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Is Money Your Only Reason For Self-Publishing?

We all love to make money – deep down we all want to make a lot of money – and to see some type of success with that money. For this reason, many writers tend to push their “publishing” to the extreme.

There are many motives for that. Having a book published sooner means that your byline is out there and people will pay for your books, which means that you can justify your writing career to doubting family and friends.

With the advent of the highly popular e-book, writers can publish work a lot faster and for a lot less money. After all who won’t buy a 99 cent book? Many will look upon this a a jumping point. After all if you have an e-book and a paperback book, your profits will soar!

The problem is that they are thinking of one thing: Money.

Many writers are better than this. They think about the quality of their work and engaging their readers. Some will not do this, and then slam the traditional publishers for not giving them a break. Still thers will spend money with a vanity press in hopes that they will make them a lot of money.

I’ve read that a person can spend a lifetime writing and not see financial success until after they are dead. There is no such thing as a Midas touch. (If you’ve not read the fable: King Midas touches everything — it turns to gold, and he begs for the curse to be removed!) There is a lot of hard work involved in publishing.

So if you are in it for money, and only for money — self-publishing will be a very hard road as a source of income… You’ve been warned!

One Comment

  • Marlena Cassidy

    Success in publishing really can't be measured in monetary wealth. A few authors will attain amazing success and wealth, but most authors will see only modest success. If you want to make lots of money, write a book that can be easily translated into a movie and sell the rights.

    The only author I can think of off the top of my head who made a lot of money self-publishing without movie rights is Amanda Hocking. Her success is extremely rare however.