Self Publishing?

Elsha Fornfeld

Alright here is the big question every person that wants to be published faces - do I self-publish? I had three people today alone ask me if self-publishing is worth it. If they needed an agent to break into the field to be a hit or could they find success on their own.  I caution you to avoid paying $3000 to some random company to market and print your book; usually you will not break even. Unfortunately, I have several good friends who have fallen for this scam.

This is another huge reason we started this blog, to help you avoid these companies and types of frauds. We will get into publishers, printers, agents, and branding later into our blog and some of the main points of marketing. One of my good friends spent $2000 for about 50 books, business cards, and bookmarks, and then left him to market his own book. He did not sell very many books and felt conned by the company for what he was getting.

This gives self-publishing a bad name, but e publishing is the way the market trends are now going, and it allows for easy and inexpensive self-publishing. I think we all have the dream of seeing our book displayed at a bookstore with a large sign that says New York Times Bestseller’s List, and for some people that may still happen. I know two other authors’ who had their books picked up by large publishing companies after they had self-published on kindle. However, you can be e-published without ever spending a penny. Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, and several other companies are reputable and can get you started on the road to publishing. Kindle has 60 percent of the market share and Nook has 25 percent. Smashwords will distribute your book to all these other sites except for Amazon. Also, if you e-publish on other sites you won't be eligible for Amazon's KDP select which is an amazing promotional program that will do wonders for your sales.

 Amongst the websites, Kindle reaches the largest target market and will not sell your book to other competing companies. This can be a good thing since you maintain the rights to your book with Kindle. This is something you really want to make certain of that you maintain the rights to your own book when you e-publish. So read everything you agree to carefully.

Once you have your book edited, have a cover, and have selected a company, they will ask you all sorts of questions. Usually you have the option to distribute your book through them for 70 percent of the royalties or 35 percent of the royalties, which is what you will keep as profit. The 35 percent is usually  better if you are planning on printing and selling your book with these companies. If you’re determined to have a hard cover book rather than just an eBook there are still plenty of ways to do this affordably.  I will address this in another post and if you have any questions please be sure to write about them.


-Elsha Fornefeld