When writing a book, you often go back and forth between traditional or self-publishing. The dilemma is real because, even though they both offer great advantages, they also come with restrictions.
So how do you know what’s best for you?
Well, it depends…
It depends on your situation and what matters to you. For some, what matters will be the display of their book in a bookstore, the help of an experienced and recognized team, the higher earnings through royalties, or the freedom to decide what’s best for your book. Many writers, especially those with an established Author platform, will prefer self-publishing.
Why? Well, the first barrier to traditional publishing is to find an agent, and after that, the process can take a very long time. Of course, it also presents great advantages such as being supported by an experienced team, having more chances to be on the top of prestigious best selling lists, or having the recognition of the industry. Traditional publishing is a great form of publishing, but it’s not for everyone.
So when do you know self-publishing is right for you?
Self-Publishing refers to a type of publishing where you take on the entire workload. If you’re not ready to wear the writer, marketer and seller’s hat, you can stop here. This won’t be for you.
Self-publishing is meant as a way to fully favor the author. Although in execution, it has its own limitations.
What that means to you…
As a self-publisher, you first have to have a manuscript to publish, meaning a manuscript that has been edited with a story and characters fully developed. Parts of what a publisher does are to proofread and edit the manuscript to meet the set quality standards. So as a self-publisher, you first have to set a high quality standard, which you aspire to meet or work towards.
After that, you have to come up with a cover design that best suits your work and a title that works well with it. The title must be catchy, and the cover must be attractive. Readers do judge your book by its cover. Think of what you do when you go to a bookstore or scroll through a list. There are definitely a few pitfalls to avoid before publishing.
Then come publishing and distribution. You have to figure out whether to provide your work in print or through electronic media as it best suits your needs. Distribution of the book relies on your marketing prowess and the reception that it gets once it is released.
Pros of self-publishing
Full control over your work
As opposed to traditional publishing, you get to exercise full and decisive control over your work. You get to decide what needs to be edited, how the ideas are presented, the title of your book and the cover design. These are all roles that are taken on by the publisher when it comes to traditional publishing, which can be a real downer and hindrance to your creative prowess.
Fast publishing
When it comes to traditional publishing, you could be on the waiting list for months before your book is published. As a self-publisher, you decide when to publish your book and what avenues to take. Of course, it is not an easy process, but in comparison, it is a fast option. It can take a matter of hours to release it on Amazon and months even years through traditional publishing.
Maximum control of the profits
As part of the publishing deal you get from a publisher, you relinquish the rights to your book in exchange for an advance and royalties. The royalty rates are usually low and unsatisfactory when you factor in all the heart and work you had to pour into creating the book. As a self-publisher, most of the revenue the book generates goes directly to you. You retain full rights over the material and can control it as per your preference. So if you have a large platform (not talking social media, but overall), you may prefer this route. As a new writer, traditional publishing might still be the best avenue for you, yet again it depends on how committed you are.
Sharpening your skills
The more you self-publish, the greater the experience you gain. Over time, this helps you develop useful skills that reduce the resources you spend publishing subsequent books. You build useful relations that help you become more accomplished in the industry, and you figure out shortcuts in the system that you can use to your advantage.
Cons of self-publishing
Low-quality standards
I can’t stress enough how important having your book edited by a professional is. Since there isn’t a set standard of quality, self-publishers are expected to publish high-quality work. Unfortunately, the industry usually has a view of low quality and poorly edited work when it comes to self-publishing. I’m sure you’ve read books where there are so many typos and errors that you can’t enjoy the book. Yes – it also happens with traditional publishing, but much less. Lots of readers have become skeptical of the work that comes off of self-publishing. Therefore, even if your work has exceptional quality, it takes time for it to be recognized and to receive the appreciation it should.
Costly venture
You will foot the bill for everything, which is a very costly affair. You need to pay for marketing, book cover, and more. Marketing is important to get exposure, so that’s why having an author platform is so important.Generating the income needed to break even on such a project, and the low uptake the book might get from the market might put you in serious financial jeopardy.
Too much work
Since you will be working on everything by yourself, you have too much of a workload on your hands. This affects your performance and sets you back by a considerable amount of time. You might easily get stressed out and give up on the project due to frustration.
