Welcome to our Publishing School

Publishing School 101: Why Publish Your Own Book?

Here are three good reasons to consider becoming an independent publisher or a self-publishing author:

First good reason: No paying publisher has made you an offer you can't refuse.

Be careful not to confuse a paying publisher with a publishing service you pay. Paying publishers, also known as commercial publishers, offer you as the author an advance against future sales and work with you to promote your book. The best way to submit a book to commercial publishers is to spend time browsing in a bookstore for the names of companies who have published books you especially like for their style, length, content etc. Look each one up, ask for submission requirements, and follow the directions.

Second good reason: You wouldn't be satisfied with a 20 percent royalty on your book, the most you can expect if your book is commercially published.

Even if a mainline publisher picks you up, when you learn the terms you may decide you don't want that kind of a setup. Calculate how many books you think you could sell on your own and how many books your publisher would have to sell to give you the same revenue at a 20% royalty.

Third good reason. You have written your book for a specific group of people (market niche) and are prepared to let them know it's available.

Most of the books we produce at Griffith Publishing are in this category. The author has already been approached by a group or a representative of a group and asked to produce a book. Or the author works with a university, major business, business organization, or health care facility that needs the book.

Of course you'll want to go with a commercial publisher if you get a great offer that costs you nothing but puts a significant amount of money in your pocket with no debt involved. Of course, if you have confidence that you can sell your book on your own, you should be a self-publishing author, or as we think of you these days, an independent publisher.

People who seem to do best with self-publishing:

• Experts who give speeches and host workshops
• Doctors with private care patients
• Business owners with information and skills to share
• Professors and scholars who have an important set of facts to share with colleagues or the general public
• Historians who can make local or regional history come to life
• Writers and people with important information or a story line who feel driven to publish a book.
• Anyone with a story to tell that can help others

Not everyone asking for your dollars is a crook. Dozens of legal businesses offer a wide range of services related to book publishing and want you to think that they are publishing companies. The key to knowing whether they are publishers or not is finding out how much money you need to send them. If the answer is anything more than $0.01, you are dealing with a service provider, not a publisher. Griffith Publishing is in that category. We do not purchase manuscripts but work with the author to give him or her the best opportunity for financial success and recognition.

Why publish your own book? Only you can know the answer. When it's right for you, you'll find a way. You'll be a successful self-publishing author.

And what about your book? Tell us about it.

We'd love to hear from you. Call us any time at 800 359-9503. Or send us email (hodi@mindspring.com).