In recent years the development of the internet, advances in print technology and changing reading habits, have made self-publishing a viable route for many writers. However, I now believe that the growing popularity of digital reading devices, such as the Kindle and Ipad, offer the Independent Writer a virtually risk free route into self-publishing.
This article will examine the old self-publishing model, look at what has changed and outline an almost risk free self-publishing model.
The Old Self-Publishing Model
As little as ten years ago publishers were all powerful. If a writer wanted to be published then they needed a publisher who would provide the finance to print the books, the distribution chain to get books into bookshops (where almost all books were sold) and the expertise to generate marketing and promotion. However, over the years, technology has gnawed away at each of these three pillars of the publishing world, until, finally, the power has swung into the hands of the writer.
The first pillar to go was printing. Technological developments made short run printing (less than a thousand copies) a reality, with Print-On-Demand later lowering this to just a single book. This meant that no longer were writers reliant on publishers to provide the finance needed to print a couple of thousand books. The arrival of the internet took care of the next two pillars. The rise of websites such as Amazon removed the power of the bookshops and the development of social media has given writers direct access to readers. Authors are now able to launch and execute their own marketing campaigns, without the support of a publisher.
The self-publishing model, though now well established, may be straight forward but is far from risk free, with writers still needing to find a significant amount of money to print the books for them to sell. Self-publishing is not cheap and risk comes in the fact that writers are required to print books that have no guarantee of selling. Even professional publishers are unaware of which book will sell and which will flop. However, these big publishers have the resources to find the best-sellers, which go onto support the poorer selling titles. Self-publishers don’t have this luxury and are therefore are presented with a far greater risk.
Yet, self-publishing writers have little choice than to layout the cash and take the plunge, delving into an untested market with fingers firmly crossed. It is true that the rewards can be huge, but the stark reality is that almost all self-publishing writers end up making a loss.
When you examine the self-publishing model, it is clear that the best way to reduce the risk would be to gain an initial assessment of the marketplace, in advance of any financial outlay. Imagine how much more prepared a self-publishing writer would be, if they were able to have an insight into the number of books they could expected to sell (if any) PRIOR to shelling out money for printing
I now believe that this is possible…
The Digital Revolution
So what has changed?
The answer, once again, is technology, but it is also reading habits. The rise of the digital reading device and the easy access to books, through apps such as iBooks, has left readers with little excuse not to read digitally. Over 3 million Ipads have already been sold and with the recent release of the next generation of the Kindle, the eReader market is set to keep on growing.
This is good news for readers and writers alike, yet there is one more piece of the jigsaw that should be bringing Independent Writers to a fit of excitement. This is the fact that both the Ipad (via companies such as Smashwords) and the Kindle, directly, allow writers to upload their own books and take a large share of the revenue produce!
This means that the digital platform is free and fully accessible to self-publishing writers. The reality is that the Ipad and Kindle have combined to produce a new and accessible market that is just waiting to be tapped by forward thinking writers.
The New Self-Publishing Model
What I find most exciting about the development of this digital marketplace is that it presents self-publishing writers with a free to enter test bed for their new books. In essence, the Ipad and Kindle can be used to assess the readability and commercial viability of your self-publishing project. Put more bluntly, with a minimum outlay, self-publishing writers can determine the demand for their book PRIOR to expensive printing.
So here’s my vision for an almost risk free route to self-publishing:
1. Pre-production:
The first step is to produce a book of high quality. I can’t say this too strongly. You are producing a product to sell. You are expecting readers to give you their hard earned cash to read your words, it is your duty to ensure that the product they receive is amazing. This means not only being well written, but also thoroughly edited, proofread and a cover that has been professionally designed. There are no shortcuts here. As a writer your skill and value comes in producing the text, but if you are to produce a book you expect people to buy, then you need to invest to ensure all other aspects are of the same professional level.
Getting down to the nitty gritty I would expect you to be able to get a 50,000 word novel through the pre-production process for less than £1000. Here’s an outline of some rough costs :
- Editing by BubbleCow is £5/1000 ($8) and would be £250 for a 50,000 manuscript. We are more competitive than most editors so ensure that you pay close attention to the pricing,
- Proofreading prices should be less than editing and you are looking at maybe £200 for a 50,000 word novel,
- You can get a cover designed from about £250 (though more expensive for very high quality covers),
- I would also budget at least another £100 for odds and ends such as an ISBN number.
