Five Reasons You Shouldn’t Self-Publish

I've heard great things about self-publishing, great things! From tantalizing royalties to full book rights. But it’s not just that, some famous and best-selling books were self-published.

For instance, in 1997,  Robert T. Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad was turned down by every publisher he submitted to. Eventually, he and his wife gave up trying to find an agent, printed a thousand copies of his books, and sold out of their car. Their friend bought 976 copies of the book and sold it at his car wash.

Somehow, three years later, the book made New York’s best selling List, and it was the only self-published book to make the list at that time. 

Also, in 1901, The famous Children’s Book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit was also self-published after being denied traditional publishing. When it was eventually picked up by Fredrick, Warne and Co, a traditional publishing house, it had already independently sold 8000 copies. 

Today, Authors have even more avenues and options to get self-published. There are so many tools out there to help. So, If you have a great story to share, and you are ready to share it you should consider self-publishing. Self-publishing comes with a ton of benefits and there are numerous successful self-published authors who will attest to that.

However, as amazing as it’s been made to sound, self-publishing does have significant cons. You should only explore it if you are determined and have the burning desire to find that special audience you have written for. Self-publishing is a lot of work and if by the end of this article you are not discouraged by the cons, you should  go for it.

The Disadvantages of Self-Publishing

No Editorial Support

Publishing a book is about more than just writing it, or rewriting it. After your first or second draft, you’ll need a developmental editor, a copy editor, proofreader, a formatter and a designer to create a cover art for your book.

You get all of that for free if you get traditional representation. The publishing house will take your book, and get their editors and designers to do everything that needs to be done. In self-publishing, you have to do all of this yourself. Finding a great editor, proofreader or designer can be a real hassle, especially if you are a first time author and have no idea what you are doing. And of course, none of this comes cheap. Which leads me to my second disadvantage.

Upfront Cost

If you are seeking traditional publishing, all you need is a manuscript. If you are seeking self-publishing, you need a manuscript and a healthy budget. This budget should cover editing, proofing, formatting, printing (if that’s the route you want to go), marketing etc. 

All these are upfront costs that will not yield returns immediately. Depending on your marketing, brand and the audience you have built, your book may become an instant hit and sell out immediately. If it doesn’t you may have to wait years to reap the rewards on your cost. 

Essentially, you’d be spending money without the certainty of making it back.

Juggling

Again, traditional publishing takes the weight and burden off you. But in self-publishing you have to juggle everything; marketing, press, distribution, everything is all on you. All of this can become even more tedious when you don’t have help or the funds to hire help. Also, you might have to juggle all of this while trying to write your next book. Or, may become too overwhelmed from the stress to even be able to write your next book.

Some Book Stores May Not Stock Your Book

It’s a tad unfair but often book stores, especially chain book stores don’t stock books like you think they should. They sell their spaces to publishers who have bought prime book spaces. Unless you can afford to buy book space, the odds of a big book store stocking your book, especially if you are an unknown author, are low.

Further, as an independent author, making your book returnable is expensive. For instance, say you print a thousand copies, and the book store orders them for 5 dollars each. You have to assure them if your book doesn’t sell within a time frame, they can return the books and you will pay them back the five dollars for each book.

A publishing house can take this risk, and afford it too. An independent author? Not so much. So, book stores will rather go for publishers who can afford the downside of selling books.

You are Not Eligible for Literary Prizes

No matter how great your book is, if it’s published, it will not be eligible for prestigious book awards such as The Booker. The Booker, which is the world's leading literary award for a single work of fiction states  self-published books are not eligible where the author is the publisher.

There is no Prestige

Due to how increasingly easy it is to become a self-published author, self-published authors are now looked down on because of it. Your work may be thought of as less, because you couldn't get a traditional publisher to accept it. It’s also likely another reason why literary prizes are closed to self-published authors.

You Will Spend More Time Marketing

Self -publishing involves a lot of marketing, and that will make you miserable if you are an introvert who prefers to sit home all day and write. Of course, you can always get someone to do it for you, but that is not cheap.

The core of self-publishing is believing in your book enough to spend time and money on it. It is also accepting you could spend all that time and money on your book without getting any return.

If that’s a risk you are willing to take, by all means, get on the self-publishing train.

My next article will talk about all the benefits of self-publishing. Follow or connect to know when it drops.

Hi! I’m Ezinne Njoku; Ghostwriter of unforgettable memoirs. If you need help ghostwriting your memoir, reviewing your memoir manuscript, or breaking it into a compelling structure.

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