079 - If Self-Publishing Is a Gamble Why Is Donald Trump Jr. Doing It?

Hey Guys! Nicole Gabriel here!

I’ve been wanting to talk about this for awhile. Given that politics is so dividing currently, let’s talk about the division in self publishing vs traditional publishing as well…

Have you seen the chatter on Donald Trump Jr…the article in the New York Times says:

Self-Publishing Is a Gamble. Why Is Donald Trump Jr. Doing It?
His next book, “Liberal Privilege,” comes with an unusual distribution plan and no publishing house behind it, making it something of a curiosity in the industry.

I’ll post the link to the article over on my blog: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/books/donald-trump-jr-liberal-privilege.html

Literary agents are calling it “a risk” that Trump choses to self publish and they are claiming he hired researchers to comb through Mr. Biden’s record and wrote the book in about three months during lock down.

The article discusses the high-level differences between traditional publishing and self publishing. There is no advance received from a publisher but an author can walk away with bigger profits. The article says Trump doesn’t need publicity from a major publisher to earn an income.

As the book began to be showcased by Trump, the publishing community was pretty harsh that there were small errors that hadn’t been fixed and it was attacked by many. In fact, it is even on wikipedia the book contained a typo. Check it out yourself. I’ll put the link in the blog as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Privilege. Imagine if he’s been attacked about a mis-placed apostrophe what would happen if he tried to hire a publishing company to produce the content!

“This is a political pamphlet, not a book,” said Peter Osnos, the founder of the nonfiction imprint PublicAffairs. “It hasn’t been subjected to any measure of quality or accuracy.”

Apparently this book has been purchased by The Republican National Committee to raise money for his father’s campaign. But, it will not be in bookstores. It will only be available at Trumps website. And, the audio book was narrated by Trump’s girlfriend. Hachette, that published his first book, was declined when offering to publish the book. The sales numbers are currently not available to the public. It can be said this is conservative publishing and some say it’s a reliable cash cow. But, self-publishing also allows an author to speak their truth. Publishing houses often don’t want to take that risk. The only person that needs to be right with a self published book is the author himself.

So guys…we are in the day and age of choice. If someone that has already written and published a book with traditional publishing channels and decides to self-publish we get to see the viability of choosing self publishing as a deliberate choice and one that allows you to hold your profits. In this case, the book was likely not produced with an intention of being an income generator and clearly needed no one’s approval. Even social media is holding everyone to fact checking legitimacy these days.

What motivates one to write could be a variety of reasons…to share content exclusively; to stroke the ego; a vanity project; to clear the heart and mind, to speak truth and remain accountable to only self.…there doesn’t have to be a reason.

I know I talk about aligning with your why in previous episodes. Knowing your why is critical. If Trump wanted this book to be a best-seller he may have been more keen on using his super power to make that happen. In this case, my bet was he needed to clear the air and share the content. I can bet you one thing—he knows his why!

With social media playing fact-checker police these days it can be more important to share our voice with the aid of a self-published book. In this day and age it’s truly the only means of sharing with the masses. It’s not always real time but, real time chat can create the awareness to expound on the content. Make a few statements, get people interested, then produce the content. We are seeing more and more thought leaders getting people over to their websites and blogs outside of social media these days. The book can be produced digitally or printed and shared with the masses. The trick is just creating the platform or the interest.

In Trumps case, he has 5.5 million followers on Twitter (link: https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr), 6.3 million on Instagram (link: https://www.instagram.com/donaldjtrumpjr/). He’s clearly got a pretty big following for profits and had he signed with a publisher they would change his voice, delay the print, and take a huge profit. His first book “Triggered” sold 286,000 copies as of August 2020. I think he’s going to do just fine despite all the negative press.

There will be a link in the blog to Trumps book if you are interested in learning more… https://donjr.com/products/liberal-privilege-joe-biden-and-the-democrat-s-defense-of-the-indefensible

So remember guys, even if you are not Trump, you have an authentic voice and a book allows you the ability to keep your voice, truth, and profits no matter what the size of your audience!

It looks like we are in it for the long haul with all things virus and election…hope your holding up as I do believe it’s gonna get wild! Imagine what you could accomplish with your book during this lock down and when this is all over you could be a published author too!

I’d love to help you with your book project. I can coach you over the phone, with my online book publishing program, or help you with design, layout, or marketing. Give me a call or send me a text over at (808)280-5559. I’d love to help you write the book of your dreams! Remember that life is still going regardless of all this chaos. Stay positive and hold tough!

As always, wishing you peace, love, and light!