Alternatives to self-publishing
Hybrid publishing
This is a great alternative to self-publishing since it is part self-publishing and part traditional publishing. It limits the cons of both self-publishing and traditional publishing and offers you a wonderful solution.
Traditional publishing
This alternative is one that you should seriously consider before committing to anything. Despite the disadvantages, traditional publishing allows you to rely (mostly) on agents and publishers who are experienced and recognized by the industry. Yes – it’ll take more time, but it’ll come with the opportunity to target a larger audience.
All in All, self-publishing is great for anyone with a large platform, who wants more power in the creative process and is willing to invest lots of time in the promotion. Indie Authors have a business entrepreneur type of mindset and are capable of hiring professionals to help.
Traditional and Self-Publishing are great forms of publishing, but depending on what you’re looking for, one might be better for you than the other. Plus, many successful authors used all the publishing forms. Again, it depends on what you’re looking for at that time.
One of the most profound changes the internet has helped to bring is the ability to self-publish. It was not long ago that writing a book required getting support from a publisher and the expenditure of thousands of dollars. Today, people around the world publish novels, reports, and other works for a fraction of the cost.
Warning: The following comes after you wrote a compelling and well developed story that has been professionally edited, and not before. So, here are five common pitfalls that you should avoid if you want to see your work sell.
[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]“The good news about self publishing is you get to do everything yourself. The bad news about self publishing is you get to do everything yourself.” Lori Lesko[/tweet_box]
Interesting Title
The title has two jobs: it should be interesting enough to catch people’s attention and fit per the general topic of your book. It helps if it uses keywords that readers can search for when finding titles of subjects that your book mirrors. But that’s more for non-fiction. Your title helps market your book, so be sure that it fits the subject, and is interesting enough to garner a closer look.
Bad Cover Design
Despite the old saying, many people do judge whether they are going to purchase a book by its cover. You will need to have a good, professional, and interesting cover to help sell your book. It should be a cover that appears professionally designed, uses the right color palettes, and has typography that catches the eye. Plus, it should be attractive both in small and large sizes so that it can sell whether seen on the screens of computers or mobile devices.
Poor Author’s Photo or Bio
You may not consider your photo or short biography to be interesting enough to put on your book. Your readers will appreciate to know you a little more. Your bio should be one that establishes you as an authority, even if this is your first book. Plus, your photo should be professional. Do not go for a goofy or complex photo, but rather a simple, straightforward image that conveys your work.
Poor Description
Your book description needs to be clear and concise if you want to really hook the person into reading your work. It pays to use the services of a copy editor who can write a catching, powerful description that can pull people into your work. Writing a great pitch isn’t always easy, so it may be worth having an outside view on your work do it. In addition, having testimonials that speak to the quality and interest of your work helps substantially when it comes to sales.
Making Your Book Difficult to Read
Digital printing can help you save money by creating a book that has fewer pages. But, if you print your novel on letter-size pages with tight lines and small margins, it will be very hard to read. You are far better off spending more money and getting enough pages so that your book is easy to read.
[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]“Anyone who says it’s easy to self-publish a book is either lying or doing a shitty job.” Nan McCarthy[/tweet_box]
By avoiding these five pitfalls, you can boost the sales potential of your book and create opportunities for future success with sequels or new works. Don’t take shortcuts! It will be detrimental to your work.
Writing a book is far from being easy. It’s only one part of the process and what follows is also quite a challenge, but the likelihood of a publisher or agent taking you on as a client increases if you have an author platform. This is a crucial part that you must start building early enough in the process. To truly appreciate what an author platform brings to the table and the value it adds to you as an author, we must first look at what an author platform and what it really means for an author to have a platform.
What is an author platform?
An author platform is hard to define, but it mainly refers to the exposure that an author receives because of who they are. In other words, you’re ability to market you as an author, your book, and what you’re doing to make this happen.
Jane Friedman’s definition is to me straightforward and efficient. It’s “an ability to sell books because of who you are or who you can reach.”
To have an author platform, you need to build an audience, and that audience and how you reach out to them is what defines your platform. When I say that it has to do with who you are, I really mean you as an author and a person.
