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There is one universal goal that all authors share – to get their books into the hands of their readers. Deciding how that happens often brings authors to this question: “Should I self-publish?”

Finding the right answer can depend on issues like budget, timeline, business goals, marketing strategies, creativity, and more. We get asked about this a lot, so we’ve highlighted the advantages of self-publishing with Vervante here to help authors decide if this is right for them.

Creative Control and Freedom

Full creative control: Self-publishing gives authors full creative control over every element of their book, from the content and cover images to marketing and sales. If you decide to make changes at any point during the process, even after you’ve started to sell your book online, you can create an updated version and have it available almost immediately.

Flexible book sizes: We offer a wide variety of sizes, binding, and other variations to help you create exactly what you want, and what your customers will love.

Authors retain full rights: When you self-publish with Vervante, you benefit from our unique system in which you simply grant us the rights to print and distribute the book on your behalf. This means that you retain all rights as sole owner of your book. Our contracts with authors are non-exclusive. This arrangement is rare in the publishing world and is very much to your benefit as the author.

Pricing: You are in complete control of your listing prices, discounts, special offers, etc.  Unlike other self-publishing companies, we don’t take a percentage of the retail price as our commission. Here’s an overview of how pricing works for your book:

1. We give you the price for printing your book based on the book’s specs
2. You set the retail sales price
3. The difference between the sales price and the printing price is your profit

Timeline / Urgency: If you are writing a book that cites current events or has a topic that is timely, bringing the book quickly to market is critical. Once you send your print-ready files to Vervante, your book can be ready to print and listed for sale in a matter of days. (*Hard cover books can take a couple of weeks.)

Business Growth Potential

Authors aren’t usually the “one and done” type. If you want to publish more books or related products in the future, create connections with fans, and continue to grow your audience and your income, building a subscriber list/database is essential.

Database / List-Building Support: Vervante is one of the only self-publishing companies we know of that encourages authors to sell from their own site for two reasons: 1) You make the most profit on the book by selling it direct to your buyer and, 2) By processing the credit card transaction, you capture the customer data and most importantly, their email address. If you don’t already have a shopping cart and don’t want to add one to your site, we can sell your book in our bookstore. We give you the customer data so you can build your email list – something other publishing companies don’t do. As a secondary distribution channel, we will list your book on Amazon and manage the details from creating the product listing to managing and shipping the orders. We provide this service free for our authors. We recommend using Amazon as a secondary distribution channel through Vervante because working directly with Amazon KDP means your customers become Amazon customers – and Amazon does not share their customer’s email addresses.

Retail Sales & Fulfillment Services

Online Sales: Vervante can list your book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Vervante Bookstore and eBook venues including Kindle and Nook. PLUS we can also list your book through the Vervante Bookstore and personal websites, where you can control price, coupons, discounts, promotions, etc.

Universal Shopping Cart Compatibility: We have no preference and can accept orders from virtually all shopping cart or merchant solutions including InfusionSoft, Stripe, WooCommerce, Shopify, 1ShoppingCart, PayPal, ClickBank, and more. Orders are processed from emails generated from your shopping cart.

Inventory Management: We can print, store and drop ship on demand. We provide you with access to online, real-time inventory reporting so you know exactly what we have on hand. You set the re-order points for each item and we'll automatically send you an email when it's time to replenish your inventory.

Global Shipping: We ship anywhere in the world using USPS and UPS services and keep you up-to-date on its status. Shipping confirmation emails are sent to recipients with tracking information. All order information such as status and tracking numbers are posted to your account online.

No Postage Markups or Fees: We believe in providing our customers with competitive prices and no hidden fees. Some of our competitors add a markup of 33% on postage! Just think how this can really add up over time. We charge exact postage fees and no mark-ups.

Custom Packaging and Personalized Packing Slips: We offer a wide range of packaging from boxes to bags to creative options that you can customize to make your book or products really stand out. And every package we send out includes a packing slip that you can customize.

Beyond Books / Complementary Products

Creative Printed Products: In addition to books, Vervante offers a variety of other products and services. A book usually leads to more products such as a journal, daily planner, workbook, a home study course, coloring books, audio or video program, a coaching or training program, card decks, CDs, DVDs, etc., all of which we can produce and handle sales and distribution for.

Packaging “Extras:” Another way we can also help you create connections with your readers is by printing and including special products in the same package as your book. Some ideas include custom shipping labels, packing slips, letters, or cards that share a message with readers, invite them to join your community, enjoy a special discount, connect on social media, etc. You can also send us products such as apparel or branded promotional items that we can store in our warehouse and include with your product shipments.

Finances (Costs, Profits, Royalties)

Complete Access & Control: The Vervante Author Dashboard serves as an author’s control center for everything they create with us. It's an all-in-one location for placing orders, checking invoices, customizing products, tracking shipments, and more.

No Minimums or “Starter Packages:” Some self-publishing companies require authors to purchase costly publishing packages to get started. These range from $449 - $1999 and usually include a lot of extras you probably don't need. Vervante does not! We have a no minimums, no set-up fees, no hassle policy. Our on-demand publishing services are cost-effective for short runs giving you the option to order only what you want, when you want it, saving money, time, space, resources and stress. However, if you need to place a bulk order, we also offer high-quality offset printing at bargain prices.

No Set Up Fees: From start to finish, we do not charge setup fees. Setting up your author account – free. Quotes for product ideas – free. Uploading print files – free. Setting up your book for sale on Amazon – also free!

Customer Service & Support

Book Publishing Industry Experience: We know how important it is for authors to have access to resources and guides that they trust. That’s why we offer free resources featuring a wide range of expert guides, how-to’s, technical specifications and more, all written by our team of experts with decades of experience in the publishing industry, that keep our clients up-to-date and in-the-know for all things publishing.

Comprehensive Customer Service: Need help? No problem! We're here to make sure that your questions are addressed quickly and efficiently to ensure that your project is a success. We provide several ways to get help, beginning with an FAQ page that contains detailed answers to many common questions about our products and services and is available 24/7. Next steps are to either email us at customerservice@vervante.com or schedule a phone conversation with one of our publishing specialists using the link on our Contact Us page. No matter how you reach out, you can be sure that someone experience, attentive and passionate about publishing is waiting to help.

Free Resources for Authors: We know how important it is for authors to have access to resources and guides that they trust. That's why we created an Expert Guide Resource Library on our website. Think of this as your own personal publishing library, filled with a wide range of FREE ebooks to inspire, educate and support your journey creating, sharing and selling books and other printed products with Vervante.

We hope this list of advantages when it comes to self-publishing helped clarify how we work and what the right choice is for your next book or product. For free quotes, or publishing guidance, contact us at customerservice@vervante.com or schedule a phone call using this link.

**Please note that the benefits we’ve listed here for self-publishing are true for Vervante services only. Other self-publishing companies do not offer the same services or benefits and should be researched individually.