selfpublishingadvisor

The Business of Self-Publishing

There’s no way going around it: if you want to make a career out of self-publishing, you must treat self-publishing as a business.

Confident beautiful businesswoman sitting at desk and posing, she is smiling at camera, office shelves on background

Yes, self-publishing involves writing a book, and the act of writing is the reason why you’re entering the industry in the first place. That said, self-publishing is still publishing, making it a business with all the trappings that come with it.

If your primary goal is riches, you may want to pick a less risky path—but what’s the fun in that?

The business part of self-publishing means we can apply most of the fundamentals of business creation to your self-publishing career.

I’ll touch on the basics here. This article doesn’t cover everything about a self-publishing business, but it will give you a broad scope of the venture.

First things first, you’ve got to make a business plan. Yes, you can groan at me, but think of it as outlining a book and figuring out how to best use your time to give your book the support it deserves.

Next, set your goals. What do you want to get out of self-publishing? Do you want to sustain it as a part-time endeavor alongside your day job, or do you want to go full-time? How many books do you want to put out, and how often? What will be your genres, and who are your audiences?

Then, choose some organizations. It’s helpful to have specific companies in mind but do pick which aspects of your process you want to delegate to freelancers and when you want to bring in an agency or press. Do you intend to stay self-published, transition fully into traditional publishing, or do both in a hybrid publishing model?

Use that information as part of your market analysis as you research books in your field of choice and determine if your niche aligns with your goals. Then with these considerations in mind, sketch out your mission statement: what is the driving objective of your business?

At this stage, you should also consider your brand—how you’ll present yourself professionally.

Branding includes visual components of your design and marketing, like typeset and color scheme. More importantly, your author’s brand concerns how you communicate with your audience and other professionals. This isn’t necessarily about putting on a persona but more about being intentional regarding which parts of you to put out in the world.

Also, investigate which business structure you want to operate under. This varies by where you are, but most self-publishing authors are considered, by default, to be sole proprietorships. The stakes are shorter with this structure, but your personal and business assets and liabilities are one and the same.

If a sole proprietorship doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, investigate other options: a partnership, a limited liability company (LLC), a corporation, a cooperative, and so on.

Before you execute your plan, there’s one more step: make a budget. Besides business expenses, there are the special considerations for self-publishing a book: book cover design, developmental and copyediting, formatting for physical and eBook, marketing, and software.

It’s tempting to cut corners. You may reason you can design your book cover. But unless you’re already a top-notch cover designer, you’re better off delegating the cover to a specialist. Believe it or not, readers do judge books by their covers.

It’s the same with editing and formatting; of course, you should be doing both, but a second and third pair of eyes makes a huge difference between a book being passable and a book being professional.

Then think about marketing and publicity before you get to the editorial and design stage. I’m not just suggesting this because I work with marketing in my job—it’s because you should begin marketing and PR before you release your book. A built-in audience before launch day will help your book debut with momentum.

I go over the facets of book marketing in another article, but here’s a list to get started: consider your genre and category, book design, author bio, distributors and sellers, book reviews, social media platforms, author website, mailing list, ad campaigns, interviews . . . You get the idea.

There are thousands of ways to market a book, so pick and choose your components. For instance, you may forgo paid advertising until you’re secure in your social media posting. Instead, focus more on fewer things.

In this post, I’ve thrown a lot of things at you, which may be overwhelming. However, don’t let this intimidate you. Take your time researching the publishing business, then focus on the parts more prevalent to your plan. For instance, you may phase in marketing gradually once you’re secure in your branding and business structure.

One more thing: always remember that the most critical part of the self-publishing business is your book. The best business in the world can’t sell a bad book. While a good book can’t sell itself, it gives you the foundation to build your business.

Go forth and build your business!

Over to you: What’s YOUR business plan for self-publishing? What advice do YOU have for self-publishing authors looking to make writing a business? Alternatively, what questions do YOU have about the business side?

