<disclaimer>I worked for a year or so on the technology side for one of the largest and best-known “EVPs” (as Reality Chuck calls them), so I may not be the most objective source in the world. Given that they killed the project I was working on and laid me off, however, I’m not necessarily a “true believer” or booster, and I certainly have no financial interest at stake; neither do I any longer have friends or acquaintances at the company. </disclaimer>
Reality Chuck presents one side of the argument with obvious passion, as he’s done before on the same topic. I do think, however, he assumes that everyone who considers self-publishing does so from the same set of motives he has as a writer, which are apparently to achieve fame, fortune, and the respect of the literary world. And I’d agree that if your goal is to achieve those things, self-publishing isn’t the way to go. But there are as many different motivations for writing and publishing books as their are potential authors, and for some of them it may be an appropriate choice. In particular, those who are aware that their work is in a “strange, unmarketable genre”, and thus for whom traditional publishers aren’t a viable option, may find that it meets their needs, provided their expectations are set correctly up front.
The first thing to establish, in my opinion, is what your motivation for wanting to publish really is. If it’s to prove that all those publishing companies who’ve told you your stuff is “strange” and “unmarketable” are wrong by having your self-published tomes become runaway best-sellers, you’re probably the one that’s wrong. Publishers sometimes miss the mark (everyone can cite successful books that were universally rejected at first), but generally they’re pretty well attuned to what makes books sell. The odds that they’re wrong and you’re right are pretty small. Likewise, if you’re not too concerned about sales but want to establish yourself as a literary genius, you won’t likely get too far with an oeuvre of self-published books. Legitimate publications typically don’t review self-published books or books from vanity presses as a matter of policy (though they’ve been known to make exceptions). Even if your ambitions are more limited, there’s no question that self-published works lack the cachet of those produced by traditional publishers (as you note).
If, however, your primary motivation is simply the kick of having your words immortalized between the covers of a real, honest-to-goodness book, self-publishing can certainly provide that. Or, if you believe that there is a market, albeit a very small one, for your work and you believe that you know how to reach that market, EVPs can provide ways to deal with the logistics of book production and distribution that wouldn’t otherwise be available to you. Reality Chuck’s correct that the only effective marketing you’ll get on an EVP-produced title is what you do yourself (most of the add-on marketing services they sell aren’t worth half what they cost, if that), but what you do get that you don’t with self-publishing is access to standard distribution channels – listing in Books In Print, availability through both Ingram and Baker & Taylor (the two largest book distributors in the U.S. – nearly every bookstore in the country orders the bulk of their materials from these two distributors), and online distribution from both the publisher’s web site and Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The downside is, as RC points out, that you don’t necessarily have books on hand to sell at personal appearances (readings, speaking engagements, trade shows, etc.). The upside is that your book can be special-ordered from nearly any bookstore in the country, and you don’t have boxes full of hundreds of copies of your book in your garage. You don’t have to deal with credit-card processing, fulfillment & shipping, returns, etc. – in most cases, the books are drop-shipped direct to the purchaser from the printer for direct orders, or shipped to the distributor for delivery to the bookstore for in-store special orders. The other upside, and perhaps the biggest one, is that your upfront costs can be much lower, because the books aren’t produced until they’re purchased. As an example, a typical cost on a 6x9 300 page softcover with a 4-color cover would be in the neighborhood of $10; actual cost/copy will vary a lot depending on quantity produced – cost/copy will be higher on short runs (less than 500) and lower on longer runs (more than 1000). To produce 100 copies of that book, you’re going to be looking at an upfront cost of at least $1000. That’s just so you’ll have them on hand for those times when you meet someone who’s just dying to give you money for your book right away. For the EVP I used to work for, the basic publishing program is around $500 (which includes five copies of the book). (For comparison purposes, our hypothetical 300 page 6x9 softcover with 4/c cover would cost $16/copy through CafePress’s POD publishing offering). So (at least in my opinion), much of the decision would be based on my marketing strategy – if I’m going to be out there in person hawking the book at readings, speaking engagements, etc., maybe I pop for the 100 copies. If I expect most of my sales to come from indirect contacts (web site, mailings to carefully targeted lists, etc.), I’ll probably go the POD route. If you don’t know how you’re going to sell the books (and selling them matters to you), don’t do anything until you figure that out.
