For many people, writing the book is something they would really love to say they have achieved. To be able to say you are a published author is a remarkable experience.
Writing the book, however, is just one part of the process of becoming a published author. There is a much bigger picture than many aspiring authors realise.
You basically have six options when it comes to publishing your book, and each one has its pros and cons.
PDF Ebook. Probably the simplest method to publish a book, all that’s required with an ebook is to click “Save as…” in your Word document and choose “PDF.” Then you can sell the resulting file on your own website, list it on ClickBank or E-Junkie, or upload it to a number of other ebook marketplaces online.
Ebooks don’t quite have the authority that printed books carry, but if you’re on a budget and don’t have the skills to format your book for print, then this can be a viable option to get you off the ground. It’s also a great way to share your book with advance readers to get those all-important testimonials.
FLIPbook. If you can make a pdf, you can make a flipbook and it’s a more up market experience of your book than the pdf. You just need to right software to be able to do that, and there are platforms that are cost effective and user-friendly.
Kindle. The leader of the self-publishing world, Amazon’s Kindle marketplace makes it reasonably easy for you to publish your book. Once you have your book edited and formatted, you just need to follow their step-by-step uploading system, and you can have your book on their virtual shelves in less than a day.
Print on Demand. The best choice for self-published authors is a relatively new technology that allows for a single book to be printed on demand. Until just a few years ago, if you chose to self-publish your book you’d likely have to shell out for hundreds if not thousands of copies up front, leaving you with a garage full of books to sell on your own.
Print on demand is different. Buyers order your book from sellers such as Amazon (whose KDP arm is itself a print on demand enterprise), and the book is printed and shipped the next day. This makes it easy and cost-effective for everyone to become a published author.
Traditional Publisher. The most difficult and time-consuming option, getting your book published with a traditional print publisher will also get you the most audience and press. The drawbacks are many, though. To start, it’s extremely difficult to get a traditional publishing house to take on a new author. If you do manage to get the attention of a publisher, your royalties (the amount you earn from your book) will be very small—maybe as little as 8% of the net cost. Finally, the length of time it takes from manuscript submission to final publication can be years.
All that said, a book with a traditional publishing insignia on the spine does carry a bit more weight when it comes to press opportunities than does a self-published book.
Hybrid Publisher. If you don’t want to do the publishing yourself, however, and are not able to gain the attention of a traditional publisher, you can pay someone like Disruptive Publishing to publish for you. We will organise the editing, the formatting, cover design and publish to a print-on-demand platform on your behalf and everything is taken care of for you.
If you want to know what happens when you decide to work with Disruptive Publishing you can follow this link:
What happens when you decide to engage Disruptive Publishing to publish your book?
The important thing is to know yourself and create a plan based on who you are, what your skillset is, how much time you have, and what you are comfortable with.
Consider these things and decide for yourself which pathway is going to suit you best.
Book in for an information call if you think that would be helpful. We can talk to you about your options and help you decide the best path for you.
Then get started.
The world is waiting to read your book, one way or another.