With the release of our second book this week, I’ve gotten many questions about what it is like to self-publish a book. This blog post is a preview of a guest post with Salt+Light and interviews with The Bucket List and Daddy Blogger TV about self-publishing.
According to the New York Times, 81% of Americans say they have a book in them to write, yet only 0.1% of the world’s population are authors (according to Seed Magazine). With traditional publishers only selecting a small percentage of books to publish, self-publishing has become the only route for the majority of budding authors to share their book with the world. For that reason, self-publishing is becoming more common and accepted. For example, of Amazon’s Top 100 Bestsellers, 26 are self-published.
Here are a few questions that I answered in the interviews:
Why did you decide to self-publish your book?
The first reason is that it’s difficult (and takes a long time) to get a book publisher to accept your book manuscript. We wanted to get our book out there as quickly as possible, so we self-published. The second reason is that you don’t make much money with a traditional publisher. According to an author I met who has 7 books published, he makes a royalty of $0.70 / book sold, and his books sell for $15-20 each. Our newest book is priced at $4.97, and we make $3.39 per book (Amazon takes a 35% cut roughly).
Why should every person consider self-publishing a book?
There are many people in the world that need to hear your voice and your story. Your experiences are unique, and there are others that learn much from hearing what you have to say. The problem is that many of those people will never meet you face to face. Writing a book allows people from all around the world to benefit from your experience and expertise.
What blog interface do you use and how to you build your profile?
We use WordPress as our blog platform, and use HostGator to host our blog.
What’s your next goal?
Our next goal is to apply for the Aikman Opportunity Award. It is a book writing competition where the winner is awarded $20,000 and the opportunity to work with a publishing company. Our goal is for both Olive and me to submit book proposals for this competition. More details here :http://aikmanaward.com/
Topics I write about in my guest post with Paul Sohn’s blog Salt + Light (plus, find out how you can win 1 of 2 copies of our new book)
Why your voice is needed
How writing a book influences more people
How writing a book sharpens your thinking
How writing a book builds your credibility
Why the barriers to self-publishing are low
Questions I answered in my interview with Jess Versteeg at The Bucket List (plus, find out how you can win 1 of 2 copies of our new book).
Describe how you guys decided you were going to write for a living.
What is one thing that has surprised you (good or bad)?
What has been the highlight and the lowlight for you guys in the process?
What is one thing you would go back and do over if you had the chance?
What advice (if any) do you have for someone who wants to publish an ebook like you are?
What’s your next goal?
Questions I answered in my interview with Ricky Shetty from Daddy Blogger TV (see YouTube video below)
Why did you start this journey as a blogger and writer?
How has the blog been going?
How has the 2 books been received?
Tell me about the process of marketing the book.
Tell us about the book launch campaign.
What are the challenges as a writer? How did you motivate your to keep writing?
How did you and your wife decide to be co-authors? What was the process like in writing together?
What are some tips you would give to aspiring authors?
What authors inspire you and Olive?
Did you print a physical copy of the book?
Do you see yourself as an author who would be writing something no matter what stage you are in life? Or was the experience of marriage and parenting so strong that you decided to write about it?
What was the process of writing your book? Did you start with an outline?
What blog interface do you use and how to you build your profile?
Do you set aside an amount of time to blog and write? Or do you write when you are inspired? Or is it more of a discipline?
Have you gotten any speaking engagements from what you have written?
This is a 30-minute interview Ricky Shetty hosted on Google Hangouts, with guests Darlene Goodrick and Paul Moores. I was impressed with this platform, as it allowed us to do the interview and broadcast it live to YouTube. Plus, we can add our names, positions, and a logo to the bottom of the screen, which makes the interview look very professional.
[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/zdDbCRovTlw” fs=”1″]
photo credit: gualtiero