Five Reasons to Self-Publish Your Own Book
(This column first appeared in the St. Louis Publisher’s Association newsletter.)
Every March, book people across the country celebrate Small Press Month. While the term “small press” can refer to a modest-sized publishing company with multiple titles from various authors, it most often applies to self-published authors.
That’s another term that is subject to interpretation: “self-publish.” In the old days it was considered something you were forced to do if you couldn’t get a “traditional” publisher to put out your book. These days, however, self-publishing is a different ballgame. But many aspiring authors I meet still wrestle with that old stigma.
The Time and Money Excuse
Another comment I often hear: “I know that self-publishing is an option I should consider, but it will take so much time, effort and money. I think I may be better off looking for an agent or a publishing company to put out my book.”
True. Self-publishing a book does take time and effort. But so will preparing a book proposal and hunting down the right agent or publishing company — especially one that will send you something other than a rejection slip.
And with short-run digital printing (also known as “print on demand”), producing your own book doesn’t have to be expensive. You can print your first run of perfect-bound paperback books for as little as a couple hundred dollars.
Do It Yourself
As you may have guessed, I’m a big proponent of self-publishing. So, if you’re at that stage where you’re trying to decide between traditional and self-publishing, please consider my “Five Reasons to Self-Publish Your Own Book”:
- You set the timetable. Big publishers can take from one year to 18 months or more to get a new book out. When you self-publish, your book can be out in a matter of weeks or months. Also, traditional publishers will only put a promotional push behind a book for a short window (perhaps three or four months). A self-published book can be aggressively marketed by its author for years on end.
- It’s a great way to test market a new title. If you have a cool idea for a book, wouldn’t you rather get an early version of it out into the marketplace to see if it has legs? Or would you prefer to spend a lot of time writing proposals and researching who might me interested in helping you publish it? Personally, I’m most eager to see if my ideas resonate with actual consumers.
- You can still reach the masses. Most aspiring authors believe that a publisher will get them into bookstores and other sales outlets, and that as a self-published author they’ll be hamstrung with limited sales options. The truth: Many established publishers do have developed sales pipelines through which they promote their titles. That can be an advantage, but it doesn’t guarantee your book will be widely available in bookstores.Today, using Amazon’s Advantage program and a POD service like Lightning Source (which gets your book listed with Ingram, the world’s largest wholesale book distributor), you can tap into many of the same sales channels as the traditional publishers.
- There’s more profit potential. If you sold 500 copies of your self-published book directly to readers for $20 each (assuming your printing cost per book was $3), you’d make $8,500 in profit. To make that same $8,500 in royalties from a standard publishing contract, your publisher would have to sell more than 5,000 copies. In other words, you can make the same amount of money selling one-tenth the number of books.
- It gets you into the game. Even if you some day want to have a traditional publisher handle the printing and sales of your title, I still believe self-publishing is the best first step. You learn more about the process, get feedback directly from readers, acquire a first-hand understanding of marketing, and more. And if you achieve some small-scale success with your self-published book, you’ll be in a much better position to get the attention of a major publisher. Perhaps, they’ll even pursue you. And wouldn’t that be a nice position to be in?
I encourage you to look over these reasons again and strongly consider putting out your next book yourself!
Bob Baker is the author of “Unleash the Artist Within,” “Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook” and “Branding Yourself Online.” Get a FREE subscription to Bob’s newsletter, “Quick Tips for Creative People,” featuring inspiration and low-cost self-promotion ideas for artists, writers, performers and more. Visit PromoteYourCreativity.com for details.
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January 4th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
Dear Mr. Baker,
I am in the process of writing an e-book - working title ‘The 5 Steps to Becoming a Profitable, Published Poet’ that is geared towards identifying the numerous options available. One of those options, as your article identifies, is self-publishing. I am in search of viable, informative content on this subject and would like to talk with you about contributing to my book.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Kathy Nesselroad
knesselroad@mindspring.com
http://www.darkiris.com
January 4th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
Hi Bob,
I read your article “5 reasons to self publish”. I am a self published author. I did the POD thing with my first book and unfortunately found out how important it is to read the “fine print”. To make a very long story short, I retained my copyright and set out to learn about the publishing industry. I re-released my first book, Surreptitious in 2004 and fully published my second novel Messenger of God in 2005. IIt’s taken me five years now and I’ve had, in my opinion good success, people have bought them and feedback has all been positive. The trouble I have is finding a distributor. Should I go with a distributor I just continue seeking out local and regional bookstores, meet & greet and try to sell them my books? It’s hard because I work professionally during the day, so my time dedicated between work, writing, editing, playing with my two sons, handling all the usual day to day problems gets to be daunting. Just looking for some ideas of folks who have been there and done it so I can see what they’ve done and apply it to my writing / publishing career.
Thanks,
Don Bradshaw
P.S. I will be releasing my next two novels Sorrow’s Devotion and Without Remorse in 2006. I’m starting my 5th novel, which will actually be a 3 book fantasy story about dragons, wizards, witches and revenge.
