Question: Should you self-publish???
Answer: Yes, if you’ve always wanted to be a publisher sometime in your life. If not, I question the value of using your time that way. I was interviewed by successful author Jason Alba on the merits of self-publishing which you can listen to.
If you are a business professional and you plan on using your book to generate speaking, and consulting engagements and you make more than $10/hour, it just doesn’t pay to self-publish. The money you “really” make with books is with the indirect revenue, not the direct revenue. That said, you should use a professional publishing firm to help you get the most bang from your efforts of penning a book.
When you write a book as a professional service provider, you are looking for two things:
- Credibility (a stake to put your ability around)
- Leads (The best business card you’ll ever have in your life)
If it happens that you make money from the book itself, that’s even better. A number of Happy About authors have made money from their books (more than 70%), some have made a lot of money. That said, many of our authors have doubled, tripled and quadrupled their revenue.
So, if you self-publish, you’ll spend 200 hours trying to figure out what it means to be a publisher. You’ll lose the credibility part and if you’re lucky (and a good marketer), you might make an extra grand or two. Now divide that incremental money by the time you’ll spend and you’ll see that there’s a much better use of your time than self-publishing a book. Do what you do well and find a publisher that you have aligned interests with to help leverage what you do well.
Would love to hear your opinion, please share some feedback.
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