From my own thoughts and experiences,

handheld,

As a book that can be read by other people.

Have you heard of “independent publishing”?

Usually, it means a publication where one person or a small team writes, designs, publishes, and distributes them. It may be difficult for one person to do everything on their own, but you can create as many parts as you like.

I have been doing this independent publishing since 2016 and run a single person publishing company.

Hello,

I'm Kim Hyun-kyung, who runs the publishing studio Warm Grey & Blue.

I was originally a person who had nothing to do with books or writing.

Since I graduated from school, I have been receiving psychiatric treatment for depression and panic disorder. At that time, I wanted to talk about my condition, but it was difficult to put it into words, and I thought I could write. I wanted to tell me that I couldn't do that when I said, “Go outside, bask in the sun, and meet some people.”

As a result, I became curious about how other people, people like me, live, and the book I created was published at the end of 2016 This is a depression handbook <<>I can do anything>. I sold up to 6 copies of this book, and recently it was republished by Wisdom House, a publisher.

As more and more books were being sold, I registered as a publisher due to tax issues, and since I registered, I also traded with a distributor. What I started by chance became my job.

In fact, I made the name of a difficult publisher difficult because I didn't know how long I would be able to do this job, so I deliberately made it difficult. Even if it's gone, it's a name that's easy for someone to forget. I wasn't that confident.

The experience of holding my book in my hands, I think the appeal of independent publishing is not only from the perspective of a producer, but also the experience of holding a book written and created by oneself.

I think it's a similar experience to making things we can easily buy by hand,

This is because independent publications themselves are embedded in themselves, and there are no parts that are beyond their reach.

I remember something like this.

I have been doing classes on independent publishing and design at Haebangchon. By the way I've met quite a few students who say they don't have confidence and don't write books even after coming to class.

It would be really fun to make a book, but I thought, 'Shall I make the book? ' I felt like that. So we got together and held a workshop where we talked and wrote. After a few weeks, when I was sharing a book with everyone's writing bound together on the last day, I actually wanted to see the expressions of each person holding the book in their hands, so I felt like I was going to do that workshop. I remember those expressions as wonderful smiles that I can't explain.

I brought the leftover books I shared later to the bookstore that runs the space. There were some people who were a little upset about the sale, but since the book was sold, I thought it would be another pleasure to read it from other readers and get feedback on it, so I said I would like to sell it.

Because of this process, I thought I could keep making books. I thought it would be nice to share that experience.

The process itself is still very difficult for me, but I'm always excited when a new book comes out. I'm a little worried that the printing isn't wrong, but I'm always curious about how it will come out and how it will be read..

Distribution of publications I learned by asking people around me,

As I made and sold this book, which was very sloppy at first, I learned by asking around with a fist. Therefore, at the end of 2017, one year after the book was sold, it was registered as a publisher under the name “Warm Gray & Blue”, and since then it has been distributed to large distributors. When I packed a total of 7-8,000 copies myself and sent them to bookstores and distributors, I was asked, “Why do you do that?” When I heard that, I also learned about the existence of “warehouses.”

This kind of information was obvious to people in the industry, but for me, who didn't know about publishing, everything was new. Also, it was difficult to find people like me who were in a situation similar to me, who had an independent publication without an ISBN and packaged it directly from home, so it was even more difficult to ask. It was difficult because there were no people who told me about the processes, but I eventually learned about them with the help of people around me.

I'll help you avoid this kind of trial and error. Here are the know-how and tips I gained from running an actual independent publishing studio!

You'll learn something like this!

From planning to editorial design to distribution.

What kind of book to make planingDo it,
Write or draw Create content,
how editsThinking about whether to do it,
Cover and cover designsDo it,
printingHow to do it,
Of the last book I made currenciesHow to do it.

Through this process, I would like to participate in one-step, one-step independent publication production.

PART 1. Planning and editing

planning, “What kind of stories can you tell well?”
Writing and creating and editing content “How can I show it well?”

Tell a unique story in a unique way,

At the planning stage, I look for stories I can tell well and stories I want to tell, along with various examples. Even if it's the same story, it may vary depending on the way it is presented or 'edited.' I hope we can work together to create this part by exchanging opinions.

Personally, I think the planning and editing part takes as much time as the design. So I'm going to talk about this part with a similar level of importance to design classes.

PART 2. designs

design 1. Design using indesign (indesign)
Design 2. Cover design using illustrator (illustrator)
Design 3. Photoshop mockups and promotional material creation

For design work, Adobe's indesign (indesign) and illustrator (illustrator) programs are used. You can also work with other tools such as Hangul and Word, but if you learn them, you will work while learning basic programs that you can keep using.

How to format a book
How to design a cover
What kind of font to use and how big or small the font should be
How to hand it over to the printing house

If you only want to work “enough to be able to create a book” in a situation where there is content, you can fully proceed with the work even with few tools. Don't be afraid if you're trying the tool for the first time:)

PART 3. Printing and distribution

Once you have finished the work for printing, select the paper and choose how far the post-processing will be carried out.

From writing to selling,

I've been working on a variety of things I can do as an independent publisher. Sometimes I can share various experiences, such as writing my own articles, books published by editing or designing only, and working on manuscripts directly to publishers. If time and time allow, I'd like to take the time to talk about running a single-person publishing house itself.

From my own thoughts and experiences,

handheld,

As a book that can be read by other people.

Through this class, we can write and edit by ourselves together The experience of holding a book you've created in your own hands, and it's The experience of being read through othersI would like to be able to do it.

“The experience of holding my book with my name written on it”

From planning to editorial design to distribution, independent publishing!

From planning to editorial design to distribution, independent publishing!