Choosing whether to go traditional or self-publishing can be tricky. On one side is traditional publishing, the dream of most budding authors, where a publishing house takes the reins, pays the bills, and pays you royalties. On the other side is self-publishing, which offers creative freedom. In this post, I'll explain both self-publishing and traditional publishing to help you decide which way to go.
Understanding self-publishing
Self-publishing is exactly what it sounds like: You are responsible for every aspect of the publishing process. From writing and editing, cover design, and formatting to marketing, it's all on you. You can choose to do it all yourself, or you can hire freelancers to help you with some or all of the steps.
Advantages of self-publishing
One of the biggest advantages of self-publishing is control. You dictate your book’s layout, design, and how you want to market it.
Do you want to put an asterisk (*) or a cute little image for a scene break? The choice is yours! No publisher is telling you they will have to cut certain parts because the manuscript was a tad too long for the genre expectations or that the cover will be a certain colour, even though you hate that colour!
You also get to keep all of the profits. Traditional publishers may offer a royalty rate of around 10%, but if you self-publish you get to keep all your royalties.
You can maximise your returns by selling books through your own platform (use BookVault, for example) so you don't have to pay a third party for some sales. Also, by uploading your book to each platform separately instead of using one platform's "wide distribution" you may get 70% royalties on sales instead of paying an extra distribution fee on each sale made through wide distribution. (Think Apple Books, Google Books, Rakuten [Kobo], Barnes & Noble, etc.)
If you self-publish, you can publish your book whenever you're ready. Once you're done writing, editing, etc., you can publish your book straight away instead of waiting months or even years to get a literary agent to take you on as a client.
Disadvantages of self-publishing
Even though all the profits go to you, when you're self-publishing you have to invest your very own hard-earned money into the production of the book. Authors who choose to self-publish and hire freelancers for editing and cover design may need to fork out £3,000 to £5,000. Don't let this scare you! There is a lot you can do to keep costs down: You can do a lot of things yourself (just invest time, not money), and you can always ask freelancers for a payment plan to spread the costs of professional services.
Marketing your book can be tricky when you're doing it all yourself. A traditional publisher will have a dedicated team to get your book into the hands of readers, but with self-publishing, you are in charge of market research, setting up your author platform, creating a launch strategy, sorting out advertisements, etc.
You may want to read "Guide to choosing a self-publishing press" and "How do I build my author platform?" if you're leaning toward self-publishing.
Understanding traditional publishing
With traditional publishing, a publisher handles almost everything for you. They take care of editing, design, printing, distribution, and often marketing efforts. All you have to worry about is writing the manuscript and showing up wherever the publisher wants you to go (interviews, etc.).
Advantages of traditional publishing
One advantage of traditional publishing is the support a publishing house can offer. Publishers have established networks and lots of marketing and distributing experience, which can help new authors get into bookshops straight away and increase sales.
Depending on how well publishers think your book will be received upon launch, they may give you an advance on your royalties.
Also, a book published by a reputable publisher can get a lot more attention from bookstores, media outlets, and literary critics than a self-published book (depending on your marketing efforts).
Disadvantages of traditional publishing
It can take months, even years for your book to be published. This is why many authors (including those who have been traditionally published) are choosing to self-publish some or all of their books nowadays.
A lot of publishing houses work with literary agents (they do not always take submissions from authors without an agent), so the first step is to try and get a literary agent. This in itself can be a daunting task, as literary agents are swamped with agent query letters daily! If you get an agent to push your manuscript into the hands of publishing houses, they may not think it's worth publishing. And even if they accept your manuscript, authors might wait months, if not years, to see their book hit the shelves after being accepted by a publisher.
When you work with a traditional publisher, they typically own the rights to your manuscript. Depending on the contract you sign, they may own the rights until it is out of print or for the full 70 years of the copyright.
As mentioned before, royalties are usually lower than when you self-publish. Most traditional publishers provide around 5–10% of the book's cover price. This means that your overall earnings could be a lot less in the long run compared to self-publishing.
A typical royalty is 10% of the RRP on hardbacks and 7.5% on paperbacks: so, on a £16.99 hardback the author would receive around £1.70 for each copy sold and on an £8.99 paperback they would receive 67p. This royalty usually drops when retailers demand higher discounts. For instance, at a 52-55% retail discount the author gets four fifths the full royalties, with a further drop on sales at even higher discounts. (Source: Society of Authors)
You may have limited control over your book’s design and marketing strategies. Traditional publishers often make decisions based on what they believe will sell, which may not align with your vision.
Key differences: Royalties and publishing support
When it comes to selecting your publication path, it seems to come down to choosing either royalties and creative control or publishing support.
In self-publishing:
You get higher royalties compared with traditional publishing, and you are in full control of how much royalties you get per sale (depending on which distribution platforms you end up using). You could earn anywhere from 35% to 70% of your book's cover price in royalties.
You have full creative control.
You pay the bills.
If you go with traditional publishing:
You get lower royalties compared with self-publishing. For print books, you could get a cut of 5–10%.
The publisher pays for editing, cover design, marketing, etc.
The publisher owns the rights to your work.
A publisher may pay you an advance. You may not see royalties deposited into your bank account until your book becomes a bestseller, as the publisher will keep any royalties you make off sales until the advance is paid back in full.
Factors to consider when deciding on a publishing path
1. Your goals
What are your long-term goals as an author? Are you writing because you simply want to share your story with the world or because it's your hobby and it makes you happy for people to read your work? If that's the case, I'd say self-publishing is probably the way to go.
If you want to be an author in the traditional publishing sense because the title comes with certain credibility, then start looking for an agent. You can always keep self-publishing as a backup.
2. Your budget
How much are you willing to invest in your book? Self-publishing means you might have to pay for editing, design, and marketing. Traditional publishing doesn't cost you anything.
3. Your skill set
Do you have experience in the different stages of publishing, especially marketing? If the answer is no, traditional publishing might be the best option as you can focus on your writing and let the publishing house do all the heavy lifting for you.
However, if you're willing to put in some time and effort and maybe some money into learning to market your book and hire freelancers for the other bits, self-publishing may be more rewarding.
There are lots of online support groups for self-publishing authors where people talk about what worked for them and how to go about marketing yourself.
4. Your timeline
How quickly do you want your book published? If you’re eager to get your manuscript out, self-publishing is the obvious choice as it bypasses having to find a literary agent and the lengthy review processes of traditional houses. If you're not in a rush to publish, you can go either way.
Conclusion
In the end, there is no right or wrong choice. The most important thing is to pursue your passion for writing and sharing your stories with the world. It may take time, determination, and planning, but every word you write gets you closer to your dream.
What will it be?
0%Traditional publishing only
0%Self-publishing all the way
0%I will try to go Traditional. If that fails: Self-publish
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