Once you are done writing a book that you are proud of and are ready to share it with the world, the question of whether to choose traditional or self-publishing to complete this goal will be most prevalent in your mind.
In all honesty, it doesn’t matter which road you choose — there are pros and cons to both routes. A lot of authors who self-publish boast the wonders of creative control and higher royalties but they also struggle with how difficult it can be to reach an audience without the backing of a publishing house. On the other side, authors who publish traditionally say it is the only way to get mainstream success, but that success means they have to relinquish the ability to have a say in final book decisions and lose creative control.
The right path for you depends entirely on what you want from your author experience.
It’s difficult to know whether it’s better to self-publish or get a publisher, but these essential questions will provide you with a starting point to start figuring out what might work for you. It’s also important to note that the world of publishing changes on a monthly basis, so it’s to your advantage to research your decisions before fully committing.
1. How soon do you want to release your book?
Generally speaking, a traditionally published book takes at least one year to be published.
That doesn’t include the writing of the manuscript or the laborious and time-intensive process of pitching agents and waiting on a publishing house to accept your book. Timelines do vary, as smaller publishing houses can move faster, but it’s a safe bet that once a publisher has accepted your manuscript, it’ll be another year before it’s on sale.
In stark contrast, you could self-publish your book tomorrow.
If all of your essential prep work was complete — editing, cover design, formatting — and you knew how to upload the correct documents to your preferred self-publishing platform, your book could be available to the masses within a day.
I wouldn’t recommend doing this, but quick-turnaround self-publishing is possible.
If your primary goal for your book is to release it as soon as possible, self-publishing may be your best option.
2. How many people do you want to reach?
Almost every writer wants the world to read their book. Or, at best, they want their target audience to find their book, read and review their book and become devoted fans for the rest of the author’s life. However, this isn’t always possible.
These days, both processes demand that the author has a platform.
For authors without a sizable platform attempting to reach readers, self-publishing can be a black hole. In “Publishing 101,” Jane Friedman wrote the blunt truth: “When writers chase self-publishing as an alternative to traditional publishing, they often have a nasty surprise in store: No one is listening. They don’t have an audience.”
As of August 1, 2018, the Kindle store sold 6,922,403 titles. (source: Claude Forthomme). And because Amazon sells the majority of ebooks among all retailers, those millions of titles are your competition. Yes, you have the opportunity to reach Amazon’s millions of daily customers, but you also have to figure out how to get those customers to find your one-in-a-million book.
Unless you’re knowledgeable about the many publishing outlets available to self-publishers, you will likely rely on Amazon’s ecosystem for your sales. But that carries one looming caveat: little to no bookstore distribution.
Sure, your book could be ordered by a bookstore if a patron specifically requests it, but the likelihood of your self-published book being distributed to major bookstores across the nation is slim.
The relationships that traditional publishers have with distributors and bookstores may be their greatest benefit to authors. However, traditional publishers likely won’t provide ample marketing dollars to back your masterpiece. Even if they do front some money, your book better do very well in its opening week and first few months to warrant them investing any more.
Again: every author needs a platform. Don’t wait for anyone to build it for you.
3. How much control do you want over your book?
If you want complete control of your book, you will self-publish. But it’s important to think through exactly what you’re taking on — or giving up — when talking about controlling your book. Controlling your book means being fully responsible for every aspect of the book. This extends far beyond just writing the book.
You will have to spend time or money to ensure that your cover design, interior design, editing, rights, distribution, pricing and marketing are all accomplished to a level that can compete with traditionally published books.
In “Publishing 101,” Jane Friedman calls self-publishing “a ton of work, like starting a small business (if you do it right).” Still, you retain creative control. The freelancers you may hire work for you. You get to tell them what to do because you’re signing their paychecks.
In contrast, consider what else Jane Friedman advised: “When working with a traditional publisher, you have to give up a lot of power and control. The publisher gets to decide the cover, the title, the design, the format, the price, etc. You have to go through rounds of revisions and will likely have to change things you don’t want to change.”
To some authors, that’s terrifying. They wouldn’t be able to abide by changes that went against their creative sensibilities. It’s their book, after all.
For some authors, giving up that control is freeing. They don’t have to spend the time, money or brainpower on the seeming incidentals of getting a book published. They can focus on writing, then on writing the next book.
Whether you pursue self-publishing or traditional publishing, you’ll have to give up something: time, money or control. Which of those are most important to you?
4. How much do you want to earn?
Earning a living from book sales is incredibly hard.
While the average self-published author can’t make a full-time living from their books, there are some who are able to break through. The same can also be said for the majority of traditionally published authors. Most aren’t making a full-time living from their books, especially when the average book advance is between $5K-$20K.
Here are the frustrating and unhelpful facts about earnings per book when it comes to self-publishing versus traditional publishing.
With royalties ranging from 30 to 70 percent, you stand to make more per book by self-publishing.
The challenge for you self-publishing will be distribution. It’s easy to get into Amazon where 70% of all book sales happen. But it’s tough to get eyeballs unless you have good ads, a good platform, and good keywords and categories.
In contrast, traditional publishing offers increasingly lower advances (unless you’re famous or have written a book that leads to a bidding war). Royalties are lower than in self-publishing as well — that is, if you even earn out your advance. Up to 80 percent of books never earn back their advance, meaning that the author never receives royalties (“Publishing 101”).
The frustrating, confusing aspect is that traditional publishing offers better distribution. Simply put, your book is available in more places.
The question comes down to this: Would you rather earn more per book but have to drive your own distribution by self-publishing, or would you rather earn less per book and hope the traditional publishing process helps your reach?
5. What is your primary goal?
What if you’ve read this far and each of your answers has canceled out the previous answer? What if, by this point, you’re more confused than when you began?
Consider your primary goals:
- If you want to get your book to market as fast as possible, self-publish your book.
- If you want to reach the most readers, learn how to start building your author platform because that’s the key to selling books whether you self-publish or traditionally publish.
- If you demand creative control over every aspect of your book, self-publish.
- If you want to make money, well, don’t rely on just your book sales to do that for you. I can’t tell you what route is better for that: authors have made good money — even ridiculous amounts of money — through both self-publishing and traditional publishing.
Your primary goal may not even be listed in this article, but you need to define what success looks like for your book. Then work backward from there.
In the end, no matter which route you take, pursue that path with as much passion and care as you placed into the writing of your book. No one will champion your book unless you’re it’s first and greatest champion.
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Article derived from The Write Life
