Self publishing has a bad rap. Companies that cater to self publishers are called “vanity presses.” People assume writers choose self publishing because their books were too awful to be picked up by a “real” publisher.
I’ll be honest, sometimes that’s true.
But people self publish for a lot of very good reasons. I have found that the more I talk about self publishing, the more passionate about it I become.
Maybe the best way to explain my passion is to start with Once Upon a Time.
Your first step in creating a vision for your self-published book is to answer this question: Am I creating this book to fulfill a burning passion or am I doing it to make a buck? Am I in it for the love or the money?
There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Or rather, you are the only one who knows what the right answer is for you. But once you know the answer, it guides you through a lot of other questions you’ll be asked (and you will need to ask yourself).
But wait! I can hear you saying, I want to do both. I love what I am writing about, and I want to make money too. Most authors, especially the ones who self publish, are motivated by a combination of love and money. As someone working them, I won’t have it any other way.
Let’s take a trip along the For Love or Money continuum.
