The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing a Book!

If you are thinking of self-publishing a book of your very own, you should know what you are getting into. This is because self-publishing a book entails a lot of work and sacrifice. It is not as easy as you would think.  And if you don’t have a clear vision of self-publishing a book, you might find yourself floundering and quitting in the middle of the process. So before you start the self-publishing process, you should know what to expect.

Here are the pros and cons of self-publishing your very

own book.

Pros:

• Creative freedom

One of the best things about self-publishing a book of your very own, is the fact that you will have the creative freedom to write and publish your book the way you want. When you work with a traditional publishing house you will have to deal with an editor. You will have to adhere to the company’s rules.  You won’t have the freedom to decide on how you run the publishing process. But by self-publishing a book of your very own, the final decision will always be yours.

• No deadlines to keep

If you work for a traditional publishing house, you are usually expected to follow a deadline. There will be times where you will be rushed to finish your book, or you will be expected to wait for a certain date to publish your book. This is because you follow the company’s time table. But by self-publishing your book, you get to decide on when to publish and release your book. This takes the pressure off and allows you to enjoy the writing process.

• Freedom to market your book

One of the setbacks of working with a traditional publishing house is the fact that you will have to follow their marketing strategy. This would be good and well, if the company had a skilled marketing team. But what if the team is lacking? This will certainly damage your chances of selling your book. But by self-publishing your book, you are minimizing your chances of failure. By self-publishing your book, you can market your book the way you like it.

• You get to keep all your book royalties

When you sign up with a traditional publishing house you are usually expected to give up some rights to your book and any subsequent royalties it may earn. This is a normal part of traditional publishing because they take the risk of selling your book. But seeing as the book is something you slaved over for months or even years, it could be galling to see someone else earning money from your book. By self-publishing your book, you will be able to keep all your book royalties.

• No more fear of rejection

One of the biggest setbacks of traditional publishing, is that you will have to deal with a lot of rejection. Remember that a majority of traditional publishing houses are very particular about the authors they give publishing deals with. If you try out for traditional publishing houses, you will have to deal with a lot of rejection before you could get a publishing deal. There is even a chance that you won’t get a publishing deal. If you self-publish your work, you won’t have to deal with all the rejection. You won’t have to wait for the publishing houses to decide whether you’re good enough or not. You could just start right away.

Cons:

• You will have to finance the whole operation

Seeing as you won’t have the financial support of a traditional publishing house, you will be expected to finance the process yourself. So it is imperative that you have a set budget for yourself. Because if you don’t, you will run the risk of spending a fortune on the self-publishing process.

• Difficulty in getting your book into traditional bookstores

Yet another disadvantage that you will have as a self-publishing author is the fact that it will be difficult to get your work into traditional bookstores. This is because traditional bookstores are very picky when it comes to choosing books to sell. And seeing as self-published books suffer from the stigma of being poor quality, it will be extremely difficult to get a traditional book store to sell your works.

• You will have to do most of the work yourself

Aside from traditional bookstores being inhospitable, self-publishing is also very work intensive. So if you are really serious about self-publishing a book all by yourself, you should expect to do a lot of work. There are self-publishing companies that offer to publish the book for you. But they could be expensive. Should you choose to self-publish with one of these companies, you should be as discerning as possible. This is because they don’t follow a set standard when it comes to services. And if you are not careful, you may get low quality work. So before you hire a self-publishing company, do your research first.

• Lack of guidance

While it could be fun to publish a book by yourself, it could also be a confusing time for you. Remember that publishing a book could be quite a difficult prospect, especially if you don’t have the right advice. So if you are going to self-publish a book for the very first time, you should reach out to more experienced authors or self-publishing companies for help.

Conclusion

Self-publishing a book is a relatively new concept for some writers. However, it is a very effective method. However, it also has its own drawbacks. By knowing the pros and cons of self-publishing, you will know what to expect during the self-publishing process.

Start your self-publishing journey right! Take a look at these Writers Republic reviews and know the best self-publishing company to work with.