Authors self-publish for two good reasons. One, they can’t get an agent to pass their book to a publisher; or two, they want to take control of the publishing process.
To get a book professionally published, unless you know someone in the business, the process goes like this.
- You submit a query letter to an agent; the agent ignores your query, sends you a rejection letter or asks you for a book proposal.
A query letter is the first piece of written communication from an author to a potential agent. It sells them on your book’s potential.
- You submit a book proposal. A proposal will include the entire book or selected chapters, depending on that agencies/publisher’s submission preferences, information on your platform (your ready-to-purchase-friends and fans), your competition, etc. If they like what they see, they send it to one of the publishers they represent and. Then you wait for a response.
If you decide to self publish, there are numerous self-publishers to choose from. They each offer about the same thing with slight variations. When I researched self-publishers, I was looking at customer service, since I’d be working with them on my “book birthing,” my cost per book once printed, and the entire cost of the printing process.
It pays to talk to a few. Two of the most popular amongst my clients and friends are CreateSpace, the self-publishing arm of Amazon, and Balboa Press, who is affiliated with Hay House.
For my book and many of my clients I chose Createspace because I had a better feeling about their staff and their profit structure for authors.
There are pros and cons to both. In both cases you wind up doing a lot of your own marketing. (More on that in a future newsletter) To join my email list and received future newsletters click here – http://eepurl.com/khznz>