There is a lot of confusion buzzing around about the terms Self-Publishing and Digital EBook Publishing. While Ebooks are part of a Self-Publishers’ arsenal, they are not the only weapon available to the author.
“I’ve written a book, now I need a publisher.” These are the words that are ingrained in every writer. And they are right – a traditional publishers can do a lot for a writer (they have deep connections and even deeper pockets.) But in the mean time, while you wait for them to call and offer you that lucrative contract, you can self-publish.
Self-Publishing is a Business
Be prepared, it is a lot of work, and extremely time consuming. No matter who does the publishing – you, your friend, or Knopf – it is a business. It takes a lot of time, a lot of hard work, and even more patience. And that is the part that has writers groaning into the night. We haven’t even discussed marketing and promotion – that may have you hiding under your pillows in despair.
It takes time – yes. In fact, the amount of time it takes will frustrate you. But take heart. If you develop a routine, then the process becomes less painful. And remember, every marketing strategy you employ puts you that much closer to the desired result – a publishing contract.
Self-Publishing
Self-publishing means you take on all the responsibility of getting noticed. You have to set aside time to market yourself. I like to do all my connective work (facebook, blog) in the morning – even before I am dressed. I spend about an hour, sometimes less, and then I take a small break, preparing myself for my writing.
One thing every author needs to ingrain in their mind – you are a business and the commodity is you. Not your books, but you. (You’re going to write more than one book, right?)
So, there are three avenues for getting your product into the hands of readers.
- Traditional Publishing (Commercially printed books: the books you see on bookshelves.)
- Print on Demand or POD (tangible books, printed on demand,
but of lesser quality printing than Traditional or commercial printing.**)- E-Publishing. (Ebooks formatted for e-readers.)
**Thank you to Jeremy Soldevilla for correcting this error — POD printing is of a very good quality and a much greener approach than traditional as books are only printed when ordered. I apologize for publishing an out-of-date comment.
Choosing the Right Avenue
While e-publishing is within the realms of Self-Publishing it is not “self-publishing”. The term self-publishing is exactly what it says, publishing your book yourself – in all aspects of the word: traditional or POD and electronic.
It also encompasses marketing, promotion, and a whole lot more. But I don’t want to scare you right now. Let’s just stick to the basics, shall we?
Traditional: Your budget will determine what avenues you can take. Traditional publishing require money up front. For many that may be a difficult aspect to swallow or attain, especially in an economic downturn. Additionally you also have to deal with promoting to bookstores, buy backs and much more.
POD (Print on Demand) is less expensive than traditional. The books are printed “on-demand”. POD books are as easy to create as Electronic books, and make for “greener” choice. (However, take care promoting and supplying books to bookstores directly until you fully understand their policy on buy-backs.)
E-publishing or ebooks is the easiest way to get your book into the hands of readers. All you need is a formatted book and a venue in which to upload it.
Using Third-party services
If you do not want to go the path of formatting and distribution, you can use one of many third-party services that will convert and distribute your novel for you. Smashwords, is a very popular online service. These services charge a percentage for every book sale through their distribution service. That is a cost you pay above the percentage you will pay to the e-tailer.
Third-party services also do not guarantee sales. They are supplying a service to get you distributed. Marketing and promotion is still your responsibility.
Self-formatting
This process isn’t as hard as it sounds. In fact, we’ve developed a DIY Formatting Kit with Tutorials, Quick Guide Manual, Videos and more to walk you hand-in-hand through the process. There are also several great formatting services to take you from manuscript to e-publication.
Once your book is formatted you have complete control over its distribution.
Marketing and Promotion
I invite you to check out our Marketing Tips or email us your questions.
A traditional publisher helps with the marketing and promotional aspect of publishing your book. That is a tremendous relief for authors, as allows them to focus on what they do best – write. However, there are several marketing and promotion avenues the author is still responsible for.
Several POD services offer marketing help – but you need to make sure you are dealing with an expert in the field. Check out their ROI (return on investment) for other authors who have used their services.
Very informative post. I am so glad you made me aware of the buy back issue. You are providing a great service for authors with your super blog.Thanks!
Eva, You are welcome. Buy backs from retail stores can be quite the pain, and costly for a independent author. You could end up with a garage full of books. That is the risk a traditional publisher takes on authors and why, I think, it is so hard to break in.
I would start with POD (online) and e-publishing. Then if the popularity increases, and you want to do a book signing, have a small print run (traditional) – more costly per book, but you are providing readers with what they are looking for when shopping a walk-in bookstore. POD is acceptable, but may not be high enough quality.
TIP: purchase your book form your POD to check its customer service, cart fulfillment, and quality of the book.
— Suzanne
Hi, Suzanne,
Good post, as usual. Only one point I would disagree with: “Print on Demand or POD (these are tangible books, but of lesser quality printing than Traditional or commercial printing.)” This used to be true. But the fact is that today’s POD books have just as good quality as offset books. The only difference is if they are self-published and the author or self-publisher doesn’t know traditional formatting and design standards, the end result will be a book that appears to have less quality. As far as production quality, POD books are as good as offset these days, depending, of course, on who the printer is.
Thanks Jeremy. And you are right. Today’s POD standards are amazing, and I am glad you called me on this — Suzanne