Are you an aspiring or seasoned author ready to take control of your creative work? If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, you have most likely thought about self-publishing. If self-publishing is new to you, it may feel intimidating and you may be wondering: is it even worth it?
What is self-publishing?
Self-publishing is essentially the D.I.Y (do it yourself) for publishing creative work. It differs from traditional publishing where authors use a publishing company to help sell their work.
Here are a few reasons to inspire your next work to be self-published. Read on as we go in depth about each one!
YOU are the owner of your content.
Guaranteed publishing. Guaranteed “published author” on your resume!
Earn more for your hard work.
You have full quality control of the content and appearance.
Networking, marketing, more eyes … Oh my!
YOU Are the Owner of Your Content
When you self-publish, you own 100% of the rights to your work. According to scribemedia, when working with a traditional publisher, the publisher always owns the print license, including digital work, and the author owns the copyright. In the end, the publishing company makes all final decisions on your work. When self-publishing, an author does not have to share the rights with anyone, and has complete creative control. If you’ve dedicated many hours and lots of brain power into your work, you probably want to keep the rights in your own hands.
Guaranteed Publishing
When you choose to self-publish, you have the ability to finish writing on Monday morning and publish on Monday afternoon. This is a bit exaggerated because in reality, you'll reward yourself for finishing writing with a nice break on the couch, going for a walk, or having a much needed date with your favorite show.
The point is, self-publishing gives you the freedom to publish whenever YOU are ready and with confidence that your work will get put into the world.
When compared with traditional publishing, authors have to submit their work to a publishing company, eagerly wait for a response, and could potentially receive heart breaking rejection letters from companies not interested in publishing their work.
Self-publishing eliminates this stress and ensures your hard work is showcased how you intended.
Earn More for Your Hard Work
As a self-published author, you have the ability to control how much you earn in royalties. Below is a table from McGill Book Writing to show you just how controlling the price and royalties on your own terms has the potential to triple your earnings!
Revenue | Traditional Publishing Author Earnings | Self-Publishing Author Earnings |
Book Retail Price | $14.99 | $14.99 |
Royalty Rate | 10% | 60% |
Income Per Work | $1.79 | $5.74 |
Units Sold | 6000 | 6000 |
Total Earnings | $10,740 | $34,440 |
Quality Control for Content and Appearance
From the design perspective, self-publishing allows you to use popular freelance sites such as upwork or fiverr to find artists that will work with you to create impeccable designs that showcase your work. If you are a dual author and artist, you have the ability to create your own designs to convey your personal aesthetic and save you money! Traditional publishing can be limiting towards your creative identity. You are at the discretion of the publishing company to handle the designs with no say as the author.
Build Your Sphere of Influence and Get More Eyes on Your Work
With the power of social media, popularity in online blog posts, newsletters, and YouTube, you have the potential to scale up your following and have more eyes on your work. With self-publishing, you can leverage your social media and promote, promote, promote! Since you own the full rights to your work, you can do as much or as little marketing as you desire to spread the work about your newly published work. After working with different freelancers, networking on social media and running different promotions targeting your specific audience, you may find more success in reaching a larger audience and making more sales.
Take The Next Step
With all of these benefits to self-publish, I hope you feel inspired to do more research on self-publishing and begin to take the steps towards getting your work out there. When beginning something new, remember to give yourself grace. Take a deep breath and remember you are in control. You are one step closer to becoming a published author, be proud of that!
To explore more resources inspiring your inner author-preneur, checkout our other blog posts on the Habitized Life Blog.
Contributor: Lauren Galloway
