World's biggest book fair explores self-publishing trend

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Authors are increasingly opting to self-publish as a way to reach readers and sidestep potentially thorny relations with a publisher, industry players at the world's biggest book fair said Thursday.

"People have always wanted to tell their story. A lot of barriers have fallen thanks to the explosion of social networks and new technologies," said Florian Geuppert of French company Books on Demand.

With an annual print-run of three million books and 17,000 digital versions, his company is one of top players in the world of self-publishing, a key theme at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair in western Germany.

Self-publishing, which allows an author to publish a manuscript for a traditional paper book or e-book without going through a publishing company, accounted for just three percent of France's book market last year.

In the United States however it now boasts a 17-percent share of the market after significant growth in recent years.

Some writers choose to go it alone because they have been turned down by a publisher, but most simply do it because they want to stay in total control, according to Geuppert.

As well as more freedom, self-publishing can offer greater financial rewards too.

Depending on the form it takes, writers can hope to pocket anything from 15 to 80 percent from the sales of a self-published book, compared to up to six percent via a traditional publisher.

Although e-books have been gaining ground, fears they would sound the death knell for their traditional paper-and-glue counterparts appear to have been laid to rest.

However, at Books on Demand, digital books still only represent 10 percent of the sales of self-published writers, who continue to prefer their works to be printed and bound.

Self-publishing is also useful in countries where dictatorships do not allow free publication. However the process is not without potential problems.

Without the back-up and financing of a publishing company, writers have to deal with formatting the book themselves as well as dealing with promotion and relations with distributors.

Matthieu de Montchalin, president of the French bookshops' trade union, said there were often happy endings in self-publishing but "also many disappointments".

"Not everyone is a writer and there are also financial intermediaries who take advantage of the naivety of some novelists, which can cost them dearly," he said.