Review: Self-Publishing School
If you want to become an author, you eventually have to decide between traditional vs. self-publishing. If self-publishing is on your radar, you’ve probably come across Self-Publishing School.
As a current student of Self-Publishing School, or SPS as its members refer to it, I can give you valuable insights on what the program offers and what it doesn’t. In this article, we’ll cover what it is, how it works, and what you get out of it. We’ll also go into the pros and cons, alternative options, and my recommendation for you.
What It Is
According to their own website, Self-Publishing School will “help you successfully write & publish books” to launch a fiction career or grow a business. No matter which course you take (more details in a minute), you’ll get 1-on-1 coaching, group coaching, access to their active and helpful Facebook community, and many hours of video content, downloadable guides, and special discounts to other services. The goal is to get your book published, snag one or more bestseller banners, and earn royalties for months to come.
Self-Publishing School Course List
Become a Bestseller
Fundamentals of Fiction
Children’s Book School
Full Time Fiction
Publicity & Speaking
Course Building for Authors
Sell More Books
Courses 1 through 3 help you publish a book. If you’re writing nonfiction, you’ll want #1, fiction authors will look into #2, and an author of children’s books needs option #3.
Courses 4 through 7 cover information beyond publishing. If you want to make a full-time career out of your fiction writing, you might be interested in the full-time fiction course (#4). A published book can also be the gateway to a career in public speaking (#5), building a course of your own (#6), or selling your nonfiction books to land more clients for your business and increase revenues and royalties (#7).
The Process
Unlike other courses, you can’t just put in your credit card information and sign up for Self-Publishing School. Considering how much money is at stake, this is a good thing. To get started, simply book a 1-hour call with one of their coaches. During this call, you’ll discuss your goals for your books to help you determine which of the courses would make sense for you.
One thing the coaches are very adamant about: you must have plans to write your book in the next 12 months. If you’re not ready to take your writing seriously, you’re not ready for Self-Publishing School. Similarly, if you don’t want to write the book yourself (but hire a ghostwriter instead), Self-Publishing School isn’t the right choice for you.
If you decide to sign up, you’ll immediately get access to the online materials. The courses are well laid out and cover all the relevant topics thoroughly. Most of it is video content, also downloadable if you prefer to read (and most authors love to read).
You’ll also gain access to their Facebook community, through which you can attend the group coaching sessions happening every day. Last but definitely not least, you will schedule your first 1-on-1 session with your assigned writing coach.
What You Get Out of It
What exactly you will get out of Self-Publishing School mostly depends on what you put into it. You still have to write a book, set up a website, get a book cover designed, assemble your team of advanced readers to garner reviews, and do all the things required to publish and launch your book successfully.
But you’re not doing it alone if you sign up with Self-Publishing School. There is a large community of authors just like you who will support you and celebrate with you along the way. You can use them to get feedback for your cover, your title, and your book description. You will probably get quite a few authors who will happily read and review your book for you, as well.
You can follow their nicely laid-out path to success, and anytime you have a question, you can get an answer in one of the many group coaching sessions or from your 1-on-1 coach.
Many authors receive a bestseller banner when they launch their books using the teachings of Self-Publishing School—more on that later. There are quite a few students who have sold thousands and tens of thousands of copies of their books or earned tens of thousands of dollars in additional revenue (often by using the book as a lead magnet for selling other products and services). Of course, there is no guarantee you’ll join their ranks.
Pros
Everything has pros and cons, and Self-Publishing School is no different. The biggest benefit you receive by signing up with them is the amount of support you receive—individual and group coaching, support in the Facebook group, and the online course itself.
Endless Support
New authors have questions almost every day. Whether you don’t know the difference between Kindle Unlimited and KDP, need help with setting up your reader magnet, want to assemble a review team, you can ask any author-related questions and almost immediately get an answer from a member of the group.
If you have more specific questions, for example, about how to schedule your launch, you can ask them in any of the group coaching sessions or during your individual coaching. Students receive access to the Facebook group for one year when they sign up. Many SPS students are happy to pay for additional time in the Facebook group, because the support is invaluable.
