Adam Croft's Blog, page 10

3 Ways Self-Publishers Can Strengthen Their Author Brand

As a self-publisher, it’s all down to you, from the writing to the promoting of your books – and this includes the development of your author brand. It’s important for authors to have a recognisable brand that readers associate with them, and this is particularly crucial for independent publishers who are looking to establish themselves in this competitive industry.

Build a trusted support group

One way to strengthen your author brand as a self-publisher is to build up a trusted support group who provide their skills and expertise to improve your novel. Not only is this important in terms of producing a quality novel that is well-edited, interesting and professional, but also in terms of consistency.

While it’s natural that there will be some changeover in the people you work with along the way, and it might take you a while to get your final team in place, it’s worth developing good working relationships with the people bringing their expertise to your work so they will know what you want and be able to apply not just to your current book, but books further down the line. That said, it’s also worth knowing when you’d be better off cutting ties and starting again with someone else if you’re not getting the benefits you wanted out of a partnership.

Don’t neglect the aesthetics

Compared to the business of writing and editing a book, designing a book cover and deciding which font to use for your promotional copy might not seem like the most pressing issues. They are, however, very important for your author brand.

If you look at the book covers of established authors, you’ll usually find that they all follow a similar style or theme that helps to identify them as belonging to a particular author and/or series of books. Ditto the other promotional literature related to those books. This is another way of bringing consistency and a professional feel to your work, and as a self-publisher, it can help you to build a distinguishable base in a competitive market.

Find the best times to publish and promote

Of course, your author brand isn’t just about looking nice. It’s also about being savvy about the self-publishing business, and knowing when is the best time to publish and promote your work. For instance, if you’re leading up to publishing a new book, you might want to think about how your current books are performing and if there is anything you could do to give them a boost so you’ve got a platform to work from when the new book hits the shelves.

It’s also much easier to publish and promote a book when you’re not doing so in a vacuum, so developing an understanding about keeping up your profile and encouraging readers to maintain an interest in your work is important for all self-publishers.

What do you think?

Interview with Malcolm Brabant

Malcolm Brabant was a television journalist and war correspondent for the BBC for over twenty years. That is, until he became seriously ill following a vaccination against yellow fever in 2011. In his new book, Malcolm is a Little Unwell, he details his battle with psychosis and serious mental illness as a result of the vaccination.

Book blurb

The book chronicles a Kafkaesque journey through insanity during which Brabant first believes he is the Messiah and later, the Devil. He imagines he is visited by guardian angels, close friends and relatives who died premature deaths, and who set him impossible tasks to prove that he was the Chosen One. At his lowest point, certain he is possessed by Lucifer while in a locked psychiatric ward, Brabant, an award winning veteran BBC foreign correspondent, attempts suicide in order to save the world.

His illness causes him to lose his job as the Corporation’s Athens correspondent, and his family comes within a whisker of being homeless. As doctors try to find the right combination of medication to cure his fried brain, Brabant’s wife Trine struggles to restore him to the alpha male husband she married while taking on Sanofi Pasteur, the pharmaceutical manufacturer of the yellow fever jab. Her love and anger are the driving forces as the family struggles to crawl from the abyss and embarks on a David versus Goliath battle to win justice.

(My questions are in bold; Malcolm’s answers in regular type.)

Through my own experiences with mental health problems I’ve read and written a lot about different forms of psychological illness, but reading about your experience after receiving the yellow fever jab was harrowing to say the least. Just how disturbing was it at the time? Or did it feel absolutely normal to you in that mindset?

Good question. The first time I thought things were getting unreal was while I was in Ygeia hospital in Athens. I was suffering from a dangerously high temperature and I saw my Kindle e-reader fly across the room from my bed to a chair. Experts would say I was suffering from hallucinations, but I suddenly thought I had some supernatural powers, that a part of my brain was capable of doing things that others were incapable of. I didn’t feel disturbed at the time, as far as I can recall. But what I wanted to do was to explore the adventure that seemed to be unfolding.

Malcolm with his wife, Trine

My wife believes I started to slide mentally before this event, when I was uncharacteristically aggressive towards a doctor. I had merely shouted at him and ordered him out of my room after he asked what I regarded as some offensive questions. What I was feeling all the way through this was weariness and discomfort because the fever would not dissipate.

