SELF-PUBLISHING 101: Do Self-Publishers Specialize in Specific Types of Books?

Most of the well-known self-publishers are generalists; that is, they publish books in a variety of genres. If, for example, you look at iUniverse’s online store, you’ll see books in many categories, including business, biography, reference and science fiction.

However, there are self-publishers that specialize in certain types of books. For example:

• Spanish books – Palibro (palibrio.com), the Spanish-language publishing arm of AuthorSolutions.
• Photo books – Blurb (blurb.com), where “it’s easy to make your own photo book.”
• Women’s fiction and romance – Dellarte Press (dellartepress.com), the self-publishing arm of Harlequin Books.
• Children’s books – Callawind (callawind.com), which “specializes in children’s book publishing,” as well as cookbooks.
• Uplifting books – Bookstrap Publishing (bookstrappublishing.net), which specializes “in self-help books with a positive message.”
• Specialty books – Donning Company Publishers (donning.com/home.html), which focuses on “commemorative volumes, pictorial histories, and contemporary portraits.”
• Poetry books – Poetry Publishing (poetry-publishers.com), which can publish your book of poems and then put you “on the path towards global readership by getting your poetic tome distributed in over 5,000 online book distributors and retailers.”
• Religious books – There are a number of self-publishers specializing in this genre, including: 1) Xulon Press (xulonpress.com), which describes itself as “the world’s largest Christian self publishing company;” 2) BelieversPress (believerspress.com), which offers “Christian Self-Publishing;” 3) Innovo Publishing (innovopublishing.com), whose slogan is “Full Service Christian Publishing & Marketing for Authors, Artists & Organizations;” 4) Leonine Publishers (leoninepublishers.com), which blends “traditional publishing and self-publishing for Catholic authors;” 5) WestBow Press (a division of Thomas Nelson) which publishes all genes but specializes “in books with Christian morals, inspirational themes and family values;” and 6) Brentwood Christian Press (brentwoodbooks.com), which specializes in “Christian books published by Christian people.”
• Cookbooks – Self-publishing companies that specialize in cookbooks include: 1) Fundcraft Publishing (fundcraft.com/fundraising-cookbooks/index.asp), which allows you create a custom cookbook for fundraising purposes. The company says it “has helped thousands of groups… from national charities, church groups, civic organizations and more… earn money year after year by publishing local recipes in their own professionally prepared personalized fundraising cookbooks;” 2) Wimmer Cookbooks (wimmerco.com), which focuses on “the creative development, printing, marketing and distribution of quality, custom cookbooks;” and 3) Callawind, (callawind.com), which “specializes in high-quality custom cookbook publishing.”

In addition, many of the general self-publishers offer special services or packages for specific genres. For example, AuthorHouse offers packages designed for poetry, children’s books and books that may be made into movies, while Xlibris has packages geared for science fiction, poetry, children’s and Christian books.

Is a specialty self-publisher superior to a general self-publisher? Those who say yes will argue that the specialist understands the genre better than a generalist does and will therefore do a superior job with your book. Also, in some cases the specialty publisher will have resources the generalist doesn’t – for example, cookbook self-publishers may have a database of recipes you can draw on for your cookbook, and a Christian book self-publisher may have good contacts with a large number of Christian bookstores.

But in other cases it won’t matter whether you use a specialist or a generalist – especially if you’re using the self-publisher primarily to print your book, while relying on outside contractors to handle your editing, cover design, marketing and other services.

Determining whether a specialty self-publisher is preferable to a general self-publisher for your book depends on many factors, including the special services offered, costs, reputation of each company, and whether or not you’ll be relying entirely on the self-publisher to create, distribute and promote your book.

We at Taylor-Fox can help you create your business book, health book, memoir, biography, inspirational book or other book and get it ready for publication. We’ve helped scores of people achieve their goals, and some of their books have landed on bestseller lists. Let us help you! Call us at 818-594-0379.

Note: The descriptions of the self-publishers in this blog entry came from the company websites. I’m not necessarily recommending any of these self-publishers; simply making you aware that they are specialty self-publishers.