Why Should I Self-publish?

1. Introduction: Hello and welcome to Why should I self-publish? My name is Neil Hogan and I'm a bolt republished in the author, educator and book enthusiasts. I have eight years of experience in the industry and I love watching aspiring author successfully self-publish their work. One of the biggest questions I get during consultations with new ghostwriting clients is if they should publish traditionally or self-publish. I shared the advantages and challenges with these writers, but I also asked several questions to help point them in the right direction based on their responses. Which route to take is about what is best for you, your goals and your book. For some it's an easy decision to make. For others, you may need time to weigh the pros and the cons. This class is not for others committed to the idea of traditional publishing. In this class, you will learn ten Reasons to self-publish and ten questions you should ask yourself before embarking on this journey. 2. The Evolution of Self-publishing: In this first section, I'd like to share a brief summary of the evolution of self-publishing to help you better understand how far are we putting? Multiple sources state the earliest signs of self-publishing occurred in ancient Egypt around 3,100 BCE using clay tablets and papyrus scrolls. If you're asking yourself how, remember that self-publishing just means you're publishing a book using your own resources as the author. Nothing monumental really occurs until 1940, Johann Gutenberg entered the picture and improve the mechanical printing press that was already being used in China and Korea by inventing movable type, this innovation completely changed the course of history, especially in the Western Hemisphere, which led to the first mass-producing of print books. In 199071 of the largest print on-demand companies was founded. Lightning Source allowed for books to be printed one at a time. Now publishers no longer had to worry about the inventory and storage costs, which opened the market to more independent publishers. This jump-started many new self-publishing company such as create space and Lulu. In 2007, Kindle Direct Publishing launch, making way for authors to self-publish their work. The following year came smash words. And in 2011, Kane Book baby. Companies like these continued to make it easy for authors to not only self-publish, but also distribute their e-books across the world. 3. 10 Questions To Ask Yourself: In the next section, I have a question for you. Well, I have ten questions actually that you should ask yourself before committing to the self-publishing route. Question number 01:00 A.M. I. Up for the challenge and responsibility of doing, deciding, delegating, planning, and proofing everything from conception to post-marketing that comes along during my publishing journey. Self-publishing has never been a simple process for me. The more I learn about the industry, the more challenging it becomes. Many of the challenges I faced have to do with my own personal dissatisfaction with my storyline. If gaps with my editors and marketing, your challenges may be completely different. No matter what you're facing, you are the first in command on this project. For some, the responsibility is overwhelming, especially if you're working full-time, have other commitments in your personal life or overall don't have a lot of experience being in a leadership role. Are you ready to make all the decisions to get the job done? Number two, do you have enough knowledge about every step of the way or do you have the time and willingness to learn the business of self-publishing? Every time I publish, I learned something new. That's why I've decided to create for other self-publishing forces, help aspiring authors avoid the mistakes I made. And to share the knowledge I've obtained along the way. You may not know much about publishing. You may just have a solid book idea in a dream. Are you willing to try and learn new things? Are you willing to be open to the best practices at bestselling authors follow to seek new information as the industry changes. Question number three. Are you responsible enough to meet your own deadlines? Can you manage yourself and your time wisely? Self-publishing is a job. Deadlines while flexible in some senses, are still important to stick to. If you keep pushing back your release date, e.g. it may come across to your audience that you're not serious about your craft. You take personal responsibility for your work and your actions. Time management is important, but so is taking your brand seriously. You are the face of your brand and your book is the product. Some readers are buying your book simply because they're sold on who you are. Next step is number five. Do you have a basic understanding of book marketing strategies or are you willing to outsource marketing services to get your book in front of your audience. Listen, I am not a book marketing guru, but there are people out there that do this for living where you lack is where someone is always going to be willing to pick up. If you already have success marketing other products, then you can transfer those skills to selling your book. If you don't know what your readers want in a sales pitch or how to reach them. Are you willing to pay someone who does to help you get your book in front of them. Question six, then you effectively incorporate developmental feedback that can improve your story, but also stay competent in your vision. Feedback and critiques are worthless if you're unwilling to digest the thoughts of your editor and beta readers, even if you disagree, can you be open to seeing their point of view? No book is perfect and oftentimes our readers are the best people to help us make our book sharper and more impactful. In the same way, don't become a puppet and jump on every suggestion and comment about your book. Be strong in your premise and your themes. Number seven, have you done adequate research on the market and other books that to release around your release date. Are you willing to work around other releases? It's good practice to research the market anytime you intend to sell a new product. Do you know what books yours is in direct competition with? What books in your genre are set to release around the same time as your, this a smart business decision to release before around the same time or wait it out. And are you willing to be flexible once you have that knowledge? Question eight, do you have strong leadership qualities? You have the ability to manage a team of people. Are you ready to correct others mistakes and bounce back if necessary? I've run into issues with people on my team who cannot meet deadlines. I had to make the decision of if