Why Self-Publishing Could Be Your Best Decision Yet
Today, I will be sharing with you three reasons why you should self-publish your book. But more importantly, I will be helping you make a solid decision of whether you want to self-publish.
Why Self-Publishing Could Be Your Best Decision Yet // Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash
Self-Publishing vs. Vanity Publishing
Self-publishing is not the same as vanity or hybrid publishing — although they are very similar. A vanity or hybrid publisher is essentially a publishing manager, who often provides editing, coaching, revision, and formatting services. A lot of times, you need to pay a vanity publisher an upfront cost, a monthly or yearly publishing fee, just to have your book published.
When I say published, they are “self-publishing” your book for you — you can do everything they are doing, and more if you decide to self-publish your book at a fraction of the cost and time. For some people, a vanity or hybrid publisher might be the route to go, and the same goes for seeking out a traditional publisher. However, there are several pros to self-publishing your book instead of waiting for a publisher to pick up your book and offer you a contract or paying someone else to essentially self-publish your book for you at a much higher price.
The truth is, self-publishing is NOT for everyone! However the drawback to vanity publishing or hybrid publishing is the money you spend getting your book published, and the cost of purchasing your books once they are published can strategically be used to help market your book. The fact is, getting your book published is only half the battle. Marketing your book will require time, money, energy, and strategy. The thousands of dollars you invest in a vanity/hybrid publisher could be invested in marketing your book.
Why would anyone want to self-publish their book?
Over the years, I have discovered the three main reasons why anyone would want to self-publish their book. Here are the three reasons:
Freedom to write what you feel the Lord is telling you to write.
The truth is publishers are in business to make a profit, and there is a lot of overhead like paying salaries, marketing, printing costs, buildings to upkeep, formatting, and editing. When choosing books to publish, they need to make sure the book is going to SELL copies; this requires putting a book out there that appeals to the masses or meets their target market or message. Even vanity publishers or pay to publish companies need income to keep publishing books. They may be less concerned about selling lots of books because they earn their money through membership fees and what you are paying up front to publish your book. Either way, you will need to sell copies of your book to recoup the money you invested into publishing your book.
Faster turnaround time.
Self-publishing your book offers the flexibility to get your book published a lot faster than going through a publishing company. There is a myth that this takes away from the quality of your book. The truth is hiring an experienced editor and book formatter is key to self-publishing a high-quality book. It takes so long for publishing companies to edit and format your book because they have a lot of other books to edit and format. The editing and formatting of your self-published book can take months, NOT years, to complete.
Higher royalty payout.
As I mentioned before, publishers need to make money to stay in business. Some publishers will not only ask you to pay them to publish your book but also take a small royalty on top of what you already paid! However, when you self-publish your book through KDP, Ingram, or Barnes and Noble, you get to keep the royalties after you pay them for distributing your book. Higher royalty payouts leave you more money to pour into your marketing budget. For unknown or first-time authors, having a marketing budget is key to promoting your book and building your platform.
Do any of these reasons resonate with you?
It’s important to get crystal clear on the reason(s) behind why you want to self-publish your book.
You might realize at the end of the day that self-publishing isn’t for you, and that’s okay. But if you know that self-publishing is something you are interested in and want to go deeper, I’m here to help you on this journey!