As part of independently publishing my book I have established a Publishing House called Little Bird Publishing House. http://www.littlebirdpublishinghouse.com To go with this I have created a website linked to my own website. The idea of this is to authenticate my book as a viable product with booksellers. (A combat against some of the prejudices that are connected to 'vanity' publishing.) What I am realising however is that there is great potential here to buddy up and help one another out. I am about to 'hit' independent bookshops in the UK with a marketing / ordering pack. Anybody want to tag along on my Publishing House 'books'? No fees - you just have to cover your own distribution costs of books if they are ordered and any other promotional material you want me to send out with my packs. I'm looking to make no money - at the end of the day the more on 'the publishing house books' the more authentic the project.
You are right about needing more than one author on the publishing house books. Self-published authors have tried this many times and some have been successful at doing a co-op type of publishing house. The key is to take yourself seriously and create your own imprint. Here in the US no bookstore would take you seriously unless there were at least half a dozen authors on your imprint.
What I am realising however is that there is great potential here to buddy up and help one another out. I am about to 'hit' independent bookshops in the UK with a marketing / ordering pack. Anybody want to tag along on my Publishing House 'books'? No fees - you just have to cover your own distribution costs of books if they are ordered and any other promotional material you want me to send out with my packs. I'm looking to make no money - at the end of the day the more on 'the publishing house books' the more authentic the project.