5 Self-Publishing Misconceptions
Despite being an established, diverse, and thriving industry, self-publishing is still shrouded in misconceptions. Perhaps it’s because traditional publishing has been the norm for so long. Or, maybe it’s because not enough people know where to find self-published work. Whatever the reason, people still believe so many falsities about the industry. From why authors choose to self-publish to how well self-published books sell, DiggyPOD is here to dispel those misconceptions.
Self-publishing is all about eBooks
Clearly, if you’re following DiggyPOD, you know this is wrong. While a lot of writers choose to self-publish eBooks, self-publishing is so much more than just digital books. With Print on Demand technology, printing is easier and more efficient than ever. It cuts down on waste and produces an impressive and competitive product. Plus, it’s quicker than offset presses, getting your book on the market faster.
Printing books is expensive
Again, not true. Of course, self-publishing takes a certain amount of investment from actual printing to self-marketing. However, at DiggyPOD we offer competitive prices, plus free ground shipping if you print 100 books or more. Print on Demand technology actually cuts down on cost by controlling inventory. As the quantity goes up, the price per book goes down significantly. The ease of self-publishing completely outweighs the price to print.
Self-publishing is for writers who can’t find a traditional publisher
A lot of authors actually choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route. It’s easier and quicker than traditional publishing. Querying agents can be a tiresome, unrewarding task that can take months and even years. Even once you find an agent, your work isn’t over. You must then pitch your book to publishing houses. There’s no guarantee that your book will even be bought by a publisher, so your manuscript could end up sitting with your agent for awhile. After all that hard work, it would be a shame for your manuscript to be held back.
Self-published work is hard to market
Yes, of course, when you choose to self-publish you’re forgoing traditional marketing, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to market your book. The advent of social media makes it easy to get word of your book out there. If you build up a significant following, you have your own little community to sell to. If you wish to pay for advertising, Facebook and Twitter ads are an excellent way to advertise your book without paying an arm and leg for it. For more tips on how to promote your work, refer to Monday’s blog.
Self-publishing equals small sales
Take it from these self-publishing success stories: you can make it big. Sure, it takes time and effort on your part, but isn’t your writing worth it? Marketing can be difficult if you’re a newcomer, but, as stated above, with social media and Internet marketing tools, you can succeed at selling your book. Plus, if you print with DiggyPOD, you keep 100% of the sale of your books. There are no royalties to share or contracts to sign, so you can focus entirely on your book.
As self-publishing becomes more and more popular, these misconceptions will be proven wrong, and self-publishing will be seen for what it really is: an incredible opportunity, a rewarding business, and a way to make your dreams reality.
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[…] Typically, traditional book publishing is thought of as the norm, as better than self-publishing, but if you read last week’s blog post, you know that isn’t […]
The truth is that ANY published work can be hard to market. The big publishing houses aren’t providing much marketing support these days. Even if you’re traditionally published a lot of the marketing support is going to be your responsibility.
Hello,
I’m Sasi Kala as the author of two self-published books, “Longing to Belong: An Immigrant Woman’s Story, and Cultural Heritage of the Nepalese”. I’m delighted to read your blog posts. I loved your arguments and reasoning about self-publishing, here!
As you wrote, self-published books are hard to market. My books, are being sold through the Amazon.com’s physical and online stores in a few countries. This gives me a few dollars, but not as much as they should be giving, because my products are genuine and useful. I don’t have advertising budget. Are there other ways to market my books? Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
Sasi Kala
Hi Sasi!
Great question. If you don’t have an advertising budget, a great way to market your book is to build an author platform on social media and create a following. You can promote your book for free on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.
Hope this helps!