I should release them from their duties or except their tardiness and figure out how to better communicate my expectations. In a perfect world, everything will run smoothly. But what will you do if your editor goes to right before the deadline or your graphic designer isn't understanding your vision. What will you do if your format or makes a huge mistake on top of delivering late and you bounce back? Or are you going to throw in the towel? Question number nine, how will you handle things if sales are not meeting your projection? It's just as important to set a sales goal as it is to create a book budget. Your sales goals should always exceed your expenditures and should be realistic to the level of marketing, the amount of work you plan to put in. I helped a book release party and had a wonderful turnout. I sold enough books to break even on my investment for the event, but it didn't cover my expenses of getting the book published. It took a couple of weeks for sales to pick back up again, but I had to create a plan. Are you going to allow a slumped to discourage you from selling more books? And number ten, are you tech savvy enough to create accounts? Do you know where to find freelancers or companies to help you when you need it. Do you have or have access to the resources you will need to complete the self-publishing process. Setting up the accounts and profiles, you will need to self-publish a pretty user-friendly. But maybe technology isn't your strong suit. Who will you ask for help? I'm a huge advocate for finding freelancers to help me with tasks. I don't do well. I usually turn to fiverr.com. I once had a very lucrative freelancing career on fibers, so I may be a bit biased, but there are so many amazing places you can go online to find editors, designers, formatters, and marketers that are within your budget. How will you find your team? While advised, it's a common misconception that you have to have a strong online presence to sell books. There are other ways to reach readers. How will you, while most of us do, you realistically don't have to have your own computer or even an Internet connection in your home to be able to publish a book. You have to ask yourself though, can I be resourceful? Do you have a library card or have access to free Wi-Fi? You have to stay connected in order for this to be a success. 4. 10 Reasons to Self-publish: Ten Reasons to self-publish. There are many benefits to self-publishing, but like all things, it's important to weigh your options. In this section, I will cover ten reasons you should. As you listen to these reasons, ask yourself if these advantages aligned with your personal publishing goals. Reason number one, you'll have complete creative control. You have the final say over the words on each page, your cover art design, who you want to distribute your books too, and the release date, just to name a few things. Almost every book published traditionally has faced major revisions and redesign at the request of the publisher. As an indie author, you call the shots. Reason number two is that you can work at your own pace. The only deadlines you have to meet are the ones you set for yourself. If you're someone who doesn't work well under pressure or hard deadlines, e.g. and doesn't need a strict schedule to do your job, then this is going to be an advantage. If something unforeseen occurs, which has happened to me before. You also have the flexibility to move deadlines or even your release date if you need to. Number three has to do with cost efficiency. Self-publishing can come at a low-cost. I spent less than $100 to publish my first book back in 2014. I paid for cover art and editing. I didn't want a lot of inventory on hand, so printing cost investment was low. I also did all my marketing organically. And to be honest as budget didn't get very far with the longevity of sales, but it did help me to publish my first book, baby. At that time being published was more important to me then how many books I sold or how much money I made. The fourth reason is having full marketing and publicity control. You decide who you want to market to and how you'd like to reach them. Having that freedom is especially important to you if your book is really personal. If you're good at running ads and you have experienced in sales and marketing, then this can allow you to transfer your skills with minimal interference with your own unique vision. Number five, and I'll admit this is one of my favorite reasons, is that you'll have control over developmental editing. In a traditional publishing scenario, some developmental edits are not suggestions but rather requirements. As an indie author, you choose what changes you'd like to move forward with, if any at all, after receiving your critique. It can be frustrating feeling pressure to make changes to your book that you don't necessarily agree with. The advantage of self-publishing is that you have the final say. Number six, there is no submission process. I hate pitching my book with a passion. As an indie author, you get to skip the process of finding the right agent and publisher to represent you and your book. There is no need for query letters, and best of all, there is no waiting game to see if your book actually gets picked up. All of this is time-consuming and it does not guarantee that your book will ever be published. The seventh reason is that your book can't face rejection from publishers. You can't receive a rejection letter from a publishing house if you've never submitted a query. If you don't handle rejection while deciding to self-publish as a way to maintain your competence as a writer. This journey is hard enough without someone regretting to inform you that they aren't interested in your book. And just because you received several rejection letters doesn't mean that your book is bad. It could just mean that you haven't found the right fit for your book. Number eight is that you choose your release date. Traditional publishing can take years. Being able to choose your release date can alleviate a lot of pressure. You can align your book release up with a special time in your life. Or it may simply be important to you to publish sooner rather than later. Either way, being in control of the state is empowering something to consider. However, is that publishing houses know when other books are set to release from other companies. These dates are often revealed well in advance to begin the marketing for them and to kick off those pre-orders. You do not want to be competing with books that readers have been waiting for all year from others that they already love. Reason number nine, you choose your team. Outsourcing is an excellent way to save time and turn certain jobs over