Self Publishing: Understanding the Pros and Anticipating the Cons

Publishers are hurting, the market is changing, and they are not interested in being your partner.

They are unlikely to accept your literary work who haven’t already garnered an audience with sensational, surface-level content.

Then came self-publishing.

While it used to be a niche method, self-publishing has taken the mainstream, streamlining the publishing process and removing the bureaucracy that is associated with partnering with publishing houses.

However, it’s worth defining the traditional publishing process to understand how self-publishing has become the preferred method for many authors.

Traditional Publishing vs Self-Publishing

When partnering with a publishing company, you’ll first need to send a query letter or a written proposal, coupled with your manuscript.

Preparing these documents is a lengthy process, with mistakes rejecting your manuscript or delaying the approval process.

Once these items have been received, the in-house editor will scrutinize and examine your work, and decide whether to offer you a deal.

There are very few factors that the author controls when it comes to the terms and conditions of this offer.

When finalizing a book deal, the publishing house purchases the right to the book from the author.

In that exchange, the author gains royalties and advances. Royalty percentages are determined by the publishing house, with some collaborating with the author’s agent.

The in-house editor will scrutinize and examine your work, and decide whether to offer you a deal.

There are very few factors that the author controls when it comes to the terms and conditions of this offer.

The final components of the deal include a meeting with the author and editor, with conversations focusing on additional adjustments to the manuscript.

The house absorbs the costs of designing, distributing, and marketing the book.

This process is long and can take north of a year for your work to be properly published – that’s if there haven’t been any hurdles that you or the publishing house have to overcome first.

Self-publishing is the publication of your work without the involvement of a publishing house or publishing platform.

Here are some of the unique benefits when taking this route.

1. Complete Creative Control.

As mentioned, when you go through the traditional publishing route, you are obliged to deal with a series of in-house editors.
These editors might not be familiar with your writing style, the topic, or the subject.

Their biased perspectives can manifest as harsh removal or append of your content, or even redacting pertinent elements that can detract from your literary work. Relinquishing control is not a problem when you self-publish.

2. It’s easier to get your work published. As mentioned, there is a type of bureaucracy that you’ll need to go through if you publish your book via traditional means.

With self-publishing, there is more autonomy and the only person who is stopping you from publishing your work is you.

3. Improved royalties. Traditionally, a publishing house controls royalties and how they are divided.

Typically, an author will be eligible for 10 to 15% of the list price of each book sold, while the rest of the profits will be pocketed by the publisher.

When you self-publish, however, you will enjoy a much larger portion. For example, if you self-publish on Amazon, you will receive upwards of 70% of the listing price.

Self-publishing platforms allow you to pocket more of the profit.

With self-publishing, there is more autonomy and the only person who is stopping you from publishing your work is you.

4. Printing on demand. Self-publishing can actually be more self-efficient, ensuring that people who want a copy are able to.

Publishing houses over publish or under publish literary work, often struggling to meet demand.

If you want to print your own book via a publishing house, you have to publish thousands of copies just to meet a quota.

5. Ability to connect with your niche market. Traditional publishing houses are interested in turning a profit.

That means that if you are a niche author, professor, or expert with a dissenting opinion, then you may not have the support of mainstream traditional avenues.

Those who are targeting a really specific group of people have more of a chance of selling reasonable numbers when self-publishing.

6. Pricing control. Being conscious of your pricing helps with building a readership.

Sometimes publishing houses price literary work to maximize profits, ignoring the budgets of your readership.

When self-publishing, you can charge what you feel is appropriate.

Maybe this is a passion project and you’re not all that interested in turning a profit.

Or you are tapping into a lucrative niche and want to take advantage of readers who are hungry for more information.

7. Networking opportunities. Not only are you able to control the price when you self publish, but also you have control of distribution.

As you work through the stages of fine-tuning your production, you are able to tap into authoritative voices, use quotes to substantiate your research, and market options.

Writing a press release, curating an event, and sending your book to online marketplaces and affiliates are aspects that you have control over.

8. Retention of right. This is one of the benefits of self-publishing that is sometimes overlooked.

Focusing on retention is entrepreneurship in action.

As the CEO and president of your own literary work, you are able to decide on the company name, how much you charge, how you’re going to spend marketing dollars, and what form of retailing is applicable.

