Choose a self-publishing platform or do it all yourself?

Self-publishing a book through a self-publishing platform like Writers of USA, or doing everything yourself through your own printer or a printing company is a choice that at first glance seems complex. Even so, in this blog we will see how publishing with a self-publishing platform is much more profitable in terms of money and time.

Let’s see, first of all, what steps every author who decides to self-publish must follow. Whether by yourself or through a self-publishing platform:

• Write the book
• Layout and correction of the manuscript
• Administrative procedures (ISBN)
• Cover creation
• Printing of the book or publication in online stores
• Dissemination and advertising

Self-publish a book by yourself

The hardest thing about self-publishing yourself is the administrative and distribution part. As the author of your own book, you will have to look for where and how to buy an ISBN without entering into illegalities. There are many stores that only allow books to be sold with an ISBN owned by said company, so you will have to manage to acquire different ISBNs for different stores, something that does not happen if it is done through a self-publishing platform, where a single purchase of ISBN is used for many stores.

Additionally, as a completely independent author, you will have to purchase a large run of books to then sell to stores or to individuals. Being an independent author you will not have the option to print on demand, a function that platforms such as Mibestseller.es do have. With a self-publishing publisher like hire songwriters, your books are distributed directly to partner online stores for free.

The layout part is also complex. As an author you must print your books yourself. So you should be careful with measurements, make test specimens, etc. You should even, if you want, hire a proofreader yourself. With a self-publishing publisher this happens but only to a certain extent: the company directly provides you with the measurements so that you simply have to apply them in your word and thus do not have to calculate them.

Although self-publishing without intermediaries is more expensive in terms of time and, probably, money, it is not a bad option if the author knows that he is going to sell a considerable number of books and to whom he is going to sell them.

Let’s now look at self-publishing through a platform like Mibestseller.es:

Self-publish with a specialized publisher: Writers of USA

Through free self-publishing platforms like Writers of USA, the author does not worry about storing the books (since it works with print on demand), nor about finding the correct ISBN or the exact measurements of your own printer. Once you register on a platform of this type, just follow the steps it asks for: upload a document, upload a cover design or create your own on the website itself, choose a price, choose the stores where it will be sold, etc. In this link you have an example of how self-publishing companies normally work.

But let’s be more specific, who is Writers of USA aimed at?

• Authors who are rejected by traditional publishers
• Authors who want to have a higher profit margin than in traditional publishers in exchange for their own distribution.
• Any author who wants to create their book writing services, their softcover or hardcover book can choose the type of paper, the cover paper, etc.
• Authors who are unsure of the number of books they are going to sell
• Authors who don’t want to take any risks

Whatever you choose: promote the book yourself

Once the book is ready, the most important thing is to promote it and you will have to do this yourself. The truth is that it is a time-consuming and scary task when you don’t know the steps to follow. In case you are interested, we leave you one of our blogs where we explain how to promote your book on social networks.