Nikki Minty - On Being Self-Published

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Welcome friends to another Creator’s Roulette! Today’s post is for all of you who are familiar with self-publishing or interesting in learning more. Author Nikki Minty has put together all her research on traditionally or self-published in this post for you and I hope that it will be informational. Let’s meet her and then give her the floor.

***Nikki Minty is a writer and reader, sharing about the benefits of being self-published in this post.***

Born in Queensland, Australia, 1984, Nikki Minty rose into this world with a wild imagination. As a young girl, she would lay in bed with her family of a night, co-telling stories about the big bad wolf and his turbulent adventures.

Nikki Minty is a writer and avid reader of YA. She loves fantasy, sci-fi, supernatural elements, magical realism, and romance. Amanda Hocking is her all time favourite author, she has a huge collection of Monster High Dolls, and her favourite colour is red.

The Benefits of Being Self-Published

By Nikki Minty

Just like most others, I went into this industry wanting to be traditionally published and sent my manuscripts out to over a dozen literary agents, but as time went on and I watched more authors and industry professionals on YouTube, I discovered that I was far more interested in becoming a self-published author. I prefer the freedom and creative control. Plus, some of the traditional publishing cons seemed quite scary in comparison to the self-publishing cons.

Listed below are some of the pros & cons that I learnt from watching countless YouTube videos on this topic:

Pros of traditional Publishing

Status/prestige of label.
Book in shops.
They pay for the professionals. (You’re not out of pocket)
- Editing
- Formatting
- Book covers
- Marketing/promotion (The publisher markets your book with a budget according to your status/expected sales)
- They will pay for the audiobook to be made (however there is no guarantee an audiobook will be made).
You’ll receive a one-off advance payment ($1,000-$10,000) before tax.
They have foreign connections & can get prints of your book(s) done in foreign languages.
Book paper quality is lightweight and supreme.
You have an agent backing you.
Supreme literary prizes to be won.
Greater visibility and reach.
The publisher will handle the business side of things.
High end reviews.
Paper and magazine writeups.

Cons of traditional publishing

The publisher designs your book cover, like it or lump it.
The publisher can change your book title at their discretion.
The publisher can change character’s names at their discretion.
The publisher will have final say on all edits.
The publisher comes up with the back blurb.
Most books only have a shelf life of a month to a year depending on how well your book sells. (unless you are a well-known bestseller)
Most authors never receive royalties after their advance.
Some publishers will make you buy back up to $5,000 worth of your printed books if they don’t sell.
Most publishers want audiobook rights, although there is no guarantee that your book will become an audiobook, it depends on many different factors.
If the publishers choose to record an audiobook, they choose the narrators.
The publisher now owns your book, it’s no longer yours.
It can take up to three years to publish your book after acceptance.
If you have written a series and the first book doesn’t sell, the publisher won’t publish the rest and you won’t be able to self-publish them because they own the rights to your first title.
If you don’t get the second book of a series to them by the set deadline, they can axe your first title and give you the flick. You then have to fight for—or wait for—your titles rights to be reverted back to you.
The publisher will only do a small percentage of the marketing depending on your status. The rest is up to you.
Low royalty rates of 7-20 percent.
Scary contract clauses. (Always read the fine print)
Infrequent pay dates 6-12 monthly.
If you die the publisher keeps the rights to your book
You can sign a contract and the trends change, so they decide not to publish your book.
It’s a very competitive industry and the publisher will put more time and energy into those who are making the most profits.
The publisher controls your book prices.

Pros of self-publishing

You have more control.
You choose your own book cover.
You choose the title of your book.
You have the final say with edits.
You come up with your own blurb.
You own your own book and can keep it out and on sale forever.
If you die you can leave your book rights to loved ones in your will.
You can publish it as soon as you’d like.
You can make changes and/or republish it whenever you want.
You can release all books in a series regardless of what the previous sales were for your first book. (Sometimes books take a few years to really take off)
You can make sure your audiobook is recorded and choose who narrates it.
You receive higher royalties.
You receive monthly payouts.
You can enter as many indie awards/competitions as you’d like.

Cons of self-publishing

You pay for the professionals. (You’re out of pocket)
- Editing
- formatting
- Book covers
- Marketing/promotion
- Audiobook
Although it’s fading, in some circles there’s still a stigma when it comes to self-published authors.
Your books won’t be readily available in all bookstores, although, these days some bookstores are picking up self-published titles that are selling well.
The self-published books have thicker denser paper inside.
You can’t enter supreme literary competitions/awards for prestige prizes.
You are your own manager, and you have to build/form your own connections in the literary world.
Amazon is ultimately in control of your paperback pricing, and they price it much higher than I believe they should.

