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John Amiard Oberteuffer, author of detective-thriller Swedish Blood (he writes under the pen name John Amiard) made a compelling case for publishing under your own imprint at our June 2-hour workshop.

According to Amiard, there's no need to resort to expensive subsidy presses (iUniverse, XLibris, etc.), whose products can be of uncertain quality, and who may require that you price your book at 50% more than others in same genre go for. No need for expensive software (Adobe, Microsoft Publisher) whose complexity results in a steep learning curve. On your home computer, using Microsoft Word, you can create a printer-ready PDF file; or if you're uncomfortable with technicalities, you can outsource that job.

As for printing: if you need few copies, Harvard Bookstore's book machine can spit them out in minutes ($70 set up, plus fraction of a penny per page). For a print-run in the dozens or hundreds, Lightning Source is your best bet: it will print your books, and its distributor, Ingram, will get them onto Amazon. You can use the Internet (websites/blogs, twitters), along with in-person readings, to reach people who want to read − and buy − your book.

Amiard countered "myths" such the belief that bookstores shun self-published books: 13 of the 15 Cape Cod independent bookstores he approached took his book. Or that readers won't buy such books: most can't even be identified as such, except those from subsidy presses. He also offered warnings: use cream colored paper; "dead white" is a tip-off that the book's self-published. Don't use a sans serif font. And IF you choose to go with a subsidy publisher, make sure that you as author − not the publisher − keep ownership of audio and foreign and e-rights (for Kindle, etc.)

He explained that publishing under your own imprint means you deal with cover and text design, obtaining the ISBN and barcode, and setting the cover price. Amiard's mystery sells for $14; and depending on whether the sale was for a Kindle ebook, via Amazon.com, or at a bookstore, he gets anywhere from $1.45 to $4.85 per book sold. At author events, his profit is about $10. He has sold 500 books since June 2009.

"Oberteuffer was genuinely interested in helping the audience get over whatever fears they may have in becoming independent," said attendee Craig O'Connor, "He encouraged new writers by his own positive example," Oberteuffer will repeat this workshop on Aug 17 (2:45-4:45) at the Cape Cod Writers Conference.. He's also available to writing groups looking for self-publishing presentations at www.JohnAmiard.com.

[Note: Amiard's Swedish Blood features reporter-hero Boston journalist Peter Frost, who finds himself investigating his own family history: a long-kept secret, that takes him to Sweden where he battles neo-Nazis to uncover the full story of his family's past].