Should You Self Publish A Book in 2024? 📖 Self Publishing Pros and Cons

[@HeartBreathings]

What else would you add to the list? Are you already well on your way down your chosen path? Or are you still trying to decide? Let me know in the comments!

[@cassiemerson7789]

I'm kind of still deciding but leaning towards traditional. Honestly, a big part is the validation, I'm afraid if knowing when it's ready to publish is left up to me, I'll never do it 🙈 I need someone to tell me, hey this doesn't suck lol

[@jeanneadams3062]

I've been hybrid for a while now and I love it. I love the freedom of writing Indie, with all it's decisions and insanity, it's still the best method. As you say, visibility is the issue. I think that's why I love being Hybrid. Trad Pub gives you a presence and "street cred" and gets people to look for you. You're so right about the marketing/visibility though!

[@HeartBreathings]

@@cassiemerson7789 I understand that! But that fear only lasts until you publish and then you'll get reviews and things like that and you'll know it was good!

[@DeborahCarrAuthor]

I self-published my first historical because my then agent didn't manage to sell it. It was read by an editor at HarperCollins and she loved it, contacted me and signed me to write a book for her. I'm currently writing my 8th historical with her and two of the books have been USA Today bestsellers, which is a dream. Self-publishing helped me get several traditional deals. I also still self-publish and love that too.

[@HeartBreathings]

Yes, I love this! What everyone thought would be a hindrance has become a viable stepping stone. Well done!

[@DeborahCarrAuthor]

@@HeartBreathings It certainly has. Thank you.

[@catherinebrown8501]

Owning my rights is what's really persuading me.

[@lwalt7120]

First and foremost, regardless of which path you choose to publish, please make sure you've taken the time to actually be a good writer. Seems everyone wants to be published these days without taking the time to learn and perfect the craft of wordsmithing.

[@HeartBreathings]

So true! And so many conferences only focus on marketing these days.

[@ashleyemma4954]

I remember when I started self publishing, I went to an author conference and some of the agents said they'd never represent a self published author. I think that was about 7 years ago. How the tables have turned! I used to want to only trad publish, but I love self publishing so much and I'm doing so well with it. Maybe in a few years I'll pitch to agents again once I have a bigger following, but I'm not in any rush. I'm hoping to double my royalties over the next year.

[@HeartBreathings]

I know you can do it!

[@tracy-marie]

I took Publish and Thrive. I learned a lot. Worth the investment. And Sarra really does respond to your questions in the weekly live sessions.

[@HeartBreathings]

Thank you for this comment and sharing your experience!

[@BNris]

I want to do Publish and Thrive sooo bad! It's my reward for finishing my first draft of my book. I'm 52k in and really hoping I'll be done with it and ready to sign up for the course in spring of 2025. Your passion gets me so hyped to take this chance and give it a shot!

[@HeartBreathings]

I hope to see you there!!

[@KylieStewart_Author]

Can confirm publish and thrive is 100% the best course I’ve yet to take on the business side of publishing! Also super informative on writing, editing, and all the things most other courses hold back on sharing ❤

[@SillyTrouble_]

I love how excited you are about sharing! It makes me excited too!!!

[@augustinaiturra8037]

2 hour livestream, yay! You are so generous with your time and knowledge!!! I look forward to tuning in and for Publish & Thrive 🥰

[@SIMulatedSara]

I'm so excited to join you in P&T next week! And I'll see you at the live Q&A. You do sooo much for your community, and we all appreciate you! 💟

[@marie-claireallington851]

Off to see our Accountant Tuesday to see about ‘Unmothballing’ my self pub writing business - will see how it goes…😀

[@HeartBreathings]

Ooh, that's very exciting!!! Wishing you the best!

[@Kat_Author2021]

Congrats and good luck 🍀

[@WadeQuick]

Uplifting and realistic video about self publishing, you are extraordinary. Liked and subscribed

[@katethedimensionexplorer273]

To me I'm sticking with self pub. I have all the creative freedom and rights. With Amazon kdp you get 70 percent royalties and designing a cover can be free with canvas or other programs. The only trouble I'd have is marketing and getting seen and editing😅. I know a bunch of self pub books that do gain a good bit of readers, like the Sword of Kaigain and Carl Dungeon Crawler.