A common mistake is to think that an author platform is only your Social Media presence. Well, It’s only one part of the big picture. It can be your Website, your blog, your face to face with your readers, your ability to be on radio or TV. It’s the impact/exposure you have that will lead to the sale of your book. Finally, when authors market their book, they also market themselves as an Author, but also as a person especially if the story is something you’re familiar with.
An author platform is vital to anyone who will write non-fiction and is becoming more and more important if you write fiction and you’re not established. For fiction writers, your story and writing will always be what’s most important, but then agents or publishers will google you and see what you’re made of. So more than ever, an author platform is important.
Importance of the author platform
Marketability
An agent or publisher is more than likely to take you on as a client if they are assured of your demand value. Unless you are an established author with a strong credibility or a celebrity, then your writing and story is the only thing you can showcase, and sometimes it’s not enough. Having a solid following, however, assures the agent or publisher of your demand value. It shows that as an author, your work is appreciated by enough readers to ensure sales once published on a commercial scale.
Improves your credibility
In this day and age, basically, anyone can claim to be an author. With the right material, people can publish books and certify themselves as authors. To the agent or publisher, that is not a guarantee of your expertise. Having a book out there does not mean that you are a successful or promising investment. Having an author platform, on the other hand, proves to the publisher or agent that you are a credible investment. Your platform acts as proof of the authenticity of your work and as a testament to its quality. Certainly, the larger the platform, the higher your value increases.
Provides a ready market
Having an author platform gives you an already established market that you can use to promote your work. Is this of any benefit considering the publisher or agent will be doing most of that? You cannot place full reliance on the publisher or agent to market your work. Furthermore, they cannot guarantee that after marketing your work, it will fare well in a new market against already established authors. A lot of the marketing work will fall on you, so it is important that you have an author platform, which provides a market for your work.
Increases exposure
As mentioned, your author platform can act as an avenue to reach out to more people. If you have an author platform, you can use this as a stepping-stone to drawing in more readers into your following. Most times, if your work is truly exceptional, you will not have to ask your readers to help you bring in more people into the fold. Instead, your work will do all the talking for you, and you will find your platform growing. If you need a good system to sell your book, I do recommend to read Tim Grahl’s “Your first 1000 copies.” It’s a great book.
Idea generation
As an author, there may come a time when you need fresh ideas for new books. An author platform might come in handy in such a situation. Your readers might offer some useful insight into what they want from you or what they expect of your books and characters. Do you, for instance, need a book series for a certain title? If so, how would the sequels progress? What is expected of the main characters and how can you keep the readers glued to your books? They can generate ideas for a sequel, and it will give you an idea of what your readers want from you. Also, the more you see this kind of comments, the better it is because it means they are involved in your story. At the end of the day, you remain the author, but it’s a great connection for you to have with your readers.
It is important to have an author’s platform not just for the sake of the publisher and agent but also for yourself. You can learn and grow stronger with an Author Platform and use it to brand your Brand and sell more books. It could influence the progress and direction of your work. More so, it helps set a market standard that you can always rely on for support and success.
It is a given fact that as a writer, you spend lots of time with your manuscript such that it becomes so hard for you to see the content objectively. This is a major hiccup in self-editing. You may think that you have polished your manuscript only to find gross errors once the book is published.
Right? That’s a writer’s nightmare. So what can we do about it?
Being a writer brings its share of ups and downs, but your ability to face adversity and land on your feet is what will make you last in this industry. Sometimes if Plan A does not work, Plan B could very well turn out to be what was right for you. Katherine Dell tells us about her experience with traditional publishing and how her support system helped her through this dreaded moment by all writers.
Katherine is very excited to see her book coming out soon. She is currently planning out the details of the release of her book – a Young Adult novel called Harmless.
Stay tuned for a sneak peek at the end of the post!
It depends on your situation and what matters to you. For some, what matters will be the display of their book in a bookstore, the help of an experienced and recognized team, the higher earnings through royalties, or the freedom to decide what’s best for your book. Many writers, especially those with an established Author platform, will prefer self-publishing.
