Publishing your own first book – experiences and opinions?

Perhaps a service publisher would also be an option for you.

It looks like your topics fit into the current trend, I suppose publishers will have resources available for your book.

For mine (self pub), the books were set out using InDesign, and then published through Ingramspark / Lightning Source.

Oh okay- so you designed it all by yourself? Sounds like a lot of work! Did you feel happy with the outcome?

I have never heard of a service publisher before. Can you explain that to me? Whats the difference to the other options?
And yeah- my topic is really important nowadays. But sadly, I don't have the feeling society wants to read such types of books.

Heyyo!

Lately at work I recognized that the children are less self- confident in comparison to some years ago. There are so many topics that influences them. For example body issues, right choice of school, friends, social media…. I am working as a psychotherapist and I really want to improve their self- esteem. So I was thinking about writing my own book about this topic. It should be a book for children and young adults with many pictures and practical exercises to improve their self-esteem and self-awareness.

I already published some academic articles- so writing would not be the problem. But I don’t know how to publish a book. I don’t have much time so I can’t to it all by myself.

What are your experiences with this topic? Have you ever published a book? Which options do I have publishing my own first book and which advantages/ disadvantages do they have?

Thanks for your advice!

My husband did the InDesign stuff. He's considerably more technically minded than I am. The books turned out very well, yes.

I think if I were doing it on my own, I'd have to do it through Amazon kdp. The books at kdp aren't anywhere near as widely distributed as they are through the way I did it, (whereas my books are available on TONS of booksellers' websites - Waterstones, WHSmiths, Blackwells, Amazon, etc. etc.) but it's much easier to upload and publish a book to kdp than it is to Ingram / LS

You have to look at what services publishers offer, since there will certainly be differences. That should be checked beforehand. Whether marketing is included or not, what measures that includes ... It also depends on how it looks at the publishing houses. Either there are packages in which everything is included or you pick out the services that you still need yourself. You also have to check carefully, not every publisher will have the same way of working.

Books are published every day, so you might get lost in the crowd. You have to do something to get publicity. Things like a presentation during a book fair.

With service providers such as novum publishing, the author and publisher share the risk. Personally, I think that's a good model, because the publisher is motivated to sell books. Furthermore, launch reading is an issue but initially the process of proof-reading.

I am really happy for you and your good experiences! But I have to admit that I really don't want to deal with all this work to sell the book. Especially because I am not interested in earning money or fame with it in the first place- I am more interested in using it for my children at work.

Popping it into kdp is probably the easiest then. I believe it's quite straightforward.

Trying to get it published through a traditional publishing company (bit of a misnomer tbh because traditionally people self published before publishing companies became the norm, but anyway I digress) can take a really long time and result in a lot of rejections along the way, not to mention that many publishers expect you to have an agent, and won't even look at any manuscripts submitted straight from the author.

The advantage is that you can get a package with editing, publicity, book design and so on that suits you. However, I would ask the publisher directly about the conditions in detail, or prior to that read through the information on their website @Maggy_

@PinkMobilePhone I personally have never tried to find an agent, are you experienced with submitting a manuscript via a third party?

The advantage is that you can get a package with editing, publicity, book design and so on that suits you. However, I would ask the publisher directly about the conditions in detail, or prior to that read through the information on their website @Maggy_

I've only ever self-published.