Is Self-Publishing Right for You?

Publishing books can help you grow your business, educate your clients, and get established as an expert. However, deciding whether to find a publisher or self-publish can be daunting.

Here’s a list of some advantages and disadvantages of finding a publisher versus self-publishing. You may have others to add. Feel free to comment or send me your ideas and I’ll pass them on to readers.

ADVANTAGES OF SELLING RIGHTS TO A PUBLISHER
Publisher edits, designs, and prints the book
Publisher publicizes and promotes book
Publisher handles sales for the book
Publisher has national distribution to bookstores, book clubs, catalogs, etc.

DISADVANTAGES OF SELLING RIGHTS TO A PUBLISHER
Publisher controls editing, design, printing, and promotion
Amount of money paid to you in advance may be very low
Publisher of first time authors rarely invests in a lot of publicity and promotion
Author buys books from the publisher for re-sale

ADVANTAGES OF SELF-PUBLISHING
Author controls editing, design, printing, and promotion
Author can “find audience,” develop sales record and media experience
Author can make more profit by selling directly to audience
Self-publishing may be the only way the book gets published initially

DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-PUBLISHING
Author is responsible for all aspects of publishing and promoting books
Author commitment of time and money
Author shoulders all the risk
Hard to find national distribution to bookstores
Sometimes considered less valuable by media

Ask yourself who will be doing most of the selling—you or the publisher? Do you have an existing market, i.e. your client base, web site, or organizations where you can sell the books directly? If you intend to sell most of the books and have a direct market to do so, you may want to consider self-publishing.

If you believe that your book has a broad market and you have the name recognition to convince a publisher that your book will sell 25,000+ copies, you may want to consider finding a publisher.

Since catching the eye of a publisher is difficult for first time authors, some consider self-publishing first, developing a successful sales record, and then approaching a publisher.

Take time to explore both options for publishing. Talk to authors about their experiences.

These popular books can help you determine the publishing direction right for you:

The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter. No question, Dan Poynter is the “guru” of self-publishing. This book is now in its fifteenth edition, which should tell you something about how helpful it is.

Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents is published yearly so it’s hundreds of resources for writers are up-to-date. Herman explains the inner workings of the publishing industry plus literary agents give specific tips for what they want.