Things You Should Know About Self Publishing
So you’ve written an epic manuscript, and you are shopping it around to agents. Or maybe you’re skipping the agents and trying to go directly to the publishers. Only you’ve been at it for six months, and no luck. Should you consider self publishing as an option? If you are, then this article is for you. I’ll go over the basics of self publishing and how it works, so you can make a better decision.
First of all, their are several differences between self publishing and getting published by a traditional publisher. The biggest difference is that with a self publisher, you’ll have to do everything on your own. Except for the actual printing of the book, pretty much everything is up to you.
One thing you should think about is marketing. Without solid marketing, nobody will even know about your book. With a traditional publisher, they take care of all of that. With a self publishing company, you’ve got to do all of it on your own. Which means selling it online, or calling every bookstore yourself and seeing if they’ll stock your book.
One widely used way to market books it through book shows and expos. This is for the distributors, who are looking for new material to supply to bookstores. If your book is showcased there, and they see it and like it, it may end up in several hundred bookstores around the country. In order to get your book featured there, you’ve got to pay quite a bit of money. Sometimes self publishing companies will offer this as an extra service.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you go through a self publisher, your book will be print on demand. This means that your book will only be printed if somebody places an order for it, either a bookstore, or customer ordering it online. This will make the cost a few dollars higher. When traditional publishing companies print books, they print thousands at a time, making it much cheaper. So your customers will have to pay a couple extra dollars for your book.
Self publishing does have quite a few benefits.You will get a much higher percentage of the purchase price than with traditional publishing companies. You’ll also have much more control of your manuscript, the jacket design,and the editing. For those that want a total hands on approach, self publishing is definitely the way to go. And plenty of best selling novelists have gotten their start through the self publish route. You could be next.
To find the best self publishing companies, head on over to the self publishing companies website today.