ABOUT ELIZABETH JAVOR: With over 20 years of experience in sales and management, Elizabeth Javor works as the Director of Sales and Marketing for Outskirts Press. The Sales and Marketing departments are composed of knowledgeable publishing consultants, customer service reps and book marketing specialists; together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Elizabeth Javor can put you on the right path.

Royalene Speaks

Reposting Royalene Doyle’s Conversation on: INTRIGUE Plus SUSPENSE Plus MYSTERY

Just yesterday, I heard a word I hadn’t heard or seen used for years. The word is Brinkmanship.

My definition for it (from the creative writing perspective) is “to bring Readers to the BRINK of solving the mystery, then strategically pulling them away from that answer, only to maneuver them onto another path.” When writers hone this skill, they produce wonderful adventures that not only challenge our logical thinking abilities but also satisfy the soul. Much like the tapestry illustration shown here, the various color hues (characters) and textures (plot/angles) intrigue us and bring us joy.

Agatha Christie is one of the best and most-read novelists. She instinctively knew how to weave the threads of Intrigue, Suspense, and Mystery into puzzle patterns creating beautiful whodunits that tantalize, frustrate, and bring us to the brink of giving up before they allow us to discover the truth. Here are some of the techniques she used.

Clues: A spot of blue ink is found under the desk. Ah! A clue! Clues provide information to one or more characters and to the Reader. These include tangible objects such as the blue ink pen found on the suspect’s desk, fingerprints, or a letter clenched in the victim’s hand. And, as in real life, other objects might be collected but have nothing to do with the mystery, which become false clues leading our characters (and Readers) to wrong conclusions—for a short time, that is.

Red Herrings: The technique that uses an event or statement to overtly mislead characters (and Readers). However, this allows everyone to deduce (logically) whether this piece of information is relevant to the story. These red herrings keep Readers from figuring out what’s really going on sooner than outlined.

The Suspects: Because I enjoy the complexities of well-developed characters, this is my favorite part of any novel, especially the Mystery. From the tailor to the butler, the undercover police officer to the priest, and the chef to the hobo—almost every character in the book could have a reason to be suspected, even though just slightly.

Disguises: These can also add elements of intrigue and suspense to both characters and the settings (atmosphere/environment) in which we place them. This is a camouflage of either people or places that gives our Readers pause to consider another possible (logical) course in the storyline and keeps those pages turning.

Successful authors who employ these techniques—no matter the genre—often use opening sentences that incorporate several points. Here is an example of the first sentence in a novel that does just that.

“When the car stopped rolling, Parker kicked out the windshield and crawled through onto the wrinkled hood, Glock first.” Richard Stark, Backflash

Immediately, the Reader is presented with several clues, a character/suspect with enough strength to crawl out of a wrecked car with a gun in his hand. When writing skills are honed to create opening sentences like this, publishing success is right around the corner!

ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene has been writing something since before kindergarten days and continues to love the process. Through her small business—DOYLE WRITING SERVICES—she brings more than 40 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their projects. She developed these blogs for Outskirts Press (OP) a leading self-publisher, and occasionally accepts a ghostwriting project from one of their clients. Her recent book release (with OP) titled FIREPROOF PROVERBS, A Writer’s Study of Words, has received excellent reviews including several professional writer’s endorsements given on the book’s back cover.

Royalene’s writing experience grew through a wide variety of positions from Office Manager and Administrative Assistant to Teacher of Literature and Advanced Writing courses and editor/writer for an International Christian ministry. Her willingness to listen to struggling authors, learn their goals and expectations and discern their writing voice has brought many manuscripts into the published books arena. December 2017 marked the end of Royalene’s tenure at Self Publishing Advisor. and we will be spending the next few weeks celebrating some of her all-time hits, her most well-received articles for our blog, in thanks for years of generous service.

Self-Publishing News

Amazon to Close Bookstores: What It Means for Indie Books

Amazon started as an online bookseller. However, despite these roots, the e-commerce giant has decided for now to fold on their physical retail bookstore chain, Amazon Books.

