MarketingMeasure » Blog Archive » Advantages to Self-Publishing

Advantages to Self-Publishing

Dallas, TX 5 July 2009 By Phillip Crum Please Re-Tweet Freely

There are many advantages to self-publishing including keeping the majority of the profits from the sales of your book. A traditional publisher may only offer you 10% of your book’s wholesale price. Many first-time authors are a bit surprised by what seems like such a small percentage. However, with their knowledge of the industry and marketing prowess, a traditional publisher may outsell your self-published title 100 to 1. But only if they agree to publish your book.

Self-publishing has grown dramatically over the past few years and the main reason is the advent of the POD (print on demand) printing services. This allows the self-published author to have books printed on a “pay-as-you-go” basis. Books are printed only when ordered. Per-book printing costs can be as much as $6 to $7 dollars per copy for larger books but there is no need for the self-publishing author to order huge quantities or maintain an inventory. A traditional publisher may have 5,000 copies printed at a time with costs as low as $1.50 per copy. For comparison, a self-published book costing $20 and printed for $6 shows a profit of $14 where a traditional publisher can show a profit of $18.50 for the same book.

Another advantage that many overlook is when you self publish, you have control over the editing, printing, and marketing of you book. It’s not unusual for traditional publishers to keep your book in the “queue” for six months or more. They are continuously preparing other titles of course and may delay the release of your book to take advantage of a number of factors including the current economic climate, what’s on the best seller list, or a particular time of the year. If you self-publish, you can create your own time frame and schedule your book’s release.

Although a self-publisher has complete control of the production of their book, it often means additional expenses for services such as editing, design and packaging (expenses a traditional publisher incurs on behalf of the author). Unless your book is destined for a small audience of family and friends, professional editing is a must. And for the cover, it’s wise to hire a professional designer to ensure a high-quality, industry-standard result.

It’s safe to say that most authors want to sign a book contract with a major publisher. There is a great deal of effort required to land a publishing deal including writing a top-quality book proposal. And some publishers only deal with an author’s agent when it comes to offering a publishing contract. All these efforts can take up to three years or more. So it’s important to measure your odds before going this route. The vast majority of authors that follow a path to a traditional publishing contract fail in their efforts. And they have spent those three years pursuing a contract when they could have been out there promoting and selling their book!

You have to wear many hats when self-publishing but there are number of advantages, particularly for a first-time author. Most importantly, you have control of the entire process. It takes knowledge, determination, discipline and persistence to succeed but the rewards are many.

Click a couple, will ya!