If you are one of those authors who are just getting started, you'll be asking is it better to self publish a book or do the traditional way? Read on below to know the secrets that will help you in your self-publishing journey.
Today's question has three answers. The third answer is a secret as to how you can get the best of both worlds, traditional publishing, and self-publishing.
Here is the question that was sent into me today, is it better to self publish a book? This is a very common question for writers who are getting started.
They need to know should they self-publish their book or should they go through traditional publishing channels and major publishing houses to get their book published.
We're going to attempt to answer that question today. But before we get into the answers, check out my free Self-Publishing Checklist to help you get started on your self-publishing journey.
So, is it better to self publish a book? Well for me, when I first started, I discovered that "yes" self-publishing was exactly the right track. I didn't want to have to figure out all of the things involved with traditional publishing.
Things like, who do I need to make contacts with? Do I need somebody to represent me? Or do I need to do anything along those lines to make progress in my books?
Instead, I started from the route of saying, what is the easiest way to get a book onto the market? And of course, self-publishing has always been that easiest route. I chose to go along that route.
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It has worked out for me after I have read up quite a bit. I've come to several conclusions that we'll get into in today's answers. One of the keys is within a community, you're able to hear an awful lot of different advice being given.
Some of it contradicts and many times you'll see people's experiences come into play. It helps you figure out what will work best for you. So, is it better to self publish a book?
Well, let's get into the answers. The first thing is, yes it is better to self publish a book. In virtually all cases, it's going to be the winning strategy unless you of course already have a platform.
Marketing Your Book
So if you're selling a lot of books, you've got a platform from a blog, you're a celebrity or a sports star, then you can get a deal with one of the major publishing houses.
They will, of course, take your book. They have one interest which is not necessarily getting high-quality literature on the market. But producing books and publishing books that are going to sell and make them money.
Because if they choose books that aren't going to make the money, they will end up losing money on the process. They will cease to exist as a business.
When it comes down to it, they are a business and they may have secondary interests. But if the books that they're publishing are not making the money, then they will simply have to shut down their publishing house.
But how can they know if the books they're going to publish are going to make money? One of the tricks in the books already sold, the author is already coming out with books that have been self-published or published by other publishing houses that are already selling.
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That's one of the things if you're already selling a lot of books. Or if you have a platform, then they will consider you as definitely somebody who would probably be able to help them earn their money back. As well as a profit to keep them going along.
They can produce even more books. However, if they are not selling a lot of books at the moment, that is if you're not selling and you don't have a platform, then you need to build a platform.
But how can you build a platform so that these major companies will consider bringing you on board with regards to publishing the books for you?
The answer is you can build a platform right back to the initial question through self-publishing. It will allow you to learn the entire process. Figure out what it is about the books that you're producing that will get them to sell.
As well as how to make these major publishing houses to pay attention to you. So that when you're ready to come up with your next book, maybe you'll consider going through one of them. Because again, you're less of a risk because you have a platform.
Follow The Correct Steps
If you don't already have a platform, you're not a celebrity, and you don't have connections within the major publishing houses, then it's going to usually be a waste of time.
You're going to use a lot of time and energy to get them to choose one of your books. And after all of this work of getting a book out there, you discover the next thing which is, well, since you didn't have a platform, the books are not going to sell themselves.
A lot of people are under the misperception that simply having a book published by a major publishing house means it's going to be an amazing success because you've read all these stories.
But in reality that is simply not the way that this works. Since you're not a top star celebrity, they're not going to use that much time and money marketing your books.
They may get it into bookstores and put it on tables. Eventually, it's just going to be another binder that you're going to see the binding of your book on a shelf with all of the other books in these bookstores.
You have to ask yourself, how often do you just look at random books at a bookstore? If you haven't heard of the author, there's been no major push to market you because that costs a lot of money too.
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Then your book just disappears and you lose the rights to the books. The money you're making is only about 11-12% off of the royalties from those books. As opposed to 70% you'd get with going with Amazon Kindle or Smashwords.
For example, you can get like 40-60% depending upon how you go through it there. But the point being is that by simply following through the correct steps with self-publishing, you will learn all the necessary skills.
To make sure that when you publish through a major traditional publishing house, they will pick up your book. So, is it better to self publish a book? What have you found?
Go ahead and leave your comments below. I always respond to all comments that are left to me. Check out my other blogs and videos and you will see more answers to your self-publishing questions.