To go through something like that is one thing, but to believe that you are absolutely fine has to be so much more disturbing. How were you able to live during that time? For me, writing about mental illness whilst in the throes of its darkest hours was something which helped me achieve a sense of realism in the writing. Were you able to do this or did the severity of the condition mean you had to write retrospectively?

All throughout the period of madness I was aware that I was living an extraordinary story. During my first relapse in Athens, when I slipped back into a mystical belief that I was perhaps a new generation “wise man” I had the wit to film what I was doing on my video camera. It helped provide a precise record of what I was doing and thus was a source of invaluable material. When I was in hospital periodically, I also took notes and wrote an incomplete diary. My wife also kept a video diary which was crucial when it came to writing the book. The majority of the book, perhaps 85 percent was written when I was sane or ‘in remission’.

Your years as a television news reporter in some of the most war-torn corners of the world have made writing about difficult subjects second-nature to you. Just how different and difficult was it to write about such a harrowing personal experience?

Malcolm interviewing mujahedeen fighters in Central Bosnia on a captured Croat tank in 1993

I didn’t find it a harrowing experience writing about what happened to me. I was able to detach myself to a degree and deploy my journalistic instincts. Part of the process of writing the book involved interviewing my wife Trine in depth. She has a photographic memory and her input was essential. During the course of our discussions she frequently broke down and cried. Her tears contributed to the most upsetting part of writing, and also rammed home what had happened to me and my family.

Was it difficult to detach from the situation? I can imagine that seeing the impact the experience had on your loved ones would make it very difficult to tackle. Or did your journalistic instincts really take over?

I didn’t become emotional when I wrote the book. My wife was astonished by my concentration. I was very focussed. I would sit down for four, five or six hours at a time and hammer away. I needed to be strong to write the book, and I was ruthless about trying to piece together the events that overwhelmed me during my madness. I was determined that the book should be as accurate and transparent as possible. And I have my journalistic credo to thank for that.

You’re a stronger man than I am! The book’s not just the story of how you ‘went mad’, but also a story of love, familial destruction and hope in the face of personal disaster. You touched on it earlier, but what effect did your experience have on your family and wider social network?

The madness had a devastating effect on my family. For my wife it was a dreadful case of déjà vu. Her father suffered serious psychiatric problems and was kept locked up in the same secure ward in Copenhagen as I. He committed suicide after being let out and it was dreadful for her to have to suffer the knowledge that I had made an attempt to kill myself, albeit unsuccessfully.

Malcolm’s son, Lukas

It also had a terrible impact on my 12-year-old son Lukas. He was an innocent young lad before April 2011, and then suddenly he learns that his father believes he’s Jesus and that he, Lukas will also one day become the Messiah. It made him grow up in an instant. We’re afraid of the long-term impact on him, and fear he may have some form of delayed post traumatic stress disorder.

However, my family is emerging from this experience tougher, although badly bruised. One thing that was most uplifting was the fact that my friends and their networks rallied around me to provide moral support and to ensure that I don’t feel stigmatized by my illness. It’s been nearly a year since I left hospital and there has been no sign of a relapse. And also, what’s been good is that nobody has treated me as if I was a psychiatric case. People have taken me at face value.

Having caused that sort of personal impact on your life, what message do you think the book can give in today’s society?

There are several messages which the book can deliver. One is about vaccine safety and that is when something goes wrong it has be thoroughly investigated and there must be corporate responsibility. The second is that mental illness can happen to anyone. People should remember that the next time they bump into someone in the street who is acting a little strangely.

The third is that the power of love can go a long way to overcoming the deepest of problems. I was blessed to have the unwavering support of my wife and son as well as my ‘cloud’ of friends.

How to find the right moment to self-publish

Let’s assume that you already know that once your book is finished, you’re going to self-publish it. Along with all of those other things that go along with getting your book ready to publish – editing and designing and marketing and so on – one thing you need to ask yourself is: when is the right time to publish your book?

First of all, let’s get it out there – it’s very rare that there will be a perfect time to publish your book. There’s no getting away from the time constraints and niggling editing issues and outside pressures that often conspire to dull the shine of an otherwise pretty wonderful self-publishing triumph.

Now that disclaimer is out of the way, let’s look at the more practical side of things, because there is most definitely such a thing as a right and a wrong time to self-publish your book.