to the experts. From your editors, your designers, to your marketing team. You choose your drive. Being the boss means you get to hire the best team to support you and your project. While you don't want a bunch of yes men on your team, it's important to have people that you enjoy working with that are working hard for you and are invested in doing their very best. It's easy to do that when you're the hiring manager. And finally, number ten, you control the budget. Generally speaking, traditional publishing costs more than self-publishing. Most expenses and a traditional publishing scenario will be covered in your book deal. But you don't start getting paid royalties until your advanced is paid back in full, as we know in advance is alone. So that has to be paid back. Your repayment comes in the form of selling a certain number of books. Yes, advances can be on the smaller end. But just imagine signing 1 million dollar book deal and the pressure of having to repay that advance. While you don't get an advance as an indie author, unless you solicit some type of funding, you control how much money you invest based on what you expect that investment to return. You wouldn't take out a loan for $2,000 to cover book production cost unless you plan to make enough money to pay it back. Only budget what you're willing to lose. That is of course, in the event that your book takes a while to return on your investment. Another cost you don't have to budget in is hiring a literary agent. Another advantage is print on-demand options unless it's negotiated in your book deal, traditional publishers are often going to order thousands of copies of your book at a time to sell a major retailers. If you don't sell all those books in a timely manner, after awhile, they have to go on sale, which means you're losing money on those printing costs. Also, it's rare that traditional publishers allow you to outsource services like editors and formatters. Therefore, it's going to cost more to pay them out. While this is worked into your book deal, it's still an expense. By having full control over your budget, you can keep costs down and start making a profit sooner. 5. Conclusion: In this section, I pose ten questions you need to consider before starting your self-publishing journey. If you feel good about your answers to most of these questions, then it's a sign that you're up for the challenge. If you're still uncertain about the answers to majority of these, it's okay to do some soul searching and some research. Before revisiting the class. I have added my self-publishing checklists to the project section of this class in case you'd like to see the many things in the office have to do in order to successfully publish, end sell their books. Deciding to self-publish is a big decision and one that should be thought deeply about. In the discussion section, I will add the links to seven articles that I loved referring new writers do before I created this course. I suggest jotting down all the reasons you want to self-publish. This list may change over time. Had I made a list before starting the process of publishing each of my books, my list would have looked very different. I got older, I learned more, my life changed. Therefore, soda, my goals. There'll be moments on this road to becoming an author where things may feel overwhelming or make you question your y. Referring back to this list may help you stay motivated to follow through with the process. To conclude this course was about answering the question, why should I self-publish? After the overview of the evolution of the industry? I gave you ten reasons to consider this option. Lastly, I post ten questions. All writers interested in self-publishing should ask themselves. I hope that you better understand how viable the option of self-publishing is and feel more confident in making your decision to move forward if that's where you're at. If you enjoyed this course, please leave me a positive review and share what was most helpful to you. Again, my name is Neil Hogan and it has been my absolute pleasure walking you through this course. Why should I self-publish? I hope that you found this course useful and of course, I wish you all the best on your self-publishing journey. See you later. 6. Bonus Content Why Should I Self Publish: Hello, and welcome back to Why Should I Self publish? I'm back to share some bonus content on marketing. With the endless number of book marketing strategies available, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Marketing a book is a necessary and often complex part of the publishing process and requires proper planning. As an Indie author, you are responsible for creating a timeline that allows you to adequately promote your book as well as your brand. Staying organized with a calendar will help you make enough time to properly market yourself and your book. Having a budget set is the first step because some marketing strategies will not be free. It's important that you plan where your dollars are going and when you don't end up in debt, especially that you can't recoup quickly. As you market your book, remember that you are also marketing your author brand. Consistent brand colors, logo, fonts, styles, and voice should be consistent and recognizable across all platforms, whether that's your auor website, your social media handles, or your marketing materials. Building an email list is an excellent way to grow loyalty and gain new readers along the way. Creating a sense of exclusivity, whether through discounts, giveaways, or sharing never before seen content can help readers feel more than a transaction and keep them in the loop about your brand and your book release. A social media presence is necessary and so is formulating a strategy to reach your target audience. Now is not the time to throw spaghetti at the walls to see what sticks. You need an intentional plan with a good mix of relevant content. It's deeper than promoting a book. You're taking your followers on a journey and connecting with the community of people who will hopefully read and appreciate your book. Creating a media kit before your release will help simplify the promotion process because you always have information on hand about you and your book. Never miss an opportunity to promote. Consider ways to engage face to face, even before the release. Interviews, public speaking engagements, fairs, and conferences are a few places to start. Look for ad opportunities as well. Other creators may be willing to read and review your book to their followers, which can open you up to a larger audience of potential readers. I hope these final remarks have been helpful to your self publishing journey. Thank you for joining me again in the classroom.