Publishing Pathways: True Self-Publishing

All writers can attest that finishing a first draft of your book is hard work. But what many writers don’t know is that finishing the first draft can often be the easiest part of the publishing journey. 

As an acquisitions editor, I talk to a lot of authors. Although the authors I speak to are all at various stages of their journey, I consistently find that many don’t have a clear understanding of their different options to bring a book to market. Those that do have a decent understanding of their options often lack realistic expectations regarding the pros and cons of said options.

Today and for the next two weeks, I want to do some deep(ish) dives into the three primary models of publishing, and talk about the benefits and drawbacks of each, and maybe point out some red-flags to guard against.

Let’s start by discussing true self-publishing. 

What Is True Self Publishing?

As the name implies, true self-publishing is when the author navigates each step of the publishing process alone (or very nearly alone). From editing, to cover design, to marketing and distribution, you’re figuring out how to manage the whole process.

With true self-publishing, if you don’t already know what you’re doing, it falls on you to figure it out. Thankfully, there are a lot of resources online you can lean on to help you cure your own ignorance, and websites like Reedsy, Fiverr, or UpWork can help connect you with freelancers eager for work, so it’s not by any means an impossible task to get a well written, well edited, beautiful book to market on your own. But this pathway has good and bad elements that you should be prepared for.

Pros of True Self-Publishing

The nice thing about this pathway is the control of the project remains with you the entire time. That starts with the decision to publish. You don’t need an agent or the approval of an acquisitions editor. The only person who has to love your work and believe it will be loved by others is you. And if you’re here, reading this article to learn more about publishing, there’s a good chance you’ve already accomplished both those prerequisites.  

Even the budget of the project is, theoretically, entirely up to you. At any point you can choose to forgo an element that is getting too expensive, reject a bid from a professional, or substitute monetary outlays for outlays of your time—that is, you can learn the skill in question (editing, design, illustration, etc.) in order to manage that piece of your project without hiring anyone at all.

Along with control of the budget of the project, you control the creative direction of your work and its destiny, including the rights to sequels, spin-offs, adaptations, merchandising, and the like. We’ve all heard the stories of film adaptations that were hated by the book’s author, or the huge flops that resulted when authors were not consulted or their input was ignored. For writers with an incredibly clear or uncompromising vision for their work, this aspect of of self-publishing can be attractive.  

The final major benefit to self-publishing is that you’ll retain the bulk of the proceeds of every sale. Now, to be clear, any retailers you work with will surely take their cut, but when it comes to earning a percentage of the retail price, self-publishing will provide you with something like 60% vs. traditional publishing, which might not even crack 10% (and often won’t even kick in till your book has sold enough copies to earn out your advance). 

Cons of True Self-Publishing

However, as you can imagine, true self-publishing can be a stressful choice simply because the entire process is up to you. This means, first and foremost, anything that needs to be paid for is paid for by you. And I don’t just mean with money. You also have to put in the time to research potential creatives, and you have to manage any negotiations of a contract to ensure neither of you can be taken advantage of. 

You can choose not to hire an editor (or designer, or proofreader, or whoever), but relying only on your own ability to catch mistakes is a recipe for disaster. You will always have blind spots, and if you aren’t subjecting your work to someone else’s critical eye, the first people to point out your blind spots could be disappointed readers who leave less-than-stellar reviews. 

Plus, if you consistently hire creatives with rates way lower than average, it can be hard to know if you’re getting someone who intends to give your book the attention and care you likely want your work to receive. On top of that, even if you manage to produce an absolutely perfect book that is polished to the point of excellence, that may not translate to good sales if you don’t know how to market your book well to get it into the hands of readers. 

That’s right, no book will sell well without a concerted effort to make readers aware of it. And when you publish alone, you don’t get the benefits of a devoted marketing team to help you strategize for the process.

Should You Self-Publish?

Sadly, I can’t answer that question for you. You have to ask yourself if you feel well equipped to handle the process or if you have a flexible enough schedule to learn to handle it. If the answer is yes, then it’s possible true self-publishing is the best option for you. 

If you still aren’t sure, come back next week. I’ll go through traditional publishing and talk about the pros and cons of that option.