How To Make Money Self-Publishing Your Book
Wikipedia defines “indie” literature as publishing a book “outside mainstream publishing.” Falling under this category of “indie” literature, self-publishing a book can be a great way to build your brand as a writer and can be an avenue with which to experiment. It will provide a self-starter with hands-on experience and an inside look into what the process is all about.
Basic Facts About Self-Publishing
The following are key facts about self-publishing for readers and authors:
- 30 percent of the top 100 books on Amazon are self-published and the number continues to grow.
- Classics from Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, and others were self-published works.
- 21st century technology has made financially-viable digital printing, eBooks and online book retailing to its current form.
- Self-publishing can give authors much greater earning potential than the traditional route on day one.
- Self-published books never go out of print.
- Self-publishing frees an author from writing what the publishing company tells them to write, and allows them to write about what they like and what makes them tick.
Tips for Self-Publishing Success
This infographic paints a picture on what should be considered the top keys with having self-publishing success:
To recap here are some important takeaways from the visual graphic above:
- Put your heart into it
- Provide quality of content
- Invest time, money and effort
No matter the scale of success you are aiming for put all of you heart in the project. If you don’t feel passionate about your subject matter or at least put all of your heart and effort into your writing, your book will fall short.
If you dedicate the necessary amount of hours of writing, carefully investing your money and maximizing effort you will come away with a successful piece of literature.
Effectively Promoting Your Book
So, once you have found what to write about what do you think happens next? How do you promote it? Do you contact a publishing company? These are just one of the many question that have no specific or magical answer.
If you opt to go with a self-publishing services you better have money saved up and invested. You will have to pay fees, and fork over a percentage towards printing your book. Services will typically provide editorial assessment, copy editing, proofreading or a combination all three. The price is ultimately calculated from the total number of words in your book.
While it may seem like a done-for-you solution to hire a “self-publishing” company, the fees associated with it will eat into your profits on a continuous basis. You see, if you self-publish on your own, you don´t pay a cut to anybody and keep the earnings for yourself. However, you may not have the connections and resources that a self-publishing company will have. You will need to weigh the costs and benefits of either publishing on your own or working with a company in order to have the greatest chance of success. There are many places to look online to learn more, for example, Steuben Press is an online book printer and a valuable resource for self-publishers.
Once your book is written Steuben Press suggests these proven steps to promote your self-publishing work:
- Sell to those you know
- Encourage sharing
- Recruit influencers
- Create a buzz online
- Organize a launch party
Word-of Mouth Promotion
When you pitch your own work to people you know it will build word-of-mouth marketing and it is cheaper than paying for advertising (online, social, mobile, etc.). Furthermore, someone in your immediate circles might connect you to that person who has access to an audience via a podcast, YouTube channel or just any other medium out there among the masses.
Social Media Promotion
You can also provide the first digital copies in advance in exchange to have readers submit reviews on Amazon. Additionally, you can use social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn to promote your book. Utilize the Facebook Live feature to talk about your work, host a Twitter chat to answer questions, post beautifully crafted images of the cover and memorable quotes or excerpts from the book on Pinterest, and publish multiple posts that provide insight about the process of writing this book.
All of these efforts will help connect you with potential influencers, and at the same time create some buzz online. The more times you share content related to your work on the web while others simultaneously talk about on their existing networks, it will become increasingly visible to others. The process does not happen overnight.
Launch Party Promotion
Finally, host a launch party. Do this within the confines of your budget and resources. Once you have compiled all the data, the number of people actively involved in the process and demand for copies will allow you to foresee just how large the gathering should be.
The goal of a launch party is not only to be a catalyst for spreading your book via word of mouth and social shares, it also serves to facilitate another vital component of a book launch – book reviews. Each member of the launch team should be incentivized to write a review on Amazon. You see, Amazon’s algorithm that determines product listing rank, and relies heavily on the number of reviews and the velocity of reviews. The term ‘velocity’ means the algorithm picks up on if many reviews all come in at once and interprets these signals as popularity. In turn, more visibility results in the book listings.
Takeaways and conclusions
Now that you understand the nuts and bolts of what it means to self-publish, the sky is the limit. You do however have to understand that there is a fierce competition from a pool of talented writers out there, but it is possible to successfully self-publish and self-promote your book.
Featured photo credit: StockSnap/Pixabay via pixabay.com
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Source: Lifehack.org
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