Is
Self-Publishing Right for You and Your Book?
Until a few years ago, authors considered self-publishing only after
being turned down by traditional publishers. Times have changed.
Because publishers now shift much of the business and promotional
responsibilities to their authors, all of them must be active
participants in order to succeed. Combine this reality with the
technical advances and sophisticated resources that are currently
available, and you can see why self-publishing is now the method of
choice for many authors.
Whether or not it is the right decision for you depends on a number of
factors. Here are a few of the trade-offs for you to ponder:
1. Royalty
vs. direct revenue–With a traditional publisher,
you are paid a royalty, a percentage of book sales, which is usually 10
percent to 15 percent. In most cases, that translates to $1 to $3 per
book.
If you self-publish, you will be paid directly for the books you sell
(sometimes at full retail). On the surface, this sounds highly
appealing (and it can be), but you must calculate into your equation
that you will be responsible for all of the development, publishing,
and distributions costs otherwise picked up by a publisher. You will
generally pay several dollars per book copy, with perhaps hundreds of
these becoming non-revenue-producing review and promotional copies. In
addition, commissions and/or discounts to distributors, wholesalers,
and retailers can take a healthy cut from your profits. Add
to that all of the marketing costs, and you will begin to see the real
picture. If you have an entire product line to absorb the
costs, especially the costs of marketing, this direction might be right
for you.
2. Control—If
it is important that, as an author, you control the content of your
book as well as the production time line, self-publishing will put you
in the driver’s seat. However, with freedom comes
responsibility. For instance, ask yourself:
• How comfortable are you in
letting someone else make the final decisions on important
elements? If you want to control elements such as content,
title, layout, cover, and distribution, then self-publishing presents a
tangible advantage.
• Is your time line flexible? It
can routinely take a year to a year and a half for a publisher to take
your manuscript to the marketplace. If your business plans and finances
are dependent on expedited book availability, this time line can be a
serious problem and lead you to consider self-publishing. Compare this
with how long it will take you to provide the resources to develop the
book yourself.
• How does your book fit into my
core business? If you want to make your book an integral piece of your
core business— supported by a series of spin-off
products—self-publishing will give you more latitude. But
remember to be realistic by asking one more question…
• Will the many aspects
otherwise handled by a publisher overwhelm the needs of your core
business? New authors often underestimate the time and financial
resources needed to bring a book to market. As a result, books are too
often put on the back burner temporarily or sometimes permanently.
3. Time—Regardless
of whether you go with a traditional publisher or decide to
self-publish, success depends on treating your book as a serious
business. In either case, this means allocating sufficient time and
budget to get the job done right. Thus said, the time and
resources required to self-publish are far more extensive, and the
learning curve is steep.
There is a certain prestige that comes with being published by a large
New York or otherwise recognizable publishers. On the other
hand, self-publishing will allow you to tailor every element of your
book in a way that will reinforce your core business and your personal
goals. Make the decision that is right for you and your book.
Examine
Self-Publishing Pros and Cons
Self-publishing, although not a new phenomenon, has recently become
more legitimate in the publishing world. In the
self-publishing model, the author keeps the rights to his or her book
but pays all the costs for producing, printing, and marketing the book
and other ancillary products.
• Self-publishing is a better
option than it once was because technological advances have made it
easier for an author to write, design, and create her own
book. In addition, it is now more cost-effective to print in
smaller quantities, meaning that the initial investment in printing and
inventory is now more feasible for the average person.
To self-publish, an author must have enough capital to produce the book
and enough time to write, produce, market, and ship the
product. In essence, he or she starts a new business around
his or her book.
One of the important choices to be made by self-publishers is to select
a printer. Today, a number of printers specialize in books,
particularly in printing small quantities. These are known as
print-on-demand (POD) publishers. They are primarily
printers, but they may add editorial or marketing services.
Most authors think of the difficulty of self-publishing as the
logistics of knowing how to get a book designed and typeset and how
much to spend to get a book printed. But this is
the easy part. What is much more difficult is getting your
book marketed appropriately and distributed in some way. It
is still a reality that self-published books rarely find their way to
bookstore shelves on a national level, and it is equally hard to find a
distributor for them.
The other drawback of self-publishing is that the printer will print
whatever you send. If you send a book that
hasn’t been edited or proofread or that isn’t
commercially viable (meaning there really isn’t an audience),
the printer will do just as beautiful a job as if the book were an
award-winner. In other words, no one will stop you from
spending money on a book that isn’t ready for publication.
Another
Option
Another approach is for the author to choose self-publishing first,
establishing the book as viable in the market and then shopping for a
traditional publisher. This accomplishes several objectives,
one of which is to allow you to have a product to sell much more
quickly since the typical traditional publisher will take twelve to
eighteen months to get your book on the market after you sign the
contract.
If you self-publish initially, you are likely to be more patient and
find just the right publisher because you won’t be in a hurry
to get your book out. In addition, a traditional publisher
will continue to allow you to sell your book while they are preparing
your book with them. You will have a product to sell during a little
over a year’s preparation. The traditionally
published book, in essence, becomes the second edition of your book.
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