Self-Publish at your own Risk!

The New York Times has a great article today (August 16,2012) on “The Joys and Hazards of Self-Publishing on the Web” written by Alan Finder. Here’s one quote: “The single toughest part of self-publishing is getting attention for your book.” Finder goes onto point out that in 2011 nearly 350,000 new print titles were published. And 150,000 to 200,000 of them were put out by self-publishing companies. He goes onto write, “The biggest thing you have against you in trying to sell  your book is that people don’t know about it.” The article explains the two basic kinds of self-publishing companies, both Web-based. If you are interested in writing a book yourself, or have one already published, take a look at this article in today’s TIMES.

The truth is that most self-published books sell fewer than 100 or 150 copies. For every Fifty Shades of Grey there are 100,000 books that are only read by their author (and maybe their editor).

According to Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, a no-frills operation that concentrates on self-published e-books, “a hugh majority of self-published book don’t sell a lot of copies.” Ain’t that the truth.