The temptation can often be to publish your book early. It’s only natural: you’ve just finished writing a novel and you want to get it in front of readers as quickly as possible. However, whether this is a good idea will depend on your particular project and what you want to achieve from it.

It’s fine, for instance, if you want to self-publish something just to find out about the process and learn how it all works – but remember that everything you publish will have some sort of impact on your author brand, whether you intended something as a ‘serious’ or polished piece of work.

This means that it often pays to take your time. Take your time to get the editing right, to proofread your novel properly, to get a cover designed, to create a comprehensive marketing plan and to learn the self-publishing process. It can be frustrating when you just want to get your work out there, but as the majority of successful self-publishers will tell you, success is usually a slow burn thing. It pays to put the work in beforehand, and give yourself a good base to work from that you can build upon in the future.

However, there’s also something to be said for not leaving it too long before you self-publish your novel. Eventually you have to let it go and publish it. You can only tweak and plan and strategize so much. The book you eventually publish might not be perfect, but hopefully it will be great, and the very best you can do. You will have learnt a lot and will have a better idea of what you want to do next and achieve through your writing. It will, ultimately, put you in a better position for the next time you’re planning to self-publish a book.

What do you think?

6 tips for working with an editor

One of the great things about self-publishing is that you get to choose the editor who edits your books. It could be a professional editor or it could be a kindly-yet-constructively-critical friend you’ve managed to bring on board to help, but whoever they are, they will play an important part in the development of your novel. This means that you need to choose the right person for the job, and you need to manage your relationship with them well.

How can you get the most out of working with your editor?

Be clear about what you’re looking for from them. Your editor needs to know whether they’re there to review everything about your novel with no stone to be left unturned, or to offer more of a proofreading and polishing service. This way, there’s less chance of you getting your wires crossed.
Be clear with them about what you’re trying to achieve with your book. If they’re uncertain about what you’re trying to do, it will be harder for them to see whether you achieve your goal. Even if you don’t tell them everything straight away – there’s something to be said for seeing what they think with no preconceptions – it’s still an important conversation to have.
Take their advice seriously, even if you don’t always agree with it. There will be times when you disagree with your editor. There will be times when you don’t make the changes they are suggesting. That’s fine, but you should still look to see where they are coming from. Most of the time, if they make a suggestion or highlight a passage of your book that they think needs changing, they’re probably right.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions or seek clarification. If you’re not sure what your editor means by something or want to know more about their opinion on something it never hurts to ask. Much better to ask than to misinterpret and end up making the whole thing worse.
Be upfront about timescale and make sure you have an agreement with them about how long the process will take. If you’re aiming to publish your book within a certain timeframe, it’s important your editor knows this. It might sound obvious, but find out how long they are likely to take before sending your book back to you so you can make revisions.
Think how the working relationship might progress after the first book. Even if all you can think about is your current novel, it’s worth thinking about whether you’d like to continue working with your editor on future projects. Developing a good support structure is important for self-publishers, and having a reliable editor is definitely a benefit.

5 reasons to self-publish your début novel

You’ve just written a book. Great! Now for the next bit – publishing your book. If you’re a first time author and you’re exploring the options open to you, I urge you to seriously consider self-publishing. Don’t be put off by the thought that it’s difficult: embrace it. It might just be the best decision you could make. Here’s why you should give it a go.

It offers opportunities that traditional publishing doesn’t

New authors are often kept out of the traditional publishing industry by a few select gatekeepers at the big publishing houses; it’s difficult to get a book deal, and having a great book doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get a publisher.

By contrast, with self-publishing, you know you’ll get your chance. As well as ensuring you’ll manage to get your book published, self-publishing is also much more with it in terms of e-books and other technological changes going on in the industry. If you’re looking for a flexible, responsive way to publish your book with plenty of opportunities to explore, self-publishing is for you.

It allows you to build your brand your way

Another reason to self-publish your début novel is that it means you can launch and market your book the way you want to, rather than how a publisher tells you to do it. Of course, you can consult experts and get other people’s opinions on how to go about building your author brand, but ultimately, you’re the one who makes the decisions.

There’s plenty of support

One of the reasons some new authors are wary of self-publishing is that there can be a perception that it’s a lonely thing – it’s just you, doing all the work, bumbling along with things you don’t know much about and hoping for the best. Well. While there might be a certain amount of bumbling along (everyone bumbles sometimes, no matter how experienced they are), there is also a huge amount of support out there for authors looking to self-publish.

