Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing

One of the biggest decisions you’ll need to make after you write a book is what route you prefer to take to get it published.

Traditionally, you would have to send your book to a publisher and hope they would agree to print it. But advances in technology in recent decades have allowed authors to reclaim the publishing process and self-publish books.

So how do you decide which process is going to be best for your book? Below, we dive into the pros and cons of each route and how to decide which is right for you.

What Is Traditional Publishing?

Traditional publishing is the process most people think of when they think about book publishing. 

Once your book is written, you prepare to submit it to either a publisher or a literary agent. (Which you choose will depend on whether you want to publish with the Big 5 or a smaller regional publisher.)

If you choose to work through a literary agent, your agent will then pitch your manuscript to editors at publishing houses. If the publishers decide to buy the rights to your book, they may offer you an advance on your royalties in anticipation of the sales they’ll make.

From there, your book will go into production. It will go through editing, copy editing, layout, and cover design before finally going into print. They’ll also create a marketing plan, set up any signings and events, and work with their distribution network to get your book out to stores across the country.

Once your book is in print, you’ll start earning royalties on each sale of your book. If you received an advance, you’ll need to earn the entire thing back in royalties before you start getting any additional proceeds off your book.

What is Self-Publishing?

Self-publishing is a route to getting your book in print that doesn’t rely on your manuscript being accepted by a publisher. Instead, you can work through platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing to get your book in print.

With self-publishing, you control every step of what happens with your book. You can decide whether you want to get it edited, what the cover looks like, and even whether you want to invest in an interior layout.

You also completely control the marketing and distribution process that happens after your book is in print. If you want your book available in stores, you’ll have to negotiate that with the store owners. You’ll also be in charge of managing any publicity for your book, including social media marketing, website management, and so on.

You’ll have to pay the printing costs of the book, as well as any sales proceeds your distributors take out, but otherwise, you’ll receive 100 percent of the profits on each sale.

Pros of Traditional Publishing

There are several benefits to choosing to sell your book to a traditional publishing house.

Improved Marketing and Distribution

The single biggest upside of traditional publishing is the marketing and distribution channels you’ll get access to. When you self-publish, your book sales are limited to the number of people you can personally reach through your own network and the marketing you can afford.

When you work with a publisher, you’ll be able to take advantage of their established connections. Larger publishers will already have deals worked out with bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Books a Million and will be able to get your book on shelves across the country. 

They also have teams of publicists with strong networks and large social media followings who can get the word about your book launch out to a massive audience.

Better Chance of Higher Sales

The hard truth is that the vast majority of books never break 1,000 sales. Becoming one of those rockstar authors with millions of sales and a worldwide signing tour is as unlikely as becoming a movie star or a professional athlete.

When you work with a traditional publisher, you drastically improve your chances of breaking that 1,000 copy threshold. All those marketing and distribution channels do a very effective job of getting your book in front of as many readers as possible.

In the world of the Big 5, any book that sells fewer than 25,000 copies is considered a failure; the lowest sales targets are around 5,000 copies.

If you’re hoping to capture a national audience with your book, a traditional publisher gives you a much better chance of realizing that dream.

Fewer Publishing Mistakes

There’s a lot that goes into the publishing process that you only learn by going through it. If you’ve never published a book or worked in the publishing industry, you’re going to be prone to a lot of costly mistakes.

A traditional publisher can help to make sure that your book reaches the world in the best possible presentation. 

They’ll help you polish your writing to a shine, make sure it’s grammatically clean, and design the interior of your book in a way that will be not only easy on the eyes, but engaging to read. They’ll also give you a top-notch cover design and a printing setup that will produce the best possible product.

Having all this expertise on your side can give your book the absolute best shot at success. 

Cons of Traditional Publishing

Of course, the traditional publishing world isn’t all sunshine, rainbows, multi-thousand-dollar advances, and sky-high sales. 

