By Alla Gilbert
Self-publishing – Burden or Relief
Self publishing has become
fashionable with book authors in recent times. If you haven’t taken to self-publishing
and you think that will be a lot of burden on your shoulders, think twice. Yes;
self-publishing is a DIY project, but it certainly isn’t a problem on your
shoulders. But, in fact, it lifts a lot of tension from your mind as now you
don’t need to worry about pleasing a publisher or finding a literary agent to
represent you.
Autonomy
You are your own boss in the
publishing industry, and there is nobody to dictate terms for you whether in
terms of book layout, graphics, structure, content, percentage of royalties,
and book rights. You are the owner of all the rights for your book always until
you decide to sell a part or all of them. With self-publishing, you don’t have
to be at the mercy of the publisher who decides when and how much you receive
royalties for your book.
Creative Freedom
Usually when you give your work
to a publisher to get it printed as physical copy or EBook, you have to abide
by the laws they lay down. When you send them your manuscript, they tell you
how to go about the content and structure of the book. If you don’t adhere to their
guidelines, you risk being rejected. And this is a very common phenomenon in
the publishing industry. Out of hundreds of manuscripts received everyday, 98%
stand rejected.
To impress a publisher in a first
glance is a real art. Your title should be immensely captivating and
eye-catching. Out of hundreds of copies, if your title has that impact on
publishers, they would surely shortlist or select it and tell you to work upon
it. Make sure there are no mistakes in the synopsis of your story that you
present to the publishers.
You cannot risk presenting them
with a write-up that is ridden with a lot of errors pertaining to grammar,
sentence formation, or typos. Nothing can create a bad impression more than
such errors. Even if you have the best of idea and story plot in your mind, bad
editing will dampen your hopes. You also get the chance to choose the graphics
to be put on the front page and what is to be summarized at the back page.
High Rate of Royalties
You churn out a lot of money
every month when you choose to self-publish your work rather than hiring a
publisher to do it for you. The royalties earned out of self-publishing is
around 30-70%, which is excellent, whereas traditional publishers let you earn
only 10-15%. Moreover, they keep the rights with themselves letting you have
only the royalties. With self-publishing you can avoid that and be the sole
owner. So, the monetary profits with self-publishing are much higher than those
gained through the traditional mode of publishing.
Aggressive and Diverse Book Marketing
Marketing your book
will becomes a critical task when you self-publish your book. In fact,
self-published books need to be marketed and promoted much more aggressively than
those published traditionally. Digital promotion in the form of EBooks and
traditional ways of marketing through Book Fairs 2013,
conferences, word-of-mouth, and free copy distribution must all be adopted for
your self-published book. Social media must be aggressively tapped for book
promotion.
If you go for only one or two
avenues for promoting your self-published book, you are soon going to fade from
people’s memories. If a popular publisher had published your book, people would
easily recall your book. But, for self-published book, you need to stand up for
yourself literally and shout to the public that you have arrived through
various means. You are your own publisher, spokesperson, and marketer. When so
much is being done by you, you learn a lot in the process and become a pro. That
itself is a victory!
So, whether your book picks up
huge sales, or you don’t fare well as an author, publisher, or marketer, you
learn the tricks that work and that don’t. Don’t worries if this was your first
attempt; there’s a long way to go in the book publishing industry. And with practice
you will surely rock one day and set your foot firmly within the book publishing
industry.