Motivations for Self-Publishing

Different authors have different reasons for self-publishing. If no publishing company is willing to take chances on you, you could opt to self-publish your own book. Be ready to shoulder all the costs and take care of just about everything, from writing, to editing, to publishing, and marketing. Here are the most common motivations why authors prefer self-publishing.

An author is rejected by any major publisher because of several obvious and logical reasons. First, he could be unknown to the book industry. Face the truth. Most successful book authors are celebrities or icons in their own fields. No publisher could be willing to gamble on nobody because readers would not be easily open to reading content from nobody. Second, the topic could be obscure.

An author may feel good about an issue, but most other people think it is irrelevant and boring. On the contrary, a very controversial topic for a book is also avoided because no publisher would ever want to face legal hurdles and battles for any unknown author. The subject could be of interest only to a minimal amount of the population.

Lastly, the author’s writing style, genre, and grammar is simply rejected.
Another reason for any author to go self-publishing is that he desperately desires complete editorial and artistic freedom. The author may not agree with any modifications required by the publisher. It is common for some writers to resist criticisms and changes especially if they think such are destructive to their ego.

He may be targeting to take complete control and rights to the intellectual aspect of the book. The author might feel he needs to make sure the rights, sales, database, and fame of the book remain his. Then, he could be motivated by the low overall publishing expense of the book. He could also feel more confident and comfortable with the idea that he is publishing independently.

If authors have no other resort like self-publishing, the history of book publishing industry could have probably been different. Some of the most unforgettable booksellers worldwide were classics that originally had been published independently by authors. Examples are the phenomenal ‘In Search of Excellence’ (Tom Peters), ‘The Joy of Cooking’ (Irma Rombauer), ‘Spartacus’ (Howard Fast), ‘Poems’ (Oscar Wilde), and ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ (Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield).

To sum it up, be reminded that self-publishing is not an entirely new practice. In fact, it has been around, though in different forms, since time immemorial.  These days, self-publishing is logically increasing amid further advancement of the modern-age publishing technology. With the emergence of desktop publishing systems, xerography, the Internet, and print on demand, self-publishing is becoming a clear phenomenon in the changing publishing industry.

But are you cut for it? Not all authors have what it takes to survive and make good in having to self-publish a book. Before you get into such an endeavor, be wise to think once, twice, thrice, and many times over.