Why self-publish? The benefits of self-publishing

When people ask “should I self-publish?” or “why self-publish?” there’s often a note of fear in their voices. After all, is self-publishing an admission of defeat? Are there benefits to self-publishing?

There is a stigma attached to self-publishing. To some, choosing to self-publish is a sign of failure. “I couldn’t get a standard publishing contract like a REAL writer, so I’m forced to go it on my own.” This is why lots of self-published writers are choosing to call themselves “indie writers” now. Sounds much more impressive, doesn’t it?

There is a component of apprehension in my personal decision to self-publish The Mystery of the Masked Marauder. I spent almost two years querying literary agents large and small, receiving almost 100 rejections.

That sort of rejection is disheartening, but it’s important for aspiring writers to realize that this is an incredibly difficult market to break into and there is no shame in indie publishing.

Traditional publishing is inhospitable 

In the 1990s, JK Rowling was rejected dozens of times in her quest to find a publisher for Harry Potter. Since the emergence of the e-reader and the explosion of the internet, landing a traditional publishing contract has only gotten harder. Much, much harder. To the point that many agents have closed themselves to submissions, or will tell you upfront that they accept perhaps 10 new writers per year out of 10,000 inquiries (that’s 0.1% for those keeping score at home).

So it’s important not to get discouraged.

But what are the benefits of self-publishing, other than the obvious “I can’t get published anywhere else”?

There are quite a few, and we’ll discuss them more in future posts, but here’s a quick breakdown.

Benefits of self-publishing 

“Indie writing” allows you more creative control (do a quick Google search and you’ll find hundreds of authors who say their book was shredded by publishing house editors); it allows you to make more profit (70% royalties versus 15% is a pretty noticeable difference); and it allows you to have a closer relationship with your readers.

Another key point: the very factors that led to traditional publishing becoming more difficult on new writers has led to self-publishing getting easier. Perhaps the biggest factor: Amazon.com.

Publishing houses are accepting almost no new writers thanks to the Kindle and Amazon.com creating havoc in their industry, but thanks to Kindle and Amazon.com indie writers can now publish with little to no upfront cost. It’s free to publish on Kindle, and you can even publish softcover books with Amazon’s Createspace platform without paying anything upfront.

So self-publishing is now easier, cheaper, and allows for more creative control and greater profits. At the same time it’s more difficult than ever to publish traditionally. In this climate, self-publishing makes more and more sense.