Why You Should Self-publish Your Book

The publishing industry is divided into two sectors: traditional publishing and self-publishing. Both routes have proven worthy to different authors at different times. With a revolution in printing method, marketing strategies, and human communication, the publishing industry is standing at a crossroads awaiting far-reaching impacts in the recent future. In such a scenario, authors are more confused than convinced about which road to take.

Self-publishing & Traditional Publishing by Definition

In the traditional model, the publishers buy the publishing right of a book and issue a percentage of profit to the author. It has been the normal, conventional route for a long time. The process involves long wait for acceptance, tiring chase for the publisher, compulsion to alter plotline and a meager outcome from the book. To confront this system, few authors chose to reform the publishing industry conventions by starting to self-publish their books.

Self-publishing is a route of publication where the authors control the publication process and everything else during and after. This means that some authors outsource their publishing and marketing services to an expert or do it all themselves. Self-publishing may demand investment from the authors, right at the beginning, but it assures 100% royalty on profit. Most importantly, it protects your creative right on your creation.

The Difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing:

We compared the two publishing models around the most important yardsticks and what we found is quite graphically laid out below:

                                                            Self-publishing                   Traditional Publishing    

Control over book’s content                        ✓

Control over cover                                         ✓

100% royalty on profit                                  ✓

Control over the MRP                                   ✓

Control over the book’s right                     ✓

Editing                                                                ✓                                               ✓

Formatting and Layout                                ✓                                                ✓

Cover Design                                                  ✓                                                  ✓

Distribution                                                    ✓

Marketing                                                       ✓

The Advantage of self-publishing:

Having looked at the difference, the advantages are clear. Let’s look at the most prominent advantages of self-publishing.

Copyright: To quote Wikipedia, ‘Copyright is a legal right that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to determine whether, and under what conditions, this original work may be used by others’. So, Copyright makes the creator of a work the sole decision maker of that work. Your book is your intellectual property. But, it will not remain yours once you sign over the right to the publisher and traditional publishing insists you do. And before you do so, think about every moment you toiled by the screen trying to create that perfect line that will take people of their feet.

Royalty: When it comes to royalty, the traditional publishing route looks dull and uncompetitive. In the traditional model, you are giving away the copyright, the most prized possession of a creator and have to be content with only 15% traditional royalty – Only 15% for putting the effort of writing a book. Instead, how about paying for the editorial and other services and keeping the full copyright and earning 100% royalty on profit from every purchase. Yes, you have every right to claim 100% royalty from profit and self-publishing makes that dream a reality.

If you ever sit down to calculate the difference between the royalty you will earn if you self-publish and the royalty traditional publishers grant you, you will easily see the profit you can make just by taking a wise decision.

Say, for example, you sell 500 copies of a book worth $10. The total earning is $5000. Now, you have paid for editorial services, distribution, and marketing a good $1000. The cost of printing for 500 copies can go up to $1500. Still, you can earn $2500 straight and you control the whole process and tune the budget according to your goal and ability. Now, imagine yourself doing it the traditional way.  15% on $5000 is a $750 from 500 books. Which one sounds better?

ISBN: If you have decided to self-publish, you must be worrying about the ISBN number for your book. You can use the free ISBN from KDP and Smashwords or apply for a paid one. It only takes a click on a radio button on these publishing websites. So, you can do it yourself. And if you are doing it through a self-publishing company, you will get it as part of the package.

Decide Your MRP: When you self-publish your literary work, you get to decide the MRP of your book. This is a significant right for an author as the commercial success of a book largely depends on the price of the book, at least for the new writers. Readers do not usually feel encouraged to buy someone’s first book for a high price. As such, having control over the MRP is not only great but unbeatable feature of the self-publishing model.

More Reach to your Target Audience: You are writing a book to please your audience, not the publisher. Your book should not be aimed out for meeting the publisher’s business goal or match their marketing philosophy. Instead, be more focused on your subject, write the way you want and market it your way. Marketing is an important factor influencing the sales of your book. That’s why self-publishing channels arrange for a marketing campaign, press release and launch event to give you the best exposure you deserve.

A Lot to Learn from Self-publishing: Trying the ‘traditional route’ won’t teach you anything. It’ll only waste your time by keeping you waiting. There is nothing new to learn. On the other hand, self-publishing is a true learning process. You get to know each and every step your manuscript passes through. Doing the whole process yourself, you will get a potential inside look into the publishing business, which might help you write in a lot better way.

Conclusion

You can choose to be in command of your fortune or choose to submit your creation along with rights to a traditional publisher. It is true that self-publishing demands an upfront cost but traditional publishing route takes 80-85% of your royalty straight out of your pocket. Now, the choice is completely yours.

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