Week 3: Check Your-shelf Before You Wreck Your-shelf
Taylor P -
Greetings, friends! Welcome to week three of my senior project blog. This week, I came upon a lot of new, fantastic information as I researched the depths of self-publication (and might I say, the depths are vast!). I also scheduled six interviews with local authors in March that I am really looking forward to sharing with you all. Overall, it was a productive week!
First, I had a great opportunity to attend a writing workshop with one of the editors/authors that I am interviewing in March. The demographic of the writing group was certainly much older than I. However, I was able to speak with quite a few experienced writers who loved to hear about my project. One thing I learned is the value of finding a writing community. Indie authors all share struggles of finding the proper self-publication path when traditional publication fails them. So, with that struggle comes invaluable advice and experience! Also, I took pages of notes during the workshop on how to stay organized when writing a book. It takes a lot of self-motivation to write a book; learning how to find that motivation will help me publish by my deadline of April.
Additionally, I did extensive research into the many different paths of self-publication. Like traditional publishing, there are self-publishing companies, but their services are entirely different. Some of the top companies include: Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), Apple iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble Press. So, what defines self-publishing? The author pays money, and the author does all the work to edit, format, design, and publish. For example, KDP will formally assign you an ISBN* and publish you for free, but they subtract the printing costs from every sale made. I researched KDP for hours and started to discover that this method of publication might be the best option for my project because it would allow me to implement everything I am researching into the making of my book. Also, for a broke high school student about to go into burdening college debt, this option would cost me little to nothing. That is certainly appealing to me.
When self-publishing, here are some questions I learned authors need to ask themselves before they get into it: what audience/market am I trying to reach? Am I capable of editing, designing, and formatting myself, or do I need to hire freelance professionals to do those tasks for me? Is this my career goal, or is traditional publication my career goal? Which companies are the most cost-effective and realistic for me? What is my budget?
As aforementioned, writers can hire freelance professionals to edit, design, and format their books. Those costs differ greatly, but self-publishing authors can expect to spend anywhere from $1,000-$10,000 for professional services. You may ask, is it worth it to spend that much? And, that answer depends on the author. If an author never uses a comma properly, readers will turn away from their books because it would be difficult to read—that author should consider professional editing (the same goes for formatting and design).
Overall, I want to weigh the pros and cons of this method of publication:
PROS: the author maintains creative control; the author receives much higher royalty rates, even up to 100%; it takes a lot less time (KDP can publish in 24 hours); authors can receive tax breaks from that income because of what they have to spend first; there is no manuscript rejection; and, you can establish your authority as an author if you sell well.
CONS: authors have to shoulder potentially hefty costs; there is less professional support; there are no hard deadlines, so you must be very self-motivated; there are more responsibilities; and, there is a more difficult retail distribution due to the stigma of self-published books not being worth it (the tide is quickly changing, however, with the online world only growing).
Therefore, self-publishing is a complex, difficult realm of publication that requires a lot of research for authors to fully understand before diving in. However, during my research, I discovered that there are a lot of easy, convenient, cost-effective choices that I can make for my book. I am grateful to be able to research all of my options before I decide which path is best for my writing career.
Until next week, in the wise words of The Hero’s Spirit, remember that a sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage!
*ISBN is an internationally-recognized number that publishing companies assign to each book to officially copyright them. It is a different number for each book.
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