Self Publishing Books with Ashley House

01st Dec 2016

So, you’ve just finished creating your latest masterpiece. Perhaps that’s an illustrated children’s book; an adults colouring book; your favourite recipes and foodie pics; a travel journal; or even a potentially viral romance – Fifty Shades anyone…?

Now you’re looking to get your hard work out into the world for everyone to see. Typically it has been at this moment where authors have had to begin the tedious process of finding a publisher, negotiating a deal and then playing the waiting game while the final product is enqueued before eventually hitting shelves.

Thanks to advances in printing, major shifts in consumer buying habits plus more and more direct channels to your buyers (think Etsy, Amazon, notonthehighstreet), authors no longer have to go through the long-winded process of finding a publisher.

The truth is that creative geniuses are taking the future into their own hands by turning to self-publishing to guarantee a shot at printed success.

When writing about the benefits, esteemed self-published author Orna Ross highlighted four huge advantages…

It gives us a global readership, instead of confining us to specific territories.
Our books are continually available: there is no such thing as ‘out-of-print’ any more.
Now that there are a variety of distribution methods, we can choose which ‘middlemen’ – agents, publishers, print facilities, distributors, publicists – we wish to work with. We can take charge of our own book’s destiny.
It gives our readers a point-of-purchase just at the moment they discover they want our book.

In fact, it’s not just indie authors that have benefitted from the success of self-publishing. Many well known famous creators have turned to this technique too… William Blake, Lord Byron, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, James Patterson, Beatrix Potter, JK Rowling and Virginia Woolf to name but a few.

Adding to the list of self-published successes are our clients ‘Wavey n Snotts’, AKA Samantha Davies and Andy Watts. Inspired by life and everything in it, they share an eclectic mix of art, design and musical backgrounds. Together with Ashley House Printing Company, they have just debuted their first incredible kinder book creation – Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Launched only in September 2016, Cloud Cuckoo Land is already a screaming success. Author Andy Watts said, “Our book has been incredibly well received… We’ve already shipped to Burma, Iran, Thailand, America, Abu Dhabi and Australia”.

“We’re also being stocked in several Waterstones stores, plus 16 other independents; a figure that’s growing weekly – we’re thrilled.”

“Due to the response of folk who’ve bought it and companies like Waterstones being so positive about the finish, we too feel it’ll be a long working relationship with Ashley House”.

Self Publishing Tip

Waterstones are reticent to buy straight from the publisher/author. An ISBN and barcode are essential. They will not stock you without them. You can get ISBNs from Nielsen in the UK, Bowker in the US, and barcode generators can be found via Google. They should be free or, at the very most, £20.)

Written and illustrated by Wavey n Snotts, Cloud Cuckoo Land is the first in their series of ‘Animories’.

Ashley House’s self-publishing and book printing services provided valuable input on design, colour, stock and print to ensure the authors’ visions became reality.

Soon to do another print run for Christmas orders, Ashley House Printing Company ensures retailer shelves remain stocked and the quality of the print (especially crucial in illustrated books) remains as the author intended.

The self-published Cloud Cuckoo Land is a softback made with lovely recycled matt stock.