Last weekend, I gave a short talk about self-publishing at Komiket BGC as a representative of #RomanceClass. Yes, I had my Market! Market! moment. I’ve made it!
Anyway, thought I’d share the three quick self-publishing tips I mentioned during this talk. But first, an important note:
A lot of people still seem confused about the term self-publishing. I’ve seen people on the internet say “I’m a self-published author” and in the next sentence, say, “So-and-so is my publisher.” This is incorrect. When you SELF publish a book, that means YOU are The Boss of things. You have the power to make all the decisions regarding the publishing of your book.
Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do EVERYTHING from editing to book cover design to marketing. You can hire people (or a company) to do that for you. These are services, and if you hire people or a company to do these things, they are simply providing a service. They are NOT your publisher.
Remember: You never have to pay a publisher to publish your book. A real publisher pays you so they could publish your book.
Now that that’s clear, here are my three tips!
- Build a village, and be a good villager. People say “it takes a village to raise a child.” In the same vein, it takes a village to publish a book. In my experience, my village is composed of beta readers, an editor, a book cover designer, sometimes an illustrator, sometimes a photographer and cover models, and of course a small group of readers who champion my book in online spaces.
When I started self-publishing in 2015, I knew no one. I didn’t have a village. So I joined one. Through joining Mina V. Esguerra’s publishing course, I was introduced to #RomanceClass, and I spent months just observing and getting to know the community until I joined my first workshop with them. Soon, I was able to create connections with people who later became part of my team. My village. And that village continues to grow as the years go by.I’m grateful for all the things I’ve earned and learned from the community, and one of those things is to constantly lift each other up. To support the members of the community in any way I can. When you eventually find and build your own village as a self-published author, you should also remember to be a good villager. That involves giving back. Maintaining a healthy relationship with your village ensures that you all thrive. And isn’t that beautiful?
Important note: If you hire people to work on your book, please pay them. Pay your creatives, people!
- Continue learning and improving your craft. So you’ve published a book. Congratulations! Getting a book published doesn’t mean you stop learning and improving as an author and publisher. Read books. Read a lot. It’s especially important to keep reading because it doesn’t only widen your vocabulary and grasp of style, it also teaches you what exists and how you can contribute to the world of publishing with your own work.
Look for workshops that you can join, if that’s your thing. There are a lot of online workshops that teach various aspects of writing and even marketing your books. And if you find workshops a bit too expensive, you can always learn a thing or twelve from your favorite authors just by observing what they’ve done in their careers. Being involved in your local book industry can do wonders for you too!
Additional tip for Filipino authors: One of the best ways to be in the know about the local book industry is to follow the National Book Development Board. They constantly post information about book campaigns, grants, events, and more. It’s a great way to learn and also start building a network (see tip #1). You may also want to follow various local presses to keep yourself updated on the kinds of books they release and the book events they hold.
- Spend wisely. So the thing about being a self-publisher is that you will have to pay for things out of pocket. Here’s a post I wrote two years ago about how much I roughly spend to self-publish a book. Yes, I understand that not everyone can afford it, but if you’re really looking to self-publish a book, you should spend your money wisely.
I’ve seen aspiring authors online feel defeated over publishing costs, and it’s almost always the cost of printing that’s daunting for them. I want to remind you all that in this day and age, digital publishing exists, and print-on-demand exists. Digital publishing means online book selling platforms like Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, and Everand. Publishing to these platforms is FREE, but they earn by taking a percentage of your sales. The thing about self-publishing on digital platforms is that you also have the freedom to play around with the pricing of your books whenever you want.
Print-on-demand is a service that’s been super helpful to me as a self-published author. This saves you the trouble of having to print 500 copies of your books in one go, with no idea where or how to sell them. There are printers in Metro Manila that can print just one copy of your book if that’s what you need. Best practice is to set up a pre-order form for your books so you can determine exactly how many copies you need to get printed. Once the buyers send their payment, you can then pay your printer. Ideally, you won’t spend anything out of pocket.
Remember that just because you’re self-publishing your book doesn’t mean you have to break the bank.
That’s it for my three quick self-publishing tips! If you’re curious about traditional publishing and publishing contracts instead, here’s a great article by Mina V. Esguerra about what to ask for in publishing contracts.
Good luck! <3
