#048 - Are Self-Published Authors “Real” Authors

Hey hey friends. Welcome back to the Hit Splits and my name is Shelly Hitz, the owner and founder of ChristianBookAcademy.com where we help you write words that outlive you, self published books that fulfill your calling and reach more readers with your message. So I sent out an email to my list and I also wanted to share it here because I really believe it's an important message to share with you. Our self published authors. Real authors. So so I first became an author in 2008 and I have written and published now over 50 books of my own since. Yes I am a self published author. And yes I am a quote unquote real author as well. In fact, I've never wanted a traditional publishing contract. I know that that will shock some of you, but it's true. And one thing that bothers me about the publishing industry is that some people want to give more ST status to authors who are traditionally published. Now, is getting traditionally published a monumental accomplishment? Of course it is. You know you have to go through so much to get that contract and there's so much competition for each contract. So yes, it is a huge accomplishment. But so is writing and self publishing your book. Sometimes I think it's even more of an accomplishment because of all the things you need to learn, delegate and do before you click the publish button. But I know that there are people who rush the process and publish poor quality work, sometimes giving self published authors a bad reputation. However, your book doesn't need to be that way. You can follow the same guidelines and standards as a traditionally published book and be proud of what you publish to the world. In fact, we give you that checklist and the standards of what that would entail in our self published module in Christian Book Academy. But you know, if you are an Academy member then you know that self publishing is my thing. This is what I can help you with and it's what I specialize with. And I can help you self publish just almost any kind of book, print, ebook, full color, children's books, journals, etc. And if you're not a Christian Book Academy member yet, I encourage you to check out our membership if you are interested at all in self publishing your book to see if it's a good fit for you. So so you can go to ChristianBookAcademy.com or just swipe up on the show notes. The link is in the description. But when you sign up I recommend starting first in the final draft module. I have found that some people who are joining our academy and they think their book is done, they think they're ready for the formatting stage, the book cover stage, but they don't realize they've actually missed some steps in the final draft port process. And that's where you're really getting everything buttoned up. All of the things done. Your front matter, your back matter, your references, your quotes, your images, you know, all the things. So I just recommend going through that final draft module or yeah module first, making sure you didn't miss anything. And then you'll proceed to our self published module where we've laid everything out for you step by step. So if you have any questions about how we can help you self publish your book, let us know. If you're a Christian Book Academy member, we are here for you. Just publish a post in the private group and we're happy to help. And if you're not yet a member yet, just email us@supportrainingauthors.com and we'd love to chat. And if you are a self published author, please please please don't let anyone tell you that you are not a real author. You are as real as it gets friend. Every published author is an author no matter what path you decide to take. Amen. Can I get an Amen? Because I know that so many of you have been made to feel less than because you chose self publishing. But that's the path I really honestly would choose no matter what. And so be proud of it. Be grateful that this technology exists today and keep pressing the publish button. Keep moving forward and we are here to help you in Christian Book Academy. Love you friends. Have a great day.