As first reported by Reuters and later covered by Publishers Weekly, Amazon announced that it would close all 24 of its physical bookstores. The internet giant opened the first of these 24 bookstores in 2015, its premier location making its debut in Seattle. Over the next few years, Amazon opened Amazon Books shops in 12 states, Washington, D.C., and the United Kingdom.

Bookstores aren’t the only locations that Amazon is closing. The company is shuttering a total of 68 locations, which include the aforementioned bookstores, supermarkets, cashierless convenience stores, pop-ups, and locations within its Amazon 4-Star department store program.

Despite these closures, Amazon plans to shift laid-off workers and other resources to soon-to-open locations at its grocery store subsidiary, Amazon Fresh, as well as Amazon supermarket acquisition, Whole Foods.

The withdrawal from book retail is a telling admission of defeat for Amazon, as the company’s success had contributed to the destruction of many book retail stores, most notably Borders. Moreover, it’s yet another sign that success in the online space doesn’t automatically translate to physical retail, even for one of the world’s largest companies.

Who wins from Amazon Books’ loss?

Even as Amazon momentarily forfeits its efforts in the physical retail spaces, other parties will walk away as winners: independent bookstores and self-published authors.

Independent bookstores will benefit from Amazon’s retreat for several reasons. The most straightforward one is competition: while Amazon will continue competing with the indies with cutthroat low margins, broader selections, and fast Prime delivery, at least the e-commerce website won’t be butting heads with indies within the brick-and-mortar sphere.

This windfall is significant for independent bookstores at this point of the pandemic. With the omicron wave plummeting, even the most restrictive places in the US are seeking to lift the last of their COVID-19 precautions as consumers flock back to physical retail spaces. So while Amazon Books won’t close overnight, news of the program’s impending end will give its indie competitors an edge during an anticipated surge of in-person shopping.

Amazon Books’ failure also reflects well upon the strengths of independent bookstores. Amazon attempted to break into retail by leveraging Big Data, a wide selection, and even showcasing Amazon reviews.

However, none of Amazon’s online strength seems to replace the personal, local touch of independent bookstores. What independent bookstores lack in scope, they make up with depth, being more equipped to cater to their neighboring communities than an international chain like Amazon Books.

It may sound less intuitive why self-publishing authors may benefit from Amazon Books’ demise. After all, Amazon’s Kindle Direct Program has been integral to the careers of many self-published authors.

However, self-publishing authors share an advantage with independent bookstores in that indie authors have better access to independent bookstores than big retailers.

Amazon may help self-published authors better in the electronic space, where shelf space is limitless, and the cost of “stocking” an e-book is microscopic. However, this is a different story in brick-and-mortar stores, where major book chains only have so much room for books and usually only stock traditionally published titles.

Furthermore, self-published authors have more barriers to getting big retailers to give them the time of day. You can’t walk into a Barnes & Noble or an Amazon Books store and ask the owner if they can buy some of your copies to sell.

Independent bookstores are a whole other matter. As indie stores survive and thrive based on personal relationships, most are willing to talk with local authors. This opens up opportunities for both parties: you get the chance to have your self-published book sold on an actual bookstore shelf, and they get to show off their commitment to regional authors.

At an independent bookstore, a self-published author has the chance of being featured on a window display or front-door table, and indie bookstores are always looking for local authors to host book signings and other author events. None of this can be done with a big player like Amazon Books.

It’s unknown whether Amazon will reattempt physical bookselling in the future. But for now, the smaller players in the book industry have one less giant to worry about.

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As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry. This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog each month to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

elizabeth speaks

Why Business People Need to Publish a Book

Certain professions need to be published. They can go on forever: entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, journalists, consultants, self-help experts, freelancers, and so on.

Even if your profession is not on this list, read on to evaluate whether publishing a book is right for your job. After all, publishing a book can contribute significantly to your career.

