Should I self publish my book?

This is one of the questions I get asked most often. The only way to determine whether self publishing is right for you is to:

1. List and weigh your goals in publishing your book.
2. Compare the pros and cons of self-publishing vs. getting a traditional publisher, and assess how each will help you meet your goals.
3. Ask yourself, "Is my book and my platform (mailing list, fan base and speaking platform) strong enough to interest publishers?" If not, are you willing to do everything it takes to make yourself and your book attractive to agents and publishers?

Ready to start?

Do You Want to Be a Bestselling Author or What?

You probably have more than one goal in becoming a published author. I'm going to list a few popular ones. I'd like you to weigh them each from 1 (not that important to me) to 5 (critical).

• I am burning with passion to share my wisdom or story with the world.
• I want to be on National TV and interviewed in the mainstream press.
• I want to reach millions of people with my message.

Add up your score for these first three statements. If your score is 11 or higher you are a good candidate for traditional publishing.

• I'd like to take my career or business to the next level, FAST!

If you rated the above statement a 4 or higher, you're a better candidate for self-publishing. Traditional publishing is a significantly slower process.

Below are some other reasons to write your book. For these, either method would work but you're probably more a candidate for self-publishing if these are your primary reasons to write a book and get published.

• I want my book to help me attract more "ideal" clients or customers.
• I want to reach more people with my message.
• I want to get paid more for the public speaking I do.
• I want my book to help me get public speaking gigs.

Here's what's great about self-publishing:

• You can have your book FAST--in a matter of months, even. Whereas if you look for a traditional publisher, it often takes years to get a "yes" and then another 18 months to two years for them to actually produce your book.
• You have control: You can say what you want, how you want. You decide on the title, cover design, editing. There's no one to say, "You have to include a chapter on the dietary habits of gerbils," or, "You need to make your ex-boss's wicked stepmother more likable." And sometimes traditional publishers do screw up. One client of mine cancelled her book contract when the publisher sent books that were falling apart to her speaking engagements. And they didn't even send enough of them. That reminds me of a joke: "I went to that new Thai restaurant yesterday." "How was the food?" "Terrible...and such small portions."
• You get a higher percentage of the profits: Now that's great if you sell tons of books, but if a traditional publisher sells more books, you might enjoy a smaller piece of a bigger pie.
• You don't have to jump through a ton of hoops: just write your book the way you want and away you go.

Here's why you might prefer a traditional publisher:

• You have a greater chance of landing on national TV and being interviewed in national publications. Producers and journalists can tell in an instant whether your book is self-published. Often they (or their assistants) throw out the self-published books without taking a serious look at them, focusing only on those from traditional publishers.
• A traditional publisher has an army of salespeople to get your book into bookstores. This is a good thing. It means that someone is actually meeting with buyers from bookstores and getting your book into the stores. In theory anyway. In truth, sometimes your publisher's salesforce may not do a great job of this and you may end up doing some yourself. In general, though, your publisher can do more than you (or a distributor of self-published books might do for you).
• Being published by a traditional publisher will generally provide more cache in terms of speaking engagements.

I hope this hub has helped you in your decision making process. If you still have any questions about deciding, feel free to post a comment with your question. Or feel free to add any thoughts, ideas and knowledge of your own in the comments section as well.