Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to get your book published. Through various platforms and tools, self-publishing can help you get the book in your hands in relatively short order. But is self-publishing worth the effort?
The short answer is yes, but as long as you’re willing to put in the work. Being a successful self-published author requires putting in a lot of time, money, and energy.
Simply uploading something to Amazon, putting in a few keywords, and crossing your fingers isn’t going to cut it if you’re looking to be a best-selling author.
What I Mean By Self-Publishing
When I say, “self-publishing,” I’m talking about the process of doing all of the work yourself. You’re in absolute control of every aspect of your book from start to finish.
There are services out there from “vanity publishers” that call themselves self-publishing. This is a completely different animal and winds up costing most authors thousands of dollars to get started.
While some of these vanity publishers may do a lot of the work for you, they can also wind up being scams. In fact, my sister used one with her first book and had a horrible experience.
So, for the sake of this post, I’m focusing on pure self-publishing.
The Good and Bad of Self-Publishing
Costs Nothing to Publish
Technically, you don’t have to spend a single dime to self-publish your book. However, there is a bit of an asterisk to this point. Although you can do everything for free, there are some expenses you might want to consider.
For instance, are you developing a cover that will intrigue a potential reader? Are you strong at editing and the use of proper grammar? These are just two expenses that may be worth investing: cover art and editing.
Nonetheless, it is possible to put out a decent book without spending money on various services. It’ll just be more difficult to succeed if you’re not creating the best book possible.
Lots of Tools Online
The Internet is full of online authoring tools if you plan to put in the effort behind self-publishing your book. And a lot of them have free versions that can get you started immediately with your first novel.
For instance, you can use the Reedsy book editor to write your manuscript and the Canva design app to create the cover; both of which are free to use.
One thing to consider, though, is that not all tools are created equal. While there are a lot of great writing resources, you still need to keep in mind that some of them will be scams.
Avoiding Industry Gatekeepers
When trying to publish your book the traditional route, you need to please people such as agents and publishers. It doesn’t matter if you have a consensus of many people who love your manuscript. If these two gatekeepers don’t like the story, it’s not going to get published.
From their perspective, it’s all about making a profit. If they don’t think they can sell your book, it won’t see the light of day.
Not to mention that if you can’t put together a decent query letter, your manuscript will get ignored despite being the best thing ever written.
When you really put in the effort for self-publishing your book, you bypass all of these individuals. Of course, you still have to write a book that people will want to read.
Creative Control
When publishing your own book, you have absolute creative control. This is everything from the backbone of the plot to what you want to include in the storyline.
In other words, no one can tell you what you can or cannot write. There are some publishers out there who won’t even look at your book unless there are certain social elements included.
As a self-published author, no one can tell you how to write your story or what needs to be added or removed. If you want a 200,000-word book to flesh out your tale, then write it.
However, there is something to be said about keeping a story to just the right length. And that will greatly depend on your target audience and your skills to keep them reading.
Rights to Your Book
When self-publishing, you are the sole rights holder to your manuscript. If you don’t want it published on certain platforms or want to do more or less when it comes to marketing, you don’t need to ask anyone’s permission.
I’ve seen some authors who had to file lawsuits against certain vanity publishers to get the rights back for their books.
On the other side of that coin, though, there are certain things that you have to adhere to when using self-publishing outlets. For instance, using the Kindle Unlimited system means your book is exclusive to Amazon for a certain amount of time.
Less Publishing Time
It can take several months for a finished book to be published by a traditional house. I’ve seen some authors wait longer than a year and a half before printed copies were even available.
By putting in the effort for self-publishing, you can have your books in the hands of readers within a few days.
I bought the first printed copy of Kingmaker on a Friday afternoon, which was delivered Monday morning. Plus, the print quality of the book was great for being a print-on-demand service.
Making More Money
A great pro of self-publishing is the potential to make more money. Unfortunately, I cannot verify how much trad published authors make, but some will attest it can be up to 10% of the sale.
