Many people dream of writing their own book and the exciting news is that today, you don’t necessarily need a literary agent or book contract to experience publishing success. You can self-publish your book.
Today, self-publishing can be a viable and profitable option. That was the decision I made for my first book, The Tao of Twitter
Why self-publish your book?
There are many good reasons to publish a book: awareness, income, self-gratification, an entry point for speaking opportunities, etc. Before you decide which way to publish, think about WHY you’re doing it.
For me, I was looking to solve a problem. The number one question I was asked was “Can you help me understand Twitter?” That is just not something I could do in a phone call or over coffee. The available Twitter resources were too long, too boring, missed the point, or were out of date. Plus, I wanted to go through the learning experience of publishing a book.
I had been approached by three publishers about doing a book but the timing wasn’t right for me. They all expected a book tour and promotional efforts and I did not have the time in my life to do that. Also, they expect a book of certain “heft.” The length of a book is associated with the price point. The book I had in mind was going to be short and aimed at busy people. I didn’t want to make it as long as what they wanted and it would have required a lot of fluffy filling. That’s not for me. So self-publishing became a viable route.
Getting organized
To self-publish your book, organization is key. Obviously you need a chapter-by-chapter outline for a book but creating a 50,000 word narrative needs more than that.
Here’s a writing technique that worked for me. I literally had easel-pad pages for each chapter “decorating” my dining room. On each page I had sticky notes with ideas, resources, and assignments for each chapter. This is very low tech but it helped me visualize the entire flow of the book and what was going to go where.
Challenges
It’s much different writing a book than a couple of long blog posts. Obviously there is a significant time requirement — months of time!. I wanted to make sure my wife and family was on board and understanding that this would be ON TOP of everything else.
My biggest challenge was keeping focused on the continuous flow of the book — much harder to do than stand-alone blog posts. One of the things that helped was blocking out large chunks of time, primarily over the holidays, to write. At least for me, I couldn’t write the book in small increments because I was spending too much time having to ge re-acquainted with the flow.
Picking a platform
I did a lot of research on picking the right publishing platform. I ultimately chose CreateSpace, a division of Amazon which later merged with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). If you plan to self-publish your book, I highly recommend this path. They have an easy-to-follow, step-by-step process with lots of help at each stage.
Also, they offer paid assistance at each step. For example, if you want an editor, they can provide that. If you need help with cover art, they can do that. Marketing? Same thing. And their customer service is superb! It was quite painless to get both the print copy and the electronic copy ready for Amazon.
With a push of a button, you can also direct KDP to create a Kindle version of your book.
Amazon also owns ACX, the company behind the content on Audible. I found it easy to record and upload my own audiobook with the help of an audio editor but that’s probably a post for another day!
My out-of pocket costs
One advantage of this model is that it is an inexpensive path forward. You don’t have to sell too many books to break even. Here were my approximate expenses:
- Upfront KDP set-up costs $99
- Licensing fee $99
- Graphic design for cover $250
- Interior design for book $300
- Proof-reading assistance $500
- Website changes — $300
So basically I was ready to go for under $1,500. Of course you can get into a lot more expense if you use the KDP paid options. I saved money by using my own trusted freelancer friends.
I narrated my own audio book and the editor cost about $600.
Marketing costs are covered separately below.
Profits
When you self-publish your book, you have complete control of the pricing.
KDP charges you a flat fee for producing the book (usually between $3-$5 depending on length) and after that, the profits are all yours. For example, on a book priced at $15, you could make more than $10 per book compared to $1.50 from a publisher. If you actually sell a lot of books, this can make a big difference!
Another significant poiint — you can also change the price of the book at any time, somehting you cannot do through a publisher.
By the way, all books are not automatically picked up by Amazon. It has to go through a review process. Thankfully, my book was selected for their channel and nearly all my sales come through Amazon. Sales are pretty evenly split between paper, audio, and electronic copies.
Wehn you self-publish your book, another advantage is that there are no inventory costs. The books are produced on demand. So whether you need one book or 100, they can be shipped to your door, or the customer, in a matter of days.
Marketing the book
Probably the biggest irony of my career is that I do a lousy job marketing myself. I’m too busy helping other people and it is ever so much more interesting to market something other than me! So, I’m not a best practice in this category!
Sadly, my entire marketing plan was to write one post and put a little ad on the blog. Thankfully the book became very popular despite my shortcomings. Many people have been kind enough to read The Tao of Twitter and recommend it without my prodding. You know why? Because the book rocks. It really does. I believe in it. And that is important. If you don’t have great content, you’re not going to have much of a marketing plan anyway, no matter what you spend on it.
Another key idea is having a built-in network. Again, it all depends on your goals, but I have a friend who has high hopes for a self-published book but he has no online network. His goal is make money from the thing so he is basically hoping for a miracle unless he is ready to plow a lot into marketing. There is no marketing more powerful or cost-effective than an engaged network of fans.
Note: A few years after I wrote this post, I published an entire article on how to market you book. If you self-publish your book, this is an essential read!
Results
- Despite the lack of proactive marketing, the book has reached number three on Amazon’s list of business communication books. Through word of mouth alone, it is selling well enough so that it would be considered a “best seller” in the business book category.
- It has been translated into Spanish, Mandarin, and Portuguese.
- The Tao of Twitter
is being used as a business or PR textbook at seven universities.
- There have been four updates of the book. It has been the best-selling book on Twitter in the world.
- It is providing a nice passive income stream. I broke even in six weeks.
- Most important, it has met my goal. Anybody, anywhere can read this book in about 90 minutes and have a path forward on Twitter. The people who have read it, LOVE it and I get wonderful reviews and feedback on it every day.
Are you thinking of self-publishing? What questions do you have about it? What’s holding you back?
Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant. The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.
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