Self publishing a book confronted me with every layer of creative and operational work, from the initial idea to the physical act of sending each copy out into the world. The most complex part was not the number of tasks but the level of clarity required to sustain a project that depends entirely on a single person. Publishing oneself is not an act of symbolic independence but a complete structure that must be built, maintained, and calibrated with precision.
The Invisible Structure
Behind every book lies a sequence of invisible decisions: format, paper type, printing method, binding, color, ink density. Each variable alters both the outcome and the cost. A paper that is too porous dulls tones; an incorrect weight changes how the book opens; a miscalculated spine distorts the entire composition. Learning these things takes time, mistakes, and observation.
Finding a printer is a technical, almost archaeological process. Comparing quotes, reviewing proofs, adjusting margins. Each press interprets files differently. What looks clean on a screen may become a blur or a slight misalignment on paper. In self publishing there is no intermediary to absorb those deviations; everything falls on the person who publishes.
The production phase demands precision: final files, print proofs, box inspections, quality control. No batch is perfect, and that imperfection becomes part of the process. Publishing is deciding when to stop, when to accept that a work is ready, even if it never feels entirely finished.
Managing the Project
Self publishing also requires designing an economic and logistical structure. Every technical decision has consequences: printing, packaging, transportation, storage, customs, distribution. Without a realistic financial plan, autonomy quickly becomes a constraint. I learned to project error margins, to budget for contingencies, and to calculate the final price of each copy not only by material cost but by time invested.
The logistics are their own universe. Packing, weighing, labeling, filling out forms, declaring accurate values to avoid customs issues. Learning the vocabulary of shipping companies, the regulations of each country, the transit times. Each shipment is a calculated risk. A single error in an address or an unclear label can result in a complete loss.
Communication is also part of the system. Writing emails, contacting bookstores, preparing press materials, replying to requests. Everything requires visual and tonal consistency. It is not about promotion but about constructing a language that accompanies the work without explaining it.
Reception and Silence
Once published, the book enters a circuit where not every work finds its place. I noticed that many art spaces, even those that define themselves as open or experimental, operate according to a clear narrative logic. What receives attention often depends less on the depth or rigor of the work, and more on whether it aligns with a recognisable discourse, a cause, an identity, a dissenting voice.
If you are not a dissenting author, if your work is not explicitly framed as critical or political, it is often placed to the side. As if a cause carried more cultural weight than the act of making itself. Within this structure, a work that refuses to declare its position is perceived as incomplete, or worse, irrelevant. But culture does not thrive solely on chaos or on the whims of its contemporaries; it also depends on structure, precision, and continuity, on the quiet persistence of those who keep working when there is no spotlight.
My book was not conceived as a statement. It was a study in composition, rhythm, silence and the balance between forms. Yet formal clarity is frequently misread as absence of meaning. The assumption is that neutrality equals conformity. But precision and methods can be languages of their own, and they can question systems just as effectively as any overt critique.
Self publishing became a way to inhabit that margin deliberately. Not as withdrawal, but as a position built through practice. A way of affirming that the act of making can hold its own value, even when it does not perform dissent.
What I Learned
For those considering it, these are points that can help structure the process clearly and without idealization:
Define the purpose of the book. Before printing a single page, be clear about why the book exists: to document, to share, to preserve, or to exhibit. That decision will shape every step that follows.
Set a realistic scope. A book is not defined by the size of its print run but by the precision of its execution. A smaller edition can be more coherent and sustainable.
Learn the technical language. Go beyond printing basics and understand the production system as a whole: color management workflows, ICC profiles, rasterization methods, paper grain direction, binding tolerances, imposition schemes, and trimming offsets. Know how overprint, trapping, and dot gain affect the printed image, and how prepress standards such as ISO 12647 or PDF/X-4 ensure consistency. Technical fluency eliminates unnecessary reliance on intermediaries and allows full control over the printed result.
Always request printed proofs. No digital file replaces a physical sample. It is the only way to verify color, texture, and scale.
Plan costs in layers. Include materials, transport, storage, losses, fees, and your own time. Time is also part of the cost.
Design the distribution from the start (If possible). Before printing, understand how the copies will circulate: direct sales, fairs, consignment, or international shipping. Each model requires its own structure.
Build a small, functional network. Bookstores, printers, distributors, or collaborators who understand the project. Few, but reliable.
Keep full documentation. Quotes, contacts, proofs, photos of the process. This record becomes a resource for future editions.
Define a clear pricing policy. Do not undervalue your work out of fear of appearing inaccessible. A well calculated price sustains the practice.
Respect the real pace of production. There is no immediacy in independent publishing. The time embedded in each process is part of the content itself.
What Remains
Self publishing is not an alternative path; it is a complete system of production. It forces one to understand a work as a set of concrete decisions rather than an abstract aspiration. In that sense, every self published book is also a map of the maker’s thinking.... I do not see self publishing as a form of independence. It is a form of responsibility, the act of assuming each phase of the process and understanding the work in its totality: material, visual, and logistical.
Publishing oneself is to face that system directly and decide to continue. Not to demonstrate independence, but to preserve the precision of a work against any form of mediation.