How Should I Publish My Book?

Many people write novels and memoirs. Many professionals write books to enhance their professional reputations. If you are among them, you are probably asking if you should publish your own book.

Q. Should I publish my book through an established publisher?

If you can, sure. You'll probably need an agent who expects a piece of your advance and royalties. If there's not much chance of a lot of sales, there's not much chance of finding an agent. Your royalties are going to be maybe 5% to 10% of what the publisher receives. That means your book will need to sell a large number of copies to make it worth the time of any agent to pitch it for you.

If you can get a conventional publisher, the publisher will handle editing, proofreading, cover design, layouts, indexing, ISBNs, Library of Congress numbers, and the multitude of details that separate professional book publishing from amateur. If you are published by an established publisher, you get credibility. All those things are worth a lot. But you will still need to promote the book yourself.

Q. Isn't publishing a book a long, expensive process?

Through a traditional publisher, yes. Of course, a lot of the time and money is to insure quality and to launch the book into bookstores.

If you expect to self publish, do a full launch, and compete in bookstores, yes, it should be a long, arduous process. Do not try to compete in bookstores without first reading Dan Poynter's "The Self Publishing Manual."

Quality can be expensive. With a traditional publisher, you pay for it by low royalties. With self publishing, you pay for it directly up front.

Getting a book you can sell online, at personal appearances, and in your office need not be long and expensive. If you just want to give the book away to family and friends, it can be quick and inexpensive. It is only a little more involved than duplicating pages and having them bound at an insta print shop, but you get an elegant book.

With print on demand, you can buy even a single copy at a modest price. I published a 108 page US Trade perfectly bound paperback and printed off a single copy that cost me $10.65 total, shipping included. In even slightly larger quantities, they cost less apiece: You save on both printing and shipping.

Q. Aren't print on demand books of poor quality?

No. Many publishers now use print on demand technology. The quality can be every bit as good as you get from a conventional printer. The one I ordered was excellent.

Q. How much money can I expect to earn?

For most books by most new authors, not very much, no matter how you publish it. Self publishing and selling personally and online, you can keep more than half the price. Selling through bookstores you would get much less than half the price. You're responsible for promoting the book in either case.

If you are an independent professional, the real benefit of publishing a book is in building a reputation among clients as an expert in your field. Clients will seek you out. Publishing with a major publisher is better for your reputation, but a small publisher is better than no publisher--unless you are in an academic field. If you self publish, buy your own ISBN and name your small press something different from your name or the name of your book.