Self-Publishing in a Children's World ~ Guest Post by Andrew McDonald [14.12.2009]

When my first children’s book – The Greatest Blogger in the World – was published earlier this year by Hardie Grant Egmont, a friend said to me, ‘Well, thank GOD you didn’t have to self-publish!’ It was a funny comment – haha and strange. Self-publishing is generally scoffed at in publishing circles and I myself have done some of the scoffing, despite the fact that several of my favourite books as a child were self-published, ISBN-less books.

Sticky the Dog

I didn’t know what ‘self-published’ meant when I was a kid reading my Great Uncle Bob’s Sticky the Dog books. It was just very cool that my Great Uncle Bob had written a book. I had never met a real author before in my life. The fact that the Sticky books were self-published – and that they were moralising Christian stories – didn’t occur to me at all. All I cared about was that I liked the Sticky the Dog stories. And I liked that my Great Uncle Bob had written them.

The Naughty Stories for Good Girls and Boys books are a self-published series that has been a commercial success. Author Christopher Milne published the first book of the series back in 1992 after his manuscript was rejected by 16 publishers and his friends told him to show some ‘guts’ and have a go at self-publishing.

The series has proven so successful that the initial book was recognised with a YABBA (The Children's Choice Book Award in Victoria) in 1998 and was most recently picked up by an Australian publisher who will publish the books proper in 2010.

Other big successes from the world of self-publishing include Matthew Reilly (who self-published 1000 copies of Contest as a 19-year-old), Mr Purple Dinosaur (centred-text anyone?) and Naughty Bus (which follows the adventures of a mischievous London double-decker). But despite the few success stories, surely the very notion of doing a book by yourself after everyone else has said ‘no’ deserves a certain degree of derision. After all, it’s not ‘real’ publishing, is it? Children’s author Mem Fox takes the derision and scoffing one step further:

Don’t, under any circumstances, think of self-publishing, unless it’s only a few copies for your immediate family. You’ll end up with a terrifying debt and a shed full of un-sold books. Self-publishing provides no market-research, no distribution, no publicity, no marketing, no warehousing, no advertising, and very few buyers since bookshops won’t buy books that established publishers haven’t endorsed. I know of sad souls who have lost their houses as a result of self-publishing. It’s heart-breaking.

One of the more financially-dependable forms of self-publishing is the personalised children’s book, which allows you to insert your child’s name into the text of the story. My Special Christmas was my special personalised book.

It was published by A-Me Book® in 1974 without any character names and then in 1986 when my parents ordered it, me, my sister Deanne and my old cocker spaniel Joffa had our names printed – typewriter style – into the book. It was one of the most-read books of my childhood. I never really got over the fact that I was having adventures with Santa in my very own book. Even now I'm excited to read about my fictional exploits at the North Pole.

These self-published, personalised books are still popular. Your child can be a fish exploring the Great Barrier Reef or they can have an adventure with Garfield or – in a freakier development – they can now have their photo placed on the illustrated shoulders of a character. However, most of these books are ‘published’ by small businesses specialising in personalised products, including personalised mugs, clothing and jigsaws that effectively removes them from the category of self-sacrificing, self-publisher.

Which brings us to the most insightful and penetrating question of all: is a self-published children’s book the equal of a cap that has ‘Wendy’ or ‘John’ or ‘Melissa’ printed on it? I think probably not. A book – no matter how unprofessionally made – could never be as tacky as a hat with the wearer's name on it. And every book has its place. Whether it’s with a mass audience, a few kids who live next door to the author or even just with the author themselves.

So I have decided to swallow my scoffing and fly the flag of the self-published children’s book. Although I won’t fly it too high because it’s not a flag that everyone needs to see. After all, the best self-published books require a close connection to the reader – such as a local bus, a character who is a fictionalised version of the reader, or your own Great Uncle Bob.

Andrew McDonald is an author, blogger and biped from Melbourne, Australia. The Greatest Blogger in the World is his first book.

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