This means that realistically you can push a book through pre-production for about £800 (250+200+250+100). At this stage I would suggest you don’t spend any money on typesetting since the formatting for both Ipad and Kindle is fairly easy to carry out yourself. However, should you go on to print the book, then typesetting is essential.
2. Writer’s Platform.
Much has been written about building a writer’s platform and for self-published writers this is an essential part of the process. In essence, a writer’s platform is an on-line presence designed to capture potential readers. These articles will help to explain more. I can’t over emphasise just how important this is for an Independent Writer. A self-publisher is taking on all of the roles of a traditional publishing house, and promotion and marketing are just two of these roles. If you are unable to promote your book, then you will have no readers and no readers means no sales. I would also suggest that you consider whether you will need to invest money at this stage in employing a professional to help set up your network (website/blog etc.).
3. Digital Test Bed:
The next stage is to test the market and determine if there is enough demand to move onto the final step. This is the crucial stage between you and an expensive printing mistake, so go into the exercise wholeheartedly.
Having prepared your manuscript in pre-production, you should now upload it to both the Kindle and the Ipad. This article will explain how. The process of uploading is free. By using this Digital Test Bed you can assess if there is a readership for your book. The Ipad and Kindle offer a living, breathing marketplace and it provides you with an real life indication of your book’s potential.
The temptation at this point is to become carried away with ANY sales your book gets. It is very easy to extrapolate a few sales into millions of copies and start rushing to the printers, cash in hand, well before you have any meaningful data. I would suggest caution.
The point of this exercise is to do one thing, and one thing alone, assess the marketplace and you book’s potential. It is essential that you set a measurable sales target long before you upload the book. In the cold light of day you need to determine how many books you need to sell, over a set period of time, to deem the exercise a success and give you the green light to go onto traditional printing.
It may be that you decide to not move onto printing until you have produced enough revenue from ebook sales to pay for a print run. But you may decide that just assessing sales is enough. To put things into prospective, a traditional publisher would expect a book to sell between 1000 and 5000 copies a year. Taking the lower figure of 1000 books, this is roughly 80 books a month, about 20 a week. This is not a hard and fast rule, but if you are not selling this many book on a digital platform, then you are probably not going to sell them in the real world. Remember, the Digital Test Bed is a way to assess your marketplace BEFORE you invest money in costly printing.
If your book fails to sell on the Ipad and Kindle, then it is time for some soul searching. There are three reasons a book may not sell in the numbers that you need to move onto the next step. The most likely is that you have failed to market the book correctly. After all, if readers don’t know about your book why would they buy? The second is quality. It may simply be that your book is not good enough. However, if you have carried out the pre-production professionally, then this is probably not the reason. The final reason may be market size. It may be that the market for your book is just not big enough to support your ambitions,
Whatever the reason for your failure to hit your targets, I would urge you to attempt to correct the problem and return to the digital marketplace before moving onto expensive printing.
4. Printing:
The final stage is printing. If you get to this stage then you will have established that a viable marketplace exists for your book, and you will be pretty clear just how many you can sell and, therefore, how many you need to print. Much has been written elsewhere about this process so I will leave you to do your own research, however, I would offer one word of warning. Printing is expensive and many self-published writers have a garage full of books to prove just how risky it can all be. My advice is don’t move on this stage until you have proven with your Digital Test Bed that a market exists.
Just don’t.
If you are tempted, but don’t have strong sales on the Ipad and Kindle to back your gut, then consider a Lulu trail. Put the book on the Lulu website, and offer POD to your readers. See what the take up is like and wait for feedback. Only when you are sure a market exists, should you move onto the final stage of parting with money for printed books.
My final word of advice is that selling physical books is different from marketing yourself on-line. It is harder. It involves convincing book shops to stock your book, attending events and rounds of persistent marketing and self-promotion. So even if the Digital Test Bed demonstrates a market, still approach the final stage with your eyes wide open.
I would love to hear you feedback on this approach.