Getting Started in Self-Publishing
Today, over 1 million books are self-published each year, nearly 500,000 by CreateSpace alone. And now electronic books on platforms like Kindle, ibooks, and Kobo represent about half of the market. Plus audiobooks distributed primarily by Audible are the fastest growing market segment, which I experienced myself after publishing 65 audiobooks which are vastly outselling most of my print books.
And now books have been turned into videos and online courses, while chapters have been turned into articles and blogs, which are often combined into books. In turn, books in different formats provide a great vehicle for anyone seeking to build their own brand or promote a company, product, or service.
Given all these possibilities, a question that many authors ask me is “How should I self-publish my book?”
Some prospective authors have been introduced to self-publishing by workshops, seminars, and online pitches that offer them an opportunity to write, publish, and distribute their book for anywhere from $1500 to $35,000, depending on how much advertising and promotion is included in the mix and whether the company offers workshops and boot camps. There are also hybrid publishing programs, some offshoots of established companies, which cost about $7,000 to $15,000, with mixed results.
But the process doesn’t have to be that complicated and expensive. In the following series of blogs, I’ll provide an A-Z of what you need to do to get self-published in different formats, and then I’ll discuss how to promote your book and use it to build your career or business.
Getting Started
Once you have a general idea of what your book is about, a good first step is to outline it into chapters and subsections of a chapter, and write or record those. While some people like to talk into a recording device, transcribe it, and organize everything later, this is a hit and miss process that can make the process of preparing a book for publication take much longer. Of course, anyone can publish anything these days. But if you want a good, well-organized, thought-out book, it’s good to start with an outline. You can even use this outline for creating a series of blogs on that topic, and then turn those into a book.
Perhaps you might need an hour or two of assistance to help you decide on your subject, create the outline, and record or write the chapters. But these expensive programs often make the steps more involved than necessary. As long as you work at your own pace and set aside some time to write, you can get it done.
GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D., J.D., is a nationally known writer, consultant, speaker, and seminar leader, specializing in social trends, popular culture, business and work relationships, and professional and personal development. She has published over 50 books on diverse subjects with major publishers. She has worked with dozens of clients on memoirs, self-help, and popular business books, as well as film scripts. Her websites include www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com and www.ginigrahamscott.com.
And now books have been turned into videos and online courses, while chapters have been turned into articles and blogs, which are often combined into books. In turn, books in different formats provide a great vehicle for anyone seeking to build their own brand or promote a company, product, or service.
Given all these possibilities, a question that many authors ask me is “How should I self-publish my book?”
Some prospective authors have been introduced to self-publishing by workshops, seminars, and online pitches that offer them an opportunity to write, publish, and distribute their book for anywhere from $1500 to $35,000, depending on how much advertising and promotion is included in the mix and whether the company offers workshops and boot camps. There are also hybrid publishing programs, some offshoots of established companies, which cost about $7,000 to $15,000, with mixed results.
But the process doesn’t have to be that complicated and expensive. In the following series of blogs, I’ll provide an A-Z of what you need to do to get self-published in different formats, and then I’ll discuss how to promote your book and use it to build your career or business.
Getting Started
Once you have a general idea of what your book is about, a good first step is to outline it into chapters and subsections of a chapter, and write or record those. While some people like to talk into a recording device, transcribe it, and organize everything later, this is a hit and miss process that can make the process of preparing a book for publication take much longer. Of course, anyone can publish anything these days. But if you want a good, well-organized, thought-out book, it’s good to start with an outline. You can even use this outline for creating a series of blogs on that topic, and then turn those into a book.
Perhaps you might need an hour or two of assistance to help you decide on your subject, create the outline, and record or write the chapters. But these expensive programs often make the steps more involved than necessary. As long as you work at your own pace and set aside some time to write, you can get it done.
GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D., J.D., is a nationally known writer, consultant, speaker, and seminar leader, specializing in social trends, popular culture, business and work relationships, and professional and personal development. She has published over 50 books on diverse subjects with major publishers. She has worked with dozens of clients on memoirs, self-help, and popular business books, as well as film scripts. Her websites include www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com and www.ginigrahamscott.com.
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