Individual Coaching
The 1-on-1 coaching sessions bring a lot of value to the program. The coaches are successful authors who have already achieved the goals you’ve set for yourself. Depending on which course you’re in, they may help you plan your book or take the next steps to reach more readers. The individual coaching sessions can help you reach your goals by keeping you accountable. And if you don’t feel ready for your coaching session, you probably need it.
Daily Group Coaching
Most days (weekends excluded), Self-Publishing School has group coaching sessions scheduled. These are held via Zoom or Facebook live stream and allow attendees to be virtually present with each other. It’s a good time to ask questions or just listen. You often learn a lot by paying attention to the answers given to fellow students in your group.
Active & Helpful FB Community
As mentioned before, the Self-Publishing School Facebook community is extremely welcoming and helpful. Students help each other answer questions and give feedback as requested, all the while maintaining a supportive environment. Whether you want to celebrate your wins (you’ve finished your manuscript, got your first newsletter subscriber, or sold your first book), this is the place to be.
Review Team
One pillar of self-publishing success is to collect reviews for your book. Reviews are an important credibility builder on all the retailers, especially Amazon. Self-Publishing School teaches you how to garner as many reviews as possible during your launch period. They also encourage you to help fellow students on their launch date by reviewing their books.
Lately, I have noticed many members saying they had their review capability removed by Amazon and all the reviews have disappeared. Technically, review exchanges with other authors are against Amazon’s review policy. As long as you’re not reviewing a book from an author who reviewed yours, using the group for reviews may still work in the future. Just be careful.
You Will Level Up
This isn’t as easy to explain as the other, more obvious benefits. But when you invest a significant amount of money in your dreams, it can change your mindset about what you want to achieve. Anyone can write and publish a book on Amazon. The barriers to entry are negligible. But not everyone can make a success of publishing and earn money that way.
I like to compare it to hiring a personal trainer or signing up for a gym membership. Can you get fit and healthy without the gym or trainer? Absolutely. But sometimes, when you spend money on achieving your goal, you’re more likely to reach it. It’s not because the personal trainer offered you a miracle shortcut to losing weight (spoiler alert: there isn’t one). It’s because you believed enough in yourself to make an investment. You believed in yourself enough to get help.
And so, reaching your goals through Self-Publishing School may not have everything to do with SPS itself, but more with your mindset going into it.
Cons
Self-Publishing School is not without cons, as there’s no such thing as a perfect program. The biggest drawback may be their pricing. Another thing to consider is that they’re mostly focused on Amazon and becoming a bestseller for whichever category you snag that tag in.
How Much Does It Cost?
As of this writing, they list all their courses for $6,000 on their website. When I signed up in September 2019, I paid $6997 for Fundamentals of Fiction, Memoirs and Story and Sell More Books. The Full Time Fiction course did not exist. When Self-Publishing School started, their clients were mostly nonfiction authors, but they have since branched out.
During the initial coaching call, I was told the price for the program was $12k. But they would give me a discount since I came through them via Novelize. I had initially emailed with someone from selfpublishing.com (owned by Self-Publishing School) about doing link exchanges on the Novelize website.
Prices are of course subject to change. Brace yourself for a steep fee. Self-Publishing School advertises payment options on its website, but there are no details.
As I’ve said before, I think the value delivered for the price is definitely fair as long as you take advantage of everything they offer. If you’re the type to sign up for stuff without taking action (useless gym membership, anyone?), this course may not be the right choice for you.
Focused on Amazon
Self-Publishing School focuses most of their efforts on reaching elusive bestseller status on Amazon and selling more books on that storefront. To be fair, Amazon takes the biggest share of books and self-published book sales worldwide. But customers on Amazon are also very price conscious.
If you’re interested in taking your books wide and making them available on other storefronts (Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble, Kobo—to name a few), you’ll have to find that information on your own. A great place to start is the Facebook group Wide for the Win.
Heavy Emphasis on Becoming an Amazon Bestseller
One thing I disagree with is the single-minded goal to get that Amazon bestseller banner. An Amazon bestseller banner comes and goes rather quickly and really means nothing long-term. You can’t put it on your book cover to advertise the fact that you ruled the charts for one day. And the tag only sells the book while you’re already ranking high.