From websites to how-to videos to blogs and books and social media, experts, friendly readers and helpful fellow writers, if you’ve got a question, there will be a way to get it answered, and plenty of sources of help that you can find.

It teaches you lots of new things

Something you learn very early on when self-publishing your book is that you’re not just a writer anymore. I think this is a great thing. You also get to be an entrepreneur, marketer and much more. This is great not just because it means you get to make the decisions about your career, but it also makes the role of the author much more powerful and even more skilled.

It’s all down to you

With self-publishing, there is no one else to impress and no one else’s expectations to meet but your own. This means that when you’re starting out, you can experiment and try different things if you want to. You can publish the sort of novel that would never make it past the traditional publishing gatekeepers, and you don’t have to worry about a publisher ditching you if things don’t always go entirely to plan. You can just try something new – and you could go anywhere from there.

Why self-publishing should be part of every writer’s plan

If you have ever sat down with the intention of writing a novel you will, at least in some small corner of your mind, imagined – in an ideal world – what the end result might be. And I would be surprised if the end result was not a published book, looking exactly as you wanted it to, telling exactly the story you wanted to tell, and presented and promoted in a way you feel does it justice.

Even now, after the industry has changed so much in such a short space of time, as a first time novelist having your very first book publishing daydream, it’s likely that you’ll imagine you have a traditional publisher, who will publish your work on your behalf.

I think it’s time to alter that daydream. If you are really serious about publishing the book you want to publish, looking how you want it to look and promoted how you want it to be promoted, self-publishing has to be the way to go.

New writers often feel that they won’t properly have made it until they have a traditional publishing deal, but in reality a traditional publishing deal could hold them back from doing what they really want to do. Of course, for some, it will work out well, but for many others, they will be giving up a huge amount of control over their work for an end result that is largely disappointing.

You might end up with a cover you hate, or editorial suggestions you disagree with but feel compelled to accept, or a promised marketing budget that fails to materialise. And then if the book doesn’t sell well it would all be over before you knew it.

By contrast, with self-publishing, you get to publish exactly the book you want to publish. It doesn’t mean missing out on expertise – you can still hire editors and find great cover designers – but it does mean that you are really at the centre of things. The finished book with your name on the cover will be exactly as you want it to be, not as someone else tells you it should be.

Plenty of self-published books are just as good as – or even better than – many of the best traditionally published books. Authors who self-publish are careful to make sure they get everything just right, and the range of expertise that is now available for writers who are interested in self-publishing means that you can find all the support you need when you’re going it alone.

Besides, you know that with self-publishing, you will definitely see your book in print. There are no gatekeepers as in traditional publishing, which must surely have prevented massive numbers of great books from finding their way to readers over the years. That’s all changing now, as more authors decide to publish their work for themselves.

Dreaming of a brilliant published book is something that is common to the vast majority of writers. It’s just about time we started to change how we turn that dream into a reality.

Planning your marketing for self-publishers

Once you have decided that you’re serious about self-publishing, you need to start planning how you’re going to go about it. There are several parts to this, from writing a great book to getting it ready for publication to actually getting it published. Then there is marketing, which is the topic of today’s post.

There’s no getting away from the fact that as a self-published author, you’re going to need to do some marketing if you want your book to sell. With so many books out there and so many authors all trying to get readers interested in their work, it’s crucial that you put the effort in with your marketing.

Like writing a novel, a bit of planning can do your marketing a world of good. This is because there are so many different strands and options for promotion, and it’s important to think in terms of strategy.

Build a base to work from

If you try to launch a book without laying at least a little bit of groundwork beforehand, chances are it’s not going to do all that well. There’s a lot of talk around the idea of an author platform, something that is crucial for self-publishers. This is your marketing baseline in a way, the profile that you have to work from and build upon as you progress with your writing.

When planning for this, think about the kind of marketing strategies you can keep for a long time – things like setting up a website and a blog that can grow and adapt as needed, and social media accounts that you’ll be able to use in the long-term.

Know how to ramp up your activity

This is the part of marketing most authors tend to focus on, and not without reason: promoting a book that they have just published. While your marketing will undoubtedly change depending on how your sales are going, it’s definitely worth planning in advance of your book launch.

Self-publishers need to be savvy if they’re going to get their book noticed, so start your promotions early. Remember that this doesn’t just mean promotions to do with your new book, but also your author platform more generally so you can start getting yourself noticed.

