Self Publishing, traditionally has been an expensive and difficult process. This is due to the fact that the publisher needs to pay for the printing of the book, the cost of the paper, the cost of binding the book, the cost of distribution (for both physical and online books) and the cost of marketing the book. With the advent of the internet and ebooks, the cost of self publishing has dropped dramatically. The cost of a hardcover book can be as low as $3.00. The cost of an ebook can be as low as 99 cents. There is no cost for the paper, the binding or the shipping. The cost of marketing is also greatly reduced. It is not uncommon for a book to be promoted online with free advertising such as articles in ezines, web pages, blogs and social media sites.
With the cost of self publishing so low, it makes sense that more and more people are looking at self publishing as a viable option. The problem is that there is a lot of misinformation out there about self publishing. The main misconception is that you can self publish a book and then sell it for $10.00 or more. This is simply not true. In order to make a profit you need to sell your book at least $1.00 per copy. If you are planning on selling your book for $10.00, you are probably going to lose money.
Another common misconception is that you can self-publish on Amazon. Amazon does have an affiliate program but the rules are very strict. You cannot promote other people’s products. You must create your own product that will be sold through Amazon. If you want to sell a book through Amazon, you will need to get a publisher to print the book. Amazon does not print books. They do have a print on demand service but the price is prohibitive.
There are many good reasons to self publish. If you are planning on writing a book, you should seriously consider self publishing. You will save money, you will have complete control over your book, you will have complete control of the content, you will have complete control to change the cover design, you will have complete control in editing your book and you will have complete control in marketing your book. Self publishing gives you all of these advantages and none of the disadvantages.
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