Self-Publishing
Posted on | November 28, 2009 |
I’ve just self-published my very first books - The Game Developers’ Sketchbooks - via Lulu. Here’s the story of how and why I did it.
I love technology. I love the way that it is democratising the creation of media. And especially I love the way that anyone can become a musician, film-maker, or author, and get their (admittedly, not always good) creations in front of people.
In short; I love that there are tools that enable someone like me to become a publisher, manufacturer and a retailer.
In my day job as a game designer I frequently have to visualise what a game is going to look like. For handheld devices like Nintendo DSi, Sony PSP and iPhone there is the added design bonus of being able to know exactly what size the player is going to be viewing your game - as all screen sizes are identical. So whenever I’m creating anything that’s destined for a handheld device I’ll create a template and print it out, and then start adding sketches and notes to help me develop my idea.
I’ve done this for years; worked on odd sheets of paper that eventually end up in random folders on random shelves, usually after the humiliation of having a phone message scribbled on them, or a coffee ring stained on them.
And so one day I came across Lulu and decided that what I really wanted was a sketchbook just for my game ideas. I wanted all my visual ideas and notes in one place, kept apart from my other notebooks that were full of to do lists and meeting notes. And so I set about making one.
Lulu.com is a site that lets anyone self-publish books. You upload all the necessary files, and then you can purchase a copy of your own book. If you think other people might like your creation, you can make it available for sale to the public. And because Lulu publish to order, you don’t have to commit (and pay for) a full print run. In other words, I can sell The Game Developers’ Sketchbooks to other people without any risk - so it seems silly not to.
I don’t expect to make anything, and I’d be surprised if I sell more than a few dozen copies, but it doesn’t matter because I created the book to solve a problem that I had.
This is happening in numerous industries, and it’s exciting that we’re escaping the restrictions of being passive consumers that can only have what is made available. More and more often we can make what we want or need, and then share it with others.
So (sales pitch time…just in time for Christmas)if you’re in the games industry, or have ambitions to be; maybe you’ll find these sketchbooks as useful as I have. There are editions for DSi, PSPgo and iPhone. (And if everyone that has ever told me about their ‘great idea for a game’ went out and bought one to sketch out their idea - I’d be” richer than a butcher’s turd”).
You can find out more about The Game Developer’s Sketchbooks here: http://thunkd.com/
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2 Responses to “Self-Publishing”
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November 29th, 2009 @ 11:55 pm
I think you meant Lulu (lulu.com) - self-publishing website, but your post mention Hulu (hulu.com) several times, which is an online TV/movies site.
November 30th, 2009 @ 5:53 am
Thanks Alex…slightly embarassed that I forgot the name of my publisher.