This is also the part of marketing where you might want to think about one-off promotional activities you could do, such as radio spots, a blog tour, book trailer or giveaways.

Keep one eye on the horizon

It’s hard to plan far into the future, especially when self-publishing is such a quick-changing industry. However, it makes sense to think ahead so you can plan your time and other resources wisely. Think about things such as how many books you’re planning to self-publish over the coming year or two, and how you’ll build on the books that came before.

It’s also worth thinking about how you’ll respond to changes in the industry, such as new technology you could use in your marketing or ways of engaging with your readers.

And don’t forget your big writing goals – how will your marketing help to get you where you want to be in your self-publishing career?

Author interview: Toni Geens on fan fiction and the future of publishing

A new feature I’ve introduced to my blog is that of author interviews. In order to help bring you even more information and thought-provoking debate on issues involving writing and publishing, I’ll be using blog interviews to chat with other authors about the future of the publishing industry as well as their styles and methods of writing.

In the first of these interviews, today I’m speaking with Toni Geens, who specialises in writing fan fiction. Although I have a number of published and longstanding authors lined up for interviews over the next couple of weeks, I felt it was important to highlight the changing face of publishing in the digital age. “Being a writer” no longer means you’ve got hardback books available in shops. The lines have been well and truly blurred (and I’m sure you’ll already know I think this is a good thing. A very good thing).

(My questions are in bold; Toni’s answers in regular type.)

Toni, on the subject of fan fiction, it seems that there’s often a stigma attached to that form of writing. Almost as if some writers look down upon it as being somehow substandard. Is this something you’ve experienced?

Yes, quite a bit actually. It’s fine when you talk about it within online communities that endorse it, but if you happen to mention it to someone who’s not as familiar with the concept their initial sort of thought is either “that’s not real writing — you’re using someone else’s characters” or something along the lines of “you mean like 50 Shades of Grey?”

I think people tend to stereotype you for it also. They seem to believe it doesn’t make you a real writer, just another obsessive fan-girl.

You mentioned 50 Shades of Grey, which was originally a piece of fan fiction — do you think that’s been a help or a hindrance?

I think there’s a possibility of it being both. I mostly seem to have heard and seen it having a negative impact. I haven’t read the books myself so I can’t give an honest opinion of any of the content, but by majority vote of what I’ve heard everyone seems to think that the writing quality is poor, let alone the outrageousness of some of the actual content. And a lot of people seem to think that it simply “speaks volumes” when they hear that it started off as fan fiction.

But I’m guessing that in a way it must have also helped the community for it, since it’s obviously sold a lot of copies and even out-sold the Harry Potter books! So there surely must be some good in it.

You’ve been writing fan fiction for more than ten years now, so I guess that goes to show that you’ve made a conscious decision to write in that way and that it’s not just “practise for proper writing”. For you, what’s the appeal of fan fiction and how do you think it helps you to refine and improve your writing in ways which writing novels or original pieces wouldn’t?

I think writing fan fiction rather than an entirely original project can be both easier and more difficult. You have a whole world laid out for you with all of its characters – you don’t really need to create anything extra. But then you have to try to create new and unique plot lines that are also still typical of the ‘fandom’ that you’re writing for. Personally for me I always try to create new characters, throw them into an existing world and see how they fare. My ability to create characters has improved dramatically just by focusing on this part and not having to worry about the existing characters around them. When writing for multiple fandoms it can also give you the opportunity to dabble in different genres, maturity levels, perspectives, character relationships and many other things.

For me fan fiction is a guilty pleasure, as well as the chance to keep on practicing. I’ve yet to put original works online – I like to try with fan fiction to see the kind of response I get, and not have to worry too much about people stealing ideas (though trust me, I’ve still had this happen with fan fiction too!) There are plenty of TV shows, books, movies, etc. I’ve watched or read where I’ve had my own ideas and thought “hey, it would be really interesting if so-and-so got thrown into a situation like this”. It’s a chance to explore into the characters and worlds that you’ve come to love as a fan.

Do you think the inherent nature of fan fiction gives it more of a personal touch?

Exactly! It’s better for audiences on a more personal level too. Some writers can come across as so unreachable – most people would probably never dream of approaching a well-known author for advice on how to progress with their own hopes to get work published. But with the new digital ways of publishing it’s much easier to find a writer, and it somehow makes them seem not so intimidating. Writers who publish through digital means seem to be on more of the same level with their readers. It’s much more personal and I think most readers would like that.

