We all love free stuff, especially when it comes to e-books. Amazon makes it easy to publish a book and distribute it for free across many platforms. Incentives like these have led to a boom in self-published and independently-written e-books. However, not everyone who publishes a book chooses to do so for free. There are several advantages to paying for an e-book.
Advance Publishing
The most obvious and perhaps most important reason to publish an e-book is to get it out there. Even if you do choose to give it away for free, you will still need to put in the effort to get the word out. If you’re looking for a way to test the waters, publish a free e-book and track the results. You can use online tools like Google Analytics to track the success of your book and determine how well it’s doing. This way, you’ll be able to assess whether or not it’s worth going ahead with the paid version. Think of all the money you’ll save by not having to pay for ads, printing, and shipping.
No Middleman
In a world full of intermediaries, it’s no secret that they’re a pain in the ass. You’ll need an agent to get your book published, an editor to take a look at it, and a publicist to push it in the right direction. Even then, you’re still going to need to do a lot of the legwork and research yourself. When you publish a book yourself, you no longer need to worry about any of this. The book will be formatted exactly how you want it, and you won’t have to waste your precious time looking for a publisher.
Full Ownership
With traditional publishing, you normally give the publisher full ownership of the book. This means that, in most cases, you’re not even allowed to completely rewrite it. Even if you have a lot to say, you’ll need to keep some of the content within the general guidelines set by the publisher. This also means that, in most cases, you don’t get any form of compensation beyond having your book printed and distributed. If you want to make any changes after the fact, you have to find a new publisher.
With self-publishing, you retain full ownership of the book, and you also get to determine how it’s going to be distributed and marketed. The beauty of this model is that you can set your own price for the book. If you feel the need to add more content, you can take the time to do so without having to worry about breaking a contract.
Scalable
One of the biggest advantages of self-publishing is that it gives you the ability to scale up or down as needed. If your book does well, you can decide to self-publish a second book. Or, if it doesn’t do well, you can go back and try again with a different approach. Self-publishing is a lot more fluid than sticking to one strategy and expecting results. For instance, if you’re looking for bestsellers, you might want to consider publishing a series of books rather than just one.
If you’re looking for a way to make money, self-publishing is a viable option. Instead of focusing on one piece of software or one strategy, you can try to master many at the same time. Make money online with affiliate marketing, for example, by learning to code and creating your own products that can be sold for profit.
Self-publishing is a lot more than just putting the words on paper. It’s a process that takes some learning and a lot of trial and error. However, with the right mindset and some determination, anyone can do it.