More Barriers to Publication

When you decide to work through a traditional publisher, you automatically face more barriers to publication. 

You, of course, have to get your manuscript accepted by the publisher. And if you want to get your book in with one of the Big 5 publishers, you’ll have to get accepted with a literary agent as well.

This slows down the process significantly, and between putting in queries and submissions and the actual publication process, you could be looking at three years or more before you see your book in print.

Less Control

Working with a traditional publisher also means you have much less control over the presentation of your book. 

With the Big 5 publishers in particular, you may not have much say in the cover design or even the title of your book. These publishers make decisions based on what is likely to sell well, and your original vision for the way your book looks can sometimes get lost in the process.

Lower Royalties

The other primary drawback of a traditional publishing deal is that you’ll receive much lower royalties. Authors with the Big 5 typically earn between 5 and 10 percent royalties on paperback books. This means that if your book is selling for $19.95 in stores, you’ll get between $1 and $2 per sale.

And you may not even see those royalties at first when your book hits the shelves. If you received an advance for your book, you have to earn back every dollar of that advance before you start getting more royalties.

So let’s say you got a $10,000 advance on a book that you’re earning 5 percent royalties on and that’s retailing for $19.95. You’ll have to sell 10,001 copies of your book before you earn another dollar off the sales of your book.

Pros of Self-Publishing

Self-publishing comes with several benefits, especially for authors who want to maintain tighter control over their work.

Higher Royalties

Easily the biggest pro of self-publishing for many authors is the increased royalty percentage. If you publish through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Amazon’s self-publishing platform, you can get royalties as high as 70 percent. 

If you published that same $20 book that was earning you $1 per sale through KDP, you’d earn $14 per sale.

Faster, Simpler Process

The self-publishing process can also be a lot faster than traditional publishing routes. As mentioned, if you plan to publish your book traditionally, you could be looking at a minimum of three years between finishing your manuscript and seeing it in print.

The self-publishing process can be measured in weeks, rather than months or years, depending on your specific situation. If your manuscript is grammatically clean, short, and light on pictures, you could have a professional layout done and a cover designed in under a month.

Once you begin the upload process on the KDP platform, it will typically take 24 hours for your book to be approved and available for sale to the world. You can order hard copies that will arrive at your door in a matter of days.

More Direct Control

Authors who prefer to maintain direct control over their writing may also be better off going the self-publishing route. 

When you sign a traditional publishing contract, you sign away the publishing rights to your book. This means you can no longer publish that particular material, in whole or in part, anywhere else on your own.

It is important to note that as the author, you always retain the copyright to your writing. This means that you still hold the intellectual rights to your writing. Anyone who tries to reprint the same writing and present it as their own work will be committing plagiarism. 

If a publisher is asking you to sign over the copyright to your manuscript, you should strongly consider looking for a different publisher.

But aside from issues of copyright and publishing rights, authors who work with the Big 5 publishers lose most say in how their book is presented. As we discussed before, you may have little to no say in what cover your book has, and some publishers may even wish to change the title of your book.

Cons of Self-Publishing

Self-publishing also comes with its own set of challenges, pitfalls, and costs for prospective authors.

More Potential Pitfalls

It’s hard to overstate how much expertise goes into every step of the publishing process. If you haven’t worked in the publishing industry, there are things you aren’t going to know you don’t know, and you’re going to make mistakes.

You may think your book looks amazing in Microsoft Word, but that’s not going to translate well to the printed page. Professional publishers use specialized tools and specific guidelines that make their books easy to read. 

If your book has a lot of visual elements, the potential for catastrophic mistakes in this area only goes up.

Cover design is even more challenging for a novice author to get right on their own. Publishing houses employ teams of talented, trained graphic designers who know how to put together an attractive cover. 

There are dozens of tiny details that go into making one of these designs look good, and missing even one can make your book look cheap and unprofessional.

When you self-publish, you’re a lot more likely to fall victim to these issues and wind up with a design that doesn’t do your story justice.