Here are some links to videos regarding the pros and cons of tradition publishing/self-publishing:

Once I’d made decision to self-publish, I withdrew my submissions from the remaining agents I was yet to hear from and began my self-publishing journey.

Self-publishing advantage #1

Picking my own book cover designs

One of my favourite things about being self-published is, I got to pick my own book cover designs. Being arty myself, I wanted my covers to be works of art. I wanted them to stand out.

I follow many brilliant digital artists on twitter, so I took my time to scroll through their pages and check out their styles and designs. Eventually I narrowed it down to two artists and reached out to them both. I was over the moon when Indicreates she said she’d be delighted to design my three covers because she was my top pick of the two.

Indi had me write a description of my three characters and their lives/roles in the books, and then came up with three different concepts for each cover to choose from.

I am thrilled to pieces with how my three covers came out, and I would highly recommend Indicreates to anyone looking to have personalised covers made for their books.

Not only is her work brilliant, but she’s also super friendly and easy to work with.

Find Indicreates on Twitter and Instagram.

Self-publishing advantage #2

Ensuring my books were made into audiobooks and selecting the narrators

The second extremely important thing was, I could guarantee all three of my books would be released as audiobooks, and not only that; I could also pick who narrated them.

As well as reading paperbacks, I love listening to audiobooks. Audiobooks are convenient because you can listen to them while driving, exercising, and doing your daily chores.

Having listened to hundreds of audiobooks over the years, I’ve discovered not all audiobooks are equal in quality. Some are brilliantly narrated and full of life and character, whereas others are robotic and sound like Siri reading the pages.

I was determined to make my audiobooks shine, so I reached out to Khristine Hvam at Curated Audio LLC and asked if she’d be interested in narrating my book. I’d listened to a number of Khristine’s performances over the years, and I loved the diversity of her voice.

To my delight, Khristine was quick to accept. She organised a Zoom chat where we could discuss the project and offered me the option of getting more narrators involved. Khristine auditioned a bunch of other narrators for the roles of Ruby, Zavier, Jax, and Slater and narrowed it down to Jodie Harris, James Patrick Cronin, and James Fouhey.

There are many different accents in my books and the narrators did a fantastic job at switching between the accents when interacting with different characters while narrating.

To say I’m pleased with how my audiobooks have turned out would be an understatement. I absolutely love them.

Just like Indi, Khristine was super lovely to work with and took care of everything for me. The process was hassle free.

Here are the links to Curated Audio LLC and the four narrators who took part in the Zadok Series. I highly recommend all of them: Khristine Hvam, JAMES PATRICK CRONIN, James Fouhey, Jodie Harris.

Building relationships in the self-publishing industry

As well as building solid relationships with my cover artist and narrators, I have a strong relationship with my editors Amy and Chris at Cissell Ink. They did my developmental edits, copy edits, proofreading, and formatting.

Being Australian, there were a few small miscommunications in my writing/their edits, some of which were hilarious. Americans and Australians have a different way of speaking, and some of the English words we use have very different meanings.

I’m glad I went with American editors because they helped me to iron out certain Australian sayings/words, which could be misconstrued. I also enjoyed their personal side notes throughout the edits. They were very interactive and informative.

Here is a link to Cissell Ink if you are interested in taking a look at their services.

Lastly, I would love to point out that I’ve made some lovely relationships with Boostagrammers, bloggers, reviewers, and other indie authors along the way. I believe in building up others you believe in, and I love it when that same kindness is shown in return.

I am forever grateful to everyone who has supported me in any way, shape, or form. I feel very lucky.

5 Bookstagramers that I’ve found to be warm and have given me nice reviews on NetGalley/Booksirens and Goodreads

Readingwithpapillons
Jani_reads99
Librarymouselinds
Becca.in.a.book (Also a blogger)
Plotsandrevivews (Also a blogger)

5 Book bloggers that I’ve found to be warm and have given me nice reviews on their blog page

Sue loves to read
Bookish Ramblings
Bookish corner
Books and Bouquets
The Audiobook Blog

Which publishing option will be right for you and your needs? Traditional or self publishing?

Thanks for reading this guest post! I hope you learned some thing about being self-published and all the connections you can make by choosing this path. Tell us in the comments if it is something you have considered. Connect with Nikki on Instagram, Twitter and her website. You can also check out other articles about self-publishing in the series:

Photo of pen by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash

Nikki Minty – On Being Self-Published

The Benefits of Being Self-Published

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