Make your dream of being a Published Author come true through Self-Publishing
This is it!
This is the chance that you have probably been waiting for most of your life.
You have created a piece of fiction which you want to share with the world. You have revised and edited and polished your manuscript until it is the shiniest thing in shiny land.
You know that this story is the best that you can make it and you want to publish it and generate some income.
This is your business. Not a hobby. Your business hat is firmly on your head, albeit at a jaunty angle, and now you have to investigate the best ways to help readers find your work and enjoy reading your story.
You recognise that self-publishing is the business model for your book and cannot wait to get started!
When you self-publish your novel you will be working on your own, without a contract or deadlines. You will be in full control of your career as a solo writer-entrepreneur with all of the advantages and challenges that comes with being self-employed.
But all of that is worth it – because you have a fire in your belly to achieve your goal and see your story, your novel, published and available for readers to enjoy.
Dreamcatcher By Dyaa Eldin
So what can you hope to achieve by Self-Publishing Your Novel?
Creative Freedom to express your Unique Vision
Self-publishing means that you never have to put your name or pen name to a watered down version of your creative vision for your book. That’s special.
Example: When I wrote my first self-published crime book Deadly Secrets, I was concerned that my readers would be confused. Up until then the Nina Harrington brand was associated with warm and witty contemporary romances. How would they react to a mystery which still had my voice, but the romance was only a subplot in an action adventure police investigation?
I even thought about changing my pen name! But in the end I put my faith in the readers who are intelligent enough to know that many authors write in more than one genre under the same name.
So when it came to selecting a cover design, I wanted to communicate a clear message that readers should not expect even a hint of sweet contemporary romance from this book and went with a dramatic black and red cover with a girl holding a hand gun. Same author, same voice, but a different genre.
- The courage to take a risk
It is human nature to want to be liked. Putting your work on display for the world to see does expose your work – and indirectly your talent – to criticism which can be good or bad. There is not an author alive who has not had terrible reviews, even though the book may sell well.
The book of your heart may not be a book that other people respond to.
You have to be brave enough to face up to that risk and go with it.
- You set your own schedule and deadlines
There is no pressure from anyone else to force you to write to meet a set date. You are completely in control of your writing process and your writing schedule.
- Higher Royalty Payments
The usual royalty rate for a novel offered by a print publisher is 20 to 25% of the cover price, which is the list price, or the net received, which is the income received by the publisher after the discounts paid to the bookseller.
Royalties are only paid when you have ‘earned out’ the advance on these royalties that the publisher paid you when you signed the contract.
If you place your book with a Digital Publisher you might expect to be offered a royalty rate of 30 to 40% of the net receipts when the eBook is sold through an online book seller such as Amazon.com, or up to 50% if the eBook is sold through the publisher’s own website.
It is therefore very rewarding to know that the online retailers typically offer you up to 70% of the list price for your eBook. And you are paid monthly.
Photo Credit. Flickr/ Images_of_Money
- You hold onto all of your Publishing Rights
- You are in control of the Pricing Strategy for your book and can decide when to have offers and promotions
- You can follow the sales data for your book on each retailer
- You decide on the Cover Image. Which can be a HUGE factor for some authors.
- You can release your novel and have it on sale in days. Not months or even years with traditional publishers.
- Self Education. From effective social networking to cover design, copywriting and creating a compelling author profile on the online retailer site, the skills you learn as a new independent author will support all aspects of your writing career.
These are all compelling reason why independent publishing might be the best business model for this novel, at this time, in this stage of your career.
What do you think?
4 thoughts on “Make your dream of being a Published Author come true”
I think it’s a fabulous way for writers to gain an audience for their work.
Like you, I have self-published, and I enjoy being in control of the finished product.
You do have to be business-like and take a professional approach. I employed professional editors and a graphic designer, because I wanted to ensure the books I published were as good as they could be.
Let’s face it, businesses in other realms would employ accountants, graphic designers, web developers and marketing companies to help improve and promote their companies, so why should it be any different for writers?
I may be sticking my neck out, here, but I don’t think it will be long before writers employ agents, rather than submitting to agents and hoping they will be taken on.
Hi Rosie. I completely agree – you have to be totally professional in your approach and work with an excellent supporting team to make sure that your book is the best it can be. So many publishing companies use freelance as well as in-house staff, and it pays to follow their example. You do not have to do it all yourself. Your book is a great example of a professionally produced and published novel!
Thanks for the compliment.
I’m starting to wonder if self publishing might be a best option for me. My stories are in the style of category romance but they don’t fit any of the current lines. My only concern is that I don’t want to be one of those self-published authors who are poorly edited that are running rampant on Amazon. It’s so hard to assess your own work and when you write something unfashionable it’s hard to tell how much criticism is subjective and how much valid. Some is obvious but other criticisms can be less clear.
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