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Great Reasons Authors Should Self-Publish


Publishing like a boss is an excellent experience. My company, Red Bike Publishing, provides technical books to small niches. We are small and we love it. No other publisher touches our material because the market is tiny. That leaves us meeting new expectations in a forgotten industry. The results, a reliable pay check and some new earned respect. Here's what I've learned about self-publishing during the last few years:

Control Creativity-The publishing house owns the rules. You might have a story to tell, but it must fit within the editorial guidelines of the publisher. When you self-publish, you control the cover design, book content, price and distribution. You also own all the rights to reprints, print media and spin off items.

Market Your Way-More and more publishing companies rely on the author to market books. Just look at the latest book covers and see which is larger the author's name or the book title? It's the author who sells books. As a niche professional, you have a built in market and your efforts can easily reach them. You know what works, so go to it.

Money, Money, Money-Self publishers earn all the profit. Set your price, pay the distributor and keep the rest. I have written for publishing companies that have paid 8% royalty. Work hard, write a book, earn $4.95 on the $60.00 sales price. With the self-publishing model, you work hard, write a book and keep $60.00 minus expenses.

Publish On Your Schedule-Can't get that book done in time? Who cares, nobody's keeping count. Ahead of schedule, go ahead and print, nobody is stopping you. This is your time and place, you decide when is good.

Publish Like a Boss-You're in charge, you own a company. You are CEO, COO, Owner, Proprieter, Publisher or whatever you want to call yourself. Isn't that what the biggest rage was in the 70's where people built their empires on publishing companies? With advanced technology, software and distribution, you can too. All you need is creativity, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit.

"We are Not a Cod Fish"-this is my favorite line from Mary Poppins as she reminds the impressed Michael to close his mouth. That's the reaction I get when I tell others about my publishing company. People are impressed! It's fun to show folks who have known me for years, the other side of Jeff Bennett. Their reactions are priceless.



Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM
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