Which Publishing Path is Right for You?

People ask me all the time which publishing path is the right one for them.

These are the biggest questions to ask yourself.

1. When do you want it published?

   If you want your book published in a year or less, you will need to publish independently. As in, pay for and manage the process yourself. (This is the method I like best anyway!)

   
   Traditional publishers take 1-2 years to publish from the day they acquire your manuscript. It will take 2-3 years from today to do the whole process — Get an agent, find and sign a book deal, and then get the book through their whole production/editing/design process and actually published out to the world. (Trying to create a manuscript first and then trying to sell that manuscript to a publisher will likely not work. They will always want to put it through their own production process.)

2. What’s your budget?

   This is a key question to consider early on. The more you spend, the less you personally have to do. But no matter what, you will always be the one primarily responsible for both writing and marketing. So keep that in mind.

   • For traditional, set aside $10k for marketing.

   • For hybrid, plan on $25-$100k. You can get it for less, but the quality (and attention to detail) goes down pretty steeply.

   • For independent/guided publishing, set aside $5k-$20k

   • For self-publishing on the cheap, you can do everything yourself for < $5k.

I encourage authors I work with to think of all book expenses as a marketing spend, and to think of the return on your book as a larger ROI than just book sales. Here’s the equation I like to use for a mental model.

BOOK ROI = Book Production (Editing + Design + Distribution + Launch + Marketing Costs) — Book Income (Sales + Speaking Fees + New Clients + Marketing Value + WOM)

Basically, it costs more AND makes you more than you think it will.

In my experience, it’s worth it.

3. What are your goals for the book?

Most people I work with start with pretty vague goals. They know that a book can help them get more thought leadership and legitimacy, but they don’t have clear goals on how the book will do this.

A book is absolutely one of the most powerful marketing assets you can have.

But you still have to do the work.

For example, if you publish a book about leadership on Amazon and sell a few hundred copies, businesses are not going to suddenly come beating down your door to get you to speak at their conference like magic. You’ll need to reach out to them — probably something like 5 or 10 a week, and you’ll need good emails, and a follow up system, and content on your blog and social media that reinforce why you are a good choice, and a speaker reel, etc. If you are publishing to generate business leads, the same applies. The book does indeed have a “magic” to it, but it’s not a silver bullet — it’ s more of a lead generator and a key differentiator when people are choosing who to trust and who to do business with.

But the takeaway here is to understand your goals, narrow them down to two or three, and then really focus all of your time and energy on those. The book will be the greatest catalyst for conversation you’ve ever had — but how you use that power and what you build on top of it is up to you.

How to Update Your Amazon Book Categories

Updating your book categories is one of the best ways to position your book for a bestseller run on Amazon.

HITTING #1

It’s an open secret that I love teaching to authors, because it lets you run with the big boys and gives you a meaningful, tangible goal to chase. And it’s not all vanity. Sure, it feels good to be a #1 bestseller or #1 new release in an Amazon category.

STAYING TOP TEN

But if you can get your book selling consistently in the top 10 or so in that category for 30 days? Then Amazon will recognize you as “a book that sells” and AMAZON WILL START PROMOTING YOUR BOOK FOR YOU. This is the real secret sauce. Hitting #1 is great for social proof. Staying top 10 in that category is great for ongoing promotion. This is a way to to get on the radar of Amazon’s algorithm and start working together with them. What does it take to stay top 10 in a category? In popular categories, it takes hundreds of sales a day. In sub-categories, it takes more like 5 sales a day.

You can do this.

Here’s how.

1. Create your Amazon Author Central Account.

2. Research and choose your best categories with Publisher Rocket, or book a session with me and we’ll do it together.

3. Go into the HELP TOPICS and choose Books —> Update Book Information, then click “Contact Us”

4. Then, click on “Amazon Book Page” and click “Request Call”

5. Someone from Amazon’s Author Central team will call you and ask you to verify account details.

6. Now, just read them the browse threads of the categories you want to be part of, and they’ll update them for you right there on the phone. They just type it in as you are talking. It feels like magic. And in a way it is. You can take your book from an obscure title in an overcrowded category to Top Ten or even #1 in a less crowded, much more relevant category. No one else will ever do this for you. This is a thing you get to do for yourself, and it will impact your book ranking and sales for the long term.

Still have questions? Email me. Let’s get your book the right categories and a fair shot at bestseller status.

Audiobook Advice

I don't work directly on audiobooks, but whenever an author I'm coaching wants to do one, I point them to ACX: https://www.acx.com/

Here you can either find voice talent to work with (flat fee or on commission) or get instructions on how to record your own.

What I find is that people who want to record their own end up needing to book studio time and record it in pieces, since it will take some hours to get it right.

This is also a pretty comprehensive and helpful overview from one of my favorite (and trustworthy) publishing sites, called Reedsy: https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/audiobooks/how-to-make/ It walks you through your options.

Publisher Rocket = Powerful Book Marketing

This is the tool I use to research and choose the launch keywords and categories for all of my clients. I believe in it so much that I became an affiliate. So when you use this link, not only are you getting my favorite tool, you are putting a little coin in my pocket. I appreciate that. But the main point is that this tool allows you to research and choose the absolute best keywords and categories for your book, and it stays up to date. I have used it to launch many, many bestsellers, and it has always delivered. The maker, Dave Chessom, is a great dude, and he and his platform are endorsed by Amazon KDP, so you know you can trust this tool. It’s legit, and it works. Ok, enough said.

Here’s how it works:

• Buy the tool for $97

• Use it to research which 10 of Amazon’s 1300+ book categories are exactly the right ones for you

• Get your book categorized

• Launch your bestseller

It all begins with your book. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you categorize it on Amazon is often the difference between a bestseller and an also-ran. This tool is the key to learning how to put your best foot forward, and it’s part of the secret I teach to all of my authors.