Why you need to self-publish an ebook
When traditional publishing ruled the world, the only way to get your book in front of readers was to work with a publisher, or pay a vanity press to print your book (at a premium cost to you).
If you troll through the established travel guide companies sites you’ll see that they advertise for submissions, and this traditional publishing route is still an option.
But if, like me, you prefer to take the indie author route then I highly recommend that you don’t get hung up on getting your book in print, and instead focus first on Going Digital.
Versatility of ebook travel guides
Travellers take their phones and digital devices with them on holidays and it’s much easier to transport digital travel guides than it is to lug around multiple paperbacks. EBooks also have the advantage of containing live links so that your readers can click on URLs to access additional information online.
Amazon (love them or hate them) have really levelled the playing field between traditional publishing and self-publishing, and it’s easy for indie authors to publish their own books online and have automatic access to millions of potential readers.
Amazon still dominate the market-place, but iBooks and Kobo also generate their fair share of sales for my travel guides.
You may have a burning desire to see your travel guide in print, but dipping your toe into the print world without a clear strategy and objective can end up being a costly proposition, so my recommendation is to focus on releasing your travel guide digitally, before bringing out a print version.
Why Go Digital?
Here’s my top three reasons for Going Digital:
- It pays better royalties, so you make more money.
- It allows for content changes and revisions
- It provides access to a global audience
Getting your book into the marketplace an in front of readers is a lot easier if you’re pitching an ebook online than a paperback in stores. Don’t try to run before you can walk. Get some traction by creating and selling an ebook, and then if your readers want or need a paperback version, that can be step 2 for your author strategy. This staggered version release strategy provides you with an excellent opportunity of cross-promoting your ebook when you release your print on demand paperback.
There’s a third digital book option, which is audio books, but as they require a different skill set and steps to publish, we’ll leave this option for a later post.
Go Digital or Go Home! Why you need to release your #nonfiction book as an ebook first. Click To Tweet
Read more articles in my How to Write a Travel Guide Series
I’m putting the finishing touches on my How to Write and Self-Publish a Travel Guide Series, which details a step by step approach for writing and producing your own travel guide. It’s part of a four-part series aimed at helping travel bloggers achieve passive income based on their passions and existing content.
