When I was naming my blog, I toyed with the idea of that old classic: €Self-Publishing for fun and profit€.
But thinking about it, it's shouldn't be €and€. It should be €or€.
It's not that it can't be both at once. After all, I've had fun publishing my books €" and they put bread on the table (and the occasional bottle of good single malt, too).
But when you first start out, the very first thing you should do is not pick a title or design the cover. (Well, you can if you like €" having a title written above your desk can help keep you going!)
It's decide why you're publishing. Is it because you want to see your book in print? Or do you want to go into WHSmiths and see your book on the shelf there? Is there a message you desperately want to get out to the world? Do you want to bring in some money? To promote yourself as an expert in some field for professional reasons?
All good reasons to self publish €" but depending on what you want, you can go about it in different ways.
In fact, depending on why you're doing it, you might need to publish a different book. A memoir will give you that great feeling of being an author. But it probably won't make you rich. A guide to, I don't know, how to sell your house for the best price possible may well make you a decent profit. But it might not be as satisfying as that next great novel. And if you want to promote yourself professionally, then the tales of your youth in the fleshpots of Soho might not be the best idea...
It's not just what the book is about, either. It affects how you go about publishing it €" and even how you structure the book. Do you want to leave room for a follow-up? Or is this something you want to do once and that's it?
Before you can answer that, you need to sit down and ask yourself why you're doing it €" what is it you want to get out of it? Then you can think about how to do it... and what book (or books €" why stop at one?) you want to publish.
With luck, you'll then have fun and make a profit €" but at the least you should get what you wanted out of it.
But thinking about it, it's shouldn't be €and€. It should be €or€.
It's not that it can't be both at once. After all, I've had fun publishing my books €" and they put bread on the table (and the occasional bottle of good single malt, too).
But when you first start out, the very first thing you should do is not pick a title or design the cover. (Well, you can if you like €" having a title written above your desk can help keep you going!)
It's decide why you're publishing. Is it because you want to see your book in print? Or do you want to go into WHSmiths and see your book on the shelf there? Is there a message you desperately want to get out to the world? Do you want to bring in some money? To promote yourself as an expert in some field for professional reasons?
All good reasons to self publish €" but depending on what you want, you can go about it in different ways.
In fact, depending on why you're doing it, you might need to publish a different book. A memoir will give you that great feeling of being an author. But it probably won't make you rich. A guide to, I don't know, how to sell your house for the best price possible may well make you a decent profit. But it might not be as satisfying as that next great novel. And if you want to promote yourself professionally, then the tales of your youth in the fleshpots of Soho might not be the best idea...
It's not just what the book is about, either. It affects how you go about publishing it €" and even how you structure the book. Do you want to leave room for a follow-up? Or is this something you want to do once and that's it?
Before you can answer that, you need to sit down and ask yourself why you're doing it €" what is it you want to get out of it? Then you can think about how to do it... and what book (or books €" why stop at one?) you want to publish.
With luck, you'll then have fun and make a profit €" but at the least you should get what you wanted out of it.