Self Publishing A Novel

Self publishing a novel in today's world couldn't be EASIER! Companies like Wordclay and Amazon's CreateSpace have automated systems and processes that keep self publishing costs minimal.

When I decided to try self publishing a book with my memoir: Desperately Seeking Jude: Confessions of a Sex-Mad Beauty Queen my considerations were as follows:

• I didn't want to go through the hassle of having to find a literary agent.
• I didn't want to waste reams of paper sending my manuscript all over the world in order to find said agent.
• I didn't want to wait for years to see my book on the market.
• I wanted to be in control of everything!

So when I found Wordclay and discovered how it all works, I was thrilled.

Self Publishing Costs With Wordclay

There are no automatic charges.

HOWEVER:

IF you would like to do your own cover - i.e. not use their truly terrible templates, THEN you have to pay 50 dollars for them to upload it.

IF you would like your book to have an ISBN number so that it can be made available from Amazon and all other retailers, THEN you have to pay 100 dollars.

$150 dollars later and you have a book available for purchase anywhere!

Of course, it might not be the best looking book at this stage. Hiring a graphic designer for your internal pages may be a good idea.

Wordclay ONLY prints each book when an order has been placed, and they then take the price of production out of that payment, paying the balance to you as a royalty.

For example, if your book has around 300 pages, it will cost roughly 10 dollars to print. Therefore if you sell it for 20 dollars they keep 10 dollars and credit the remaining 10 dollars to you as royalties.

If the book is ordered through a third party however, such as Amazon, then the cost to you is higher. They will charge you another 7 dollars or so for getting the book to Amazon's warehouse. So if you're selling the book for 20, in that case you'd only get 3 dollars as a royalty.

So far so good!

I decided on self publishing a novel through Wordclay, and one of my complaints with them is that anything that needs to be changed costs $50. So if you notice you forgot a comma somewhere in your book, and need it added in, well it'll cost ya.

Also, their royalty cheques are sent out every quarter but they do NOT pay by paypal. Really, I wish companies would wake up to the world of the internet!

I am looking into CreateSpace as I might be publishing my novel there as well. It looks as if their royalty rate/costs per printed book may be more favorable.

Would I recommend self publishing a novel?

Yes, AND no. While it has been great to be in control of the process of self publishing a novel, unless you're really into marketing yourself and your work, the size of your audience is very unlikely to be big.

If your work is non-fiction and highly niche focused then you may have much more success.

However, with fiction or memoir, it's a little harder to market unless there is a clear audience for your marketing efforts.

Self Publishing Ebooks

So what about self publishing ebooks? Again, if its non-fiction and highly niche-focused then this is a FABULOUS way to self publish.

There are lots of options available on the internet, but for niche-focused non-fiction work there can't be anything better than E-Junkie. Their set up process is so simple and easy to understand. You simply upload your PDF, enter all your details, set your price and you get code for 'Buy Now' or 'Add to Cart' buttons that you can place on your website that take buyers directly to your product download.

Your book is then also available for purchase directly from the E-Junkie site.

You receive the full purchase price, paid into your paypal account. Your only self publishing costs are the 5 dollars a month you pay for your e-junkie account. And for this 5 dollars you can upload a total of 10 ebooks.

This is a GREAT deal.

For fiction or memoir, it is good to list your ebook somewhere where it is likely to reach an audience that might just be browing through titles, and this best option is Smashwords.

Smashwords have an automated system that converts your ebook into multiple digital media to be read on a kindle or iphone

The best thing about this is having readers on this site browsing for new fiction and non-fiction works, so you have a chance of attracting some new readers to your work.

The site claims a very small portion of the royalties. They also distribute your book far and wide to all other ebook distributors (after gaining your consent), so you don't have to worry about listing it at multiple ebook stores, Smashwords takes care of it all.

I get a nice royalty payment every 3 months from Smashwords, paid directly into Paypal!

I have self published a novel - my memoir - as an ebook with Smashwords, and I have self published ebooks - non-fiction niche focused - with E-Junkie and I highly recommend them both.

So if you're interested in self publishing a novel, then there just couldn't be a better time than now!

Go for it!

You can also learn how to publish an eBook to help improve your distribution and consider the major online eBook sellers.

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Desperately Seeking Jude: Confessions of a Sex-Mad Beauty Queen

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