With the rising numbers of self-publishing companies in India, authors are excited more than ever to get their books published. They move ahead and sign up for one of the leading companies only to see their publishing dreams shattered sooner. Why? What happens? What makes them realise they might have erred? All this because they don’t know how to pick, what to pick and when to pick. In this article, I will try to share my experience and observations with the readers in terms of getting a book published and don’t lose too much money.
Embrace the new reality. A very big chunk of reader base for any genre, any theme or any kind of book has gone digital-only. They aren’t ready to wait 3-4 days for a book to be delivered to their address. They aren’t even ready to increase the already heavy bags or handbags. They are happy with their mobile, tablets and i-pads doing that job. So, they will read your books digitally without the need to flip the pages. I never mean to say that the readers for paperbacks or flashy hardback books have given up paper-reading. No! They are still there and they read. They even buy books. However, their number, compared to the number of digital-only readers, might be too low. Old people, academicians, housewives, in some cases only, may not be interested too much in digital reading because of many reasons. Otherwise, modern readers have embraced it.
Why will digital books leave paper books behind in the coming years?
Arguing for the readers first. Suppose you read a book review. You liked the idea. You want to read the book. You go to Amazon and find two editions of the book. If there is a Kindle edition available, you will probably buy that because it will be delivered instantly; you can start reading within 1 minute; you can finish it even before the seller might have shipped your paperback book. In short, digital books don’t let the excitement die. Whereas paperback editions might take time to be delivered, may arrive after the excitement for that book has shifted to another one… so on and so forth! The most important reason for the readers might be that digital books are too pocket-friendly. You can get a Kindle edition for pride and prejudice for free compared to paying a hefty price for a Penguin edition! 🙂
Talking from the author’s point of view, it is about the budget. A paperback publication in self-publishing mode may take the budget to somewhere between 20-200K depending upon the services you choose. However, getting a digital-only book published may cost as low as 4,000 RS only and it is nothing compared to the price of a standard self-publishing package with no extra services. A kindle edition being sold at RS 99 will bring about 60RS royalty for the author compared to 10-15% royalty on paperback or hardback books. Profits, ease of publishing and also the direct access to Amazon dashboard that no publisher will give you… isn’t it all that an author might want?
Many authors are already accepting digital-only as their stepping stone in the literary industry. Authors contributing to English literature, Hindi literature and even literature in other regional languages are making a good name for themselves with this ease-of-publishing system provided by Amazon and other platforms. So, if you are also an author and looking for some easy ways to get published and sell your books, go digital! Save money. Make more profits and start selling your book within 7-days! All the best!
