Self-publishing doesn’t have to mean doing everything yourself

After 20 years of working with publishers large and small, I’m taking a different approach to my sixth web design book. Here’s why I’m self-publishing Standout Designs for the Web and partnering with others to reach more readers.

I’m a few days into the pre-order period for Standout Designs for the Web. Since I started promoting it, one or two people have asked why we decided to self-publish this time instead of working with a publisher. Here’s why.

Including the web-only Transcending CSS Revisited, Standout Designs for the Web is my sixth book about web design in 20 years. Over that time, I’ve worked with New Riders—a big publisher—as well as Five Simple Steps and Smashing Magazine, both small industry publishers.

Working with a large publisher

Back in 2006, New Riders was perhaps ‘the’ publisher to work with. They’d produced Jeffrey Zeldman’s Designing with Web Standards, Dave Shea’s Zen of CSS Design, and plenty of other books I admired. The deal with them for Transcending CSS was fairly standard: a modest advance on royalties, editing support (which I desperately needed), book production, and sales. I got a tiny royalty percentage, which worked out to about $0.50 per copy after everyone took their cut. I didn’t make much money, but having a book published by New Riders helped me become more well-known, which may have contributed to getting client projects.

Choosing an industry publisher

A few years later, Mark Boulton published the Practical Guide to Designing for the Web under his own Five Simple Steps imprint. We talked about an idea for a book which ultimately became the original Hardboiled Web Design. Five Simple Steps offered no advance, but provided editing support from Owen Gregory, production with as much input as I wanted to give, printing, and sales. They even paid for Kevin Cornell’s incredible cover artwork.

Another big advantage of working with Five Simple Steps was the deal. We each took 50% of the profits, and although we sold far fewer copies than I had with New Riders, Hardboiled Web Design was very profitable for everyone. It was an early lesson that selling fewer books doesn’t necessarily mean making less money.

Sadly, Five Simple Steps stopped publishing, so by the time I was ready to write again, I needed a new publisher. For the Fifth Anniversary Edition of Hardboiled Web Design, I chose Smashing Magazine.

Like Five Simple Steps, Smashing offered no advance, but provided editing support from Owen Gregory (again), production, printing, and sales. We each took 50% of the profits, and although that edition sold in much lower numbers, it was still worthwhile. I had no hesitation in asking Smashing Magazine to publish Art Direction for the Web in 2019, and we agreed to the same deal.

Working with large publishers like Apress, New Riders, O’Reilly, Rosenfeld, or Wiley can give authors access to a wider audience, which can help with career building. In my experience, though, that comes with less creative control and a much smaller share of each sale.

Smaller, niche, industry publishers like A Book Apart (RIP), Five Simple Steps (RIP), and Smashing Magazine offer more creative control and better financial terms, although their reach can arguably be shorter. Having experienced both, I would choose to work with an industry publisher every time. So why not this time?

Publishing with partners

A Book Apart has gone. Five Simple Steps has gone. Smashing Magazine has put its book business on ice for the foreseeable future. So, that leaves me with publishing through Stuff & Nonsense, but with a twist.

One obvious benefit of publishing books through a company like Smashing Magazine is that it’s a partnership. I can focus on writing while they promote and sell to a much wider audience. I wanted the benefits of working with a publisher, even if I was doing the publishing myself.

So I thought about who I would like to partner with for Standout Designs for the Web, and there was no better choice than Geoff Graham and his newly acquired CSS-Tricks. It already has a large readership, a newsletter, and a store set up to sell books. Just as important, CSS-Tricks is one of those independent resources that’s contributed so much to our industry, and I’d like to see it thrive.

So we struck a deal. CSS-Tricks is my official sales partner for Standout Designs for the Web. It sells the same book at the same price as my website, and we agreed that CSS-Tricks keeps 30% of each sale. That gives me access to an established audience while giving CSS-Tricks another way to generate revenue. I hope the arrangement benefits both of us and helps maintain this incredible resource for everyone.

Don’t be surprised if you also see Standout Designs for the Web mentioned in your inbox, as I’ve been reaching out to people I know who run email newsletters. Via SendOwl’s affiliate scheme, newsletter authors can get a 15% cut of sales they refer to my website. It’s a slightly different arrangement from the CSS-Tricks partnership, but the principle is the same: people who help introduce the book to new readers should benefit. So, if you send a newsletter and would like to be an affiliate, get in touch.

With larger publishers offering less attractive financial terms, and industry publishers either gone or scaling back, what’s the best strategy for authors like me to reach wider audiences?

With Standout Designs for the Web, it’s about making strategic partnerships with sites like CSS-Tricks. It’s also about giving people like newsletter writers a reason to share the book and get something back for their effort.

Only time will tell how this strategy compares to how I’ve published books in the past, and I’ll be fascinated to see how it works out.

This industry and the business of publishing books have changed beyond recognition since New Riders published my first book. What hasn’t changed is just how important the culture of sharing is. Getting knowledge in front of more people is harder now, so as an industry, we need to do whatever we can to preserve that culture by supporting writers and publications like CSS-Tricks, Piccalilli, and Smashing Magazine.

Promoting independent web books

That might mean buying a book or simply helping to publicise it, which is one reason I added a new bookshelf page to my website last week. I know how difficult it can be for independent authors to reach new readers, and I’d like to do my part to help. If you’re an independent author and have self-published a book about any aspect of web design or development, let me know; I’ll be happy to add it to my shelf.