Beating Heart Press

“Should I self-publish my non-fiction book – or is a publisher better?” Before making a final decision, it helps to write a marketing plan for your book. This isn’t as complex as it sounds. Basically, you need to establish who your target reader is, what is unique and special about your book, why they would want to buy your book, and any ideas you have for promoting your book. What many writers fail to realise until it’s too late is that most publishers are distributors rather than marketers. So here are some of the questions you really MUST ask yourself before making any final decision:

1. How much PR & marketing experience do you have? If you know little about them, then are you willing to learn? Can you afford to pay someone else to do your PR and marketing for you? Do you have the spare time to promote your book?

2. Can you sell your book? Do you have a newsletter or client database you could sell your book to? How big is your ‘list’ of potential buyers? If you’re a business person with a list of customers, then can you promote the book to them?

3. Can you persuade someone else to sell your book? If you don’t have a ‘list’ of your own, can you think of any joint venture partners who would sell your book? Don’t be put off by the jargon. All a ‘joint venture’ means is that you will ask the owner of a business if they will send a letter out to their list of clients promoting your book. If they like the sound of your book and it ties in with their business, they should be more than happy to help. If you have written a book about childbirth, then midwives or baby experts would be good people to approach, for example.

4. Do you want to repurpose your book to create other products from the same content? You might want to produce a book, a home study course and an audio series with the same content. This can sometimes be the clincher as you won’t be able to do this with a mainstream publisher under their book contract.

5. Is this your passion? Finally, the most important question of all: does this make your heart sing? Self-publishing a book can bring amazing rewards for authors – there’s no two ways about it. However, it is hard work. If you don’t love selling your book, if your heart isn’t in it, then self-publishing definitely won’t be for you.

To conclude, the answer is different for everyone. Some writers would be dreadful at self-publishing. Others – usually, those of an entrepreneurial nature – would be annoyed and frustrated by the constraints of mainstream publishing. By answering all the above questions, you should be able to work out what is the best option for you.

Stephanie J Hale is founder of The Millionaire Bootcamp for Authors. She’s a world-renowned writers’ coach who has worked with bestselling authors and millionaire entrepreneurs for over 20 years. Learn From Millionaire Authors – Sign Up Now