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10 Benefits of Online Self Publishing

Artisanal Publishing

The Benefits Of Self-Publishing Writing Projects

You work, you slave, and finally reach the point where your writing project is complete. You know you have created something worthwhile. Now it is time to publish. This stage in the writing process can be filled with frustration. Continuously submitting your work to traditional publishing houses only to be rejected, or even worse just ignored, can give you ulcers. Fortunately, now there is a very good alternative – self-publishing.

While many writers want to hold on to the dream of being discovered by a large publishing house, in this day and age self-publishing is becoming a popular alternative. And there are many good reasons for that.

Have Control

The primary reason for many authors is total control of content and design. When you self-publish, you have the final say in every aspect of the publication process. No one can require you to change your work. However, this can be a two-edged sword because you don’t have the benefit of a built-in editorial process or design team. Those who self-publish need to make sure they have established their own rigorous editorial regimen.

Create Your Own Timeframe

Another frustrating aspect of publishing is the time it takes to get a work printed and distributed. Large publishing houses generally will take from 6 to 9 months to get a book to market. This is another great reason for self-publishing as you can bring a work to print in as little as a week.

Have Control on Distribution

Once a traditional publishing house decides to stop printing a work, you are out of luck. Depending on your contract with them, your work may be shelved forever, even if you think there is still an audience out there for it. With self-publishing, you can keep your work out there in perpetuity. It can be available as long as it takes for an audience to discover it.

Broaden Reach

In fact, with self-publishing you can make any deal you want with any entity. Traditional publishing houses are constrained by their relationships with printed book resellers. You have the flexibility to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself in this high-tech age.

Updated As Needed

Then there is the “oops” factor. No matter how rigorous the editorial process, errors still do occur. And some works needs to be updated periodically. With traditional publishing, it can be very difficult to fix those errors or make updates. You have to wait until the next printing, or you may not have any chance at all to make these changes. With self-publishing, you can make changes immediately.

More Financial Gain

Authors may not think they are writing for the money, but it must be considered when deciding which route to go for publishing. An author can usually make a greater amount on each book when self-publishing. The traditional publishing houses with large overhead have to give the author a smaller commission. Generally when you self-publish, the commission is larger when dealing with virtual markets, or you totally control the income stream.

Set Pricing

And with that control comes the ability to set the price as you see fit. If you think you need to lower the price, it is in your hands. Or if you want to raise the price to take advantage of demand, you can just make it so. Traditional publishing avenues rarely give the author any say in this, and have many restrictions that can make the process of reevaluating price laborious.

Analyze Market Venues

And now let’s talk about audience again. Where is the book going to be available? When you go with a traditional publisher, you are limited to their avenues of distribution. What about a larger audience? How about a global audience? That is the potential you have with self-publishing. As an example, with an outlet like Kindle Direct Publishing, you can reach an audience in 100 countries.

Control Your Rights

Which brings us to another reason to self-publish, controlling foreign rights. With luck, your book will become so popular publishers from other countries will contact you to buy the rights for their country. With self-publishing you can turn this into another revenue stream, and you won’t have to share this income with a publishing company.

Ability to Monitor

Finally, part of your job once you publish is keeping track of how your work is doing in the marketplace. Sounds obvious, but with large publishing houses, your only view of this comes from royalty statements sent just twice a year. With self-publishing, many of the online e-book publishers offer real-time sales reporting which you can use to monitor progress.

There is no denying the thrill one can experience when that letter from a traditional publishing house arrives with an offer to publish your work. But with the opportunities technology provides everyone today, a savvy writer will consider the benefits of self-publishing before accepting that offer.

About The Author
Although millions of people visit Brandon's blog each month, his path to success was not easy. Go here to read his incredible story, "From Disabled and $500k in Debt to a Pro Blogger with 5 Million Monthly Visitors." If you want to send Brandon a quick message, then visit his contact page here.