Self-Publishing VS Traditional

When writing a manuscript, the common end goal is to publish your work for people to read and enjoy. However, with the various forms of publishing available, it’s difficult to decide which is best suitable for your book and your career. Hence, this article will offer some information on both sides to give you a better idea of which route to pursue between traditional and self-publishing.

Time and Money

After spending weeks, months or even years of working on our stories, perfecting every phrase and adding just enough detail to immerse your readers, it’s stressful to think of the time required for publishing or promoting your work. Authors can find themselves spending their precious time searching for the right literary agent to negotiate the best deal for their manuscript. There are no up-front costs when having a literary agent, as their earnings come as a percentage of the advance you earn. According to Writer's Digest, the common commission is 10-15% of your advance. Although this may seem like a downside, keep in mind that their income is solely based on the commission they earn, thus making it a significant driving factor for your agent to give you a top-dollar deal to ensure they gain a sizable amount of the advance. Despite having the help of literary agents, these authors may encounter multiple rejections from publishers. In other instances, authors who get a deal can focus on resuming to doing their passion after discussing the offer and signing the contracts. Meanwhile, as authors are writing their next book, a team of skilled professional cover designers, formatters and editors will make the tweaks to refine your manuscript into a work of art. Following this process, there is a team of marketers who will promote your book through a variety of avenues, thus increasing your sales. 

With self-publishing, individuals can publish their book whenever they please, especially with Kindle, which is readily available online for any author to access. Unfortunately, the designing of your book cover, formatting and editing will be in your hands. Those who do not have an aptitude for these areas are more likely to hire individuals to do it for them, spending approximately $1,000 to $4,000 in total. However, if you have the capacity to take on these projects to publish on Kindle, but do not wish to spend money, check out my article How to Save On Self-Publishing on Kindle, for some tools I used to publish my book. You would also have to account for the time you will exert to market your novel, especially if you lack a social presence online or a new author in the books industry. If you have many book ideas or busy because of other responsibilities, you may be allotting more time to promote your work and less time doing what you love. Hence, it is best to choose traditional publishing, to avoid losing money on these services that come free of cost for traditional publishing.

Creative Control

Whether it be a fantasy novel or a short story relating to historical fiction, much time and thinking go into the creative process of writing your book. Thus, with the various intentions and reasons for structuring your plot and characters the way they are, you would want your readers to appreciate them. When traditionally publishing your book, your author’s rights are often taken away, forcing the book to belong to the publishing company. The publishing company typically owns the book until you die, plus 70 years, meaning you cannot reclaim it ever. Even if you share a small portion of your book with your readers, it can lead to severe consequences for you with your publisher. On another note, the publishing company can also market your book any way they please, meaning they can overlook key aspects of your story, in order to appeal to customers. Since you are bound by your contract, you can expect those signed documents to prevent you from publishing any stories that mention the same character or place as the work you submitted. This only lasts for roughly three years, depending on which publishing house you sign with. Thus, it is better to submit a stand-alone book for this type of route.

Unlike traditional publishing, one major selling point of self-publishing is the creative control you have over the novel. As you have the rights to your novel, you can share excerpts of your work without little to no fear of getting in trouble, except for Kindle from Amazon, which only allows 10% or lower if you enroll in their KDP select program. Self-publishing, especially with Kindle, also does not prevent you from publishing books with the same characters or places, making it easier for you to publish books belonging to a series when you can. 

Earnings

Aside from the joy authors bring to readers through their work which earns these hard-working, dedicated writers happiness, another benefit of publishing is the profits one can make from the sales of their novel. With traditional publishing, authors can earn thousands of dollars in their advance, typically ranging from $5,000 to $15,000. After the company earns back the amount spent for your advance through their sales, you earn a 10 to 15% royalty for each sale. As research shows by Scribe Media, traditionally published books sell an average of 3,000 copies in their lifetime, with 250 sales in the first year, meaning you earn a hefty profit in case your novel does not exceed that number in sales.

If you are thinking of self-publishing, note that there is no advance, but a high percentage of royalties. Self-published on average can earn between 40 to 60% on each sale. However, although the percentage of revenue earned on each sale is higher, statistics show that the average self-published novel only sells roughly 250 copies in its lifetime. From personal experience, after publishing my book on Kindle, I earned roughly CAD $2.50 to $4.00 profit for each sale, for both eBooks and paperbacks, along with 0.006 for each page read through Kindle Unlimited. Thus, using the aforementioned statistic and my typical royalties, the amount does not exceed $1,000. Hence, if you are someone who is low on money, this may not be the ideal route to take.

Conclusion

As each route has its own pros and cons, it is crucial to see which route is suitable for you. If you are curious to see why I chose to self-publish or what I have done to promote my book, send me a message through my website. Also, check out my book, Weapons of an Empress, on Amazon. Every sale means peace of mind for me, and the motivation to keep writing articles that will help you with your writing journey.