It used to be that the only realistic way to publish a book was to partner with a publishing clearinghouse and hope for a small royalty. Today, self-publishing is exploding, and it’s now possible for anyone to write, publish, and distribute their book without having a traditional book deal.
Why Self-Publish?
The U.S. book publishing industry is estimated to be worth $26.23 billion in annual revenue. And while this is a large number, it’s remained relatively flat for years. The self-publishing portion of the industry, however, is undergoing rapid year-over-year growth.
In total, self-publishing has increased for five consecutive years (driven largely by the rise of Amazon and its streamlined CreateSpace platform. Here are some of the benefits of going to the self-publishing route:
- No gatekeepers. If you want to publish a book the old-fashioned way, you have to pitch your idea to publishers. These gatekeepers basically have the ability to tell you whether or not your manuscript ever sees the light of day in bookstores. With self-publishing, you can publish anything you want. The customers are the only gatekeepers. They’ll buy it if they want it and will ignore it if they don’t.
- Better royalties. With a traditional publishing agreement, authors generally get a 10 to 15 percent cut on each book’s list price. With self-publishing, authors walk away with 70 percent or more. Perhaps this is why fewer than 1,200 “trade-published” authors who debuted over the past decade now earn more than $25,000 in annual royalties, while 1,600 self-published authors do.
- Retain all rights. When self-publishing, you retain all of the rights to your book. That means you’re the one who benefits from the book if somebody approaches you about an adaptation for a TV show, film, broadway play, or comic book.
- Lower investment. Self-publishing platforms like Amazon/CreateSpace let you print books on-demand. You’re never forced to order hundreds of copies and store them in your garage. Everything is handled remotely in a warehouse, and you never have to touch the product.
4 Tips for Self-Publishing
As you explore self-publishing, here are a few helpful tips to chew on:
- Get Your Book Professionally Edited
Don’t confuse self-publishing with doing everything yourself. In fact, trying to handle 100 percent of this process on your own will probably result in a rushed, sub-par product.
Editing is one area where we highly recommend getting some help. After writing your book, hire a seasoned developmental editor to check your book for factors like consistency and flow. Once you have your book well organized, a copyeditor can come on and fix spelling mistakes and grammar.
- Design a Compelling Cover
Your cover is like the billboard for your book. It’s the thing that people see when they come across your book and, in many cases, persuades or dissuades them from learning more.
When designing book covers, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Study today’s best-selling charts and look at the popular trends. Never copy someone else’s book cover design, but certainly pull inspiration from different ones.
- Choose the Right Binding
Bookbinding is one of those minute details of book printing that you’ve probably never had a need to consider. But if you’re self-publishing, you’ll definitely want to account for it. As this bookbinding guide shows, there are a variety of different options, including perfect binding, saddle-stitch binding, wire-o binding, and spiral binding. Typically, a perfect bound book is the way to go. However, if you’re publishing something like a recipe book or workbook, spiral or wire-o are good options.
- Come Up With a Marketing Strategy
With no publisher behind you, 100 percent of the marketing and promotional work is in your hands. We recommend developing a marketing strategy (rather than winging it). Cost-effective options include guest blogging, appearing as a guest on podcasts, partnering with social media influencers, and going on local news broadcasts.
Become a Published Author
It’s never been easier to become a published author. If you put your head down and get to work, you can go from idea to printed book in a matter of just a couple of months. And while it’s never easy to write a book, it’s nice to know you have more control over the process than ever before!