More Marketing Work

Marketing a book on your own is a daunting process, especially if you don’t have a large network to begin with.

At a minimum, you need to set up a website and social media pages for your book. It’s a good idea to post on these social media pages at least once a day, and possibly more than once a day, depending on the platform.

You may also want to run ads on Amazon to help get more eyes on your book page. You might also consider running ads on social media and/or Google to help spread the word about your book.

And the more person-to-person networking you can do, the better your book is likely to perform. This can mean attending fairs or conferences with your book, setting up signings, and talking to local indie bookstore owners about getting your book on the shelves.

Higher Cost to Publish

Self-published authors often have to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars out-of-pocket in order to see their book in print.

Now the first important thing to note is that a publishing platform like KDP should never charge you up-front to publish your book. Services that charge you a publishing fee are not legitimate and should not be trusted. 

That being said, you will likely want to invest in professional services to get your book ready for publication. Hiring a copy editor to clean up your manuscript is an absolute must, and hiring a book designer to do your interior layout is just as crucial. And unless you have a degree in graphic design, you’ll want to hire a professional to create a cover for you.

And all those marketing ads we discussed a moment ago cost money. Even if you’re doing all the work yourself after publication, the expenses are going to add up fast.

Deciding Which Is Right for You

The truth is there is no one-size-fits-all solution for getting your book out to the world. Each book is unique and will thrive in different circumstances.

Traditional publishing may be the best route for you if 

  • You have a large selling platform or you’re well-connected in a certain region. Publishers are more likely to accept books that have a built-in audience of people who are likely to buy the book.
  • You don’t want to or are unable to invest a lot of energy in marketing your book. A publishing house will have a marketing system in place so you won’t have to manage it on your own.
  • You’re willing to commit to your book for the long haul. Finding an agent and then a publisher can be a long process, but if you’re willing to invest that time, you can give your book a fantastic platform.
  • You’re flexible on the presentation of your book. If you’re okay with giving up control over your cover design and title in order to give your book the best shot at success, traditional publishing can be a good choice for you.
  • Your primary goal is getting the maximum number of sales for your book. If you’re committed to seeing thousands of copies of your book sold in stores across the country, traditional publishing is your best chance to achieve that dream.

Self-publishing might be a better route for you if

  • You want to maintain full control over your book’s presentation. If you need to have the final say on how your book looks, self-publishing is the route for you.
  • You’re willing and able to invest some money in your book. If you work with a book shepherd, you can wind up with a beautiful, professional-looking self-published book, and if you invest enough in marketing, you can give it a reasonable chance at success. But you have to be willing and able to put that money in up-front before the royalties start rolling in.
  • You already have a strong personal network of people willing to buy the book. If you belong to a large professional organization, private club, religious organization, or similar group, you may not need a publisher to do the marketing legwork for you. In that case, you may benefit from the higher royalties self-publishing offers.
  • Your number-one goal is to get your book in print fast, regardless of sales. If you just want to see your book in print as soon as you can and sales aren’t a big priority for you, self-publishing is the best way to make that happen.
  • You’re just publishing your book for yourself or your family. The fantastic thing about self-publishing is that it opens up opportunities for anyone to see their book in print. If you’re writing your book just for yourself or your family, self-publishing can allow you to preserve it in a beautiful printed and bound format.

A book shepherd like Quickbeam can discuss your project and priorities with you and help you decide on the best route to publishing for your particular situation.

Get the Guidance You Need

Traditional publishing and self-publishing both have their merits and downfalls. Deciding which path is right for you is a matter of evaluating your priorities and the setup for your book. 

If you’re trying to decide on the best path to publication, get in touch with us at Quickbeam Literary Consulting. I offer expert guidance in editing, book design, publishing routes, and publicity. 

Contact me today and start working with a book editor in Lexington, Kentucky, who is dedicated to helping you bring your story to the world.