When I've told some people about do-it-yourself publishing, they've said: "But Jim, I don't have a logo! How could a book survive in today's fast-paced world without the authenticity and recognition that a brand imbues?" Well, as we believe that hoarding credibility is as unpleasant as hoarding money, No Media Kings invites you to...

Have fun, and if you end up using one of them we'd love to see it:

10 Trellanock Ave.
Toronto, ON
M1C 5B5 Canada

Now that you're "real", here's some basic overview things to consider when publishing books.

• Think about your distribution options early. It's a key factor in deciding how many books you want to print, and you can gauge the level of interest before your print run. Printing 2500 copies in a country where 5000 sales has been a bestseller is risky if you don't have a mid-level distributor with a sales team.
• There's a bunch of publishing options beyond full-service printing but they generally mean more hands-on involvement. Decide if the hours that you'll have to put in make up for the savings.
• Obviously there's a ton of people already publishing books, at the indie and the corporate level. The purpose of this site is not to convince you do it my way, just that it is possible -- knowing this will give you considerably more power in any publishing deal. For lots of people, indie presses will be ideal -- their wealth of skills and knowledge could make the process much less daunting. While the royalties you get will be smaller than doing it yourself, neither do you have to put up the money. Because they were cool enough to give me lots of tips and info even when I was self-publishing, I bet these folks would give you a fair deal: Mike at Insomniac, Jen at ECW, Les at Raincoast, Vern at Rushhour, and Blaine at Arsenal Pulp.
• Other income streams can also offset the costs of being a cultural producer in a market as small as Canada. The Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council give out money for writers, although publishers generally have to have a few books out to qualify. As a small business, however, publishers can apply for entrepreneur and startup grants. It's kind of a lottery, though, so don't factor it in -- becoming dependent on the grant system is bad idea for all sorts of reasons.
• This site's not intended to be taken as gospel, just a starting point. You'll develop your own systems for making and refining your art. The interesting thing for me was comparing my own intuitive method with that of corporate publishing -- in some cases mine was more rigorous. I get at least a dozen people to mark up my manuscript, for instance, as opposed to the four editors I had at HarperCollins.