Writing a book and publishing a book are two COMPLETELY different things. Writing is about creativity and language skills. Self-Publishing is project management.

On this publishing project I’ve had to hire two editors, three cover designers, one proofreader, one typesetter, and one self-publishing consultant, and manage those relationships. I had to can one cover designer before I even hired them, after I read through their project brief process and it felt wrong. I had to fire the second cover designer. I had to run a cover design contest in 99Designs, which included telling designers I didn’t like their designs (not a fun thing to do when they’ve done them with no guarantee of payment). Now, in the last hundred yards to the finishing line, I’m having trouble with the typesetter, whose customer service skills lag far behind their technical skills. I have to figure out how to create a website and an online shopping cart, and drive Amazon Createspace, KDP, and Ingram Spark.

When all that is done, I have to learn marketing – because this isn’t just a vanity publishing project; I need money to build an off grid Tiny House and make an off grid stealth campervan. Then I have to figure out how to get a paperback print run done, how to get my book into bookstores and libraries, and how to do public speaking. Then there’s the accounting and legal stuff…

If you can’t or don’t want to do project management and marketing/distribution, stick to the writing part and sell your book to a traditional publisher. There’s a reason they only give the writer a small percentage of the sales revenue; it’s a completely different skill set to writing.

I will say one thing about the ‘can’t’ part though: when you begin, unless you’ve done project management before – which I never have, never wanted to, and never believed I could – you CAN’T do it. As with any dream you’ve never done before, you have to grow into the person who can do it. And the interesting thing is, you only become that person after you’ve done every thing required to turn that dream into reality.