Six Great Reasons to Self-Publish Your Books

As tutor of Jericho’s Simply Self-Publish course and the author of nine self-published novels and many other books, you would expect me to be a passionate advocate of self-publishing. It’s worked for me!

But is the indie route right for you and your books?  Here are six important points to consider, to help you make an informed choice.

1. Ease of access

Thanks to digital technology, anyone may now self-publish a book and launch it on the global market from their own home computer or laptop. It’s probably easier than you think. All you have to do is assemble and format the component parts – the interior, the exterior cover file, and the metadata to position the book correctly in your target stores – and press the “publish” button.

Freelance specialists can be hired at affordable rates to help you create those pieces of the self-publishing jigsaw.

2. It’s an author-centric process

As an indie author, you are at the heart of your publishing business – not the profit motive of a big publishing company with expensive offices to pay for and demanding shareholders to satisfy.

Instead of being the “talent” that is the starting point of a huge production line, you are the publisher, and you are your sole client. You have all the rights and responsibilities of a big publishing company – just at micro level. Thus, your needs and your book’s needs come first.

3. Speed

Traditional publishing typically takes 18 months from contract to launch – and that’s excluding the months or years it may have taken you to be offered a contract. As an indie, you are not bogged down by a big company’s slow machinations. You work at your own speed.

Once you’ve assembled the component parts (see point 1, above), your book is just one click away from going live. Then, once you’ve hit “publish” on your chosen distribution platforms, it is a matter of hours or days, not weeks or months, before your book goes on sale to your target readers around the globe.

4. Versatility

No matter how commercial or how niche your book is, self-publishing can handle it. While it’s easier to create and market books in popular genres, you can also use the indie route to publish niche books with a smaller market.

Indies even create completely new genres. Adult colouring books were an indie innovation, as was the global festive phenomenon for children that is The Elf on the Shelf.

5. Profitability

As an indie author, you’re not contributing to big publishing companies’ profits. Once you’ve covered your set-up costs, all the royalties are yours.

Indie authors earn up to 70% of the cover price of an ebook on Amazon, whereas those with traditional contracts are likely to earn no more than 25% – or, for the big sellers, if they’re really lucky, 50%. For print, indies can earn 10-20% of the cover price compared to a typical 5% for those traditionally published. 

6. Career opportunities

Once upon a time, traditional publishers would not have entertained recruiting self-published authors to their lists. These days, the best indie books are so well done, and so commercially successful, that traditional publishers actively headhunt them. This is particularly true of the new breed of digital-first publishing companies, who focus on online sales of digital formats.

That’s what happened to me: I self-published nine successful novels before Boldwood Books contracted me to write for them and licensed the rights to my backlist novels. Self-publishing is no longer binary: you can go from indie to trad or back again (if you self-publish reverted rights).

You can also be a bit of both, as I am now – I still self-publish short fiction. Thus, self-publishing doesn’t restrict your options for the future, should you wish to change track.

So what’s the catch?

To be a successful indie author, you have to learn to do all of necessary parts of the process to professional standards – and avoid pitfalls and obstacles along the way. Believe me, there are plenty of sharks and charlatans out there trading off aspiring writers’ ignorance and innocence.

But the good news is: once you’ve learned how to self-publish, you’re equipped for a lasting and sustainable venture as an indie author.

Bonus benefit: you’re in great company, with thousands of authors around the world who are embracing the indie approach, including bestsellers such as LJ Ross, JD Kirk, Clare Lydon, and Hannah Lynn – all of whom were once as the same stage as you are now. As indeed was I!

So next question: how do you learn how to self-publish well? Of course, there’s a ton of information – and misinformation – available online, but how do you know what to believe? Trawling through the wheat and the chaff can be overwhelming and dispiriting – and wastes valuable writing time.

That’s why Jericho Writers asked me four years ago to launch the Simply Self Publish course – to equip aspiring writers with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to self-publish well. You’ll finish the course with a clear plan and goals specific to YOUR books. Many of the course alumni are now published authors, some with multiple books to their names.

The Simply Self Publish course runs twice a year, from October to December and April to June. Applications are now open for this October.

If you have any questions about whether it’s right for you, why not book a 1-2-1 mentoring taster session with me for just £20? I’ll be happy to help!