The Benefits of Self Publishing
Reasons to Get Published with Author Publishing
As eBooks, book blogs and print-on-demand publishing begin to gain traction in the publishing world, there become more reasons than ever for authors to self publish books. From the control gained by the author, to the ability to tell a story only a select group of people may want to read, self publishing can make a lot of sense for many authors.
Keep Control of the Book
One of the most attractive things about self publishing for many would be authors is the ability to remain in control of a book and its future. While having a publishing house purchase the book can be a wonderful accomplishment, this purchase does take the book out of the author’s hands. The book cover art, print run, marketing plan and even the type face become the property and decisions of the publishing house.
By self publishing a book, the author has the ability to select the artist and cover art for the book, the type face and layout of the pages within the book as well as the overall look and feel. This can be attractive to some authors who would prefer to remain in control of the book’s appearance.
By self publishing the book, its distribution and marketing also remain the hands of the author. While this may seem like a lot of leg work, many publishing houses are cutting back on the marketing of new books. This means that if an author truly desires their book being read, the author will need to make an effort at promoting the book himself, regardless of who publishes it. For this reasons, self publishing allows an author to determine the best strategy of marketing and the freedom to implement it.
Keep the Profits
An advance on a book is an attractive part of selling the book to a publishing house, as are the continued royalties from its sale. This assumes however, that there will be an advance and that the book sells enough to pay back the advance to the publisher before continuing on to make the author money.
Self publishing allows the author to begin making money with the first book sold, and to continue to make money with each subsequent book sold. The author will also see this money right away. Many publishing houses will split up advances and royalty payments into multiple pieces which are doled out as the publishing house sees fit, and which the author is bound to by their publishing contract. Royalties may also not reach their maximum returns until as many as 10,000 books have been sold.
By self publishing, a successful book can make an author a great deal more money and in a more timely manner than the same book being sold through a publishing house.
The Ability to Get Published
When an author has a story to tell that publishing houses don’t seem interested in, or that goes against mainstream trends self publishing can be the way to get the story out where people can read it. Some examples of authors who self published their books that no publishing house wanted and went on to sell millions of copies include Richard Nixon and Thomas Paine.
For some authors, simply getting the book into print is the ultimate goal. With self publishing and print-on-demand practices, this becomes possible. Readers are able to purchase books from any major book dealer, the book is printed as it is purchased, and the author makes money without the cost of a big, upfront book run. For authors trying to reach a small, target audience, this can make a lot of sense.
Self published books can also be eventually picked up by publishing houses. Memoirist and novelist, Laurie Notaro first self published two books which were eventually bought and reissued by a division of Random House. By self publishing, many authors stand nothing to lose, but have everything to gain. An author struggling to find a purchaser for a book, can consider self publishing and take control of the book’s future.
Sources:
Par South: Stick Raven Press
Morris Rosenthal: Publisher Book Contracts
Laurie Notaro: Autobiography of an Idiot Girl
Print-on-Demand Makes Self Publishing Easy
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