Why Would you NOT Self-Publish a Book?

By Angela England

Self-publishing is all the rage. I’ve been writing eBooks since before they were cool (aka pre-Kindle) and can testify to their power to transform a blog or business for the better. However, in the last five years I’ve seen truly horrible books being produced that did the author, and their business, no good whatsoever.

You might think it’s odd that someone who just launched a course walking people through the process of how to produce a book would warn people away. But let’s be clear, shall we? Writing a book, like running a blog or owning a business, is not for everyone. Some people should not publish a book – especially self-publish a book.

1. You want to get rich quick.

Did you know, the average self-published author only sells between 200 and 250 copies of their book? And traditional print may not be the answer, either – only about 20% ever see any royalty payments, if indeed your contract has royalty structure in place instead of one of the ever-more-common work-for-hire contracts that gives you an upfront payment only with no long-term revenue potential. The bottom line is, whether you go the traditional print route or the self-publishing route, you cannot be average.

The average author doesn’t sell enough copies to make it worth their while. The average author pays next year’s bills with next year’s books, creating a cycle of constantly searching for the next project and next contract, because last year’s book isn’t producing any extra income yet.

Self-publishing is, like most things worth doing, a bigger gamble with a far bigger reward than the safe mediocrity of punching someone else’s time clock.

2. Your book is too broad and not well-focused.

Publishing houses tend to like books that will appeal to a general audience. Broader titles are easier to get into bookstores and easier to get off the shelves as well. But self-published titles that are too broad and have no focus won’t be picked up by bookstores and libraries right away (if at all), so who will buy them? Well, unless you have thousands of rabid fans ready to invest in anything you tell them to, no one. Or at least not many.

One of the biggest mistakes I see self-published authors make is a failure to think about the book creatively. A self-published title needs to stand out. It needs to capture someone’s attention at a glance.

A brilliant example of this is Small Army Strategy by Srinivas Rao. I love the promise and premise that’s built into the title, and it certainly is different from a typical marketing book. It has to be, because do we really need another, “How to Market Your Business” book?

Don’t be bland. The benefit of self-publishing is the ability to have creative control. So don’t mimic the generality of mass-produced when you don’t have to.

3. You aren’t willing to invest in your book like a publishing house would.

Some authors just want to write and forget about it, then open a magic box from the publishing house 6 months later with their book inside. Fine – then you should be pitching legacy publishing houses for any of your titles, because self-publishing means YOU are the publishing house.

That means producing professional, high-quality graphic designs for the cover art and book layout. That means professionally formatted manuscripts that render correctly in every format you plan to offer (Kindle, Nook, etc.), with reader-friendly features like an Active Table of Contents where possible. It means professional-level editing as well. All of those things are probably going to cost you money, and you should gladly pay it.

When I took my self-published book on-air for a news segment in December, I had both it, and my first traditionally published book, side-by-side. And you know what the difference was when it came to quality? Nothing. Unless you looked at the front matter and made note of the publisher’s name, you would never know that was one Penguin and one was me. Only self-publish if you are willing to do the same with your book.

There are so many brilliant ideas yet to be brought into the world. Every day, I’m talking with amazing people who have breath-taking stories and incredible voices, and I can’t wait until those books exist in the world. But no brilliant idea should be overlooked because of an awful book production given today’s technology. If you take the time to self-publish a book, do it right and make it as outstanding as you are.

Are you considering publishing something this year?