You poured your heart into your story, but agents and publishers aren’t into it. Now what? I faced the same challenge and I’m going to tell you what I did about it. (Spoiler: I didn’t shelve it!)

So, what did I do with my story that I loved?

In my publishing series so far, I’ve explained to you my journey with my book, Storm Trucks: from idea, to writing, to illustrating, to making a dummy and querying agents. To go through all these steps with your work is a huge investment, and it’s hard to do all that without believing in and loving your story.

So when I’d invested all that time and love into this project already, I had two choices.
Put it aside or take control and self-publish it! I chose the second option, here’s why it could be the right move for you, too!

Self-Publishing’s Bad Reputation

In years past, self-publishing has had a bad rap. Self-published work was seen as inferior, and unprofessional, and in some cases, this is true. But in recent years even highly professional authors and illustrators have turned to self-publishing.

Publishing vs. Self Publishing Numbers

I tried to look up some numbers to share with you about how many books are published a year… and I was shocked! It is estimated that in traditional publishing between 500,000 and 1 million new books come out each year, while approximately 3 million new self-published books are released. Those numbers are crazy.

I want to tell you a secret. If you get through the agent/editor/publisher gauntlet and get an offer on your picture book, you may end up with a beautiful picture book in another 2 years.

Let’s say you get offered $10,000 for your picture book, split between an author and illustrator. $5,000 each. After agent fees, you take home $4,250.

But I’ll get royalties, you say!

Here’s a fun fact: only about 1/4 of books earn out their advance and make their authors any royalties.
Looking at picture books, most traditionally published picture books sell only 5 to 10,000 copies, never get made into paperbacks, and go out of print within 2 years. Sorry to tell you, but you may never see more than your original $4250.

Are you depressed yet? Yikes.

Also, part of the game is that authors believe the publishing houses will market your book. In a small number of cases, yes, they will. But in general, they publish them, list them in a big list of all the books they’re publishing, and let your book fend for itself.

So… here’s the real rub of publishing. If you want to be successful and sell your book, you will need to be your own marketing team whether you are self-published or traditionally published. Since that is the case, let’s look at another number. How much money can you make off a book you self-publish as opposed to a traditionally published book?

I can’t say for sure, since I am still in the thick of my Kickstarter, but I can tell you the numbers I have so far.

$3.21/book cost sold for $20/book = much higher potential profit (over $8000 for 500 books)!

Now, this doesn’t take into account my other expenses such as marketing and shipping, but as I already explained, marketing your book is mostly on your own shoulders no matter what.

Who Self-Publishes?

I want to show you something else. Self-publishing is not just for people who can’t get a big publisher to notice them. There are big name authors who are self-publishing. Why? It’s a better deal for them. Anyone who takes the time to put out a professional product and fund it’s printing, then sell it, gets to keep the profits. It’s a business.

Here’s some big name self-publishers for you: J.K. Rowling. She created her own publishing company, Pottermore, to publish her ebook versions of Harry Potter.
Steven King: he self-published her short story collection People, Places and Things back in 1960.
How about Beatrix Potter (The Tale of Peter Rabbit, anyone?).
Mark Twain self-published “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.
Margaret Atwood got her start self-publishing “Double Persephone”.
Andy Weir self-published “The Martian”… you know, the one that’s not only a best-seller but a movie?
Here’s one that happened recently. Brandon Sanderson, of sci-fi and fantasy fame, released a kickstarter for Four Secret Novels and raised 41 million, 754 thousand, 153 dollars. WOW! Guess how much the publishing companies are crying right now?

The point is, self-publishing is a great way to move forward with a project. Through your own targeted marketing, you can find your audience and sell your book directly to them, instead of relying on a big publisher to sell your book for you.
With my book, I looked at my options and decided I don’t want to forget about this story. I love this story. I am going to finish my book and publish it!