[@JadeMadison-e6h]

SEO will be your best friend in marketing for sure! Good luck on your journey!! ❤

[@sameenshahid7457]

There's also the cost of hiring a professional editor.

[@marketingbyshelby]

I absolutely love this

[@HeartBreathings]

So glad you enjoyed it!

[@desireeohrbeck2282]

Ok, July 20 😊 - I'm in!

[@francineh.7825]

I am getting ready to send my reviewed edits to my editor for her final edit. Then can send my info to the cover artist. Then I'll rewatch the pertinent videos from your Publish & Thrive course and self publish for the first time hopefully within a month!

[@HeartBreathings]

Oh my goodness, I'm so excited for you!!!

[@francineh.7825]

@@HeartBreathings Oh thank you for saying that!! 🧡 I'm nervous lol.

[@christinaayala5993]

Love your passion❤

[@LeahWriter]

Dang girl, I"m so behind on your videos but this one just popped up so it's first in line lol I self published a children's book in 2018 but it was so much more work than just the writing. It didn't sell well at all because I don't have a self promotional platform anymore. I"ll bide my time until I'm ready to publish my romcom, maybe this winter.

[@zrienkersh1475]

Do you keep a count of the exact number of copies sold? To me that’s a benefit of self publishing.

[@HeartBreathings]

I do! And yes it really is nice to have that level of transparency with sales. Good point!

[@FeeBeeCreating]

Thank you for this. I've been a long time viewer of this channel, as you know, and took P&T earlier this year. I always thought that I wanted to be an indie author; yet, between this video and the course I think I've decided I'm going to pursue trad pub for a while. I find the creative freedom too much haha!

[@HeartBreathings]

I understand that! And you'll find a lot of what you learned in the class will still serve you in your trad journey, and you can always come back to self-publishing later in your career if you want!

[@FeeBeeCreating]

@@HeartBreathingsthank You. I agree. I found your course to be invaluable. I get a bit geeky about it tbh and recommend it to anyone who’s interested in writing

[@mayadeslilas]

Probably no for me!! i kinda decided to put the writng on the backburner and keep it as a hobby because i want to open m own business as a dog groomer. Still will enjoy your videos though!!^^

[@naturesbestart-vickiachard8067]

So so good!!! Thank you!!!

[@joesaviano5049]

Can you talk more about going the hybrid way? Is there much you would need to change? Thanks so much

[@HeartBreathings]

I am not personally hybrid, but I have a lot of friends who are. I could see about inviting someone on the channel to do a Q&A on the process. From my observations, though, it's going to depend on which way you're going. If you're already trad, you'll just need to make sure your self published work doesn't infringe on the contract in some way. (e.g using characters from an existing world that a publisher owns some rights to). If you're getting rights back from trad, you will need to change the cover, sometimes the title, make sure you've got a rights reversion letter from the publisher to prove to retailers you now have the right to publish. Basically you'll need to make sure the book is delisted from the retailers by the publisher so you can legally put it up for sale with a new cover and usually new formatting. If you're self-published to start, there's usually nothing to consider other than making sure you know your sales numbers to give to an agent when they ask for numbers. Since you own your rights, it's less sticky going from self to trad!

[@joesaviano5049]

@@HeartBreathings Thanks so much! It would be great to have someone guest here with you. It would be the latter of what you explained self- pub to publish if I decide. I am currently deciding what to do first. Question- Sarra, if I do go hybrid way to start would I still own the rights to my book? Thank You!

[@HeartBreathings]

​​@@joesaviano5049you would still own the rights to everything you created unless/until you sign a contract for that specific property. So if you publish a series indie first and then sell a different series to a publisher you'd still have full rights over that first series. But sometimes publishers might want to sign a deal with you for rights to your indie work, in which case they'd pay you and then take ownership of some level of rights depending on the contract. You'd always still own the copyright but not the publishing rights.

[@joesaviano5049]

@@HeartBreathings Thank you! So basically it all comes down to negotiating the contract.

[@susanbuckminster282]

Thank you!

[@ficjeanne]

Wondering if there will be a workbook to go with the course? Or if video transcripts will be available? Looking forward to the live next wkd!!

[@HeartBreathings]

All transcripts are made available, as well as my slides in a more printable form. Then there's the quick-reference index to easily find answers via keywords with a click!

