It seems that nowadays one does not need well known, established, high status, slow but very expensive firms to publish for you – in the 21stC it can all be done on the small scale.
That’s why JRB Publishing was started: to get stuff out on the market quickly, with little capital needed up front and with few overheads, so that the end product can be easily affordable for the readers while still covering its costs for the writers.
So now, enthusiastic authors with esoteric, specialist offerings but little disposable income can dip their toes into the tepid water on the small scale – with little to lose. It helps if there’s an identifiable market of course, so that the authors can drum up some custom themselves, because there will probably never be anything for sale at W H Smiths with ‘JRBPub’ on the spine!
However, despite it being inexpensive, it’s not just cheap, trashy stuff. It’s well designed and beautifully printed & bound – in Britain. It has its unique ISBN of course, with all the legal details dealt with. Either hard or soft bound, big or small, portrait or landscape, b&w or colour. The first print run can be as low as 50, if only to test the waters with freebies to the reviewers, friends and family – or whatever. So there’s no need for large amounts of capital up front – only the relatively low costs of designing, setting, etc, and printing.
Distribution can be by the author, or via recommended distributors – or via Amazon or e-Bay.