Can I Make Money Self-Publishing My Book?

Most writers want to publish their books and want to make money with their books.  After all, it is not like you want to do all of that work and then have a book that does not sell well, or worst still one which sits on shelves and collects dust.

It is easy to write a book, anyone can write a book if they are willing.

With a bit of effort, it is also easy to self-publish a book.

Continuing that line of thinking, though, it is not as easy to make money with the newly self-published book.  For one thing you need to make certain it is edited well, and for that you must take time to find a good editor, or editors. 

Next, you will have to actively sell this book, not only to friends, but to the readers of your blogs or of your other online efforts.  This is marketing at its most basic and finest level, but it is also not the easiest thing in the world to do. 

So you might ask this question: Can I make money self-publishing my book?

Yes and No.

Yes: If you work really hard at promoting it and getting reviews, or improving the other ongoing writing projects you are working on.  You must be willing to put in long hours and be willing to face rejection or bad reviews.  Not everyone will say yes to your book — and that includes family members.

No:  If you don’t want to work hard or you stop your promotion, then you will not make money with your book.  My own book, In Search of The Lost Ones, is priced at $15.00 US.  It is targeted to a niche market which means I have to work three times as hard to get people to read it.  It is independently published, but it took effort to get the right people there.

I have sold copies of my book, but only now am I seeing some money coming back to it.  So in my experience, the answer is yes, you can  make money self-publishing your book — but you will need to work hard to sell it.