Self Publishing a Novel: Pros and Cons

Don't confuse self publishing a novel with vanity publishing one...

The first is a perfectly legitimate way to see your novel in print. (Indeed, many famous authors created their own "break" by self publishing.)

But the second - vanity publishing - can be like doing business with a snake oil salesman.

Click here for more on Vanity Publishing.

What Does Self Publishing a Novel Mean?

Exactly what it says. When you have your novel published conventionally, the publisher foots all the costs (and the risk of failing to recoup those costs), and you receive a percentage of all copies sold in the form of royalties (a proportion of which will be payable in advance).

When you self publish, you foot all the production costs (and the risks), but the profits are all yours.

So far, so good...

The trouble, of course, is that a publishing house has a huge marketing team behind it to sell your novel, both nationally and internationally.

If you go it alone, just selling your book to a few local bookstores would be a more realistic target.

Is Going It Alone Right For You?

If you have your sights set high and think you can knock the big boys and girls off the bestseller lists, sell your novel to a mainstream publisher. Not that there haven't been hugely successful self-published novels, but they are the exceptions that prove that rule.

If, on the other hand, you simply want to see your book in print, even if doesn't make you much money (even if it loses you money) then publishing your novel yourself could be your best bet.

This is particularly true if your novel has a strong local flavour.

The bookstores in your neighbourhood will likely be very interested in stocking a few copies - then hopefully many more if those first copies sell well (and you won't need to be salesman of the year to persuade them, either).

And if you manage to secure yourself some publicity from local radio stations or newspapers, so much the better.

How Do You Publish a Novel Yourself?

To be honest that's a huge subject. I intend to research it and write a detailed article on it in the future.

In the meantime, the simple answer is that you pay a printing company to design and print a few hundred copies of your novel. You then sell them, hopefully for a profit, using any and every method you can think of.

If you do decide to self publish, always remember that there is a huge difference between paying a company to print your novel and paying a vanity publisher to publish it.