role for the designer.

Model 1  the mainstream conventional model used in the large publishing houses

Writer – Publisher – Editor – Designer – Production – Printer – Distribution – Retail

The writer’s manuscript is the main source. The designer’s input comes between editor and production and the design and production of the book involves predominantly dialogue with these two departments. The production department of large publishing houses most often deals with the printer, but in smaller organisations, or for freelance book designers, this role is often assumed by the designer.

Model 2 design-led (eg artists’ books)

Artist/Designer/Author – Publisher – Editor – Production – Printer – Distribution – Retail

The ‘author’ is the designer (or photographer/artist/illustrator) and it is their concept, content and vision which drives forward the book from initial stages through to completion.

Self-publishing

Self-publishing is publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher.  It is seen as a means for authors and designers to ‘take back the power’ and enjoy a creative independence in the writing, design and printing of books.

Self-publishing is not new – artists books and vanity publishing have a long history as a means of challenging the power of the large publishing houses. But in the twenty-first century the rise of digital printing on demand and electronic publishing have enabled self-publishing to become much more widespread. In 2008, for the first time in history, more books were self-published than those published traditionally. In 2009, 76% of all books released were self-published, while publishing houses reduced the number of books they produced. According to Robert Kroese, “the average return of the self-published book is £500”.

A self-published physical book is said to be privately printed. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including, in the case of a book, the design of the cover and interior, formats, price, distribution, marketing and public relations. The authors can do it all themselves or outsource all or part of the process to companies that offer these services.

• Print on Demand
• Vanity publishing
• Electronic (E-book) Publishing

In all cases it is essential to have a good understanding of how the book will be printed. In the first two models the designer will need a good working relationship with the printer, as this will provide valuable guidance about the best way to print any individual book eg technical parameters including format, page size, paper stock, binding methods and print finishes. In Print on Demand there are also usually choices to be made, some of which have cost implications depending on anticipated volume of sales, but it is easier to change later with the next print run.

Artists Books

As part of the Arts and Crafts movement at the end of the 19th Century, early English small presses were used by authors/artists to express their vision through the craftsmanship of book design, and enjoy ownership of the design and production process as a whole.

In the 1970s Fanzines  emerged as a counter-cultural response to the aesthetics and associations of mass commercial book production…(more here)

Some artists and designers are producing different types of artist books, rediscovering the craft and skills inherent in traditional printing processes such as letterpress and returning to a more physical relationship and contact with print, using materials and processes of the pre-digital age, such as photocopying and hand- binding.

Print on Demand

Print-On-Demand (POD) technology can produce a quality product equal to those produced by traditional publishers – in the past, you could easily identify a self-published title because of its quality. Many companies, such as Blurb, Createspace (owned by Amazon.com), Lulu and iUniverse allow printing single books at per-book costs not much higher than those paid by publishing companies for large print runs. Most POD companies also offer distribution through Amazon.com and other online and brick-and-mortar retailers, most often as “special order” or “web-only” as retail outlets are usually unwilling to stock physical books that cannot be returned if they do not sell.

Vanity publishing

Vanity publishing differs from self-publishing in that the author does not own the print run of finished books and is not in primary control of their distribution. The term ‘vanity publishing’ originated at a time when high publishing costs meant profits were only possible on large print runs, so companies only sign contracts with authors whose books would sell well. ‘Vanity publishers’ aimed to give authors an alternative: they would publish any book in exchange for payment up front from the author. The term “vanity publishing” reflects a perception that the authors paying for services had an exaggerated sense of their own talent.

The line between vanity publishing and traditional publishing has become increasingly blurred in the past few years. Some companies (known as joint venture or subsidy presses) offer digital and/or print publication with no up front cost and make the majority of their income on fees for intangible services and add-on services (such as editing, marketing and cover design paid for by the author), rather than sales revenue. Self-publishing companies that fit this model include:

 Electronic (E-book) Publishing

Technological advances with e-book readers and tablet computers that enhance readability and allow readers to “carry” numerous books in a concise, portable product. Because it is possible to create E-books with no up-front or per-book costs, E-book publishing is an extremely popular option for self-publishers. Some recent bestsellers, such as Hugh Howey’s Wool series, began as digital-only books.

The challenge is the multiplicity of E-book formats and different software needed to create them and keep them updated for reading. The most popular formats are epub, .mobi, PDF, HTML, and Amazon’s .azw format. Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords all offer online tools for creating and converting files from other formats to formats that can be sold on their websites.

Copyrights and risk

Self-publishing and vanity publishing are not necessarily the same business model.

• A self-published author employs a printer (publishing) to operate a press, but retains ownership of copyrights, ISBN’s, the finished books and their distribution.
• A vanity press or subsidy publisher retains some of the rights, usually including ownership of the print run and control over distribution, while the author bears much or all of the financial risk.

Both models share a common characteristic of shifting risk and primary editorial control to the author; both encounter the same issues of lax editorial control. This differs from the conventional model (royalty publishing) in which a publisher pays an author an advance to create content, then assumes full control of the project and any commercial risk if a tome sells poorly. Also excluded is sponsored publishing, where a company pays an author to write a book on its behalf (for instance, a food manufacturer marketing a cookbook written by outsiders or a hobby materials supplier publishing a book of blueprints).

Unless a book is to be sold directly from the author to the public, an ISBN number is required to uniquely identify the title. ISBN is a global standard used for all titles worldwide. Most self-publishing companies either provide their own ISBN to a title or can provide direction; it may be in the best interest of the self-published author to retain ownership of ISBN and copyright instead of using a number owned by a vanity press.