Different authors have different reasons for self-publishing. If no publishing company is willing to take chances on you, you could opt to self-publish your own book. Be ready to shoulder all the costs and take care of just about everything, from writing, to editing, to publishing, and marketing. Here are the most common motivations why authors prefer self-publishing.
An author is rejected by any major publisher because of several obvious and logical reasons. First, he could be unknown to the book industry. Face the truth. Most successful book authors are celebrities or icons in their own fields. No publisher could be willing to gamble on nobody because readers would not be easily open to reading content from nobody. Second, the topic could be obscure.
An author may feel good about an issue, but most other people think it is irrelevant and boring. On the contrary, a very controversial topic for a book is also avoided because no publisher would ever want to face legal hurdles and battles for any unknown author. The subject could be of interest only to a minimal amount of the population.
Lastly, the author’s writing style, genre, and grammar is simply rejected.
Another reason for any author to go self-publishing is that he desperately desires complete editorial and artistic freedom. The author may not agree with any modifications required by the publisher. It is common for some writers to resist criticisms and changes especially if they think such are destructive to their ego.
He may be targeting to take complete control and rights to the intellectual aspect of the book. The author might feel he needs to make sure the rights, sales, database, and fame of the book remain his. Then, he could be motivated by the low overall publishing expense of the book. He could also feel more confident and comfortable with the idea that he is publishing independently.
If authors have no other resort like self-publishing, the history of book publishing industry could have probably been different. Some of the most unforgettable booksellers worldwide were classics that originally had been published independently by authors. Examples are the phenomenal ‘In Search of Excellence’ (Tom Peters), ‘The Joy of Cooking’ (Irma Rombauer), ‘Spartacus’ (Howard Fast), ‘Poems’ (Oscar Wilde), and ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ (Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield).
To sum it up, be reminded that self-publishing is not an entirely new practice. In fact, it has been around, though in different forms, since time immemorial. These days, self-publishing is logically increasing amid further advancement of the modern-age publishing technology. With the emergence of desktop publishing systems, xerography, the Internet, and print on demand, self-publishing is becoming a clear phenomenon in the changing publishing industry.
But are you cut for it? Not all authors have what it takes to survive and make good in having to self-publish a book. Before you get into such an endeavor, be wise to think once, twice, thrice, and many times over.
Self-publishing a book is something that requires balance in all aspects. It requires good promotion and marketing for a book to be known in the market and therefore, increase its sales. But how could you have a well-rounded marketing plan if you have limited sources? Most self-published authors would have to work with a limited budget.
There are simple steps that you can do to start promoting your book in a cost-efficient way. Here are some things that you can easily do.
• Maximize the internet. You can start talking about your book in blogs. You can also start joining discussion groups about books. There are readers and book enthusiasts that are eager to discover good self-published book. There are different websites that posts book reviews online. You can ask them if they would like to do a review of your book. This would give your book an opportunity to be rated and promoted at the same time. Bu you have to remember to be conscious when posting about your book, you do not want to sound fresh out of the Yellow Pages. You can answer their inquiries and at the same time provide some information about your book. You can even create your own website.
• Another cost-efficient way to promote your book is to attend writer conventions, conferences, and other events. Just make sure that you would have business cards with you and ready to take contact information for possible contact people. If you feel that there are no conventions or any events that you can go to, then why not bring the event to you and your book? You can organize book talks, whether it is a small or a big event, the important thing is that you have done something. You can talk to colleges and libraries if it is possible for you to host readings or local literary events. You do not have to spend a lot of money to host activities.
• Another easy marketing tip the self-publishing authors could do is write a press release. A press release should contain the description of the book, written in a way that would draw the interest of different media outlets. If you have no experience in writing press releases, then there are many websites that could help you write press releases.
• Do not underestimate the power of online distribution, you can have your book in Amazon or any other similar websites. This would help you promote your book.
• Also, do not forget that nobody could spread the word faster than friends, relatives and family. Make sure that they read the book and promote it for you. News spread fast.
• Another fact is that there are some people who are very excited on knowing that you are an author, so they would buy a book and put it into their shelves and actually say that they know the writer. There is nothing wrong in taking advantage of that way of thinking. So make sure that you have a business card anywhere you go. Also include the book information in your book, so they would get the idea that you are an author.
Marketing and promotion is not something that you can do successfully overnight. Whether you are into self-publishing your book or a publishing house is doing it for you, nothing is wrong if you would be promoting your book. You would also have to remember the promoting a book is something that would require patience, persistence and enthusiasm.
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