In terms of your writing process, are you a “free” writer who can just put pen to paper and see where things go, or do you have to meticulously plan before you even begin to write?

Honestly I’ve worked with both methods before, but with quite different results. I prefer to plan a ridiculous amount first just to know exactly what I want to achieve with a story, or at least some key points to include. I’ve found that just by trying to write on a spur-of-the-moment idea I start off great, then suddenly hit a wall and realise I have absolutely no idea where I’m going with it. I feel by having a sort of goal to work towards makes it easier, rather than just going crazy with my pen and seeing where it ends up. Plus I do actually really love the whole planning and plotting process!

Do you think the new age of digital publishing is helping writers like you to build an audience and fan base in ways which weren’t possible before?

Most definitely. Obviously the community of writers in the world continues to grow, and it’s much easier now for people to get their writing out there for everyone to see. The introduction of e-books, tablets, online retailers like Amazon… It’s obviously all aimed to make books easier and cheaper for people to buy. Which in turn gives writers more opportunities to put their own stuff out there too. I think the main problem from it is the competition — writers have to fight even harder now to make sure it’s THEIR work that gets noticed, not somebody else’s.

Finally, where can people read your work and get in touch with you?

My Fan Fiction page, or my Wattpad page. I’m also on Twitter as @hamsterpranks.

4 ways self-publishing is changing the role of the author

One thing you learn very quickly when you first get involved with independent publishing is that you’re not just a writer anymore. There’s a huge amount of other work that goes with the job, as well as the extra responsibility that comes from being entirely in control of what happens to your book.

This can seem daunting, but it’s important to see the positives in the way the role of the author is changing. With this in mind, here are some of the ways self-publishing is changing the role of the author.

You need to have a business mind-set.  There is no getting away from the fact that self-publishing is a business. It means that authors have to be organised and on top of things – and that’s no bad thing. After all, we all want our books to succeed, so taking on the right sort of entrepreneurial mind-set is a definite advantage.
You need to be a marketer. You can’t just self-publish a book and hope that it will be a success – you need to make it a success. It’s great to see more and more authors being creative in their marketing and putting in loads of effort to help their books sell, and this is something that’s only going to continue.
The readers are closer than ever before. Without a traditional publisher, authors and readers are bought closer together. As a self-published author, you’re entirely responsible for managing your relationship with your readers, which can be a really great thing.
You need to be better than ever. Self-publishing is now massively popular, so if you want to succeed at it, you need to be good at what you do. You need to be able to write top quality books that readers will be prepared to buy, and be willing to do whatever you can to improve your books. I think this is a really positive thing; some people might think that self-published books are of a low standard, but the reality is (usually) very different. Self-published authors are putting in a huge amount of effort to write brilliant books that deserve to do well, and with any luck, the number of top notch novels out there will only continue to grow.

3 things self-publishing gives you that traditional publishing doesn’t

People in the traditional publishing camp are often very quick to point to the things the traditional method of publishing can give you that you don’t get as a self-publisher.

I think, therefore, it is definitely time to point out the things that self-publishing gives you that traditional publishing doesn’t, especially as all the things you can benefit from through a traditional deal are also available to self-publishers. As self-publishers, we have access to editors and designers and people who understand rights and others who are great at marketing. And, on top of that, we have the following things…

Ability to create your own sales plan

If you go down the traditional publishing route, it’s likely that someone else will have a significant input on your strategy for selling your book. In self-publishing, it’s all down to you. You decide how you want to market your book, and you can adapt and change the plan as necessary, rather than having to get approval from someone else before you act.

The choice over what and when to publish

With a traditional deal, you have to fit in with the publisher – you have to write books they want to publish, and then you have to publish them at a time the publisher sees fit. This works for some, but if you’re an author who wants to decide exactly what you write and exactly when you want to publish it – whether you want to publish three books a year or one book every three years – then self-publishing is undoubtedly the better option.

The control to do what’s best for you – and your book

Finally, self-publishing gives you the control to do whatever is best for both you and your book. The only business plan you have to fit into is your own. You get to make all the creative decisions about your book, and choose the people you want to work with. In short, there is much more freedom and flexibility in the self-publishing model.

What do you think?