You find yourself sitting there believing that you have a brilliant idea of a brand new children's book and who knows perhaps that is indeed the case. However, in the past there was a major hurdle that you had to overcome before you could do that and that hurdle was getting the book published.Things have changed somewhat thanks to the Internet because now the worry about getting your book published has kind of diminished thanks to the emergence of e-books and readers such as Kindle because now anybody can basically become an author. This then leads to another important question that has to be addressed, should you actually go ahead and self-publish your own book?
You Have Clear Advantages Of Doing So.
Prior to the self-publishing craze, your future was in the hands of people that you had never met in person. They would ultimately decide if your book was good enough to be put into print and being rejected was all part of the name of the game. Even major authors such as Stephen King and J.K. Rowling were rejected with their respective ideas, so if you think that it just happens to you, then you are wrong.
By self-publishing, you remove that fear of being rejected because, after all, those publishers do not know everything or else some of them would not have rejected Harry Potter and thought it was a rubbish book that would flop. How wrong were they?
If you are going for the actual printing of your book, then self-publishing also allows you to decide just how many copies you wish to do for your first run. It lets you really keep control of your costs and then, if they sell out, you can print off a second run to cope with the demand. It really does mean that you become the master of your own destiny.
However, Marketing Plays A Role.
If we assume that you have indeed decided to go ahead and self-publish your book and you have opted for the easiest method, which is e-publishing, then you have several key points to focus on.
First, a publisher can help you to market your book, but as you are going down the self-publishing route this is not an option. In other words, you must go ahead and learn about how to market your children's book and how to promote it to the correct audience. Without that, there is no point in publishing anything as the competition is stiff and you will vanish without a trace.
Next, just as you were in control of how much money was spent on printing copies, you are also in complete control of your marketing budget. However, you must remember one key thing. A publisher will know how best to spend a marketing budget for the best return on that investment and the chances are that this will not be the case with you. Instead, you have to be prepared to perhaps waste some money with making mistakes before you hit on the correct formula as you simply do not understand the various tricks of the trade that helps authors to actually be noticed by their audience.
Prior to self-publishing, you need to ask yourself these questions.
Do you understand your market?
Do you know how to target them?
Is your book actually something that children will want to read?
Have you got any feedback on your book before you self-publish?
What we are saying here is that self-publishing does mean that you have to go it alone, so the potential of making mistakes is always going to exist. Clearly preparation is going to be key and you have to avoid being sucked in by your own belief in your book. After all, most authors are going to believe that what they have written is indeed going to be the next Harry Potter, but the truth of the matter is that this is extremely difficult to do and is also highly unlikely.
So, Should You Do It?
So, in short, should you self-publish your own children's book? Absolutely, but just make sure that you do your research and networking or else everything will be in vain. You really do have nothing to lose, apart from some money if you are going into actual print, but this market always has been and always will be massive with new authors making breakthroughs and being loved by children around the world all of the time.
Yes, this is going to be something that can cost you money, but as we described earlier you are going to be in sole charge of that money and how it is spent. Being in control of this makes your life so much easier even though it will, of course, mean more work on your part.
You must remember that there are going to be thousands of people fighting for the same market, but that is not designed to put you off giving it a go. Instead, all we are saying is that you need to understand that just because you have gone down the self-publishing route and avoided the potential rejection of a publisher does not mean that everything is going to work out perfectly. You have to be prepared to work at marketing your book. You have to be prepared to accept criticism. Finally, you also have to be prepared for your book not actually making it into stores if you decide to produce actual printed copies because even a number of major publishing companies are unable to do this, so there is no chance of you being any different.
It is a fun market to be involved in and there is something quite pleasing about knowing your book and work is bringing joy to children as they either read your book or have it read to them. Self-publishing is less of a risk now than ever before, so you are strongly recommended to take that plunge and get your book out there before sitting back and seeing what happens.
If you have a book that is aimed at children, then go for it. Go ahead and publish it yourself whether it be via a limited printing run or e-publishing. As long as it is well written, there will be children out there that will enjoy it and surely it would be a shame for them to never have the opportunity to learn that fact for themselves?