I’ve
had the entrepreneurial spirit for most of my adult life. I realized after I
graduated college that working for someone else was never going to make me
truly happy, no matter how much money a particular job paid me. I’ve always
wanted to own a business, but the problem was I had no special skills or money
to start one back in the day. And my credit was bad. Writing books wasn’t
something I wanted to do at first because I didn’t see the money in it, and
besides that, the Internet hadn’t been created yet. The only way to get a book
deal in the 90s was to beg the traditional publishing houses for a contract,
and this could take years to accomplish. I wasn’t afraid of rejection, but I
didn’t want someone else to determine my fate, either.
Fast
forward to 2005 when I worked a dead-end job that barely paid me enough to make
ends meet. Nights of fatigue and frustration helped propel me into a writing
career on the side that year, but my skill level was amateurish at best. It
took many years to perfect my craft to the best of my ability, but I realized
early on that there would always be authors who were much more talented than I
was. Getting a publishing contract at the time was too far out of reach for me,
and I wasn’t willing to wait years to get signed by someone because my back was
against the wall. I knew nothing about self-publishing but making money on the
Internet intrigued me enough to give it a shot. Thirteen years and numerous
setbacks later, I finally made a profit writing books in 2019.
The
Pros of Self-Publishing.
I
can’t describe the joy I felt when I finally started making money writing. It
was a long time coming and a sense of accomplishment because I put blood,
sweat, and tears into being an indie author. The biggest advantage of being independent
is being my own boss―I publish what I want, when I want, and how I want. I’m
not saying this to boast―I still have a nine-to-five job so I still have to
follow directives every day. However, there’s a tiny space that I call my own
where I don’t have to follow someone’s orders or listen to anyone’s opinions on
how I should maneuver around, and it feels good to have a steady supplemental
income that I’ve created.
For example, I prefer to write short stories
and novellas even though I’ve written three full-length books because readers
tend to buy books that are cheaper and shorter from authors who aren’t well
known and buy more books from those type of authors at a later date if they
like what they read from them. Publishing houses don’t back writers who
specialize in writing short stories, so I would’ve been on my own whether I
wanted to be or not. My bestselling book is a short story titled The Root of
All Evil―it’s an 83-page novella that currently has 200 reviews with a 4.5
rating. I sell anywhere from 100 to 150 books of this title every month.
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Publishing House
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Another
example is the fact that I’m better at pay-per-click advertising than I am at
social media. I use Amazon Advertising and Google AdWords to promote my books
as opposed to trying to promote them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I’ve
always been a loner, so trying to connect with people on social media was counterproductive
because in my mind, I can utilize my time better when I’m writing.
The
last example I have is that I prefer to use my own pictures when creating a
book cover for my novels. I don’t know
exactly how things are ran in a publishing house―I would imagine that an author
has some input in how the book cover should look, but ultimately, the publisher
probably has the final say because they’re the ones putting up the money to
market and promote the book. I want a book that I’ve written to reflect my vision
of the story, not someone else’s vision, and I always hire the same freelance
graphic designer to bring that vision to life.
The
Cons of Self-Publishing.
The
old adage with great power comes great responsibility rings true when it
comes to self-publishing a book. Everything falls upon the indie author to
promote a book―book cover design, proofreading, editing, and marketing to name
a few things. It’s not uncommon for a traditional publisher to pay an author an
advance of anywhere from $5000 to $20000 to write a book, and an established
author can expect as much as a $50,000 advance whereas an indie author has to come
out of pocket for every single expense―a self-published author is literally a
small business entrepreneur.
For
example, the cost of a book cover design and the proofreading and editing of a paperback
and an eBook can cost an author thousands of dollars before the book is even
published, and marketing of that book will also cost the author thousands of
dollars each month. Lightning doesn’t strike too often for an indie author’s
first book, so one has to write multiple books in order to start seeing a
monthly profit in book sales.
In
conclusion, an indie author can’t have an employee mindset and expect to become
successful at writing. A business mindset and perseverance are the two key
ingredients needed to sell books on the Internet independently, and the rewards
are great for those authors who are willing to put their noses to the grindstone.
Related Posts:
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What Inspired Me to Become a Writer
