Five Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book

Self-publishing has become the easy and quick way to get your book in print. There are several venues that offer writers the means to self-publish their books without any upfront costs. The author can buy copies at the cost of printing plus shipping. Of course, the author can spend a lot of money if they choose to have their book professionally edited, formatted and designed. Even though most venues offer templates for DIY covers, some self-publishers hire graphic artists to design their covers. So, yes, you can spend a lot of money, and let’s be honest, with little chance of selling enough copies to break even. But, the true DIYer can put out both e-books and print books without spending a dime.

But why would anyone self-publish instead of finding a “real” publisher? Isn’t it admitting defeat to self-publish? Isn’t self-publishing for losers who can’t find an agent or a publisher that believes in their book? Not necessarily. There are many valid reasons to choose the self-publishing route.

1. Your traditionally published books are out of print – Many authors have already had books published the traditional way and had them go out of print for various reasons. Small publishers sometimes go out of business, or the publisher decides to stop publishing a title for various reasons. Provided the rights revert to the author in those cases, self-publishing will keep the book in print.
2. You only Want to print a few books - If you want to create a book just for family and friends or your book is for a very small niche, then traditional publishers will not take you on. They are in the business to make money. Self-publishing is the ideal way to go in these cases. You can buy as many or few author copies as you want and do not have to offer them for sale at all.
3. Design control - Another reason to self-publish is because you want control over your book’s design. You get to pick illustrations, cover art and design and even style of formatting. That might not always be a good thing, but hey, its your book.
4. Saves Time - Probably the most common reason people self-publish is they don’t want to take the time to shop their manuscript to agents and publishers. That can take months, even years. And often time still doesn’t result in a contract. This is especially true among senior citizens who may not feel they have years to devote to marketing their book.
5. Earn more royalties - Another perk of self-publishing is authors generally make higher royalties and maintain control over their intellectual property. While the authors are responsible for all marketing and promotion (unless they want to pay for professional help) they are not sharing monies with a publisher and agent.