Self-Publishing Benefits Outweigh Traditional Publishing
82Traditional Publishers Shy About Signing New Authors
One of the main reasons so many authors are self-publishing today is twofold. One of the main reasons is because there is a huge market to capitalize on for POD or "Print on Demand" publishers. The other reason is because traditional publishers want to sign a sure thing when it comes to authors and their books.
The art of getting published these days is a rare commodity indeed. Many times, authors that are in the market of trying to get published will write umpteen query letters, send off countless chapters for initial review to agents and then receive the "Thanks, but no thanks, Don't call us, we'll call you" letter. Dejected and frustrated, the author pulls themselves up by the bootstraps and hones their manuscript once more, writing an even more intriguing query letter to the next agent or publisher only to get continually rejected.
There is something romantic to the notion of getting rejected as a writer, but after months and months of it, it gets very borish and tiresome. The postal clerk has learned your name, comments on the agency or publisher you're sending the manuscript to, automatically knows the postage it will take to ship your 3 chapters to anywhere in the U.S. and so on and so on.
How in the world can a new author complete with a James Patterson, Stephen King or John Grisham? They can't. All of these authors have long successful careers and have had million sellers. They are the cash cows for the traditional publisher. Is it any wonder traditional houses are so hesitant to take a chance on a new author? Much less spending money on promotion? Hence, the multitudes of rejections being cast like confetti upon eager new authors.
Well, new authors are taking matters into their own hands! POD companies (Print on Demand) have noticed that their are literally millions of people that want to publish their memoirs, fiction, non-fiction, etc. without having to go through the years of anguish over rejections.
Say hello to the world of Self-Publishing!
So what are the benefits to self-publishing versus Traditional Publishing?
Self-publishing offers the author a much larger royalty
Self-publishing costs are relatively inexpensive, sometimes even free!
Self-publishing doesn't require storage space for your printed books, as each one is ordered, a book is printed and mailed to the customer. No muss, no fuss!
Self-publishing offers the ability to sell your book online with Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com as the Traditional publishers do!
Self-publishing offers fast, easy formatting, book design and other book services to the author for a relatively low price.
Self-publishing offers immediate clout to their authors because they have a book in hand to sell.
Self-publishers will never refuse your work!
That's alot of perks, so what are the disadvantages of self-publishing?
All formatting, editing, proofing, designing etc. must be done by the author or farmed out for others to do.
ALL promotion is done by the author
ISBN #'s must be purchased in order to sell your book in bookstores and they can be costly.
The author must register as their own publisher in order to receive an ISBN # which takes some time.
Just because your book is listed with Barnes & Noble doesn't mean it's going to sell a million copies and allow you to retire! Did I mention ALL promotion such as planning book signings, contacting news outlets, getting book reviews, etc. is done solely by the author.
It's alot of work, but when you hold a copy of your book that you are so proud of, in your hand, there is nothing like it! For more information about self-publishing, check out sites such as : http://www.lulu.com/, http://www.booksurge.com/, http://www.iuniverse.com/ and http://www.authors-promotion.com/publishers.php .
Good Luck!
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Taryn,
I could really identify with your comments on self-publishing. As a book coach for 20 years, I recommend self-publishing to my clients. They need to know that getting an agent and a publisher does not neccesarily make them famous. In fact, agents, publishers, and Oprah only accept one to two percent of unknown authors. They want Hollywood stories and other books by famous people. I can add to your statement on self-published authors - "ALL promotion is done by the author" is also true for traditional publishers. They don't do much for new authors. So, it makes self-publishing far more attractive when you know publishers don't have the author's interests at heart.
I have been both traditionally published and self-published. The current score is 3 traditional and one self. I suspect that I will not go back. I have made more and been able to expand in all sorts of directions specifically because I am the boss of all I do.
Oh yeah, and I so much agree with you (and you motivated me to finally do it) that I have written a hub about it, Self-Publishing 101. :)
Very informative. I always wondered how that works.
Stan
All very good points Taryn. There is a lot to take into consideration. Some things as a "wannabe" writer I was not aware of, and that's all good. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I think I'll go on over and check out Self-Publishing 101.
great post. the flak against self-publishing may still be here, but something like this should open people's minds.
All formatting, editing, proofing, designing etc. must be done by the author or farmed out for others to do.--not necessarily. Self-Publishing Companies like Authorhouse offer full packages that include all of this!!
ALL promotion is done by the author--not necessarily true either. If you use a self publishing company, you can have them package together the Full Design and Layout, Distribution to bookstores AND marketing/advertising!
ISBN #'s must be purchased in order to sell your book in bookstores and they can be costly.--this is true. Which is why using a company can be beneficial. The ISBN is always included.
Just because your book is listed with Barnes & Noble doesn't mean it's going to sell a million copies and allow you to retire! --true story. But again, if you self publish with a POD company, the chances of you getting the exposure you need to get on the shelves is MUCH greater than trying to just do everything on your own and hope it works. Use a companies expertise, dont just rely on your own footwork.
Booksurge has now merged (i.e. become) Createspace. And, Createspace DOES have a free option. After researching alot of the other companies, I chose to go with CreateSpace.
As I've posted before, most "traditional" publishers will expect you to do your own marketing/publicity these days. So, I'd just as soon keep some control.
This is excellent and extremely accurate advice. Believe me, I've been there and done that with my self-published novel plus I work in publishing, so I know of what I talk!
This is bad advice for any new author. Any talented aspiring author should settle for nothing less than a traditional publisher. Saying that publishers don't sign new authors is an excuse made by people that cannot get published. New authors are published all of the time (where do you think new authors come from?).
And not to be mean because I mean this constructively, but if your opening paragraph is any indication of your writing skills, it is clear why you cannot find a publisher. Set one should be working on your craft.
I am wondering if it's possible to self-publish on multiple sites? For instance, I would like to publish my book on createspace as well as lulu.
Thank you for this information. I wish I could kiss youfor it. GBY.
crashcromwell Level 1 Commenter 3 years ago
Very well done site Taryn. Although you didn't say anything in here that I hadn't already thought of, as I weighed the pros and cons of self-publishing, you do cover all the points I could identify.
I'm not sure when you published this hub, but a couple months ago Amazon developed a strategy whereby they will not include books that are POD unless they are printed by Amazon's POD operation, BookSurge. This, obviously, resulted in a lot of consternation among writers. Although I don't like what Amazon has done, I know a lot of writers need the exposure Amazon provides. The solution could be to enter into a deal with BookSurge for books sold on Amazon, and use a different company for sales in other venues. That way, Amazon doesn't get to corner the market, which I suspect is their motive.
Jim Henry