How to Self Publish a Book - Part 1
Do you dream of publishing your own recipe book? Like me, most chefs do.
So which one is better for me - traditional publishing or self-publishing?
This is what I have learnt …
This is a very exciting day for me as I have just sent my first vegan recipe book to the printers and am now waiting for delivery of the first run in 2 weeks time! It was an unexpectedly long and arduous journey but I’m so glad to finally be able to think about my followers tring out the recipes themselves.
It was not the easiest of journeys and I have learnt a lot on the way which I thought you would be interested to know if you too are thinking of creating a book about the things you love.
Traditional publishing or Self publishing - it’s a difficult decision to make, but here I will try and help you decide how to go ahead.
Traditional Publishing
The easiest and cheapest way is to publish your book with a book publisher. If your recipes and photographs are good you will probably have some offers from the publishing companies. You can also contact them yourself. Cook books are very popular and there is always a gap in the market you can fill with your book. This way you provide the content – text or text and photos and work with the publisher to edit, design and publish the book. They pay the author advances and a royalty while bearing the cost of publishing and are responsible for promotion and distribution.
Advantages of traditional publishing
you don't need to invest your own money
they take care of professional design and editing
they print and distribute your book (it can be sold online as well as in the bookstores and you are able to reach more customers and sell more copies)
Disadvantages of traditional publishing
you need to find a publisher who approves your book for publishing
you need to wait for a 'green light'
the whole process may take even 1.5 year
your publisher has rights to the content (you may not be allowed to use parts of your book in other publications or release an ebook)
you don't have full control over the book design and the final result
you only receive royalties for each book sold (typically between 8 and 15%)
Self Publishing
The second option is to self-publish your own book, which is what I decided to do. This way is easier than it's ever been and it also gives you complete independance and satisfaction.
Advantages of self-publishing
you have sole control over all the content and book and cover design
you have sole control of your book's rights (you can publish the same book later with edited content or you can sell an ebook)
after investing your own money you receive 100% royalties
you decide when your book is published (no deadlines and no waiting for publishers approvals)
Disadvantages of self-publishing
high upfront cost (you will need money to hire designer, editor, photographer/illustrator, proofreader as well as pay taxes, cover the cost of printing and delivery)
most likely you will sell your book only online (you usually need connections to put your book in the bookstores)
you need to distribute and promote your book to have sales
it takes a lot of time to self publish a cookbook (I had to quit my full-time job to finish and publish my book)
As you can see above both options have their pros and cons
So you need to consider which aspects are the most important for you.
For me, the most important thing was to have full control over the content and design of my book so, even though I had 3 offers from different UK publishers, I decided to self-publish and,knowing my priorities from the very beginning I began saving money the day I decided to write and self publish my book.
Part 2 of how to publish a book coming next
Clearly not everyone can afford to self-publish so in Part 2 of how to self publish a book I will tell you all about the average cost of designing and publishing your book - information which is very difficult to find on the web.