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Is self-publishing worth it?

As I pointed out in the previous article, there are many, many avenues to promoting your book, selling it and promoting yourself as a writer.  

Is it time consuming?  Is it a lot of effort?  Is it absolutely satisfying to have your book being read by others?  Is it fun to do book signings?  Is it great to receive emails from readers, praising your book?  Can you take a lot of pride in your name being on the cover of your book?  Have you likely worked hard to create the story?  Did you enjoy writing it? Would you do it all over again?

The answer to all of the above is a definite YES! if you are serious about being a published author.

Although I have received a number of manuscripts for publication on this site in the short time it has been available on the internet, I have had to turn all but two down.  Why?  Well, unfortunately, they have come from people sincerely wanting to be writers, but lacked the training or know how.  I do not say this in a mean way, but am merely stating fact.  It is so important that one learn to write well before attempting publication.  This is especially important if you are interested in self-publishing.

Let me stop here and talk straight about being published on the thousands of booksites that have sprung up.  These sites publish every single book they receive, regardless of the writing or story-telling ability of the author.  Why?  Because they are in it for one thing.  YOUR MONEY!   They charge you to put your work on their site!  Guess what?  It costs me absolutely nothing to place your book on my site but the half hour or so it takes to create the page on which your story appears, paste your story in and create hyperlinks to and from it.

Perhaps I have the wrong philosophy and should post these stories for the money, but plain and simple, that is not what a real writer would do.  Sure, I enjoy making money, but I want to make it from my own creativity, my own skills as a writer and, along the way, try to help other writers.

Some of these sites offer POD, or print-on-demand.  In other words, they offer the book in paperback to visitors to their site.  They sell it for about $16 plus shipping and handling.  Hey, that's okay, because you get about $4 royalty on the sale.  But, again, guess what?  You want some of those paperbacks to promote your book or to sell yourself?  12 bucks plus shipping and handling!

You pay $12 per book plus shipping and handling, yet a wholesaler can buy your book for about $9.60.  Wait a minute!  That doesn't seem fair, does it?  Of course it isn't fair.  But, remember, that website you sent your book to is in business for one thing; to make money. 

How much do they charge you to place your book on their site?  Prices range from $99 to $3,000, depending on how many of their services you want them to perform, including editing, creating cover art etc.  So, if you have them edit your book, create its cover and set it up for printing, you could spend as much as three grand and still not have a single, solitary book in your hand.  They have the audacity to not even supply you with a few copies, so you can prove to Auntie Hilda that you are a published author.

Publishing your book at one of these sites can be a part of your overall strategy to promote yourself, but only at a site where they charge nothing or a small fee.  I would limit that fee to $100.  As far as buying books from them to sell?  Why pay such an outrageous price for your own book?  It just doesn't make sense, unless you just want a couple to prove to your detractors and Auntie Hilda that you are a published author. (:

We dedicated, determined writers hope to do much more with our writing than have our name on two or three copies of a book.  If you have never published a book, did a book signing and had the experience of buyers being thrilled at meeting the author, you are in a for a delightful experience one day.  People look at writers and authors as celebrities.  I must admit to truly enjoying telling someone my name and their saying, "That's name's familiar.  Are you the Bill MacWithey that wrote..."  Of course I tell them yes and that I also wrote etc, etc, etc. as I hand them a card with my website and book titles on it. (:

Here is an overall plan for self-publishing and promotion of your work.

Yes, I will make a couple of bucks, but you will get an excellent, well edited book with a very attractive cover.  It took me a long time to find the right printer.  Many printers of books use yellowish, poor quality paper and must use a sledge hammer press, because the print throughout is ragged and poor.  What good is a book that you are ashamed of the quality and bookstores don't want coming in their door?

What if you could have your book edited, printed and delivered to your door for as little as $6.50 per book?  As I pointed out in my previous article on self-publishing, my book had a cover price of $10.95.  But, I wasn't concerned with price, I was concerned with promotion.  Suppose you have a cover price of $14.95?  This would give you room for offering a good discount to others selling your book, and you can still make a good profit per book.  If you offered a 40% discount (or commision) doing the math is simple.  You would receive $9.00 per book, or a profit of $2.50.  This compares to a royalty of about $.80 per book from a regular publisher.

But, suppose you sell books from your website, or through a site like mine?  If your book is available as a paperback and a download from my site, I split the profit on the download, but you get 100% of the paperback sales and your profit is enough to offer free delivery and handling.  It costs about $1 to mail a paperback anywhere in the country, mailing at book rate.  You have earned a net profit on one book of $7.50.  Not too shoddy!  Plus, you would make about $1.50 for each book bought as a download from my site.

The $6.50 price is based on an order for 500 books.  A thousand books brings the cost down to $6.00 per book.  250 books increases the price by $2.75 per book.  One of the major costs in printing a book is making all the plates for printing.  So there is a built in cost that doesn't change as the number of books increases.  That's why the cost per book decreases, as the number of books increases.

I would be happy to take a look at your book and make any suggestions I can and be more specific about the editing etc that it might need and any further details about my publishing offer.  Just email me at writebill@satx.rr.com   Click here for a quick summary of this and the previous article to publish and promote your book.

 I have placed a link below back to the writing sample.  Read it carefully, and you will see the need for details in describing the place, your character, her situation and her emotions.  I hope this article has been of some help to you.