Maintain control over the entire process

When you publish your own book, you wear both the author and the pub-

lisher hats. You’re ultimately responsible for handling all the work that a

major publishing house typically handles on behalf of authors:

-

 Getting the manuscript edited

-

 Creating page layouts and design

-

 Crafting a front and back cover

-

 Getting the book printed

-

 Distributing your the book

-

 Managing marketing, advertising, and promotion

(What, you’re not an expert in all these areas? Well, you’re in luck once again.

Every step is covered in this book!)

Authors who work with a major publishing house must give up a lot of cre-

ative control over their book project. It’s the author’s job to write the manu-

script. The publisher typically handles everything else, often without

consulting the author on creative decisions. Authors who have their book

published by a major publishing house don’t typically get a say on cover

design or how their book is marketed or promoted.

By self-publishing your book, you’re the boss. You can hire freelancers and

consultants to help you edit, design, publish, distribute, and market your

book, but ultimately, you’re responsible for making all the creative and busi-

ness decisions. So, if you’re emotionally close to your book and don’t want

anyone taking away your ability to make creative decisions, self-publishing

offers you a great opportunity to get your book published on your terms.What Are the Benefits

of Self-Publishing?

Some of the biggest benefits of self-publishing include

-

 Having the ability to publish any type of content

-

 Maintaining total control over your entire project, including all creative

control over the manuscript, cover design, and marketing of your book

-

 Saving time because the time it takes to self-publish a book can be signif-

icantly faster than working with a major publishing house

-

 Earning significantly highly royalties per copy of your book sold

-

 Keeping money in your pocket because you don’t have to hire a literary

agent to help you market your book

You may decide that approaching the major publishing houses, after finding

out about the benefits of self-publishing in the following sections, isn’t some-

thing that you want to do. You don’t want to risk potential rejection and have

to give up a lot of control over your project in order to get your manuscript

published, so the self-publishing option may be more worth it for you.

After you decide that self-publishing is the right direction to go with your

book project, you need to determine the most cost-effective and viable print-

ing option that’s based on your needs, goals, and budget. Part III of this book

focuses on actually printing and publishing your manuscript using traditional

printing methods, Print-On-Demand (POD) technology, eBook publishing, and

local print shops.

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