Avoid Self-Publishing Scams
Avoid Self-Publishing Scams
Self-publishing is a marvellous way to share your writing with the world and maintain creative control over what you write. But avoid self-publishing scams and don’t get conned.
Victims
New and inexperienced authors are the victims. Sometimes they are at the mercy of an exploitative vanity publisher which is a publishing house where authors pay to have a book published.
Some of these companies prey on authors who are desperate to publish. They will publish anything for anyone who pays them. There are no editorial or creative standards.
They publish for an exorbitant fee and they do everything that an author could arrange themselves — editing, cover design, formatting and then publishing on an online platform. Many will even control the royalties.
First-time authors often take this path. They understand very little about the publishing process.
The problem is new authors don’t want to spend time learning and doing it themselves; they can’t be bothered to learn the publishing process.
Become knowledgeable
To avoid getting conned aspiring authors need to become knowledgeable about the self-publishing industry. There’s a clear distinction between vanity publishing and getting legitimate self-publishing help.
Authors who want to self-publish need to understand the self-publishing process, learn the common pitfalls, and become knowledgeable about legitimate platforms such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or IngramSpark.
By staying informed, doing their research, and exercising caution, first-time authors can avoid falling victim to scams or to being conned.
Self-publishing is a business, and like any other enterprise, it requires diligence and awareness to protect your interests.
DIY
Self-publishing doesn’t mean doing everything yourself. With the concept of outsourcing tasks you cannot do yourself or tasks you don’t know how to do, can be farmed out to those who do know.
You can hire professional editors, cover designers, typesetters and any other services you may need. This work can be done inexpensively without breaking the bank.
Free Service
For those who want to dip their toes into the water, I offer a free service in my Facebook group Fast Self-Publishing Online. Here you can explore self-publishing for free with tips, ideas, free weekly training and other activities.
Membership Program
The next level up is the How To Become a Self-Published Author a membership site which leverages the exploding trend of doing things your own way with a home study program. It helps you to kickstart your writing and self-publishing career.
It’s available at the heavily discounted price of just $47 a month. So you can check out the program to see if it suits the first month is free.
This “lite” program consists of short, online lessons drip-fed over 28 weeks. You are guided along the self-publishing pathway and you are helped to take those first steps to assist with self-publishing your book.
You will learn the fundamentals for self-publishing on Amazon and be set up with a foundation for your career as a self-publisher.
Premium program
The Self-Publishing Genius is my premium program consisting of 8 modules with more than 70 video lessons. This is designed for those who want to manage the entire publishing process themselves and who want to dive deep into self-publishing.
In addition, you have your hand held with personal step-by-step guidance to help you navigate your way through the cyberspace maze of book publishing and move forward to becoming the CEO of your own self-publishing house.
Access to this program is by application only. To learn more, register for the free, live masterclass by clicking the green button below.
Marji Hill
Author and Coach