Questions To Ask Before Self Publishing

By: Shawn Nag  |  Posted In: Tips & Tricks  |  October 25, 2010

Self publishing has off late become very popular with authors. Many first time authors are opting for self publishing instead of knocking the doors of publishers. It gives them complete creative freedom of their book, guarantees them a bigger chunk of the profit and reserves republishing rights with them. If you are planning to self publish your book there are a few questions you need to ask yourself:

  • How to find the printer? In self publishing printing service provider plays a very important role. It is important for you to ensure that you find the best printer for self publishing. You are a novice in most of the things related to printing and will need strong support from your printer. You can use the Internet to find the best printer who offers you the best cost to quality ratio.
  • Who will edit? You might have written a masterpiece but it still needs to be edited. You need to hire the services of a professional editor for this. Editor will refine your book and make it into a finer product. Many self publishing printers can provide you with editing services at additional cost.

  • How To format and design? You will most likely have your book in manuscripts or a word processor document. This has to be formatted and you will need the services of a person who does so. You will also need someone to design the cover of your book and work on the graphics and other images that the book might have.
  • How much to print? If you are a first time author it might be difficult for you to assess the market. Although printing in bulk will bring down the production cost of each book it might also mean severe losses if the books don’t sell. It is advisable to seek advice from the printer or a self publishing author to decide on this.
  • How to price it? This is perhaps the most difficult question for a self publishing author. Your price should be decided on a lot of factors which should include production cost, purchasing power of your target audience, promotional cost, margin of your distributors and retailers. If it is priced too high it won’t sell and if it is priced too low it will not earn you any profit.


It is advisable for you to hire the services of a printing agency like PrintPapa for this job. They have expertise in taking up and delivering self publishing jobs to the satisfaction of the authors. They deal in booklets, brochures, labels, notepads, rack cards, letterheads, greeting cards, and calendars.