There are so many great things about running a small self-publishing business. You do what you love. You write and publish books and ebooks, and get your work out to the world. However, there are certain things that running a self-publishing business is not. It’s useful to keep these in mind, so that you get into the business of self-publishing for the right reasons, and don’t have expectations that might not manifest. Read on to learn about 5 such things.
1. A get rich scheme
Self-publishing books and ebooks isn’t another quick get rich scheme. It is a serious undertaking (although you should enjoy the process) that will be hugely satisfying and rewarding. Making larger sums of money will take a long period of time, typically 18-24 months at least, and require a commercial outlook throughout. If you’re looking for an approach where you can get rich quickly, the reality is that no such approach exists. And self-publishing books and ebooks is certainly not one of these fantasy methods.
2. Something you can do without a plan
Some people swear by them. Others can’t stand them. However, planning has a purpose, both at the level of writing and publishing a single book, or at a larger scale involving running a small self-publishing business. In both instances, a plan will help you understand what activities you need to do, how you will do the tasks and what the expected outcomes will be. It will also help you to plan various options, which you can use if the self-publishing journey doesn’t go as initially planned. The moral of the story is to have some type of plan in place.
3. Something you can do without social media
If you’re a traditionally published author, promotion is an area that comes as a part of the deal. Your publisher will use its media resources to spread the message about your book to the world. However, self-publishing means making use of limited assets and money to promote and advertise your work – social media is vital in order to do this.
By creating large, targeted followings across social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and building your own communities, while helping your online friends do the same; you’re creating the channels to reach out to potential buyers of your books and ebooks.
4. A way to ignore other problems in your life
Any type of business shouldn’t be used as a way to ignore problems in your life; especially personal ones. Same goes for your self-publishing business. Keeping yourself locked away, writing, won’t make the problems you’re having in your life go away. Deal with the problems first. This way you can write, self-publish and focus on your business, and won’t have to worry about a non-business related problem staring you in the face, as soon as you leave your pad or your laptop.
5. Something you can do without selling
Yes, I know you’re an author, and the ‘s’ word is one that doesn’t always fit easily into the vocabulary of someone who loves to write stories. However, running a successful self-publishing business is like any other business, and isn’t something you’ll be able to without learning some basic sales skills. There are lots of articles on the Internet that demonstrate the art of selling both online, and offline.
Pick up a few books on the topic to go a little deeper. Not all the sales concepts you’ll read will apply, but many will. Apply what you read so that you can maximize the number of sales of your books and ebooks, whether it’s by increasing the number of visitors who visit your website, or approaching distributors or online book retailers at a book trade show, so that it helps you to hit your sales forecast.
Image credit: smlp.co.uk on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0