If you’re considering self-publishing, it’s important to understand the full scope of your work. Because when you take that path, you’re not just an author anymore...you’re a publishing house, too, and you need to own those responsibilities as part of your business. Traditional publishers provide a horde of services to their authors including:

  • Professional editing—both developmental and copy editing
  • Proofreading—catching errors in grammar, spelling, and design as well as inconsistencies in style and formatting
  • Interior design—formatting pages to ensure they have a great look and feel
  • Cover design—creating everything from the illustration to the blurb...and maybe getting a quote from a well-known author to showcase as well
  • Printing and distribution—getting print and digital versions of the book available through all the necessary wholesale and retail channels
  • Marketing—paid activities such as advertising, merchandising, and running promotions
  • Publicity—unpaid activities such as getting reviews for the book and securing author interviews and events
  • Prestige—a more intangible item, but traditional publishing automatically lends credence to the quality of a work since publishers are known to be selective in choosing manuscripts
  • Advances—upfront money that keeps an author writing while they wait for their book to sell

I know what you’re thinking—those are a lot of items! You’re right, and if you self-publish, you need to handle each one with care. Don’t get me wrong...traditionally published authors have many responsibilities outside of writing, too. They’re involved in several of the pieces listed with their publishing house, and there are aspects like marketing on their social media pages that fall solely to them, but with the majority of these items, they have help. And help is a good thing.

So, now that you understand self-publishing means you’re both an author and a publishing house, you need to make some decisions. Do you handle all these items yourself, or are there some you can outsource? If you have the funds, hiring a team can be great. Most people aren’t expert writers, editors, proofreaders, illustrators, designers, publicists, and marketers all in one, and hiring help to shore up weaknesses makes for a better finished product. In addition, having a team can be fun! Life isn’t meant to be a solo sport, and involving other professionals to assist with your book can make the whole process more enjoyable. It’s also overlooked that although you have full control of every aspect of your work when self-publishing, that also means you’re required to make all the decisions, and having professional assistance can make that easier.

When I self-published my first book, Amped Up, I made the mistake of trying to do most of it myself. I had some knowledge in the majority of the above areas and just enough skill to be able to make a pretty good book on my own with help from friends and family...but that’s the trap. It’s a crowded market, and readers don’t buy good books or even great books—they buy AMAZING books with covers that blow them away, stories that are exciting and edited to the hilt, and marketing that draws them in. If your goal is to simply publish a book, that mission is easily achieved, but if you want to reach the masses, you need to think like a publishing house and ensure you have the right team assembled to make your project standout.

I’ll cover a few of these publishing responsibilities in upcoming posts, and I have exciting news to share around the Amped Trilogy that I'll reveal with them as well. Stay tuned!