[Podcast] The 3 Benefits of Self Publishing

By Melissa Parks and Dave Goetz

Self publishing is no concession.

You may have tried to land an agent or contract with a traditional publisher. Or not.

For many authors, though, self publishing makes more sense. For a variety of reasons.

One may be that the book (or other type of project) doesn't fit the standard sizes of traditional publishing. For example, you may want to publish a book with images, but a potential traditional publisher in your category may want to publish only a standard 250-page book.

What You Want to Control

Another reason is control over intellectual rights, pricing, and, among other things, book packaging. While in theory an author still owns the rights to a book with traditional publisher, the publisher owns the distribution rights. You give those up as an author.

In this episode, we offer up three primary benefits of self publishing and how authors can benefit from the trend of self publishing. There's even a financial benefit. Yes, you have to ante up the up-front costs, but the per-book royalty may be up to five or six times what you would get in a standard publishing contract.

Every author is different, of course. Every author has unique aspirations. And has specific ideas of what constitutes success. Self publishing is great strategy for those who want to play the long game.