A question that most authors will ask themselves at some point: “Is it worth it to self-publish a book?” The answer is rarely a simple yes or no. There are many factors to consider when thinking about self-publishing a book…
On the “yes” side, self-publishing a book makes a lot of sense when you are focused on the following:
- Keeping your rights: With self-publishing, one major perk is that you will keep your rights. If this matters to you, self-publishing is worth it.
- Retaining creative control: If your book is near and dear to your heart and you want it to remain the book that you wrote and not something that an editor completely reshapes into something else, maintaining creative control over the project is crucial and totally worth self-publishing.
- Making more money per book: Self-publishing authors see somewhere between 50% – 70% royalties, whereas traditional publishing nets authors around 10%. If you want to make several dollars per copy sold instead of less than a dollar per book, self-publishing is definitely worth it.
- Building a brand: Many of my self-published authors are not just publishing a book; they’re building a brand. With self-publishing, you’re able to use your book as a tool as you see fit and you don’t have to run your strategies by anyone else. It’s your book and your brand after all.
On the “no” side of whether self-publishing is worth it, self-publishing doesn’t make sense when you are focused on the following:
- Capturing mainly brick-and-mortar sales: If your main goal is to see your book on the shelves of all the major brick and mortar bookstores, self-publishing isn’t worth it. The fact is that the vast majority of physical shelf space at bookstores is devoted to traditionally published books. If you visit your local Walmart, Target or wholesale club, the books sitting out for sale are traditionally published and usually deeply discounted.
- Becoming a New York Times bestselling author: I can probably count on one hand the number of self-published or indie authors who have hit the NYT bestseller list. The NYT bestseller list is mostly a popularity contest and not based purely on sales. I know self-published authors who have sold tens of thousands of copies and they never landed on the NYT bestseller list. They did hit Amazon, USA and WSJ lists, though.
- Spending no money: If you’re broke and/or don’t want to spend any money on your book product, stay away from self-publishing. You can go the traditional route but keep in mind that a very small percentage of authors who go this route actually get their books published. Also, it’s a dirty little secret that many traditional publishers, if they pick you up, will encourage you to spend some of your advance toward a publicist to help you with promotion.
Hopefully this article helps you determine whether or not self-publishing is worth it for your particular situation. Everyone is different, and so is every book, so it’s never fair to say that self-publishing or traditional publishing is best for everyone. Look at your own desires and goals as an author and decide for yourself, after weighing the pros and cons of each method, which way you should lean for publishing a book.