As opposed to traditional publishing, you get to exercise full and decisive control over your work. You get to decide what needs to be edited, how the ideas are presented, the title of your book and the cover design. These are all roles that are taken on by the publisher when it comes to traditional publishing, which can be a real downer and hindrance to your creative prowess.
I can’t stress enough how important having your book edited by a professional is. Since there isn’t a set standard of quality, self-publishers are expected to publish high-quality work. Unfortunately, the industry usually has a view of low quality and poorly edited work when it comes to self-publishing. I’m sure you’ve read books where there are so many typos and errors that you can’t enjoy the book. Yes – it also happens with traditional publishing, but much less. Lots of readers have become skeptical of the work that comes off of self-publishing. Therefore, even if your work has exceptional quality, it takes time for it to be recognized and to receive the appreciation it should.
Since you will be working on everything by yourself, you have too much of a workload on your hands. This affects your performance and sets you back by a considerable amount of time. You might easily get stressed out and give up on the project due to frustration.
This is a great alternative to self-publishing since it is part self-publishing and part traditional publishing. It limits the cons of both self-publishing and traditional publishing and offers you a wonderful solution.
The title has two jobs: it should be interesting enough to catch people’s attention and fit per the general topic of your book. It helps if it uses keywords that readers can search for when finding titles of subjects that your book mirrors. But that’s more for non-fiction. Your title helps market your book, so be sure that it fits the subject, and is interesting enough to garner a closer look.
Despite the old saying, many people do judge whether they are going to purchase a book by its cover. You will need to have a good, professional, and interesting cover to help sell your book. It should be a cover that appears professionally designed, uses the right color palettes, and has typography that catches the eye. Plus, it should be attractive both in small and large sizes so that it can sell whether seen on the screens of computers or mobile devices.
You may not consider your photo or short biography to be interesting enough to put on your book. Your readers will appreciate to know you a little more. Your bio should be one that establishes you as an authority, even if this is your first book. Plus, your photo should be professional. Do not go for a goofy or complex photo, but rather a simple, straightforward image that conveys your work.
Your book description needs to be clear and concise if you want to really hook the person into reading your work. It pays to use the services of a copy editor who can write a catching, powerful description that can pull people into your work. Writing a great pitch isn’t always easy, so it may be worth having an outside view on your work do it. In addition, having testimonials that speak to the quality and interest of your work helps substantially when it comes to sales.
Digital printing can help you save money by creating a book that has fewer pages. But, if you print your novel on letter-size pages with tight lines and small margins, it will be very hard to read. You are far better off spending more money and getting enough pages so that your book is easy to read.
An agent or publisher is more than likely to take you on as a client if they are assured of your demand value. Unless you are an established author with a strong credibility or a celebrity, then your writing and story is the only thing you can showcase, and sometimes it’s not enough. Having a solid following, however, assures the agent or publisher of your demand value. It shows that as an author, your work is appreciated by enough readers to ensure sales once published on a commercial scale.
As mentioned, your author platform can act as an avenue to reach out to more people. If you have an author platform, you can use this as a stepping-stone to drawing in more readers into your following. Most times, if your work is truly exceptional, you will not have to ask your readers to help you bring in more people into the fold. Instead, your work will do all the talking for you, and you will find your platform growing. If you need a good system to sell your book, I do recommend to read Tim Grahl’s “Your first 1000 copies.” It’s a great book.
As an author, there may come a time when you need fresh ideas for new books. An author platform might come in handy in such a situation. Your readers might offer some useful insight into what they want from you or what they expect of your books and characters. Do you, for instance, need a book series for a certain title? If so, how would the sequels progress? What is expected of the main characters and how can you keep the readers glued to your books? They can generate ideas for a sequel, and it will give you an idea of what your readers want from you. Also, the more you see this kind of comments, the better it is because it means they are involved in your story. At the end of the day, you remain the author, but it’s a great connection for you to have with your readers.
Being a writer brings its share of ups and downs, but your ability to face adversity and land on your feet is what will make you last in this industry. Sometimes if Plan A does not work, Plan B could very well turn out to be what was right for you. Katherine Dell tells us about her experience with traditional publishing and how her support system helped her through this dreaded moment by all writers.