But if you self-publish on a platform like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, you can make anywhere from 35% to 70% depending on the type of book and pricing scheme.
This doesn’t mean you’ll rake in the dough, though. It’ll take a lot of marketing effort to sell enough copies for self-publishing to be a viable income source.
Everything Is On Your Shoulders
The entire process of writing and publishing your book is your responsibility. Unless you have the bankroll to hire professionals and services, publishing a book is all on your shoulders.
There is a lot to putting out a successful title beyond just writing a good manuscript and having a good-looking cover. And perhaps one of the more impactful is developing your skills as a marketer, which I’ll go over in a moment.
This means that if you don’t put in the effort and time to properly put out a book, you won’t be as successful when self-publishing compared to other authors.
Costs for Certain Services
While it is possible to publish a book for free, there are many services and products that you might want to use. And a lot of these can be quite hefty for those who don’t have a lot of disposable income.
For instance, some editing packages have more than $6,000 in fees. And that’s not including what you’ll spend for cover art, marketing, promotions, or web design.
Of course, this also depends on the length of the manuscript and what services you want in terms of editing. You might only need a $1000 final proof service.
Marketing Responsibilities
One of the most difficult parts of self-publishing centers around your effort to manage marketing. People aren’t going to buy your book if they don’t know it even exists.
You can only do so much when it comes to sharing your book for free on social media.
Marketing can and will exhaust a lot of your time and money if you want to successfully promote your book. Otherwise, you’ll only sell a handful of copies.
On a side note, this is another service for which you can hire. The fees will be dependent on the type of marketing and the extent of promotion you want for your novel.
Print Distribution Is Difficult
What author doesn’t dream about having their book in a physical location such as Barnes & Noble or a local retailer? Unfortunately, it’s a bit more difficult for print distribution as a self-published author.
While some platforms have made it a bit easier, such as Amazon’s print-on-demand service for author copies and being able to contact Barnes & Noble directly for in-store books, it’s still quite difficult to get your copies in physical locations.
A way around this is to host a retail shop of your own and sell printed copies from your website. Still, it would be pretty cool to take a selfie of you and your book in a local shop for Instagram.
Stigma Around Self-Publishing
Lastly, a lot of people out there don’t view self-published authors as real authors. Some may even say it was cheating to use a print-on-demand service to have a copy of your book in hand.
You’ll see a lot of this on social media, especially on Twitter. Authors get attacked a lot by gatekeeping readers who believe that a good book needs to have a house logo on the cover.
I respect successful self-published indie authors more than trad ones simply because of the sheer amount of work and effort involved.
My Experience Putting in Effort for Self-Publishing
At the time of this post, I’ve published two books. One was an autobiography about how I started as a writer and the second was my debut into dark fantasy.
I’m also working on having two more published within the next couple of months.
So, what are some of the most impactful elements I’ve come across as a self-published author?
Very Stressful
First of all, putting in the effort for self-publishing is exceptionally stressful. Because every aspect of your success rests squarely on your shoulders, you’re in a constant battle with yourself to make sure everything is done correctly.
Editing, cover art, and marketing are perhaps the biggest contributors to that level of stress. If these three are not on the verge of perfect, you won’t make as many sales or receive the best reviews.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being a self-published author. I’ve accomplished a lot since 2021. But there is no doubt that my stress is at an all-time high.
I’m sure that things will get easier once I figure out the best methods for various aspects of publishing my books. And I am setting up a separate savings account to afford future services when I am ready to publish Fury.
Nonetheless, there is a lot of stress involved when trying to do everything yourself. Especially if you’re like me and don’t have a lot of time in the day.
Expenses
A lot of the stress I just mentioned could be avoided by spending a bit of money on certain aspects. For one thing, having someone design the cover of the book for me would have saved a lot of time overall.
Not to mention having a professional editor would have helped me publish Kingmaker months before I felt it was ready.
As I said before, it is possible to publish your book without spending money. However, I know a lot of things would have been easier on me if I had a bit of cash on hand for certain services.
