So you want to be an author (or perhaps you already are)! Congrats! Maybe you’re drawn to self-publishing because you’ve done your research and you know a traditional publisher will give you 10% of the sales on your book if you’re lucky. Or you’ve had a bad experience because your publisher made you change your title and called all the shots, yet they’re the ones that made all the money off of your book. (I mean, I understand why, they’re the ones who invested all the money into getting it published so of course they’ll want to get a return on their investment. I just think there are different ways to accomplish the same task, like co-publishing.) Given all this you’ve decided to self-publish.
Consider this. If you self-publish you and you alone are responsible for:
- Finding a good editor
- Locating a graphic designer who specializes in typesetting
- Picking a cover that will not only look good but move your title
- Purchasing the ISBN
- Submitting the copyright
- Partnering with a print-on-demand company
- Marketing and advertising your book
- And more
On paper it may not look like much, but as someone who just published her own book, I can tell you there was many a time I wished I had help. Someone I could turn to and say, “What do you think of this font choice for the cover?” or “Do you think I need to flesh out this paragraph?” Not to mention someone else willing to sell my book. It’s tough man. People talk about self-publishing as if it were the easiest, best thing in the world, but it’s not. It’s a lot of fumbling around, crossing your fingers, praying you made the right decision because you actually have no idea what you’re doing. That’s fine for some people who don’t mind spend hours researching or who are super confident in their decisions, but what about everyone else?
I present to you: assisted self-publishing! Again, if you’ve poked around on the Internet you’ve likely come across some information about vanity publishers, who some people call scam artists. I am NOT a vanity publisher. Here’s why:
- YOU own the ISBN. You. Which makes you the publisher.
- I don’t make a cent off of the sales of your book.
- I have submission guidelines because I only want to be associated with certain kinds of books.
- You own all the rights to your book. Want to pitch your book to a publisher? Go ahead.
- You pay me at cost plus for my time. For instance, it costs $35 to electronically copyright a book. If you don’t want to bother with filling out the form (which I completely understand because there are a LOT of questions) you can pay me $50.
- You only pay for the services you require. You don’t want me to copyright your book? You don’t have to pay me for it.
If you paid for everything it would cost about $7,000 but we can talk about what services you’d like and which you wouldn’t. Contact me for more information. I look forward to hearing from you!