It’s also true that you (and only you) are ultimately responsible for the book content that’s delivered. I never had the chance to compare a “before” manuscript with the “after” output from the copyediting or editorial review service offered by the publisher I worked for, but I’d be highly skeptical that they’re worth the cost. If you want the book to present you in the best possible light, I’d forgo the publisher’s offerings and hire a competent freelance copyeditor to do the job (call a few publishers whose offerings are the closest to your material and ask for recommendations), or at worst find someone who likes you enough (or owes you enough) to read and revise gratis (keeping in mind that you generally get what you pay for with free help).
The biggest problem with EVPs, to my mind, is that their marketing does play to the authorial ambitions of potential customers, with tales of their authors being picked up by major publishers, and the prospect of having the publisher invest additional marketing resources in the author once sales of their books reach certain levels, etc., and with their “add-on” services that are standard parts of the publishing process at traditional publishers. There are a few success stories that the EVPs make much of, where an EVP book gets picked up by a traditional publisher, but there are a few lottery winners every year too – ain’t likely to happen to you. What you really get from an EVP is pay-as-you-go production and fulfillment services – nothing more, unless you pay extra (and as I said, I’m skeptical about the quality of the “extras”). Essentially, it’s the unbundling of book publishing services, with the author rather than the publisher absorbing the cost of any efforts that are invested in the book. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, as long as the author understands that, but the marketing of the EVPs (particularly their positioning of themselves as “publishers” and their offerings of additional publishing services beyond production and distribution) blurs the distinction rather more than is quite right, in my opinion.
As for your book being “mixed in with utter, dire crap” (to quote RC again) as an offering of an EVP, that’s true, but what does it mean, really? Given the way any book published by an EVP is marketed (i.e., primarily by the author), a prospective buyer is never going to even be aware of the existence of all the “utter, dire crap” that’s also produced and distributed by the same publisher. As an EVP author, you’re not marketing the publisher’s list, you’re marketing yours.
It’s a viable position (and one I’m sure RC would take, given a chance) that since the author is assuming so much responsibility for the content and marketing of the book, they’re entitled to more than the relatively modest royalty provided for by EVP contracts (generally 20% of the actual retail sales price of the book, minus shipping and handling and taxes). If making money from a book were my primary motivation, I’d agree. However, I’d argue that for some authors, getting the book published and generally available without having to deal with the logistics of production and distribution is the main goal, and that if they’re willing to accept a smaller financial benefit from the book in exchange for that, they’re entitled to make that choice.
I know that personally, I’ve been tempted for years to research and write a history of lower-level minor league baseball in Arkansas. No publisher in their right mind would touch this project. If I ever did do it, however, I’d consider using an EVP to produce it. My motivation would be primarily to capture a piece of history that’s rapidly fading away – it wouldn’t matter to me if I didn’t make a dime on the deal – or even if I lost a bit. The total market would likely be the libraries in the towns covered, former players in those leagues (a rapidly diminishing group) and their relatives, and a very few hardcore minor-league history buffs. I have a pretty clear notion of how I’d go about selling the book to each of those groups. What I wouldn’t want to do is plunk down several thousand dollars of my money to print the 250-500 copies I’d expect to sell overall. I’d much rather pay $500 up front and eventually recoup some part of that in the $2-$3/book I’d get in royalties. CafePress’s offering provides much of that, but the downsides their are the lack of any access to traditional distribution and the higher cost/book (with a COGS of $16/book, the price would have to be somewhat higher than the typical EVP softcover title).
