Self-publishing vs. traditional

[DrJonRich]

I feel strongly that traditional publishing is the way to go -- especially for self-help and how-to books, where the demand is strong. Creating a book is a huge amount of work. Self-publishing will provide, at best, limited exposure and won't give you a good return on your investment of time. Self-published books are unlikely to be carried by bookstores and are shunned by reviewers and the media in general. Just look around at the books in your own home. I bet every single one was published by a conventional publisher (unless a friend or family member self-published and you felt compelled to buy their book). If you only buy books put out by conventional publishers, doesn't that tell you something about the advantages of that choice?

So what do you think? Agree? Or is there something about self-publishing that I'm missing?

[Visit With Sofia]

I agree that self publishing is a very small audience and it is expensive. I went that route with my Visit With Sofia book. It has 64 colored pages that is printed here in the US. But I started this seld dpublishing process before gettting Dr. Rich's advice. It is a great mental health idea to teach families how to communicate better with the use of an adorable Beagle. If anyone is interested it is on Amazon and the Barnes and Nobel websites. I am doing some local book signing with my Beagle Sofia and I hope to help children learn how to treat each other better and parents to learn how to listen to their children without judgment and criticism. Also, my website sofiasbooks.com has information about current book signings and the visitwithsofiabook.com has more information about the book.

[DrJonRich]

Hi VFS,
I'm excited about your book. It has a lot of great messages and a very cute dog:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zWjCXQ19L._SS500_.jpg

[Robin Hoffman]

I agree, the advantages of being published that you outlined are true; however, I would add that Amazon.com is the largest book seller of all, and self-published authors have the same access as the "6 Sisters" (biggest publishing houses).

The success of any author, no matter how the book is published, is dependent upon their ability to effectively promote their book. Publishing houses will help with this some, but the bulk of the work is still left to the author.

If a self-help author can establish credibility on their own, they don't necessarily need to be published by someone else.

Also, I know authors who have self-published first and sold their book to a big house later, after they sold over 10,000 copies of their self-published work.

The upfront costs and extra work can be a deterrent, but if a quick release (less than two years) is imperative, than self-publishing is the only choice for most first-time authors.

In my experience, each author needs to weigh the pros and cons to find the best solution for them.

I have a free report, Self Published vs. Being Published, but the file is too large to upload here. If anyone wants a copy, email me and I'll send it to you.