Should I Self-Publish

Hunt & Peck

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It's my understanding that if I self-publish, I'll be responsible for quite a bit of marketing. So, I'm trying to ascertain now, as opposed to when the book is done, if I should self-publish or not. That way, if I'm to go down the self-publishing road, I'll know I should go ahead and start blogging to get get a bit of a head start on the marketing when the time comes...sort of like pre-marketing the book(s).

Here's a bit of information in the hopes I can elicit some advice from you all on wether I should self-publish or not...

Being a travel book limited to Indiana, the target audience will, for the most part, be residents of Indiana, and to a lesser degree, those in neighboring states. If I'm fortunate, maybe the book goes out as far as two states away from Indiana. I'm not counting on the book being a national hit due to the tourist industry in Indiana not being what it is, for say, Florida.

After the Indiana book, I'll then write one for Kentucky, then for Ohio. My guess is if self-publishing is the way to go for one, it will be the way to go for all, although I know there's a chance that could change if the first one or two were to do well.

Marketing locally (or regionally) seems as though it will at least be more easily accomplished than trying to do so nationally.

One of my concerns of self-publishing is the increased risk of return. While I'd get a bigger piece of the pie, I'll also be funding 100% of the cost to publish. Or do I have that wrong?

Another concern is the amount of time required to self-publish. I'll need to learn all the various aspects, which will be time consuming, and thus delay the release of the book, and in turn, the completion and release of subsequent books.

What do you all think...should I jump into the self-publishing pool hip-deep?
 

Marissa D

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Have you researched to see if there are any regional publishers who might be interested in such a book?

Self-publishing is so much more than doing a lot of promotion. I'd suggest you go educate yourself on exactly what it involves before trying to make a decision (and, incidentally, it a decision that only you can make. Our opinions truly don't matter.)
 

Hunt & Peck

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No. When I search for regional publishers, all that comes up are publishers who help authors self-publish. Pfft.

However, how about I hit a bookstore, snag a few books in my genre, and check the publishers of those books. Is that cheating?

Curious about something else as well...just how much are people shelling out to self-publish? I know it's difficult to give an exact amount of what I'd be paying to self-publish, but is there a ballpark figure out there people can expect to pay?
 

Marissa D

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I just googled "regional publishers Indiana" and the first hit was for this site: https://publishersarchive.com/Indiana . One of the listings was for Blue River Press, which seems to publish travel books (among others). Did you check them out already? In the sidebar of the Publishers Archive site are listings by state that also might be worth looking into, since you said you plan to write about other states as well.

And yes, visiting a bookstore and checking out the travel and regional titles is certainly not cheating. It's called research. ;)

Unfortunately there really isn't a ballpark figure to give you about self-publishing costs, because everyone does it differently. You can pay anywhere from $5 to hundreds for a cover (unless you're a professional graphic designer), hundreds to thousands for professional editing (and no, a friend who majored in English is not good enough), $30-100 for formatting (which, if you're patient and have the computer skills, you can learn to do yourself.) But if you're planning on publishing a travel book, you're probably going to have pictures, yes? If they're not your own photos, there's more $$$ there. If you're seriously thinking about self-publishing, you really, really should go do some research (right here on this board, for example.)
 

Hunt & Peck

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Saw that link, but didn't click it because I was looking for a direct link. Guess I should have clicked it. 555 Thanks for that. :)

What if I majored in English? :tongue

The pictures will be my own, as I'm not going to drag a photographer into the woods with me. 555

The price doesn't seem too bad, but I think it will be easier in the long-run to go with a publisher. I'll try that route and if it doesn't pan out, it's nice to know I'll have the self-publishing option. Thanks for the input Marissa.
 

ASeiple

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It's hard to say. Your book is nonfiction, which is outside of my experience. Yeah, your last post hit the nail on the head... try shopping it around and see if anyone nibbles.
 

gingerwoman

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I would think the market is anyone who wants to visit Indiana more than people in Indiana. You can publish it on Createspace and kindle and anyone who searches for books on Indiana on Amazon will hopefully see it. When I was eight my US parents took me from New Zealand for a cross country road trip across the USA so there are people like that who could be looking. You do have to have some upfront money to pay for cover, editing and such if you self publish though.