Self Publishing - My Story So Far

Part Two

Two

Choices

So I had decided that self publishing was for me so that I could meet one of my targets in life.  Hold that first book in my hand for my 42nd birthday.  The next question I faced was which mob to use?  There are a plethora of options available for someone who wishes to produce their own work and to start with I had no idea about any of them.  Well the simple answer to cut through all the hype is, which platform do you wish to promote?  Real books?  (Like paperbacks) or E Books?  Or both?

I decided that I wanted to do both.  I thought that E books where the way of the future yet I still had that desire to hold that real paperback in my hands.  So I had to pick a publisher that had both.

The next question was, if I was going to go E Book, which platform did I want it available through?  As you are probably aware, there are two major forms of E Readers on the market.  I devices (Like I Pads, pods and phones).  And Kindle devices.  Unfortunately the two platforms are mutually exclusive.  That is, if you pick one publisher then your book will be available to Kindle readers.  If you pick another then the I tunes library opens up.  I have yet to find a publisher that does both.  If you find one please drop me a message in my inbox!

I decided that I wanted Kindle (as none of my family had I devices at the time, we now own 2 I Pads and 3 I  Pod touches… so the goal posts moved again.)  You can download the Kindle reader for PC direct from Amazon and that appealed to me.  So to start with, Kindle it was.

Once I had made up my mind about what I actually wanted, it was then a matter of trolling through the internet looking for a service that offered what I wanted at a reasonable price.  What’s that I hear you say?  I had to pay them?  The simple answer is yes.  That’s the major difference between traditional publishing services like Harper Collins and self publishing like Amazon.  In traditional the company take the financial risk on the author and all money flows to the author.  In self publishing, the author takes the financial risk and, until you start making heaps of sales, all money flows to the company.

While I am on that point I think I should tell you a little of the types of publishing companies that are out there.  First are traditional publishers.  To find out more about them, read my wattpadd book, What Publishers Want.  Then are what are called partner publishers.  These companies are just like major publishing houses, they work the same, have the same channels of distribution etc.  Except they expect the author to assume some of the financial risk associated with producing the book.  Sid Harter Publishers are an example of this kind of publisher.  And then there is self publishers (who used to be called vanity publishers, although the term has fallen away now.)  Who will publish anything for anyone as long as they cough up the cash.

I decided to go with a self publishing company that, too me offered good value for money and had a wide audience coverage.  I chose Amazons KDP and Createspace.

Next up Services.