Self publish, or not?

     Many first time authors attempt to get published by sending off hundreds of query letters to literary agents in hope that one will be interested in representing him/her, and promote their manuscript to big publishing houses for review, and hopefully a contract to publish their book. Meanwhile, they sit around waiting months for the dreaded rejection notices.

     I was one of those authors completing my first book in 2007. I learned that, agents will reject almost every query, because they’re not taking on any new authors. Or if you’re lucky you might be asked for a chapter or the first fifty pages be sent for her/him; only delaying their final rejection.

   Getting published can really become a disheartening task to first time authors. There’s no doubt that a lot of good manuscripts are collecting dust on a shelf, or stored in the memory of a potentially good authors computer.   

   Some new authors may choose to self-publish their work, presenting a whole new set of problems, but they can be overcome. Even though self-publishing is an alternative, you'll still need to gather the information needed to do it yourself, and approximately $10,000 to $25,000 investment to get started. This will cover printing of 2-4000 copies, based on the size of your book.

   This option is not available to struggling authors that lack the funds, and if you’re not a good sales person, or contract with a marketing company to promote your book, you’ll have cases of your books collecting dust instead of your manuscript, and be out the money invested.

   Say good-bye to the rejection of traditional publishers and the two-year publishing cycle. Say good-bye to the hassles of independent self-publishing, like guessing print-runs, managing inventory, and the responsibility of order fulfillment. In the last few years the brick and mortar book stores sales have dropped, while the growth of internet and eBook sales have grown exponentially.

   The growth of internet book sales and eBook market, if anything, has picked up pace, which means that the growth of potential buyers for self-published books is growing faster than ever. Of course, so is the number of available eBooks, but it is still time to catch the wave and get a book out there.

   The rise of eBooks slowly began in 2006 reaching global annual revenues of $3 billion, with projected annual revenues from eBooks delivered to portable devices growing to $9 billion by 2016. This robust growth is due to the increasing penetration of eReaders and tablet devices in households throughout the world

   For self-published writers, this is good news. The success of a well-known self-published author like John Locke, who sold over 1.1 million books in five months, was due in part to the fact that they caught the eBook wave at the beginning of its rise. He also chose Telemachus Press to produce and print his books sold over the internet.

   I chose Outskirts Press to produce my books. Outskirts Press offers you the best of both worlds by combining the advantages of independent self-publishing with the advantages of traditional book publishing.  Before, during, and after publication you will receive the assistance of a dedicated group of publishing professionals, all the while maintaining 100% of your publishing rights and 100% of your profits. Their “Diamond” package costs $1000, to design a front and back cover, and produce a quality book, ISBN number, list your book on Amazon, and Barns & Nobel, and provide marketing instructions to sell your book over the internet.

   The number 1 & 2 selling items on the Net in the United States are software and books. So if you’re going to write books and sell them on the Internet, you'll have a very large and responsive market. The only difference will be that your books will be available through internet book stores and in a digital format, allowing you to publish your book through Amazon Kindle, Smashwords, and other eBook publishers.

   Finally you'll have full control over your book and when it gets published. You can set the selling price, receiving 70-80% royalties. But, before you go off and start the process, make sure your book has been professionally edited. No one wants to read a book with a bunch of errors, even if they only paid .99 for it.

   Now that you saved all that money from not self-publishing a book, and you’re ready to publish, and sell on the internet, you might consider hiring an internet marketing company to promote your book, or learn how to do your own promotion. Now the only question is will you take advantage of this exciting and rapidly growing market?