The “Control” of Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing is so easy nowadays that anyone can publish his or her own book.  Because of that,  many self-published authors are producing poor quality books.  This can give self-publishing a bad name.

In some respects, self-publishing is more difficult than publishing with traditional publishers. After all, publishers take care of the editing, cover design and all the jobs that go with creating a quality book.  They often do extensive marketing as well.

However, I believe the advantages of self-publishing outweigh the disadvantages. Over the next few months, I’m going to share what I believe are the main advantages of self-publishing.

I do not use Trafford, Author House or Publish America.  I simply started my own publishing company and currently sell my books through Amazon, Kindle, Smashwords and my publishing website.

This month: Control

As a self-published author (and owner of my own publishing company), I maintain 100 percent of the control and decision-making. I like having a say in every part of my book’s creation. I enjoy working with my husband in the creation of a cover that I feel will best illustrate the content and story of my book.

I transcribe the book, make necessary edits, typeset it, convert it to Kindle and do all the marketing myself…which is why I’m only able to knock out four books in ten years.

If I can’t perform a specific job (like overall editing and copy-editing), I hire people to complete that job. I currently hire an editor, copy-editor and several proofreaders.

Control re: prices

This is especially important when it comes to setting Kindle e-book prices.  As a self-published author with little overhead, especially with e-books, I can offer my novels at a remarkably cheap price of 2.99.  Traditional publishers generally don’t do that, which means that I can sell more e-books than they do.

Control re: content

While my editor makes suggestions on plot, character, settings etc, I make the final decisions regarding those things.  I don’t have to water down the Catholicity nor do I have to make it generic Christian, unless I feel that a certain project warrants that.

Self-publishing gives the author control over every stage of book production from first draft to publication.

Personally, it’s the way I like it.

Next month, Finances and Self-Publishing

I’ll be doing two moderated chats on self-publishing at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference Online in March.  Click on the link to find out more information about the conference.

Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach

Ellen Gable Hrkach is an award-winning novelist and vice president of the Catholic Writers Guild.  She lives in Canada with her husband and sons.