Self-Publishing: What it is, Who it's For, And How it Works
I’ve talked about a lot of different things on here, but ironically, one thing I haven’t actually really talked about is publishing and publishing options and quite a few of my readers don’t actually know much about how the publishing process works. So, for the next few weeks on Mondays, I’ll be blogging about the publishing process. I also have a few guests who will tell us about their experiences publishing.
If you’ve written a novel and want to pursue publication, you really have two main options. You can self-publish or you can publish traditionally. Self-publishing is where you publish the book instead of a publishing house. Traditional publishing is where a publishing house does it. I can’t fit the basics of each in this post (heck, I can hardly fit one into one post), so I’m going to focus on self-publication first.
In self-publishing (also known as “independent publishing”), you are the one in charge of publishing your book, so everything that has to do with your book is your responsibility.
What the general public doesn’t realize is that in traditional publishing, authors have next to no say over things like their book covers and the advertisements and marketing done by the publisher. In self-publishing, you get to be in control of all that. You also get to upload your manuscript (novel) as an ebook straight up onto places like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Sounds pretty great, right?
But this also leads to some pitfalls, and unfortunately, stigmas in the self-publishing route. If you don’t know how to properly format your document into an ebook, or your abilities of cover design come from Paint, or you’re not a very good editor (or you didn’t edit at all), you can end up publishing something perfectly crappy. Because anyone who knows how to use the internet can “self-publish,” you see a lot of “books” that need … help. This is why there is a stigma. Luckily, as more time goes on, the stigma gets weaker, and today you’ll no longer get (as many) people looking down their noses at you for self-publishing as you did in years ago.
There are some fantastic books out there that are self-published, from authors who have worked extremely hard at getting them right. Self-publishing may be readily accessible, but that doesn’t mean that being a successful self-published author is easy. In fact, in some ways it’s harder than getting traditionally publish. Your book’s success depends on your marketing and business abilities, and you don’t have a marketer to back you up.
Many wise self-published authors take advantage of professional services. After they revise and edit their story themselves, they hire a professional editor to edit their manuscripts. If they don’t know how to do cover designs (and a good cover takes more than just knowing how to make things look pretty in Photoshop), they hire someone to make a cover. Same with formatting. Keep in mind that these are all expenses that must come out of the writer’s own pocket (different than traditional publishing).
Here are some examples of successful books that have been self-published.
Some genres lend themselves better to self-publishing than others. If you write romance for adults, you’ll probably make more as a self-published author. Self-published picture books for kids are harder to sell, because it’s harder for them to reach their intended audience, since self-published picture books are unlikely to be in the library or local bookstore or classroom where most kids are exposed to books. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done, it’s just very, very difficult. Most all the books you see in those places are traditionally published. You may find the three example above in your local bookstore, but two of those three were later picked up by a traditional publisher. You should be aware that if your dream is to hit all the brick-and-mortar bookstores and end up on their bestseller shelf, self-publishing probably won’t get you there. If your dream is to climb up a bestselling ebook list on Amazon, self-publishing is an option.
Consider Self-Publishing if …
- You are writing a novel that has a very narrow audience.
A traditional publishing house can’t make money on an audience that is too narrow, so they probably won’t pick up your novel. Also, you’ll make more money by hitting your narrow audience hard yourself, since there will be less book sales and self-publishing will give you a higher percentage of each sale.
- You are writing a very unique novel that doesn’t fit into a typical genre.
Traditional publishers want books that can be easily categorized, otherwise they won’t know how to market them or who to market them to, and they are a business and need to make money. If you love your novel that doesn’t seem to fit a traditional genre or audience, you might want to self-publish.
- You want absolute, complete control over your novel.
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