Plus, using those paid services would give me a chance to write a review for the blog and perhaps make a few videos. So, it’s worth the money for me to start looking into various self-publishing expenses.
At Least I Have Printed Copies In-Hand
Perhaps one of my greatest achievements for putting in the effort for self-publishing my books is to have a printed copy in my hand. It’s been a lifelong dream to have a book on my shelf with my name on the spine.
Once that first copy of A Freelancer’s Tale was delivered to my door, it was like an instant boost to my confidence. My motivation and determination increased exponentially after realizing that I did it.
All of the hard work I put into the book resulted in a copy that is now on my bookshelf. It’s a testament to what I can accomplish if I put in the effort to achieve a goal.
3 Most Important Factors for Self-Publishing
There are a lot of cogs turning when trying to publish a successful book. From the moment you write those first words to when you’re sitting down at a book signing, there are a lot of ducks to get into a row
However, there are a few that stand out more than the others. Mostly because with them, there wouldn’t be book signings or replacing a full-time income with royalties every month.
Let’s take a look at the most important facets of self-publishing.
Marketing Prowess
I can’t stress how important marketing is when it comes to your novel. Without putting in sufficient effort to get your book in front of everyone, your self-publishing journey won’t be as successful as others.
This will involve both online and offline methods for promoting your book.
It’s not just the novel you’ll need to worry about marketing, either. Your name is your brand, and making sure you’re recognizable as an author is just as vital to success as writing a good book.
Editing the Manuscript
One of the reasons why a lot of people buy books is because of their reviews. And without a well-written manuscript, it’ll be much harder to get those five-star praises.
Sure, there are a lot of people who relish a good story riddled with grammatical errors. But the number of those readers is relatively small compared to those who are just looking for a reason to bash your book on Twitter.
The editing process of a book is vastly important.
Telling a Good Story
Being able to tell a good story can take your writing career relatively far. As long as you’re able to engage readers and keep them turning the pages, success is a hell of a lot easier.
Yet, there is a lot to learn about what makes a good story.
At one point, I thought I did a pretty good job writing a good manuscript. Then, I started taking the master class from Reedsy. There are a lot of things I could be doing differently to put together an even more gripping tale.
My point is that you should never believe you’re doing enough to write a good story. There is always something to learn that can improve your style.
Common Questions About Self-Publishing
Anyone can write and publish a book. But not everyone can write and publish a good book. It mostly comes down to your skill at engaging the reader to keep him or her flipping the pages.
Once you get a few books under your name, it is possible to generate recurring royalties every month. But that will depend greatly on how well you market the book and whether people enjoy reading your tales.
If you’re aiming to publish a good book for your audience, it can take anywhere from six months to two years to start generating income. That will depend on a variety of factors such as the time it takes to write, edit, and market the novel.
The number of books you need to sell to make a living from home will depend on how much you generate in royalties from your preferred platform. For instance, if you sell an eBook on Amazon for $4.99, you would need to sell 1,000 books per month to make $42,000 per year.
As editing is quite expensive, a lot of authors who don’t have the money will edit their own books. However, there is a greater risk of making mistakes as no one should edit his or her own works.
The Internet is full of platforms for self-published authors. Some of the more effective methods include Amazon KDP, Barnes & Noble Press, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and distribution services like IngramSpark and Draft2Digital.
Although they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, most readers do. The cover is the first thing a person will see when walking through a retail store or shopping through Amazon. Make sure yours is unique, memorable, and enticing.
How Are You Publishing Your Next Book?
There is a lot to unpack when considering putting in the effort for self-publishing your book. However, it is possible to get a good groove going and turn the process into a success.
In fact, a lot of serious indie authors generate enough royalties to replace their traditional careers with writing. It all comes down to writing a good story and making sure you get it in front of as many people as possible.
For the time being, I’ll continue to publish my books myself. But that’s mostly because I love learning about the process and expanding my knowledge.
Would you rather self-publish your book, or are you actively looking for an agent and publisher?
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