IS IT WORTH PUBLISHING A BOOK INDEPENDENTLY?
There’s still a big myth that self-publishing means amateurism and poor quality. I’m here to prove otherwise. Those who follow my career know that I publish independently, and even though I do everything myself, I deliver quality work at publisher level, and in some cases even better. I’ve even exported my books, something an author with a publisher will rarely achieve, unless they pay dearly for that service.
But Leandro, here's the question: is self-publishing worth it or not?
Yes, if your goal and dream is to make a living from books.
With self-publishing, you have full control over your works. You know exactly what sells and how much profit you make. And better yet, the profit is all yours. But there’s a catch: it’s much more work than being published by a publisher. A lot more.
With publisher-based publishing, you pay, or, if you’re lucky or have a good literary agent, you just hand in your manuscript and the publisher does everything.
A great option for those who just want their works published, without big ambitions.
You might even get good results, but the return won’t be efficient enough in the short term for you to live off it alone.
Rare are the cases of authors who managed to live off books for a while being published by a publisher. Either they stopped producing, had no budget to keep financing it, or simply quit because sales and royalty payments were no longer worth it.
Not to mention that publishers won’t spend money on ad campaigns dedicated only to your book, “your baby”.
Your work is just one among many other books, and even if the publisher publishes you, it won’t take the risk of investing in marketing dedicated only to yours.
Marketing is the author's job.
And so the author works themselves to death doing marketing to sell their books, and in the end only gets the famous 10%.
That’s a lot of books to sell to make a living from it.
As I said, with self-publishing the return is all yours, and since marketing is up to the author anyway, they might as well do it to generate profit only for themselves.
But let me say it again about self-publishing.
It’s a lot more work.
So whether it’s worth it or not depends on your goal.
If you want to make a living from books, go independent, because you’ll achieve it more efficiently and in much less time than being published by a publisher.
Everything a publisher does, an independent author can do, and in some cases even better, since they’ll dedicate themselves entirely to their work.
Now, if that’s not your goal and you don’t want a lot of work, only worrying about writing, publish with a publisher.
But first, look for a publisher that meets your needs.
Once you choose one, first contact authors it has already published and decide whether it’s worth it based on their opinion.
Either way, publishing books takes work. What you can’t do is give up at the first obstacle.
Write for yourself. Put all your creativity on paper and share it with the world. Share your universes without worrying about criticism. There will be people who won’t like what you write and publish, but you’ll surely find your audience.
As long as there’s one person who wants to read or appreciate what your mind can create, you can’t stop putting into words or art everything stored in your imagination and deep in your heart.
The limit of your imagination is as far as you can imagine. Imagine to infinity.
LeandroVSilva
About the Author
Leandro Vieira da Silva (Rio de Janeiro, June 11, 1986), also known as LeandroVSilva, is a Brazilian writer, author of the Enerkry series among others. In 2018 he released his first book, Os Irmãos do Gelo, the first book in the Enerkry series.
Founder of LeandroVSilva STUDIO, in 2022 he left his stable job of many years to found his own company, dedicate himself to his career and help other authors in their literary and business journeys.
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