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The Benefits of Self-Publishing a Book

Updated on January 6, 2020
Anne Carr profile image

Anne has a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Bachelor's in Language.

Self Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

Self publishing can be a great option for you if you are looking for an alternative to the traditional publishing route and you are motivated to work hard to achieve your goals.
Self publishing can be a great option for you if you are looking for an alternative to the traditional publishing route and you are motivated to work hard to achieve your goals.

The Self-Publishing World

As time goes on, we are in an ever-changing society that sees a lot more self-published authors than in decades past. The reason for this is that many people can become self-starters if they have the tools and motivation to self-publish a book. Putting your book out there for publishers and literary agents can be a challenging tasks. There are stories everywhere of writers struggling to finally get their manuscript picked up by a publisher, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that nowadays, publishers are very strict and picky about what kinds of work they will pick up. Sometimes you even have to know someone for them to even consider you at all! Many people nowadays are finding self-publishing to be the best option to kick-start their career as a writer. Several years ago, self-publish was seen as a bad choice for the writer to make, as they would say once you self-publish, a publisher will never pick up your work. However, nowadays, lots of successful artists first got noticed by publishers by self-publishing their first book. Society today lends itself more to have writers putting out their content on the internet every day with blogs and other avenues of publishing, so it only makes sense that companies like Kindle Direct Publishing are so successful with self-published authors. If you are considering self-publishing a novel, take a look at all of these benefits to see if this is something you would like to pursue.

1. Sole Ownership

In most cases, you obtain all of the rights of your novel when you self-publish. What this means is that you solely have the right to the material and the right to publish it where you choose. Kindle Direct Publishing is one of the sites that clearly states this, but make sure you look into this before self-publishing on any other sites. This is especially important because if a publisher wanted to pick up your book and re-publish it, you would have to have the ownership rights of the text. If Kindle Direct Publishing solely obtained the rights to that book, you would not be able to publish it anywhere else, so make sure you know your rights before self-publishing your book.

2. Self-Promotions

Some people see this as a benefit, and others see it as a challenge, but the ability to handle your own promotions and marketing for your book is very important. If you are the type of person that knows exactly what you want and how you want to market your book, you are in luck because with self-publishing, you are responsible for marketing and promoting your book. This leaves the author with all of the decision making for promotions and gives you a lot of freedom and creativity as to what you would like to do. Before self-publishing your book, think about how you would market and promote it to ensure you are going to get the most out of your book sales.

Self-Publishing Websites

Look into websites such as Kindle Direct Publishing to self-publish your book. See which platform best suits your needs for the project or book you are publishing.
Look into websites such as Kindle Direct Publishing to self-publish your book. See which platform best suits your needs for the project or book you are publishing.

3. More Royalties

Depending on the site you use to self-publish, you could receive more royalties per sale than if you went through a publisher. A lot of times, publishers are going to charge fees for promotion and marketing, and they will sometimes take that out of your first sales on the novel. Not to mention every sale you make, they will be taking a certain percentage of that. With Kindle Direct Publishing, they do take a certain percent of each sale, but you get all of the other royalties and you do not have to worry about paying any fees. Kindle Direct Publishing is completely free to use.

4. Self-Managed

If you are planning on being a full-time writer and you don't want to deal with the bureaucracy of working under your publisher, self-publishing might be the best route for you. If you would like to be self-employed and be your own boss, this is the best way to do it; you are in charge of your own hours, time, and investments into this career. It is often very difficult for people to get to this point, because for many this is a dream job, but it is possible. Don't give up hope just because others think you won't be successful. Do what you think is going to be the best option for you and stick with your plan! Set goals for yourself to help make you successful as a full-time, self-published author!

The Road Ahead

Getting started as a self-published author can be challenging, but as stated previously, there are many great benefits to being a self-starter. You are in charge of everything and ultimately, you are in charge of your success. If you feel like this is something you would be interested in doing, brainstorm and make plans! Don't just throw yourself into it haphazardly. Do your research, invest your time and resources into making this dream happen, and pretty soon, you will be on your way to becoming a successful, self-published author!

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