It's not for the faint of heart, but it does have serious advantages. The most obvious is that it affords you total control over the finished product. Of course, all the responsibility that entails presents the foremost disadvantage, too.

If you're reading this, you're probably a writer. Well, are you any good at it? (Hint: you should have said yes to that; if you harbor serious doubts about your craft, then hone your skills a bit more before reading the rest of this article.) All right, are you also an objective and fairly ruthless editor? A writer needs one of those, but these days you'll probably have to do the job yourself. You'll need a good proofreader, too; and you should get in the habit of meticulously going through your own material several times before handing it on, so as not to waste those fresh eyes. At this point, I'm assuming you already have all those skills, and that you're seriously thinking of taking on the level of control referred to earlier.

Okay. Can you also format text for a print layout, handle graphic design well enough to produce a book cover, compose functional web pages, and deal with business contracts? Don't worry (yet). It's all right if you answered no to all those. Since you've read this far, I've gained a little faith in you -- but from here on out you'll need to have a great deal of faith in yourself. Not to mention stubborn perseverance. Since any of those functions you're not capable of performing on your own will have to be farmed out to third parties (which will drastically affect your bottom line). This has to be said, so let's just get it out of the way: skills like these present a steep learning curve. This doesn't mean, however, that they can't be mastered. In fact, any person who is already computer literate and not intimidated of adapting to new programs can do so. There are various programs out there to get you started, some of which are free (and I'll give you a few tips on this further on.) You'll probably purchase new software in the long run, but there's no need to spend thousands of dollars on it now. Your biggest initial expenditures will be of your own time and effort.

On the other hand, that's the beauty of it, too. Theoretically, at least, you could be up and running for under a thousand dollars. (Although it'll actually end up costing significantly more, what with one thing and another.) For that, you get your own imprint -- and after that, setting up each new title will cost little more than a hundred dollars. I suspect the sound of this rekindled your interest.

Here's the thumbnail sketch. If you intend to be a business, you have to behave like one. This means setting up at least a DBA (Doing Business As) with your state government. (If you do everything under your own name, you might avoid this, but I don't advise it.) Depending on the state where you reside, that'll probably cost upwards of a hundred dollars. (Though I'd actually recommend going a bit further and establishing an LLC, which costs more and falls under "one thing and another.") Either a DBA or LLC allows you to open a business banking account. And, at some point, you'll probably be asked for an EIN (Employer Identification Number), which costs nothing and is relatively painless to obtain.

That's just the beginning, though. Every book requires an ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Incidentally, don't refer to these as ISBN numbers; it's redundant and makes you sound like an amateur. And don't bother buying these one at a time, either. If you're going to be a publisher you'll need at least a block of ten. Americans have no real choice but to purchase them through Bowker. The cost is $275 for that block of ten, or $125 each. In the UK, you're forced to go through Nielsen, where the price for ten is ‚121.98. Canadians are lucky in this respect. They can acquire them from the Canadian ISBN Service System -- where they're free. Go figure.

All right, let's say you've done all that. What's more, you have at least one book ready to go (which assumes that the writing, editing, proofreading, formatting, and cover design are already complete). Isn't that enough? Well, no, actually. Now you'll need a printer.

Let me say that I've seen many books produced by many printers, with decidedly mixed results. If you decide to go with a small printer, they'll be more likely to tolerate any foibles in your preparations, but they'll also expect you to place an order for a certain number of books (with the price per copy descending sharply as the quantity of the order increases). Then you'll need to consider warehousing, shipping, and whether you intend to accept returns. I don't recommend this route for many new publishers. Unless you're absolutely positive you can sell a certain number of copies, you might end up with a lot of books sitting in a storage locker somewhere.

The alternative to this approach is POD (Print on Demand), a concept which was only discussed in wistful terms a couple of decades ago, but which is now viable technology. The idea is simple enough: produce books as they're ordered, usually one at a time. Suffice it to say that the quality of this process has progressed to the point where it rivals or excels most small printers. It's now relied upon by many large publishers as well. You probably don't realize how many of the books you've purchased from Amazon were printed through this process. And printing them this way drives a small publisher's costs down. There's no need to place large orders in advance, no need to warehouse inventory, no need to accept returns.

If you opt for this route, several companies could accommodate you, but one stands out from the rest. That's because of its integration into the marketing process. Printing books through Lightning Source, often referred to as LSI, not only gets them listed with all the major ordering services but also sold on Amazon -- and, like it or not, Amazon is where most books get sold these days. LSI only works with publishers, however, not just authors who wish to see their book in print. That's why I advised you to set up a proper business structure prior to contacting them. Furthermore, they maintain strict guidelines for file submissions and don't want to engage in any hand-holding about it. Fair enough, since they also provide you with the best discount structure (set by you) in the business.

If you're not intimidated yet, then you're ready to start. You'll need tools, of course. Aside from the abilities to write, edit, and proofread, some sense of composing a balanced appearance for interior text and cover design, the wherewithal to examine a contract, and the willingness to build at least one website, you'll also require some software As far as the websites go, Kompozer and Filezilla produce very good results, and they're free. Book covers really require Photoshop, but an older version will function as well as a new one, if you're patient. (Though I've been told that Gimp, a free program, also produces good results, I can't personally attest to this.) And, believe it or not, a book interior consisting solely of text can be formatted in MS Word. I'm not saying it's straightforward, but it's definitely possible. All of these tasks would be much easier, of course if you were to simply use Adobe InDesign. But that's an expensive program suite. (If you're a student who hasn't been cast into the world yet or a teacher who hasn't been laid off, you can get a substantial discount. Otherwise, good luck.) There is one Adobe program, however, I strongly suggest you purchase: Acrobat Pro. You'll find it indispensable in dealing with those "strict guidelines for file submissions" I mentioned.

Unfortunately, there is no editing/proofreading tool I'd recommend; painful as it is, you'd best learn to do that for yourself.

Obviously, this probably isn't the first option for someone who only intends to print one book. Although, even then, it could actually be less expensive th