Self-publishers love Beatles

Maybe you thought the publishing world had exploited every bit of information about the Beatles, useful and trivial, in the Himalayan stack of books published since the group's heyday in the 1960s: biographies both straight and gossipy, musical analyses, chronologies, as well as Beatles-themed novels.

Guess again. Now, if mainstream publishers reject their work as too specialized, even the most Beatles-obsessed authors are finding audiences for their books by publishing them themselves. But don't even think the phrase "vanity press." Many of these self-published books are lavishly produced and packed with original research that makes them invaluable to Beatles scholars and collectors, and some have been startlingly successful through online sales.

They range from meticulous descriptions of the Beatles' recording process to multi-volume examinations of the group's American releases, to evaluations of unreleased studio and concert recordings now on the bootleg market.

Like indie rock bands rebuffed by major record labels, some of the self-published authors tried getting publishing deals before deciding to go it alone. But a growing number are saying: Why bother? Self-publishing, on top of giving the authors all the profits, gives them editorial and design control too, which they feel outweighs the drawback of having to research on their own dime rather than on a publisher's advance.

"Everything I read seemed to suggest that self-publication would be a good idea," said John C. Winn, the author of "Way Beyond Compare," "That Magic Feeling" and "Lifting Latches," a self-published series that offers annotated source information about all the Beatles' known audio and video recordings, including interviews. "My books are targeted to a specific audience that I'm able to reach directly. Being a Beatlemaniac, I hung around with other Beatlemaniacs, and I knew where to find them and what they'd be interested in reading about."

Some authors report surprisingly brisk sales. Published in August, "Recording the Beatles," a 540-page study of the equipment and techniques used to make the Beatles' recordings, has sold out its first run of 3,000 copies at $100 apiece. The authors, Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew, have a second printing on order and plan a less expensive edition in 2007.

Ryan and Kehew, who both work as producers and engineers, took a decade to research their book, which includes pictures and descriptions of every piece of recording and sound-processing equipment used at the Abbey Road Studios in London, as well as diagrams showing how the Beatles set up for particular recordings, and step-by-step analyses of how the songs were assembled.