As soon as my students (more than 5,000 of them now) find out how to write a book, their next question, “Should I self publish my book?”
My response is always the same. No matter what kind of book you plan on writing, or what kind of book you’ve already produced, always head towards the self publishing write.
There are no end of advantages and only one drawback. So if you believe in your book, if you believe you’ve produced a book that’s of benefit to readers, you really owe it to yourself to self publish your book.
To begin with, let’s define what I mean when I say “self publish” I mean you’re responsible for everything in the process of getting your book from your computer screen to the hands of the reader. Everything is your responsibility: printing, design, layout, distribution, marketing, fulfillment and everything you can think of.
You pay out of your own pocket for everything you can’t do yourself.
But the advances in technology and the advances in book marketing strategies has meant you can self publish for very little up front costs, unbelievably small compared to what you would have encountered just a few years ago.
Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! It’s free, no charge, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just email me at Free CD, Please, or CD_please@writeabooknow.com and make sure you include your name, your mailing address and your telephone number in the email. Now, back to the article…
Less than a decade ago, you’d be thinking about $5000 at a minimum. And that was just to get a pile of printed books into your basement. There were still more challenges, financial and logistical after that.
But today, self publishing is about as cheap as you want it to be. Print a single manuscript from your computer. Photocopy a dozen copies. Hand bind them for 50 cents each. Put them in inventory with Amazon.com and suddenly you’ve got world wide distribution for your self published book for just pennies no matter where you are in the world.
Now start doing audio interviews (or more) about your self published book for over the telephone and from the comfort of your own home. Readers can get your book directly from Amazon among others.
Once you’re making your name with that distribution channel, traditional book distribution becomes easy. You’re a proven entity. You’re a known author. People who hear you on radio are going into their local bookstore and asking about your book. That encourages bookstore to seek you out and get your book into their stores if that’s what you want.
And self publishing, can work for both fiction and non fiction books. True, even today the majority of self-published books are non fiction. But theres no reason you can’t use the very same techniques to get your book of fiction out there as well.
While publishing your book is as low cost and as effective as it always has been. And hear I’m talking about radio particularly the new (relatively) aspect of the internet has meant you can reach literally millions of potential buyers before the end of the week.
Finally, the one overwhelming factor that comes with self publishing your book is the profit margin. Most of the retail price can be yours and you have an infinite number of ways to monetize your readership as you sell them more of the books you write, as well as similar books from other authors.
Regardless of whether you self publish your book, or take the more traditional route, there’s a wealth of opportunity for you as an author. Your first task is to write your book and make your dream
While we're on the topic of strategies, and if you haven't already done so, feel free to
subscribe to my FREE on-line course, "How To Write A Book On
Anything in 14 Days... or Less" it's packed with tips, techniques
and tactics for writing your book faster than you ever thought possible! But
ONLY if you're SERIOUS about writing a book NOW!
Wait a minute! You mean you still don't have your writing program, "How to Write A Book On Anything in 14 Days Or Less... Guaranteed!"? Well click How to Write A Book!
Like this article? Link to it from your web site or blog -- just copy/paste this HTML:
Want to know how to destroy writer's block? Take a look at this article for all the answers you'll ever need.
Destroy Writer's Block
Cheers,
Steve Manning