I have to admit it probably boosts authors’ egos to see a bestseller tag on one of their new books, but I don’t think spending money and effort to produce just that is fruitful. To top it off, many authors achieve bestseller banners in niche categories their book shouldn’t even be listed in.
Not a Course on Writing
If you’re looking for a course on writing and telling a delightful story, this isn’t it. Nobody will critique your work and nobody will talk to you about the details of telling a good story. You will learn some general information about plot structure, including the five milestones. But if you’re looking for more information on show-don’t-tell, character arcs, the hero’s journey, story theme, or how to write good dialogue, you want to look elsewhere.
My general impression from Self-Publishing School is that books don’t have to be all that great, just good enough. In some ways, that’s excellent advice. Realistically, hardly anybody will publish a masterpiece with their first book. The more books you write, the better you’ll become at your craft—but only if you keep learning.
Self-Publishing School is not for you if you want to learn how to write a good story.
Your Other Options
Can you do what Self-Publishing School teaches for free?
Absolutely.
You must be prepared to invest more of your time reading and studying the information already out there. Whether you join a Facebook group like 20Booksto50k, read books on writing and publishing, join author groups, or find critique partners, you can grow your author business step by step. I also recommend following successful authors like Joanna Penn and K. M. Weiland to learn about the business of being a writer and story craft, respectively.
Finally, you can also pay for the things that matter to you whenever you need them, whether that’s a writing coach, an editor, or a course on advertising.
Self-Publishing School is hardly the only course on self-publishing. Most of the other courses are significantly cheaper, too, but they focus on different things.
Self Publishing Formula, a course run by Mark Dawson, teaches everything you need to know to become a self-published author and start building your career. At a price tag of $597 (as of this writing), the course is much more affordable than Self-Publishing School. It covers everything from building your platform (website, mailing list), formatting and publishing your books, to marketing and advertising them.
The one thing that’s missing from Self Publishing Formula? Coaching in any form. And that’s probably why the course is significantly cheaper. Self Publishing Formula only opens up a few times a year, but according to its students, it’s worth every penny.
Nick Stephenson teaches some of the same content in his course, Your First 10,000 Readers. He walks you through the details of formatting and setting up your book correctly to improve your sale-through rate and then explains how to set up a reader magnet and build your mailing list. I’ve selected a payment plan at $59/month for 12 months, and I think that course was definitely worth it.
Finally, if you already have a website, reader magnet, mailing list, and books to sell, you may be more interested in learning how to advertise. Mark Dawson has a course called Ads for Authors that teaches Facebook, Amazon Ads, and BookBub Ads. If you want to focus on Amazon first, I recommend taking the 5-Day Amazon Ad Profit Challenge hosted by Bryan Cohen every quarter and then possibly signing up for his Amazon Ads course.
Who This Course Is For
Self-publishing school is a great option if you’re new to the business of being an author. They lay out a process that allows you to finish a book in 90 days—an ambitious but achievable goal. The individual and group coaching sessions will help you stay on track and keep you motivated, too. And as I’ve said before, there is a lot of support available around the clock. Even when you’re struggling with writing, publishing, or marketing, you won’t be alone. Get an accountability buddy in the group to further improve your chances of success.
Who This Course Is Not For
If you know nothing about writing, you’re better off learning the fundamentals elsewhere. If grammar and punctuation aren’t your friends, invest in a writing coach. And don’t skip on editing.
If you’re having trouble making ends meet, don’t add thousands to your debts to join Self-Publishing School. There’s no guarantee you’ll make any money, but plenty of assurance you’ll spend even more to get your books launched (paying for cover art, editing, and advertising). If you need money right now, this course isn’t what you’re looking for. Making money with writing is anything but a quick-rich scheme and requires hard work on your part.
My Opinion
My biggest concern with Self-Publishing School is the price. But I have to say, doling out nearly $7k for Self-Publishing School helped me raise my expectations of myself. It made me treat writing like a business instead of a hobby. I also learned a lot about book covers, building launch teams, getting ARC copies, running a launch, scheduling promotions, and even some fundamentals of writing a good story.
They used to offer a refer-a-friend discount and referral bonus, but the Self-Publishing School website doesn’t mention those anymore. Give them my name (Anita Evensen) or mention Novelize and see if that helps you get a better deal.