Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
You’ve spent years developing your “secret sauce.” Maybe it’s a proven way to help people lose weight, save for retirement, or strengthen their relationships. Your manuscript is finally finished, and you feel like the biggest hurdle is behind you… until someone tells you the next step is to spend months, possibly years convincing a self-help publisher to take a chance on your book.
For a growing number of authors, that’s the point where the traditional path ends and the search for alternatives begins. The good news is, you don’t have to spend hours querying publishers, waiting for responses, and possibly even surrendering control over your work. Now, you can self-publish your work directly
Self-help book publishers have risen dramatically in recent years. With no prior experience at all, you can produce books that rival traditionally published titles on bookshelves, while keeping creative control, full ownership, and a larger chunk of the royalties. Here’s why self-help book publishers are turning to direct publishing instead of going the old-fashioned route, and why you’ll want to do the same.
Table of Contents:
• Self-help authors have different goals than traditional publishers
• Speed matters in the self-help world
• Higher royalties make a major difference
• Professional self-publishing has eliminated the quality gap
• Marketing is easier than you think
• Why self-publish directly?
Self-help authors have different goals than traditional publishers
Traditional publishers want books they think can sell well at scale. Self-publishing authors have a different goal in mind. Of course, self-help writers want to sell books, but they’re also trying to:
- Build authority
- Attract coaching or consultant clients
- Support speaking engagements
- Grow an online audience
- Expand their existing business
For situations like these, the book is just one piece of the larger strategy. It also means you can’t afford to wait forever for a publisher to make up their mind. If you’ve ever wondered how to self-publish a book, direct publishing gives you the tools and guidance to do so without the agonizing wait.
Speed matters in the self-help world
Unlike fiction books, many self-help books are tied to current trends, methodologies, technologies, or businesses. A book on social media marketing or AI can become outdated almost as soon as the ink dries.
Traditional publishing doesn’t mean your book goes live the minute a contract is signed. Even if you get a publishing contract, there’s still a long and extensive editorial and production schedule to wade through before your book finally reaches readers.
By publishing directly, you can bring your idea or strategy to market while it’s still fresh and relevant. This is particularly important if you’ve already built up expertise and want to establish yourself as a thought leader now, and not years from now.
Higher royalties make a major difference
First-time self-help authors often think they’ll make more with traditional publishing because of the clout and scale that traditional publishing has. The truth is more complicated than that. Traditional publishing typically has royalty structures that pay authors a percentage of each sale. Self-published authors, on the other hand, usually keep a larger share of their revenue.
Done professionally, a self-help book can keep generating revenue for you for years, through direct sales, speaking engagements, courses, workshops, and more.
Professional self-publishing has eliminated the quality gap
One of the biggest reasons self-help authors pursued traditional publishing was having access to professional production services. Thanks to new advances in printing technology, authors can now get professional editing, cover design, formatting, printing, eBook conversion and even distribution and marketing handled without signing with a publisher.
When you choose professional self-help book publishers like BookBaby, you get access to all of these services under one roof. We invite you to browse our website and judge the quality of our editing work and cover design for yourself. We also offer interior formatting services, eBook conversion, audiobook conversion, and more, giving you access to premium services at affordable prices with a-la-carte simplicity.
Marketing is easier than you think
One of the biggest drawbacks for many people when it comes to self-publishing is thinking that you have to handle all the marketing on your own. You might be surprised to learn that traditional publishers often expect you to contribute heavily to marketing efforts, especially if you’re a first-time author.
By publishing directly, however, you’re in far greater control of the process, and the marketing itself is easier than you might think! Successful self-help book publishers and authors frequently build audiences through email newsletters, podcasts, social media, and other professional networks.
Why self-publish directly?
It used to be that the biggest question around self-help books was “How do I get a publisher to say yes to my book?” Today’s self-help authors aren’t waiting for permission or for someone else to decide for them. Professional self-publishing has created surprising and exciting new opportunities that didn’t exist even a decade ago.
Whether you’re a first-time self-help author or you’ve published before, publishing directly lets you maintain ownership and creative control, publish faster, earn higher royalties, and build a personal brand without having to deal with traditional gatekeepers.
Traditional publishing isn’t dead, but more and more, self-help authors are turning to print on demand and self-publishing because it includes exactly what they were looking for in the first place: affordable, professional-grade quality along with large-scale distribution and premium-tier marketing.
If you’re ready to share your expertise and experience with the world, get your free quote now at BookBaby.com to see where self-publishing can take you.
