What Authors should know about: Self-publishing
Self-publishing is a road Authors can take when deciding how to publishing their books.
Oh Authors, grab your notepads, pens and write everything from this blog down. In this blog you will read about the basics of what self-publishing is, and reasons why you would want to pick this road. Self-publishing is one of the different publishing roads authors can take for their books.
As a new Author one big step you must make once you start writing is how you will sell/represent yourself in the author world. By this I mean, will you choose the Self-publishing, Indie publishing or Traditional publishing road?
Without further piffle, let’s get down to business.
Starting with the basics, what is Self-publishing?
Self-publishing is when you publish your own books, using any kind of printing and distribution without the use of a publisher/author service company.
Why is this important to know?
Simply because, every author should know why they call themselves Self-published.
When you hear an author say “I am a Self-published Author”.
You might be tempted to think “Wow, that sounds so cool! Self-publishing must be easy if so many people can do it.”
In fact that’s the thought I used to have when I heard people say that. I knew it wasn’t super easy, but from what I had learned about the different ways to get published it sure sounded faster and easier then the other ways. AKA: Traditional and Indie publishing.
The truth of the matter is that Self-publishing can be faster than traditional publishing, but is by no means easier.
So, how do you choose? Great question! You choose based on what you want out of your book journey.
Before I get into that let’s go over what jobs Self-published Authors do for their books.
You are the boss, in self-publishing.
You do it all, from writing, editing and marketing.
- You write the books
- Hire the editor
- Manage and launch marketing for your books
- Create and manage your author website
- Sell your books
- Plus so much more.
Boss of it all, creating, marketing, selling, you name it, you are the boss of it.
Being a Self-published Author can be a very stressful and exhausting job to take on. And you have many challenges you have to face.
Self-publishing Challenges:
Learning all about book marketing.
Picking an editor by yourself
Learning new skills for your book
How do you create an Author website? All of these plus a ton more, are just a few hurdles I’ve run into as I traveled down my author journey.
So why on earth would you choose to become a Self-published Author if it sounds harder than it’s worth?
An excellent point! Let me elucidate here: (Starts singing “Everybody wants to be a cat.” Don’t mind me. Compulsive singer over here. :))
The true power of becoming a Self-published is the control you get to have over your book.
Authors are all different and some want little control and others want total control. So, if you want control over your books then Self-published is most-likely your best path.
Why is control so important? Don’t all Authors have control over their books?
Let me put it this way.
Did you know as an Author you have many new super powers? Here are your top 2.
Author power #1
Author Power #2
(copyright ownership)
Power #2 is one of the important ones you need to keep an eye on. Especially if you plan on signing any contracts with anybody in the future.
These rights that can be given away by permission of the author at any time. But, I highly recommend caution when this topic comes up. Just like with anything legal, protect your rights and only give them away for something you really believe is worth it for you and your career.
What does it mean to give away / sign away the rights to your books?
If you sign a contract or agreement that states you give them the legal rights to your book, that means they (whoever gave you the contract to sign) own the rights to your book. They can sell, print and publish your book without your permission and pretty much do whatever they want with it.
Of course, this depends on what the contract states and such. Please before signing any 2 plus pages of fine print contracts, hire someone to look at them for you to see who owns the rights.
Imagine creating a book and it goes viral! A big shot company comes to ask to take your book and create a movie or tv show out of it. You think that sounds awesome so you say yes. The contract comes and your legal person reads it over. They tell you that the company gets the book rights for this book, if you sign. You figure why not. The book is written already, what would they do with it? So, you sign and the company takes your book and turns it into a tv show. You get a preview and it’s nothing like your book. You’re shocked and want to take action against the changes the company made on your book. Your legal person reminds you that when you gave away your book rights to that book, you gave the company permission to do whatever they wanted to do with your book too. Thus, you can’t do anything. You signed the contract that allowed the company to take your book rights and do what they want with it.
Moral of the story: Always read over contracts with a legal person, know who owns the rights to your book. And understand in full what you are signing over.
Wow, that was a long but Important tangent.
Control, that is what we Self-published Authors love and get to enjoy. If we don’t like how something looks or reads, we can change that. Control is a wonderful power to have when you are an author.
But, as also stated above it comes with it’s own set of challenges.
“With great control, comes great responsibilities.” My take on Uncle Ben’s great lesson from Spider-Man®.
Many Authors dream big, but we must take everything that comes with dreaming big. The good and the bad.
Benefits of Control as a Self-published Author
How will your book look? You get to design it, or hire someone to design it the way you want.
What colors do you want for your book cover? You get to pick them.
How many illustrations, if any? You choose.
Story change? You can decide.
Characters to be changed or added? You da boss.
Want to market your book in bookstores, and online? You’re choice.
Want to sell your books anywhere? You can if you learn how.
Want to rebrand? You can.
I think you’re getting the drift. You are the boss, you make the calls and say what’s up.
Self-publishing is a great road for Authors to take if they want full control of their books. It’s a challenge but a great one full of opportunities once you get started.
Here are some fellow authors who are self-published for inspiration.
- Amanda Hocking
- Bev Stout
- Michelle Warren
- Mary Cecilia Freeman, self published Author, hehehehe, well I am.
This post was all about:
Self publishing challenges, pro’s and con’s.
Thank you for reading until the end. As a new blogger any and all support is appreciated and welcome.
Write on~
Cecilia