For the typical professional, it’s easier than ever to publish a book. Self-publishing and eBook publishing are both viable. You can release your book without waiting years for publication, keep control of your vision for your book, publish in both physical and digital formats, and retain a larger share of the royalties.

A book can serve as your best form of marketing in any profession, working better than any business card. A piece of paper can be easily thrown away, but a book can remain on your reader’s bookshelf forever.

Any reader who picks up your book becomes a prospective client, attracting attention and increasing your reach and visibility. Your book’s content can also testify to your authority, credibility, and professional expertise. On top of that, it extends your brand by giving you another avenue through which you express and practice your profession.

Finally, a reader-turned-client is more informed about your goods and services, improving the experience for all parties. Of course, any good professional can explain what they do, but having a book do the explaining is neat too.

For another example, take public speaking. If you’re a speaker for a living, you must have a book.

You can publish a book that serves as the companion guide to everything you speak about on stage. It gives you space to expand on topics you cannot discuss at length during your speech, and audience members who buy your book on the way out have another way of expanding on what they learned from what you said.

It’s also smart from the standpoint of marketing. Your speeches will promote your book, and your book, in turn, will open up more speaking gigs: a positive feedback loop!

A book can serve as the linchpin for your online content strategy. If you put in the work, you can increase the opportunity of your book snagging that blue-chip client, sparking word of mouth, or even garnering media attention, reaping you an ongoing stream of new customers. It’s a win-win.

So, how do you sell your book after you publish it? First, consider giving your book a strong presence on LinkedIn. If you’re a professional, you’re likely already using LinkedIn, so why not get more mileage out of a platform you’re already leveraging?

Your book gives you another reason to post regularly on LinkedIn, especially if you’re prone to leaving LinkedIn alone for months at a time. To fuel your posting, you can repurpose content from your book as LinkedIn content. Alongside the standard post, LinkedIn has features to publish an article or create a newsletter. Also, in these various forms, you can include a call to action to check out your book or otherwise begin a conversation with you.

This also applies to other social media platforms. You could even tweet quotes and excerpts on Twitter. You can create short videos for Instagram or microposts for Facebook. You can even launch your own blog or newsletter. The exact platform may vary (as any of these platforms may not exist in a few years), but as a medium, the book will remain.

You can also bundle the book as part of your product, increasing its value for your customer. This is especially effective for digital products, where you can toss in an eBook at no extra cost to you. So while you may give up a potential sale, it’s a worthwhile trade if your main product sells for significantly more than your book’s sale price.

Marketing aside, a book serves as another nifty format for your work, depending on your profession. If you’re a lawyer, you can teach the basics of law without having to sit a prospective client down. If you’re a consultant, a book can be a solid alternative for any client who’s unable to book an appointment with you. The possibilities are endless.

And above all, there’s always the chance that you start writing a book and find publishing to be your calling! As beneficial as the promotional aspect is, a book is also an opportunity to express your thoughts, work, and love of your craft.

Many professional authors start in different professions before making writing their full-time vocation. So now, don’t rush to quit your day job, but do recognize that the act of writing can lead you down a rabbit hole of authoring.

No matter how you’d leverage a book, know that there’s an exciting business world full of books. Will you write the next one?

Over to you: What are some of YOUR favorite examples of professionals who’ve published books? If you’re a professional who’s published a book, how has YOUR book served YOUR career?

elizabeth speaks

The Importance of Securing Amazon Reviews

When I’m looking for a new book on Amazon, I often wish I had the psychic ability to look at a novel and know right away whether I’d enjoy it—or not.

But, sadly, I don’t have psychic powers. But I do have Amazon’s Customer Review section, which is why I’m here to teach you the importance of securing Amazon reviews.

Why in the world do you need Amazon customer reviews? Wouldn’t your book be able to sell itself from the title, the cover design, the blurb, the store category and keywords, and the preview of the first few pages? All of those are important, but they’re NOT enough.

Amazon itself encourages shoppers to leave customer reviews. The power of reviews pans out in practice, as successful self-publishing authors observe that sales increase with positive reviews.

