Self-Publishing Vs. Traditional Publishing: 4 things I learned.
Traditional VS Self-Publishing? The never-ending battle.
We all heard it before. The topic of which is the better publishing; traditional (trad-pubs) or indie (self-publishing). In this blog, I’ll discuss 4-topics on trad-pub and why I chose self-publishing instead.
TIME
CONTROL
MARKETING
ROYALTIES
TIME
It’s been regarded for decades that being traditionally published is a highly coveted status, since you have to go through all the hoops; you spend months querying agents and those agents have to go spend time finding editors. After several more months, you finally found an editor who then asks you do some revisions/edits. After several rounds of editing (which can take weeks to several months I hear), the editor approves it and then off it goes to some obscure hands where you may not see it published after several more months to a year.
I maybe pointing out the ‘time’ of the publishing process because I was surprised to hear that it can take 1-2 years (from the day an agent accepts you) before you see your book published. Yeah, that’s a long time.
Yes, I can be patient but several life factors came into play when I started writing and the thought of having to wait and be rejected by numerous agents and the additional wait to get it published after the revisions are not my cup of tea. I do understand that editors have to “gatekeep” and not all books can be published. Traditional publishing houses are a business, and they need to know if they can bank off your book.
CONTROL
Now, this subject is a little nuanced from what I can tell, and it all depends on your contract. I’ve watched and read way too many accounts from both employees of the traditional publishing houses and from authors on the issue of control, so that’s why I said the subject is a little grey. After deep diving into many author testimonials, it seems that you do lose some, if not all, creative control over your books content, even the book’s cover.
Many, many, many authors on Tiktok, Reddit, and YouTube claim that once you go traditional publishing, you give the editors control over what’s in the book. They can tell you to add this or that, remove this scene and add that scene instead. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to tell my story, they way I see it and no one else. I understand one of the key components of writing, is to think reader first, but in the eyes of an editor they maybe thinking money first and by adding a ‘trope’ here and there, they book could sell more. I believe in providing VALUE to the reader by taking them on a unique thrill ride, and not toss in tropes that can ‘sell fast’.
MARKETING
This part I’m confused about. I always thought traditional publishing houses always took over the marketing aspect of the book. They have the funds, reach and connections to do so, but I’ve been reading and watching many authors say they had to do the marketing. Could it be the specific contract they got? I don’t know. Now, I was already set on doing my own marketing, I even have a very risky and brazen idea for to market my book but I was surprised to hear that traditional publishing houses don’t do most of the marketing. This is a grey area the deeper I dug.
Compiling what I can gather from various author stories and former employees from traditional publishing houses, authors have to do most of the social marketing, meaning they have to publicly market there own book with their own time and money. I don’t mind that at all since I had already set my mind to it, but it can be a little off putting for some first time authors who now have to setup their socials, a website, marketing ads, maybe even a newsletter. Trust me, it’s a lot to do, especially if you’re doing it all by yourself.
In this day and age, digital marketing can be done pretty easily. Sites like Hootsuite can post on all your socials with 1-click.
I even signed up for the Google Career Certificate Program and completed it, just so I can learn how to market my book effectively. It was a fun course and I suggest anyone attempting to market their book (or any product), take this course because it gives really helpful strategies. I’m an SEO fanatic! (IYKYK)
ROYALTIES and ADVANCES
Aww yes, the hot topic that every author wants to talk about. Here is where there’s a huge divide between traditional publishing and self-publishing. Depending on the contract with the trad-pub, royalties are abysmal compared to online, print-on-demand sellers like Amazon, Draft-2-Digital, Ingram Spark etc. Before we jump into royalties, lets chat about Advances.
From what I researched, trad-pubs will pay you an ‘advance’, which is basically buying the rights of your book. This advance can vary widely, depending if they see your book as being profitable or not. This advance is split/paid in several different payments across a certain time period. Definitely money that’s not life-altering. Now here’s the kick to all this - you have to ‘earn out’ the advance to start receiving royalties. That’s right, although they paid you, you won’t see a paycheck until your book earns enough to match your advance.
For example, if you get a 20,000$ advance, you won’t see royalties until book sales earn exactly 20k. And depending on the contract, if your book fails to earn out that 20k mark within a certain time period, you don’t pay back the publisher, but you won’t make money from royalties. Yikes! Let’s take a look at royalties now!
Traditional Publishing royalties:
Paperback - 5%-8% approx.
Hardcover - 15% approx.
Ebook/Digital - 25% approx
Self-Publishing (print-on-demand companies):
Generally, up to 70% on all formats from all print-on-demand companies and varies depending on format. For example, Amazon offers up to 70% for ebooks, and up to 60% for paperback/hardcover copies.
So for me, based on these 4 factors I went self-publishing, mainly because I prefer to have creative control and I get a higher royalty payout. However, this all depends on my marketing skills and if I can generate awareness and engagement around my book. At the time of writing this (February 2, 2024), I am in the last editing phase and plan to self-publish soon on Amazon and Draft-2-Digital. I’ll add an update to see how it all went.
Regardless of which route you take, take the time to consider each. Do the research and ask yourself deeply, which can you wholeheartedly go for. Then go for it!
Thanks for reading this and wish you all good luck on your publishing dreams! I know you can do it and can’t wait to see you out there! Cheers!
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