Why Use Assisted Publishing for Your Nonfiction Book?

In this blog post, we will be looking at the benefits of using an assisted publishing company for a nonfiction book. We will start by considering how assisted publishing companies work, followed by the risks to be aware of if you do choose this method. We will then look at the advantages of assisted publishing. There are many reasons why you would choose this over getting a contract with a traditional publisher or self-publishing, so it is definitely worth considering.

What is Assisted Publishing? 

So, how does assisted publishing work? It is similar to self-publishing in a way, as you will hire professionals such as editors, cover designers and layout designers. However, rather than having to find and research all of these people before hiring them separately, an assisted publishing company will do this for you. They will have a number of professionals that work with them that they will assign your book to. 

As well as the people you would have to hire if you were self-publishing, assisted publishing companies may also have project managers that will oversee all the work on your book from start to finish. If you prefer, they can entirely manage it for you, although they may still need to defer to you on more important queries. Some companies may also offer additional services, such as marketing and promotion. These can be used both before and after the launch of your book. 

However, there are a few things to be aware of when choosing an assisted publishing company, as there are a lot of scams out there that will take your money (and the rights to your book) and leave you with nothing. Make sure you check the contract carefully for what you are signing away and what you will get. Read reviews about the company and ask if any other authors you know can recommend a particular company. 

If you can, ask to see a finished copy of one of their books. This will tell you how good the printing and paper quality is, as well as giving you a look at some cover art. If it doesn’t look like a book you would buy, your potential readers probably won’t either. Finally, how do they treat you? If they seem like they are just pushing for a sale and trying to get you to buy extras, it is unlikely that they will have great customer service after you have paid, apart from trying to get you to buy more. 

Why Use Assisted Publishing? 

One of the key reasons for using an assisted publisher is convenience. Self-publishing is demanding and takes a huge amount of your time, so it’s not for everyone. Assisted publishing allows you to focus on the writing side of things, leaving all of the organisation of publishing to someone else. One of the primary problems with self-publishing is that it expands to fill all of your available time, taking you away from the actual writing. You may be fine with this if you enjoy the challenges of self-publishing, but many people don’t. In this case, it makes the most sense to hire an assisted publishing company to do the job for you. 

Being free to focus on writing means that you should be able to write more books in any given period of time. Of course, you will still need to be available for any queries the assisted publishing company has, as well as needing to approve things like cover design, but you will have more time. More time means more books, which should, in turn, lead to more sales and higher profits. Although assisted publishing usually costs more than the DIY method, this can be balanced out by using the time you saved effectively. 

An added bonus of using an assisted publishing company is that they bring their expertise to the process. While it is perfectly possible to learn the basics of self-publishing and many people excel at this, it might not be one of your interests. An assisted publishing company will have experience managing all the work that needs doing and will get you the results you want without you having to learn everything from scratch. They will already have all of the skills needed to get the best out of the publishing process. 

Hiring an assisted publishing company can also help to reduce the risk for you. While there are a lot of scam companies out there, choosing the professionals (such as editors, cover designers and layout designers) individually can also be problematic. You will need to research each person you are considering working with to ensure that they are reliable and good at their job. 

On the other hand, with an assisted publishing company, you will have to check whether it is reputable, but only once. If you have vetted the company, you can assume that they take responsibility for checking any freelancers. They will likely have worked with them before and can verify that they are reliable and work well. 

Wrapping Up 

I hope that this helps you to decide whether to use an assisted publishing company. In my next blog post, we will look at how to choose an assisted publisher for your nonfiction book, so come back in two weeks for that! 

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