Book it online

When it came time to bring out his book on Hong Kong's education woes, British academic Anthony Solloway reckoned there was only one way to go - release it himself.

'It was no hassle at all. I wasn't really stonewalled by regular publishers as such, but just didn't want to have to jump through all their hoops, and for what?' says the linguistics specialist, who has taught at City University and the University of Science and Technology.

His book, Does It Have To Be Like This? Education And Socialisation In Hong Kong, has sold about 400 copies through the internet since January - an encouraging debut, since self-published titles often sell about half that. But he hopes to have his distributor, Far East Media, place copies in bookshops towards the end of summer. There are also plans to translate the book into Chinese.

More writers are doing it for themselves. Self-publishing has grown steadily in the past decade even as major publishers downsize and lay off staff. That's due in part to advances in digital publishing, print-on-demand technology and Web-based services that have lowered the entry barriers to self-publishing.

Some aspiring writers are encouraged by examples in the United States of the odd self-publisher winning mainstream attention or book deals on the strength of favourable Web chatter. Melinda Roberts, for example, drew sufficiently positive comments last year for Mommy Confidential: Adventures from the Wonderbelly of Motherhood, an account of her struggles as a divorced parent, to clinch invitations to major television talk shows such Oprah, even though she sold only about 300 copies of the book.

Roberts produced her book through Lulu.com, a print-on-demand outfit popular with some self-publishers because it doesn't demand fees upfront. Solloway's Web outlet was CreateSpace, which is owned by Amazon.com. He pays about GBP100 (HK$1,120) for a basic package.