[@ficjeanne]

@@HeartBreathings amazing TYSM! 💖

[@Blackfoxparadox]

this may be being too optimistic, but do self publishers have a chance of a film deal if it was to kick off ? I know the odds but the story im writing would make a great series.

[@HeartBreathings]

Yes! Right now it's not as common, but it's possible. Lots of romance authors I know have had films through Passion Flix, Jaymin Eve had a TV series through a major streaming network, and the story goes on. It's completely possible.

[@Blackfoxparadox]

​@@HeartBreathingsthanks. of course they'll be beating my doors down as soon as I release 😂

[@TaniasWritingRealm]

Very helpful video as always

[@21cormorants]

If you open your sales up in, say, Japan, England, or other foreign countries, are you then also saddled with figuring out how to pay tax to all of those countries? How does that work? (As a Canadian, even figuring out how the American system will figure into publishing on Amazon makes me sweat! Help!!!)

[@HeartBreathings]

When you are selling via retailers like Amazon and Apple, they handle all the sales taxes! You will only owe tax in Canada! If you do direct sales - like setting up a store on your own website - that's when you have to start considering sales taxes in other countries. It's easier than you think when you're going through retailers!

[@BobVids77]

Can I take the Publish and Thrive course even if I haven’t written a book yet? Or should I wait until I have something completed?

[@annieway35]

It couldn't hurt to take the course! It might inspire you to finish your book, maybe make things less daunting.

[@HeartBreathings]

You can absolutely take it now! We have lots of students who take the class and that helps them come up with their strategy and build a stronger launch plan. However, my advice is to think about whether having lots of information about the process will overwhelm you or motivate you? For some people, hearing about all the work involved in setting up accounts, marketing, formatting, etc just makes them feel overwhelmed and paralyzed, which then makes them stop writing! For others, getting all the details lights a fire to keep going. If you can think about how you typically feel when presented with details that aren't quite relevant yet, that might help you decide if it's now or when your book is finished. Let me know if you have more questions!

[@nvlst11]

I have 12 books and fiddled around with AMZ and D2D but I'm too scared to market my books! I'm frozen and don't know how to get started. :( Does the Publish and Thrive class teach a writer how to market their books?

[@annieway35]

You're there, I'm sure you'd get a lot of useful information from the class. Help you get unfrozen.

[@HeartBreathings]

There are TWO full weeks of marketing information!! I don't go into walkthroughs on things like how to run amazon AMS and Facebook ads, because I don't use ads like that in my own marketing and there are better teachers out there, so to be clear it's not an ads course. However, we talk A LOT in detail about how to find your readers, market your books, and start making money!

[@lucasluckproductions]

I'm trying to connect with more self-publishing authors but no one really ever responds via threads, unfortunately.

[@adrianromagnano6384]

Do you have any self publishing courses?

[@HeartBreathings]

I have a course called Publish & Thrive that runs a couple of times a year! It will open again late January for the next round.

[@erenepsara794]

Are there people that do all that work for authors who indie publish that aren't able to to do themselves for a fee?

[@HeartBreathings]

Yes there are companies that can help you with the process of edits and book covers and things like that but you still retain rights. Places like Book Baby is one for example. My biggest advice there is just really get clear on your budget because some of those places will cost $8000 for one book and your chances of making that back with just one release are very slim.

[@Shackbanshee]

I don't think I have the skills to self promote at this time (I'm autistic and have been selling short work on the professional market). That said, the more I listen to you, the less overwhelming self publishing seems.

[@HeartBreathings]

It's a big win just to be aware of where you are and what's possible right now. I think it can really take a lot of pressure and overwhelm out of it to have a simple checklist of "here's what to do and in what order" and then just give yourself time and don't feel rushed through it.

[@anth636]

As an autist, I want to encourage you. It’s a long process to confidently promote yourself, but it’s very achievable.

[@andrastetriformis6241]

Do you need to be an LLC? Do you need a literary lawyer right out the gate?

[@HeartBreathings]

These are great questions! If you have a second add them to the form I linked in the description for the Livestream!

[@AutumnAprodithe]

You can only become succesful with a large following.

[@HeartBreathings]

That's not true at all! I promise. I know it can seem that way but there are tons of authors making six figures you've never heard of and who don't have any social media or low numbers. It's possible!

[@blasterbooks9282]

Um I always suggest try traditional publish in 1st

[@HeartBreathings]

That can definitely be the right path for some people!