Read This Before You Pay Thousands to Publish Your Book
What writers need to know about the self-publishing industry
Self-publishers romance unsuspecting writers. They assure them the writing is fantastic, it will be a bestseller, and it’s one of the top manuscripts they’ve seen. I know many who have spent thousands, even tens of thousands, to publish their books.
The self-publishing industry, also known as vanity or subsidy publishing profits from aspiring wordsmiths.
There have been attempts to refer to vanity and subsidy publishing as ‘old fashioned’ terms. In favor of the streamlined ‘self-publishing’ moniker.
Essentially, all three words take advantage of writers who are willing to pay. The difference? The aforementioned often took control and rights away from the writer. The latter leaves the writer in control but still charges the same hefty fees.
But make no mistake. A reputable publisher will not ask a writer for money.
This isn’t going to make a lot of people happy. It’s going to disappoint those who have a dream. And it will aggravate those who make their living selling dreams.
But writers deserve to pursue their passion and remain hopeful while knowing the facts.
I promise these words will be inspiring despite being brutally honest.
I am a freelance journalist, former business columnist, and marketer who now writes primarily about relationships. At my core, I am still the girl, the dreamer, the writer who believes all things are possible. I believe every writer should subscribe to this philosophy. This is an industry where you need to defy the odds.
However, it is a great conflict of interest when I encounter the quintessential snake oil salesman speaking to hopeful writers.
Certainly, dreams come true.
But self-publishing typically results in a basement, garage, or guest room filled with books that sadly never meet a reader.
Don’t worry, not all hope is lost.
There are exceptions to this self-publishing rule. I will get to those in a moment.
But for the most part, those who have a story in their soul need to understand this industry. And how it takes advantage of promising writers.
Here’s what you need to know before self-publishing your book.
Channels of Distribution
The business side of publishing demands what is known as channels of distribution. In other words, how will your book funnel out and into the community?
Will it be sold online? In bookstores? At conferences?
Here’s what the self-publishing Gods fail to disclose:
It’s nearly impossible to get a mainstream bookstore to carry a self-published book. The most a chain may do is consider carrying it in the location closest to you. Additionally, just because a book is offered online (even on Amazon) does not mean it will garner a significant audience and sales.
Believe it or not, the average book sells just 3,000 copies when it is traditionally published.
This number is hard to attain via self-publishing.
I have a friend whose traditionally published book sold 30,000 copies. This is a great success story because many publishers consider 10,000 copies a success.
This particular individual had a million social media followers which obviously helped drive sales. To add even more perspective, a celebrity whose book was published at the same time, sold approximately the same amount of copies.
Another fellow writer also had a network of a million people. She decided to self-publish. She and I have since discussed the pitfalls of self-publishing and the boxes of basement books.
The bottom line — a big social media following does not necessarily translate into sales. Even traditional publishers who have taken on bloggers with large followings are beginning to find this out.
I spoke to a Vice President at one of the largest publishing houses. The marketer in me said, “You’re beginning to find out big social media numbers don’t necessarily mean big sales, aren’t you?” To which he replied, “Yes, how did you know that?”
Because I’m a writer and a marketer. Emotion drives consumer action. It’s not how many followers you have. It’s how many of those numbers are passionate about your work.
Promotion
A book needs to be promoted to encourage awareness and sales. This remains true for either a traditionally published or self-published book.
It is accomplished either from in-house or outsourced marketing and PR.
Therefore, individuals self-publishing their books will need to hire a PR firm or do the pitching themselves.
This entails getting in touch with local and national broadcast and print media. This is a challenging task. It is made even harder if someone does not understand the PR and pitching protocol. If one wants to hire a PR firm, they can pay monthly or ‘pay per hit,’ both types are in the thousands of dollars.
Here’s what the self-publishing Gods fail to disclose:
Many national print outlets will not review a self-published book.
It is possible to get into some local newspapers or magazines but even that is not always guaranteed.
As far as television, there was a day where being an author was enough to get an appearance. And that would be a well-known, traditionally published author. However, even they must fight to be relevant and have a great hook in today's highly competitive market.
The only thing which increases the likelihood of a self-published author securing a spot is if they are an expert in their industry.
Cost and Stigma
Sadly, self-publishers are often shameless.
They will offer compliments to the writer and tell them how great their work is. They will say they imagine it doing well. Once they have hooked the writer, they will charge thousands, even tens of thousands to publish a book.
A traditional publisher does not require an individual to pay for the cost of publishing.
Here’s what the self-publishing Gods fail to disclose:
This industry started with what is known as subsidy publishing and morphed into what is now called self-publishing.
Subsidy publishing fell by the wayside as it retained the rights to the book. Writers were not treated fairly and many of the practices were dishonest.
Self-publishing generally allows the author to own the rights and control more of the process.
The slang for subsidy publishing is called ‘vanity publishing.’
This term infers that anyone with enough money can publish a book. This does not make them a good writer. Hence, why there still remains a stigma to self-publishing. This is one of the greatest stumbling blocks to promoting and selling self-published books.
Any type of product, including books, must be well-positioned for the market in order to do well. One of the largest obstacles is customer acquisition.
Who is your customer? How will you reach them? And what channels of distribution will you use?
In the traditional publishing world, there is a business within the publishing industry that moves books. The marketing and PR departments. However, even these resources are rarely available to new writers. Ironically, most of the marketing budget is spent on promoting bestselling authors.
As a freelance journalist, former business columnist, and national columnist, I receive frequent pitches. The first thing I do is research to determine if the book is self-published.
This doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t write about it. I am passionate about thought leadership and industry expertise. But I will admit, it is the exception, not the rule. Even me, the big dreamer who believes every writer should realize their ultimate goal.
The Overall Takeaway
Self-publishers make money by promising dreams.
They take cash from well-intentioned, good, honest, heart-filled, passionate writers who have not lived within the publishing industry.
And therefore, believe the lies.
Their deception made even more believable since self-publishing is skyrocketing. But unfortunately, they will neglect to mention while their numbers have soared, the number of successful self-published books have not.
The irony? Self-publishers are big business. Such a big business hybrid publishers are also becoming common. This is a combination of the traditional and self-publishing model. But again, it requires the writer to output money.
Now to those self-publishing exceptions I mentioned.
There are basically two categories I believe will benefit from publishing their own book.
The first would be a writer who simply wants their story bound. The individual who does not care if their words are far-reaching, if their book sells, or if they make their money back.
The second would be an individual who is an expert in their field. Understanding of course, that this will not propel their expertise but be an accompaniment to it. It can be used to convey thought leadership and sold at conferences, etc. It can also help build expert status, generally done in unison with PR.
There are no easy answers in this highly competitive industry.
The one we have chosen to be a part of — or which has chosen us. Yet being informed will increase our chances of defying these odds.
My intent wasn’t to squash a dream but to reinforce it with the facts.
To empower writers to make an informed decision. Therefore, if the choice is self-publishing, there will be fewer surprises.
Traditional publishing has challenges as well. As mentioned, new writers are expected to market and promote their own work. An agent is generally required, though in the digital age some editors will now correspond directly with a writer. The process is lengthy.
There are no simple strategies.
The boxes in the basement, garage, and guest room are real.
Writing is no different than acting. It is a field littered with rejection where the strong of heart must persevere. For no other reason but the story in your soul.
