Sunday 6 May 2012

Downsides of Self Publishing

By Katrina Parker


Self Publishing can give you control on your book and boost your profits at the same time. Those are some of the good reasons to engage in self publishing. But are the positive aspects worth it? Will there be a damaging aspect of self publishing? Of course. Self publishing has its pros and cons, along with most other things in the world. Often, writing the book isn't the only factor that's tough with writing, we get stuck with choosing a good book cover at the same time. Take a look at book cover for professional aid!

* Everything is in Your Hands

Multitasking is but one drawback of self publishing. You have to do everything. Traditional publishing, alternatively, will require the services of editors, cover artists, printers - making the project far easier in comparison to self publishing. You must hire these people in the event you cant do it all. As you can imagine, it would cost you rather a lot. But even if you outsourced, you will still need to oversee it and make sure that it meets your standards.

* Costs

The fact remains that traditional publishing will only give authors 5-10% of the sales. With self publishing, you can increase the profit up to 50%. You will require, however, to subsidize everything just before publishing. It is a risk. You can not always ensure that you're getting everything you paid for.

Not all book sellers acquire books directly from the author so you may require the services of a distributor. The writer would have to get discounts to the distributor and the bookseller, this would be a lot less than your expected 50 % profit. If the book doesn't sell that much, that could be another issue. Besides less profit, some bookstores would return the book and require a refund. Because of that, self publishers would have to make an effort of drafting an agreement regarding returns and refunds.

Competition can be hard. Readers may not easily buy your book. As a self publisher, you will personally need to give your readers a reason to purchase your book. Marketing and publicity could be a key. And you would have to invest in that, too.

* The Reputation

Self publishers normally risk their reputation and credibility whenever self publishing their books. In many occasions, self published books are not reputable by readers. Unfortunately, some people are extremely biased against self-published authors, thinking that just because major publishing houses have refused the writer, it means the book is not satisfactory. 3NBqOorx

* The Writer

They say that a book is sort of a writer's own child. Knowing this, it might be hard for you to criticize your own kid. Since self publishers usually edit their own works, it could be difficult to keep an objective frame of mind when doing so. If there are parts that are not exactly important, the writer may be unable to delete it. The author will have an inclination to be opinionated and not delete the parts that are not at all significant. Editors are usually assigned to do this. Nevertheless, in instances where the writer is the editor, there can be room for biases.

With self publishing, you may not get what you spent. But come to think of it, everything is a risk. Risk is part of success.




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