Sbusiso Manqa on the myth that self-publishing has to be expensive

SA Books Online founder Sbusiso Manqa on the real cost of self-publishing

Katlego Sekhu

Sbusiso Manqa on the myth that self-publishing has to be expensive

Every Tuesday, Kaya Breakfast runs Creators Corner, a segment built around the people creating things worth talking about. This week, that meant a conversation about a problem many aspiring authors know well: a finished manuscript going nowhere because nobody has explained how publishing actually works.

Award-winning author, poet, filmmaker and founder and managing director of SA Books Online, Sbusiso Manqa, joined DJ Fresh and Thato to change that. SA Books Online is a distribution platform that helps South African authors and publishers get their work in front of readers.

For anyone sitting on a finished manuscript, Sbusiso’s advice starts with reverse engineering. “I believe in working from the end process and working backwards,” he explained. Find a published book close to what you are trying to create, study its copyright page, and work out what it has that yours does not, from illustrators to editors to an ISBN (International Standard Book Number).

Cost is often where people stall. Sbusiso was direct about the range. “It could be as little as ten thousand, all the way up to one hundred and fifty thousand,” he said, depending on print quality, cover choices and venue costs at launch. Self-publishing means covering every one of those costs yourself, but it comes with a trade-off that matters. “The positive part of it is that you get to own your entire IP,” he said.

Digital publishing removes most of that cost entirely. Sbusiso speaks from experience. “I know my journey towards having my book digitally published and it being consumed in forty three countries, when I didn’t know anything about digital publishing,” he said, on a manuscript that went live within hours of being ready.

To prove the point, the show asked listeners with completed manuscripts to send in thirty-second pitches, with a promise to help one of them publish by the end of the week. Several came through, from a children’s book about a misunderstood boy with ADHD to a memoir tracing a journey from rural Limpopo to running a top youth organisation.

The team settled on The Convenience Man by Kopano Moerane, a story about people pleasing, self-worth and healing. Sbusiso’s reasoning came down to timing as much as the writing itself. “It’s about what society is having a conversation about currently that will make the book relevant in the market,” he said. The book will be live as an ebook on SA Books Online by the end of the week.

To hear the full conversation, listen to the podcast.