January 4th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Dear Mr. Baker:
Thank You For The Opportunity To Read About Your Self-Publishing Information. I Have Self-Published A Book About Love And Romance Through Dozens Of Poems And Letters Via A Storyline Format. However, I Am Requesting Your Assistance On How To Further Promote My Writings. I Don’t Know Much About The Internet Or E-Book Know-How, But Do Understand that Most Inquerys Are Rejected At 98% Especially With Reference To An Unestablished Author. Any Assistance On Your Part That May Enable The Potential Marketability Of My Book Would Be Greatly Appreciated. It Would Also Be My Pleasure To Send You A Completed Complimentary Copy Of My Compositions For Your Unbiased Review. My Book Is Entitled “SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE HEART…” And Covers A Wide-Array Of Information Beneficial To Both The Female “Make-Up” And The “Untapped” Male Market Demographics Or Populace As Well! Should Your Interest In These Literary Works Continue… Then You May Contact Me Through The Following Methods:
Ron M. Salony
17808 VALENCIA AVENUE
FONTANA, CA 92335-4031
(909) 427-8063
sunlitmoonstruckproductions@yahoo.com
utilized with the expressions of suns and moons in my writings and the word “PRODUCTIONS” in incorporating “AUTHORING!”
January 5th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Thank you for your views. It makes sense!
January 5th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Good advise about self-publishing, which I am now more and more convinced I should do. It’s still a daunting idea at at times but I know I will relish in the challenge too.
January 5th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
Where can I get 500 copies of my self-published perfect-bound paperback book printed for as little as a couple hundred dollars, or even at $3 each, as you state in this article?
January 14th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
I have been pub lished I am not making any money so I want to self publish my next book give me names of cheap selfpublishers my books so is Stop! calm down! and Depression is a hard road by publishamerica.com I need help please.
January 16th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Thank you for your article Mr. Baker
I Self Published my first Children’s Picture Book, entitled Beluga Sky, with Cork Hill Press, a POD that uses Lightning Press and Ingram. I was questionning my thoughts about self publishing two other children’s books in 2006, as they are ready to submit, and I wanted to say thank you for your article, which cleared up my negative thoughts regarding self publishing. I think what has me totally confused and scared to death (as fear is a huge motivator for me) is how do I sell them ? I called a few independent bookstores and they want nothing to do with self published authors. I have ran across some literary websites that encourage membership but claim to not advertise or help out the self published author. Are you aware of any sites or have any words of wisdom you can offer a very green new author and even greener self promoter ?
July 22nd, 2006 at 2:48 pm
I self published my first book with Cork Hill Press in July, 2005. Everything seemed to be going well but I have only received royalty checks for Augus, September and October. Now it seems that the company is no longer operating. They have never contacted me to say there was a problem. Do you know anything and what are my options?
Rochelle
August 24th, 2006 at 10:52 am
the owner of Cork Hill Press lost the business in divorce court to his wife. The day of the divorce she cleaned out the bank account and ended up closing the business. Employees were terminated and authors were left in the cold with no explanation.
Cork Hill Press was a great company before the divorce. Personally, I work for another publisher making better money and have better benefits, but Cork Hill and it’s authors still have a warm spot in my heart. Ex-employees were warned not to represent Cork Hill after being terminated. I am not rerpresenting, just letting you know the facts.
August 30th, 2006 at 8:46 am
Terry,
Please contact me at my email or url. I would like to speak with you.
Rochelle
September 14th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Rochelle my phone is listed in Indianapolis.
I now work for another publisher from 9am to 8pm
Mon.-Fri., but am at home after work and on weekends. Feel free to call. I have no records so I don’t know your contact info. Terry
October 2nd, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Need to find what ever left from Cork Hill Press Publisher.
the company took $2000 dollars from my son under promise to publish his book, no book no mony.
Mikhail Lobko
October 31st, 2006 at 12:14 pm
My name is Alfreda Sutton, and Cork Hill Press published my book; The Goodie Book which is still being sold on the internet, here and across the seas. Now I want to know what happened to my book, what’s going on. This is mind blowing. Now he knew that he was going through a divorce, so therefore he could have done something about it, meaning he could have warned his writers. This is awful, and they won’t even call no one or write them to let them know what has happened. That’s real bad business. I want to say some other things, but being a Pastor, I’m trying to keep my cool. I had to search all over the internet to find out what happened. I am angry, real angry.
November 9th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
The employees at Cork Hill Press had no warning that a kangeroo
Indiana court would let one spouse be outlawyered by another one. As far as the people who were at Cork Hill Press they were locked out with no notice. If you think your mad, we have even more reason to be mad. The new owner who never worked one minute at Cork Hill Press dropped the ball, by not notifying the authors. Legally the previous management/employees could be sued for 3rd party tortiary interference if they represented what happened at the company to authors. The former company President had over $100,000 loaned to the company and will never recoup a penny. So authors stay mad and do something other than talk about it. Doesn’t somebody have the strength or guts to get a class action movement going foward. I have litigation of my own going on but I am not a CHP author. It’s a completely different legal challenge.