Should you self-publish your book?

Should you self-publish your book? So a while ago I made a video about the publishing industry and me writing my book, and I got a comment from our YouTube viewers— love you guys— Able Abe Studios, a loyal viewer who wrote in to say, "Definitely a great question, love the answers. What do you think about these self-publishing companies coming out? Could they be an option? Go!" Alright, so here we go. I have 4 criteria that I would look at, and I base it all on what is your intention, your motivation, your reason for wanting to have a book. And depending on what that reason is, that'll help make your decision if you want to go with a publisher or if you want to self-publish. The first is credibility. A lot of people think that having a book gives you more credibility. So when you're going in and talking to customers, you can show them your book. If you are trying to get a speaking gig or consulting gig or in the media, you can show them your book and be a recognized author. And if that's important to you, then you need to get the book out there. And if the publisher is not willing to take it on, then you can self-publish, right? I think a recognized publisher gives you a little bit more credibility than doing it yourself. But if you can't get that publisher, then go self-publish because you want that credibility. Now, saying that, I think that argument that a book helps give you credibility is getting— it's going down, right? It's not as important as it used to be. I don't have a book and I can open any door that I want to open, right? I have a popular website, I have a popular YouTube channel, I have a popular Twitter account. So many other ways now to reach people besides books that can add to your credibility. I've been in the media, I've been in Forbes, I've been in the Wall Street Journal, I've been in the New York Times, I've been in all these big publications without ever having a book. You don't need to have a book to give you the credibility. So I think it can help, it can add to it, but it's not as important as it used to be. Number 2 is just to have a book. You want a book, right? It's on your bucket list. I want to write this book before I die. And if that's your goal, that's your reason for having a book, then go write the book. Right? And again, if you can't get a publisher, then go self-publishing route. It doesn't matter so much which one you go to because you just want to get a book out there, because your reason for writing the book isn't the credibility, isn't expert status. It's because you want to have a book out there that you can show your grandkids and say, "Here's what I wrote." So if that's your incentive, then just go out and self-publish. You don't need a huge publisher or all that headache or hassle to get it out there. Number 3 is money. You're doing it for the money. You want to make money from the books, and The interesting thing here is if you go with a publisher, you're not going to make any money, right? The money that you get paid is tiny, and they're out, you know, selling it. And so you make your money from a book doing well, and then you getting more recognition, more awareness, doing more media, and that leads to more opportunities, right? The more your name is known, the more you can get big deals, big clients. If you're trying to make money from the book, you want that to be a moneymaker for you, then you're much better to go self-publish it because there's a small cost to actually make the book and you get to keep the entire spread. You keep the whole margin off of that. So if your, if your money-making idea is to make it from the book, you self-publish. If you're trying to make money from broader awareness, then go and try to get the publisher on board. And number 4 is impact. And this is the most important one for me, okay? I don't need the book as a credibility tool. I don't want to write a book just to write a book, and I'm not trying to write a book to make money from it. I don't even care about a book. I don't need to have a book. It's never been a priority for me. That's why I've never done it, right? In my 12+ years of running this business, I've never had a book because it's never been important to me. What, what I care about is impact. I— my goal is to help a billion entrepreneurs, right? I believe in entrepreneurs. I want entrepreneurs to believe in themselves, and whatever medium helps communicate that message and reaches people that's where I'm gonna be. And so I started with my website, and I had a ton of people hit the website. We've had 20 million+ people on the website. I'm doing a lot of these YouTube videos. Why? Because they have impact. Because we have 3.5 million views on the channel. Because you guys are leaving comments saying, "Evan, these videos are awesome. They're really helping me with my business. They're inspiring me. They keep me going." That stuff fuels me, right? I love seeing that stuff come in. So wherever there's an impact, an opportunity to impact entrepreneurs, that's where I want to be. So for me, The book is just another way to impact entrepreneurs, and in my head, making a self-published book doesn't have the impact. To me, to go through all of that work to write the book and then just market it all myself and not have any backing, I'd rather put that time into making YouTube videos. I can do that. I can get my message out there much more clearly with, with a greater reach by hitting you guys up on YouTube than I could with a self-published book. So for me, I'm only doing a book if I get a big publisher on board with a sizable advance. You know, I want a publisher who's behind me, who's not just going to put it out there, put it on the bookshelves, and that's it, right? So I want them committed with a sizable advance. I want this to be important to them because I want to have a bigger impact on the world. If I can't get a big publisher on board with a sizable advance, I won't do it. I'll keep making videos. I'll keep answering your questions, right? Wherever the impact is gonna be, that's where I wanna be. So self-publishing can work. It can be awesome. It just depends on what your motivation is. So again, I'd look at number 1, do you need the credibility? Number 2, do you just wanna have a book? Number 3, are you doing it for the money? Or number 4, are you doing it for the impact? Hopefully that answers your question. If you guys have others, leave it in the comments below and I'll make a video reply. Thank you guys so much for watching. Continue to believe. And if you like this video, you want to see more, subscribe to the channel. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you soon. 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