Traditional publishing is going the way of the dodo bird; there is a very clear reason why. It takes way too long to publish a book in the traditional manner and your readers do not want to wait that long.
The traditional market requires about 1 year to 1.5 years and that means you have to deal with the marketing, planning, as well as the publishing of the book. In addition to this, you also need to know that the publisher will take a large percentage of the profit as well.
Now you have the ability to take the destiny of your book into your own hands and you will be able to turn your book into a bestseller if you are willing to take different actions than people who fail again and again. The key to being successful is curating your content, it is not what you put into a blog, but it is instead creating quality content that is relevant and that shows that you are an expert in your field and will ensure that you are able to show your clients, customers, and colleagues that you are relevant now and that you have the expertise to help them.
What that means for you is that you have to make sure that you are creating quality for your readers. The main distinction used to be between traditional and nontraditional publishing the main change now in the market is now professional and unprofessional publishing. The benefits of self-publishing are much higher profits. Here are the benefits.
- 1. You Make More Money: This means that you will be able to make not only money on sales but also on your foreign rights for the book. You also will have and can control all of the rights to your book.
- 2. You Have Content Control: One thing that is very important is that many of the traditional publishing houses do not recognize the content that you are creating is very important. Many editors and also interns who are working at the traditional publishing houses do also not understand that you have a niche and people want to have a part of it.
- 3. You Are Able to Avoid Many Bad Things: When you are waiting for someone else, you will see that there are many issues that come from that. You are always waiting on another person to approve of something, sign off on something or handle something for you. You will now not have to worry about that anymore.
How to Publish Your Book Professionally
Here is what you need to do to professionally publish your book.
1. Work on Building Your Platform
When you want to work with a traditional publisher, they are going to expect you to be able to have a great following. That means that you are going to need to have a Twitter following, as well as a Facebook following. You are then bringing the customers to the publisher in hand when you are ready to sign a traditional deal.
But the real question is why would you want to have a traditional publisher if you already have this? You really would not because you do not need one. You also should consider that publishers do not get you into bookstores.
What this means is that bookstores only take a very few of the books that are published by the publishers. That means that if you get your book does get special placement it was usually paid for by a publisher, if it does not get that placement, it will not sell.
2. How to Build Your Platform
You have to make sure that you have a very honest voice if you want for people to follow you and to be influenced by what you are doing. You need to be afraid to discuss things about you and your industry and you need to have a different perspective on things.
You need to make sure that everything that you are sharing is entertaining, industry specific and related to your viewers. You also need to make sure that you are able to get more traffic; the way that you need to do this is by blogging, but also by spending time podcasting about something that you love and sharing a sincere different voice.
3. Why You Need to Write
You need to make sure not only to post about writing, but also on other things that are important to you. This means that you need to make sure that you are writing between 500 and 2,000 words per day so that you are able to write an excellent book. You need to make sure that you are able to write an amazing book and that means that you should be writing a bit at a time.
A great book will always be between 40,000 and 80,000 words, and then you need to plan on writing about 1,000 words a day for 1 week. That means that if you can write every day you can average anywhere from 4 to 8 books in a year. You have to make sure that you are able to have a great revised, edited and a professional tone.
4. Why You Have to Know What You Want
When you are self-publishing, you can publish anything you want with no other effort. That means that you can upload your book and people can start selling in a few days. Everyone has different goals when it comes to getting a book done.
For some it is speaking gigs, this is the best and the best way to get people to know about your book. However, if you are looking to make the most possible money, these are the steps you should follow.
- 1. Publish with a traditional publisher, this will allow you to have a lot of credibility and more respect from other authors.
- 2. You will be able to publish by yourself quick and easily.
- 3. Start earlier, as in right now, this means that you will be able to produce a better book that is more edited, more polished. Also hire a professional editor to help you along the way, the reason for this is that most of the hired guns that used to work for the publishing houses are now striking out on their own. This means that you will be able to find great talent at a reduced rate.
Why You Need to Edit
If you think that creating a book that is poorly edited is acceptable you are wrong, that means that you need to plan to hire and allow people to edit your book and they will look at the content as well as look at all of the information that is in it and decide what is you r best approach. Having a professional editor will set your book apart and ensure that you are able to have the best possible results when your readers are consuming it.
Why Design is Key
When it comes to your book, it is very important that you like it. When you traditionally publish, you are usually at the mercy of other designers, publishing houses, and their concepts of what will sell. The problem with that is that you do not have the ability to control what your own book looks like; this means that often the concept gets lost.
Even worse than this, you are treated like a number. Do you want to feel like a customer in a Walmart when you are trying to create something that is central to your brand and your career? I think it is safe to say no. You want something sleek and lovely and that represents your brand that means that you take the time to find the best designer to work with.
Do You Need an Audiobook?
When you have an audiobook it makes your book much more credible to readers. In this mobile society more and more people are driving to work and are listening to books while they are in motion that means that you need to accommodate your audience and expect to see what you are able to do to ensure that you are bringing them back.
In addition to being a bit expensive to create, an audiobook makes sure that you really hear what you are writing because you make a commitment to those words. When you are going to do an audiobook, you can read it yourself or you can hire a voice actor. However, you must always make sure that you have a professional voice over studio to edit your work.
There is no way that you can produce quality on a laptop and expect it to be ready to go. You have the ability to make a great income with your books if you are willing to do the work that is required to put them out there, and you need to realize that also means that you have to do it as a professional, there is no wading here. You have to dive in.
