SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHORS
I became a self-published author in 2021. This is after having conducted an
extensive amount of research in trying to find out where and who to send my
manuscript. I was saddened at the time by the lack of publishing houses, which did
not take unsolicited manuscript. What does that even mean right?
You couldn’t just send your manuscript to them first without having an editor, or a
literary agent, who is known by the publisher. Well, how were authors likely to make
any money having to give so many pieces of the pie away, before they could even
get a slice for their own writing.
As a self-published author, who have had to use several different platforms to try and
sell my books, I was naïve in thinking that I was the master of my own game. Afterall,
they provide the platform and let you and me loose to get on with it, for most parts.
They have control over the other! Like, I knew all there was to know about how I
would market and publish my books. I was very disappointed, saddened and in total
disbelieve, to find that some of these bookshops wanted from 35% – 55% in
commission.
But as it said exactly on the tin!
I had to do the work, uploading the manuscript and images of my book cover, and I
have to pay always to get the images adjusted and reformatted to allow for their
programes to accept, so that I can submit my book, and that caused extra
frustrating, time-consuming and inconvenient they just sat back and wait until I start
doing the self-marketing and self-promoting of the sale of my book.
This is presented as a major issue for all self-published authors not just some.
Whilst on the other hand, you may think that this is a blessing because the traditional
publishers are ONLY offering authors 15% – 26% in royalties.
Written by: Author Beverley – Rose
