Self-publishing is the form of publishing wherein you refrain from signing up with established publishing companies and opt to publish your book yourself. And this form of publishing has an equal number of advantages and disadvantages. But the main question though is whether it is a viable option for you. Do its advantages outweigh the disadvantages? Is self-publishing the best choice for you?
In order to know if it’s the publishing option for you, it is necessary to know the main reason why you want to publish a book. Why do you want to publish a book? It can be due to a myriad of reasons. It could be because you want to make money off your book, or it could be a bucket list wish that you want to make a book of your very own.
It may also be due to the fact that it is quite difficult to get into traditional publishing, and you saw that self-publishing is a faster process. Or it may also be because you don’t trust traditional publishing and you think that you can do a better job publishing and sell your book yourself. Whatever your reason may be you should think hard on it because it may mean the difference failure and success for your book.
Before you go deciding if you want to self-publish your book let’s first go over the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing. It can be advantageous because unlike traditional publishing wherein you are expected to give up a majority of your rights to the book, you are given a majority of the rights to your book and the book royalties are all predominantly yours also. You are also given overall control of your book. From the publishing to the book selling aspect you are given overall control over your book.
And yet self-publishing also has some disadvantages. You are expected to shoulder the overall cost of having your book published. Which may costs you a good amount of money. Self-published books also have a difficult time getting retailers such as bookstores to sell their work. This makes it difficult for self-published writers to make a profit in the initial stage of their book release.
All in all, it is up to you whether you want to self-publish your work. Just make sure that you take the advantages and disadvantages into account when you decide whether self-publishing is for you or not.