Keep in mind that if you’re going to enter a partnership, that you do so with a copyright specialist or lawyer that will ensure that your rights aren’t infringed upon.

As the CEO and president of your own literary work, you are able to decide on the company name, how much you charge, how you’re going to spend marketing dollars, and what form of retailing is applicable.

Cons of Self Publishing

Even though there are real financial and entrepreneurial benefits to self-publishing, there are cons that you need to be aware of.

The reality is that self-publishing can be intimidating for the uninitiated.

By being cognizant of the potential pitfalls, you will be able to prevent them.

Here are some of the cons associated with self-publishing.

No access to a customer list.

Nearly all types of publishing and distribution channels don’t provide much marketing data to you.

Publishing houses are aware as to who bought your book, what demographic is more likely to buy it, and if there are any secondary subjects that they might be interested in.

Publishing lockout. Many brick-and-mortar bookstores simply won’t order copies of your book.

For authors who are just starting, they might think that they may never be able to be the authors that they had imagined themselves to be since traditional channels aren’t even willing to work with them.

However, bookstore sales are becoming redundant, with sales declining.

According to Open Education Database, there has been a 9.6% decrease in sales at bookstores since 2007, with e-books and specialty bookstores replacing them.

E-books, and partnering with niche bookstores can be a potentially lucrative marketing channel.

All costs are yours and yours only. Publishing houses appropriate many of the marketing and designing costs of your book.

The trade-off is that they will secure the majority of revenues, giving you a pittance.

When self-publishing, you are absorbing the costs instead of offsetting them.

If you need to design a cover and you do not know how to, that means that you need to hire an artist or learn how.

The same goes for typesetting, additional editing, and formatting of your work.

Overcoming the Cons of Self-Publishing

Doubt is an emotion that can easily destroy your writing career and undermine your self-publishing effort.

It stifles creativity, busies you by forcing you to question your every move, with the hesitation taking away from being productive.

Instead of trying to “go through” faces of self-doubt, be comfortable simply sitting in it and accepting the fact that it is part of the creative process.

Whether that is discouraging or encouraging depends on your perspectives.

You can reverse engineer self-doubt and instead of it being a hindrance, it can be a source of introspection.

As the CEO and president of your own literary work, you are able to decide on the company name, how much you charge, how you’re going to spend marketing dollars, and what form of retailing is applicable.

Instead of actively dealing with self-doubt, take actionable steps every day to ensure that you complete your manuscript, publish a book, and connect your readers with your work.

For many writers, the first novel is what gets the ball rolling.

Your first experience with publishing can be unusual, and even intimidating— that is natural since you are partaking on a new journey.

Once your book is published, you’ll be familiar with the process and you will find yourself busy brainstorming and composing your next book.

Refocus on your marketing effort.

Take advantage of customer relationship management tools to help with marketing.

There are several CRM tools that are focused on authors and those who are self-publishing that will assist you with prospecting and forecasting your readership, customizing workflow, and quantify your general ledgers and payment plans.

While you may not have the customer database of a full publishing house, you can still follow the habits of your readers to maximize profit and exposure.

The unique benefits of e-books. E-books tend to be very popular for those who are self-publishing.

Your literary work will be immediately available to your readers’ tablets, phones, and computers, making them highly accessible. They can be read on multiple devices in several formats.

You can take advantage of audio and visual aid to enrich the e-book reading experience.

Since e-books don’t require the publishing costs of traditional methods, you have the option of reducing costs that can be passed on to your readers.

You will find that when it comes to self-publishing, that your issues are in your head.

Instead of silencing this inner critic, learn how to question it.

Self-distancing is a technique that enables you to ask yourself questions about your experiences while assigning your inner critic with a pronoun.

For example, instead of just sitting in self-doubt and allowing yourself to sink into a writer’s block, ask yourself: “why do I not feel like a worthy author when I know that my literary work will bring myself and my readers so much joy?”

Self-distancing is a technique that enables you to ask yourself questions about your experiences while assigning your inner critic with a pronoun.

Distancing yourself and allowing your inner critic and self-doubt to be a separate part of your identity can help you view yourself from another perspective, empowering you to attack your issues with the same type of sympathy that you afford to others.

To learn more about how self-publishing can empower the next generation of writers, contact IncomeWriter for more information and resources.