Generally, readers are reluctant to buy the book of an unknown author. It’s understandable, as a reader spends both money and time when purchasing and reading a book. But, conversely, readers love to buy books from their favorite authors—so what can you do when you’re starting?

That’s where customer reviews can bridge the gap. If they see that the book has stellar reviews, customers are much more likely to take a chance buying it.

Now, reviews are a pain point for many self-publishing authors. Reviews are vital for attracting sales, yet they’re one of the factors authors have the least control over. You can write a great story and craft a solid product description, but you can’t write reviews of your own book.

(Seriously, don’t pretend to be a reader and review your own book. Amazon will catch you and kick you off their storefront.)

Don’t know where to begin with reviews? Fortunately, you have several methods for soliciting reviews, and you should employ multiple approaches simultaneously.

Ask your friends and family not only to read the book (which they should!) but also to post a review on Amazon. Yes, friends and family are allowed to leave reviews.
Run an office contest for your coworkers. The first colleague to leave a great review gets lunch on you.
Post on social media channels, especially Facebook and Twitter, asking your followers to leave a review. Emphasize to your readers that reviewing is a fantastic way to support their favorite authors and that you appreciate each review. You could even read some positive reviews and share them on your feed, engaging your most supportive fans in a fun way!
Research book reviewers and review blogs in your book’s genre and category, then send complimentary copies. Recurring and professional reviewers have an audience of their own who read their writing, making them a great publicity asset. Just be careful to contact reviewers and bloggers who read the type of book you’re publishing. For example, if you send your steamy, erotic romance novel to a Christian memoir reviewer, she’s not going to be happy!
Keep publishing more titles. With more books, you’ll get more opportunities to obtain reviews from regular readers. There are few other people you want on your team than a power customer who recommends all your books!

Don’t be stingy in giving away free copies to potential reviewers. If a reviewer is willing to buy your book, awesome! If they’re not, it doesn’t hurt to be generous to reel in a reader who would’ve otherwise passed up your book.

Keep in mind that under Amazon guidelines, you can’t force a reader to leave a review in exchange for a free copy, so don’t take it personally if some prospective reviewers don’t follow through.

This is an excellent place to emphasize one perk of digital publishing. You don’t have to spend money to produce galleys or advance reviewer copies when you have eBooks. Instead, you can send a reviewer an eBook with a single email. In addition, Amazon provides options for you to gift a reader an eBook to make it easier on both ends.

Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to have physical copies on hand to give away, as Amazon lists the reviews from all a book’s formats under one section. Believe it or not, there are still readers out there who want a physical copy. I certainly wouldn’t turn down a print book!

It can be daunting to ask readers to review your book on Amazon. The ask can be intimidating by itself, and the prospect of a negative review can be outright frightening. However, even with those risks, an author is her best publicist . . . and a self-publishing author more so.

With practice, you will get better at asking for reviews. As your titles grow, so does your audience—and so do the reviews. Over time, more readers will review your books without you asking, and even the dreaded one-star reviews will soon be buried underneath an avalanche of five-star praise!

If you’re in self-publishing for a long and exciting career, you need to secure Amazon reviews right now. Fortunately, you can start today.

Maybe someday I’ll find your book, be impressed enough by its reviews to click that “buy” button, and leave a review of my own. I look forward to the opportunity.

Now, I’ll turn it over to YOU. As a reader, what leads YOU to review a book? As a writer, what tips and tricks do YOU have to secure Amazon reviews?

There’s no way going around it: if you want to make a career out of self-publishing, you must treat self-publishing as a business.

Share this:

Just yesterday, I heard a word I hadn’t heard or seen used for years. The word is Brinkmanship.

Share this:

Share this:

Certain professions need to be published. They can go on forever: entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, journalists, consultants, self-help experts, freelancers, and so on.

Share this:

When I’m looking for a new book on Amazon, I often wish I had the psychic ability to look at a novel and know right away whether I’d enjoy it—or not.

Share this: