Why Self-publish Your Book?
When I meet an author with a great book concept, one who’s
definitely the right person to write that book, right away I’ll
often encourage him or her to self-publish. This is because I
know that, if an author is thoroughly invested in what they have
to say, and if they’re determined to create a buzz about their
message, they’ll discover . . . 5 Fantastic Benefits of
Self-publishing
1. Control. When you enter into a contract with a major
publishing house, you’re signing an exclusive agreement that
prevents your having input into most of the important decisions
that will affect your book’s perception by the public, and its
sales. You’ll have very little say about the look and feel of
your book cover, the endorsements that appear on the back of
your book, or the wording of your press release, for example.
And since all of the above elements are critical to giving your
book its best chance for bestseller status, such loss of control
can pose significant problems. “But don’t publishers know better
than I what to do to sell a book?” you may ask. Not necessarily.
Authors usually know more about their book’s subjectand hence,
about their target audience (market)than anyone else. Hey, they
wrote the book!
More food for thought about signing with a major publishing
house: If for some reason your book doesn’t sell quickly and the
publisher lets it go out of print, there’s often a “waiting
period” before the author is allowed to self-publish the book to
get it back on the shelves. In the meantime, the reading public
sees that your book is “out of print” and a great deal of
word-of-mouth damage is done. Self-publishing means that you are
at the helm of your book project. Of course, it also means that
the responsibility for its success rests in your hands. But when
you believe in your message and know that you’re going to do
everything in your power to get that message out to your target
audience, isn’t it a good feeling to know that you’re the one
driving its success in the marketplace?
I suggest a balance of control and delegation. The right
publishing ally can coach you through the process of writing and
editing your book, and will also advise you to design and market
your message in a way that gets optimum results. Your publishing
ally may be a book editor, a publishing consultant, a published
author, or all three. If she’s worth her salt, though, she’ll
know what it will take to get your book published, and she’ll
know how to help you make it happen.
2. Money. Why does it make good business sense to self-publish?
Consider the following: a contract with the book publisher
doesn’t give you an ironclad guarantee that your book will ever
and upon the shelves. If you’re a new author, your publisher
will allocate zero marketing dollars to promote your book. It’s
sink or swim! If your book does sell well, it will be due to
your own hard work and ingenuityand your reward will be a tiny
fraction of the book’s total profits. Self-publishing admittedly
involves more capital risk, but it also means that the extensive
footwork you do to market your book will go to producing income
for the person who most deserves it. After all, you’re the one
who’s doing all the work to ignite word-of-mouth about your
book. Not only that, you wrote it! Don’t you deserve to reap
100% of the profit?
3. No Waiting, No Rejection. The Cinderella story of the little
book that gets discovered by a publisher and becomes an
overnight bestseller is mostly just thata fairytale. Yes , it
happens. But it hasn’t been happening a whole lot lately. In the
current publishing climate, with major houses paying gigantic
advances to celebrity authorstheir “cash cows”not much is left
to spend on developing new talent. Let’s be honest: a publisher
isn’t going to spend a dime marketing a book by an as yet
unknown author. To get your book considered for publication in
the first place, you’ll need to have an extremely convincing
marketing strategy in place which you intend to implement on
your own, at your own expense! Such as the case in every genre
from children’s books to alternative health to historical
novels. First-time authors are being turned away en masse. And
since many nonfiction book projects are
time-sensitivewell-placed offerings intended to respond to a
specific market trendtheir authors often while way their
precious window of opportunity waiting for agents or publishers
to respond to a proposal. It isn’t impossible to get a major
publishing house interested in a book by a first-time author,
but it’s getting more difficult all the time. Self-publishing
removes the wait (and the accompanying weight from your
shoulders) and the discomfort of rejection from the process of
getting your book into print.
4. Independence. Self-published authors are usually people with
confidence in their message. Many have already developed a
following by giving talks and seminars in areas where they live
and work. Experts know when they have a powerful personal
messagethey don’t need a publisher’s approval to pump
themselves up. Such authors, many of whom are already seasoned
professionals, self-publish their books because they love being
in the driver’s seat of their book project. Rather than gamble
that a big corporation will treat their book with the respect it
deserves, such an author takes the publishing reins to ensure
that her message reaches the widest possible audience. No one
cares more about your book than you do.
5. Power of Belief. The power of belief in our words is what
makes promises good and turns dreams into reality. Authors who
self-publish their books believe deeply that others will benefit
from reading what they have to say. They have unshakable
conviction. Such authors often tell me, “I had to write this
book. I just have to get it out there!” Deep belief is the
selfless power that drives all true service and makes a
difference in the world. Authors with a strong sense of purpose
know that they can make their books succeed. They don’t want to
wait around for a publishing house to “accept” their work. Aware
that time is precious, such authors create their own publishing
opportunities. They get behind their own message. They launch a
campaign fueled with belief in the creative power of intention.
A good publishing consultant and editorial coach knows that the
best way to make your book a true success is to create and
market a message that you will both be proud of for years to
come. Creating uplifting books is a passion. Make it yours, and
every one of your books sold will be a vote of confidence in
yourself and the rest of humanity!
Copyright ©2004 Ceci Miller
