Separating fact from fiction isn’t always easy these days, but it’s the difference between swimming in royalties or scrounging around your couch cushions for extra change as a self-publisher. If you’re here to make money, you’re in the right place. This handy graphic will put the most common self-publishing myths to rest so you can continue on your journey to making even more book sales. 

Want to start earning even faster? Skip straight to our free webinar to see the #1 fact-based method for tapping into Amazon with no tech or publishing experience required. 

Myth #1: Self-Publishing Doesn’t Pay Well

Any business that gets half your attention is going to produce half the results. But our students are living proof that self-publishing can produce life-changing income that they never thought was possible. For some students, this is a modest deposit every month to cover the cost of rising groceries. For others, this has completely freed them from the 9-5 life, and they’re never looking back. You get what you put into it. 

Watch dozens of self-publishing success stories at our Student Success Hub!

Myth #2: Self-Published Books are Bad Quality 

We said it once already, but you’re going to hear this a lot in the self-publishing industry: You get what you put into it. A person who rushes through the process and churns out poor quality is ultimately going to see that reflected in their Amazon book reviews (and sales). But when you have complete ownership over the entire publishing process, YOU get to decide what quality looks like. That’s a huge advantage. 

Myth #3: You Have to be an Expert to Publish a Book

“Imposter syndrome” is huge, and most of us have experienced it before, but when we say that anyone can publish a book, we mean it. You don’t have to be an expert in anything to write a book—you just have to care. If you care about the readers’ experience and doing the right customer/market research, nothing can stand in the way of producing a high-quality book. 

Myth #4: Publishing a Book Takes Forever

For some people, publishing a high-quality book does take a year or two, and for others might only take a few weeks. The thing about self-publishing is that you’re not at the mercy of anyone else’s schedule or permission. You get to decide on the timelines, and you get to move at whatever pace is most comfortable for you. If you already have a solid edited and formatted manuscript, you can get it online and make your first sale in as little as a few days, depending on the platform. 

Myth #5: Marketing a Self-Published Book is Nearly Impossible

Most publishing platforms have marketing tools built into them these days to help self-publishers produce even better-quality work and make readers even happier. You don’t have to figure everything out on your own. 

Myth #6: Self-Publishing Gives You Less Control 

Quite the opposite! Traditional publishing requires you to jump through hoop after hoop with no guarantee whatsoever that you’ll even make a sale. And if you DO make a sale, your contract likely limits the royalties you earn. With self-publishing, the sky is the limit to what you can produce, how you produce it, and how much you can earn from it. 

Myth #7: Self-Published Books Never Become Bestsellers

There are quite literally thousands of examples to prove that self-publishers can be massively successful. Some of your favorite movies and TV shows were likely self-published books at some point before the publisher sold their rights to make a healthy profit. 

Myth #8: Self-Publishing Only Works for Certain Genres or People

Non-fiction is easily the fastest-growing genre of self-publishing, and this covers thousands upon thousands of niches. Other self-publishers have also been massively successful with fiction. It’s all a matter of doing your research to spot hidden opportunities in the market. 

Myth #9: Self-Publishing Still Requires Book Contracts

You will need to abide by each platform’s content guidelines, sure, but self-publishing doesn’t require the same restrictive contracts that traditional publishers do. In fact, most platforms give you the freedom to upload or remove any of your content at any time for any reason. 

Myth #10: You Can’t Be Successful with Self-Publishing without an Agent 

This is one of the biggest myths in the industry. You do NOT need a literary agent to be successful with self-publishing. There are plenty of good self-publishing coaches out there who want to help you succeed without taking a huge cut of your royalties or acting as a gatekeeper. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Fact: Publishing.com Has a TrustPilot Rating of 4.8 Stars 

Our students come from all walks of life, and here’s a fun fact—most of our publishing coaches were AIA students themselves at one point, which means they’ve all been through the self-publishing process many, many times. 

They know what works (and what doesn’t)! 

Here’s Karman talking about his own experiences with self-publishing and answering some of the most frequently asked questions he gets from other students: 

This is your sign to start your self-publishing journey today. You already took your first step by reading this blog post.

Now, head over to our free webinar to keep that momentum going!