By Hannah Woodlan
In 2015, approximately 338 thousand new books were published in the United States, and according to some experts, as many as 5,000 new books are being published every day. One of the nagging questions following all authors around is how to make their books stand out from this immense crowd. That question becomes a bit more agonizing when a new author sets aside the idea of traditional publishing and dips a toe into the world of co-publishing and self-publishing.
Self-publishing means that the author is acting as the publisher and managing their own work. Co-publishing means that the work is being released by a publishing company who will manage the book and control all publishing rights. Both options require an investment by the author to pay for editing, design, production, and distribution.
If you are an author in this world, you must become more like an entrepreneur to gain a better understanding of publishing as a business. You will be confronted head-on with the costs of the industry. Those costs can be quite a wake-up call, but in business, the old adage “You’ve got to spend money to make money” remains true, whether your business is selling widgets or books. That doesn’t mean you have to leave the soul of your work behind; it simply means being realistic about the process of perfecting and publishing your book.
Author Unlimited‘s Cathy Presland offers this very comprehensive list on the costs associated with co- and self-publishing.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO PUBLISH A BOOK? (AND YOUR FUNDING OPTIONS!)
by Cathy Presland
©Copyright 2017 Author Unlimited
A PASSION, NOT A HOBBY
Writing a book starts out as a creative pursuit. A passion. A desire to write, to communicate. It’s about the writing.
At some point, though, it becomes a business venture. And, like a lot of things we do in business, our investment is a question of time or money – or both.
Even as you’re writing, that’s time that you could be spending on your business: with clients, creating training or marketing material.
Or it’s time you could spend at work, in your day job. Or, if you’ve chosen to write in the evenings or early mornings, then that’s time you could be spending with family and friends, or on your own fitness or self-care.
WRITING IS AN INVESTMENT
Hold on to the thought that writing a book is an investment in your future. It’s also something that is fulfilling (at least if you do it the right way, don’t let it become a frustration!) So many people want to write a book, and so few do — you are now one of the few.
The process of writing, of putting your content out there, will help you grow in confidence, it will deepen your understanding of your content, and it will drive your business forward.