Road to Publication: Traditional vs. Self-Publishing

While many may consider the most difficult part of writing a book the actual writing part, I would counter that argument by saying every step of the publishing process from draft to debut is hard. One of the decisions that writers will eventually face is whether to Traditionally Publish, or Self-Publish. At first this may seem like an easy decision to make . But let me tell you, it has been one that I have struggled with for months.

Definitions

Before we get to deep into the weeds on the decision itself, let's first define these two different methods of publishing.

Traditional Publishing

Traditional Publishing is, as the name implies, the traditional route that one may take to publishing their work. This may vary slightly depending on what you write. For example, a poet may publish in a magazine or journal. Short stories can be published as a physical book, or also in a magazine or journal. Since I am a novelist, this article will speak from that perspective.

Publishing a novel traditionally usually entails publishing with any number of "houses" or publishing houses. These houses are companies whose soul bread and butter is publishing the work of authors. There are many to be had, but many of us are aware of the Big 5: HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette, and Macmillan. There are many subsidiaries to these houses that usually specialize in books in specific genres as well. In addition to that there is also a slew of major, middle, and minor publishing houses that you may be considered by as well.

Will get into the pros and cons of this method later on, but first let's talk define what Self-Publishing is.

Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing is when the author goes it there own and takes on the full burden of writing, editing, formatting, art, distribution, marketing, and everything else that comes with publishing. In traditional publishing, many of these things would be taken on by the publisher, but in Self-Publishing its all up to you.

Self-Publishing requires a lot of research and dedication. You will have your choice of multiple platforms to publish from, however, Amazon is probably the most popular source of reading in the market for readers currently, with some sources saying that Amazon KDP accounts for up to 90% of their total sales. There are a lot of nuances with which platforms you use, and we will cover those at a later time. One thing worth noting however, is that if you use Amazon, you may be confined to being exclusively Amazon, which may influence your decision to use a distributer instead.

Pros and Cons

Traditional Publishing

Pros:

1. Prestige (Especially with Big 5)

2. Less work you have to do for designing, marketing, and distributing your book

3. Guaranteed money up front from an advance

4. Easier to get your book into brick and mortar stores

5. More visibility for awards and best sellers lists

Cons:

1. Takes a lot longer to see your book published

2. Lots of gatekeepers

3. Need an to secure an agent in order to submit to publishing houses

4. Lower royalties

5. No guarantee that you'll be able to get another book deal if your book doesn't sell well

6. Less control over design, marketing strategy, promotions, etc.

7. The publisher's vision of your story may greatly differ from yours. This includes title, story elements, and message

8. Your publisher controls if and when your book will no longer be printed

Self-Publishing

Pros:

1. Quicker to publish

2. High Royalties

3. More control over every part of your book and the business of selling it

4. You'll always be able to keep publishing even if one book doesn't sell well

5. Less gatekeepers

6. Go at your own speed

7. Your book doesn't ever have to go out of print

Cons:

1. You are responsible for ALL costs of publishing your book including hiring editors and designers, marketing, cost to publish on distributors like Ingramspark, and any other costs that may be associated with publication

2. You become a business, and have to treat it as such

3. You are responsible for your branding and public image (Trad Publishing houses will sometimes assign you a publicist for this)

4. If you do sell to brick and mortar stores, they must have an address to return unsold books and you will either have to keep them in your home or pay for storage

5. You will also have to establish and manage a social media presence

6. Less prestige and in some cases, a negative connotation for being self-published as opposed to traditionally published

Which to choose

This is a question that I have been wrestling with since I finished my second draft of Project 1. To be completely honest, I have not yet made a decision on this and have mainly been focused on making Project 1 the best version of itself that it can be. I will be taking on some of the costs of a Self-Published author and will be hiring editors to fully polish my manuscript. That way, whether I choose to traditionally publish or self-publish, I will be submitting the best version of my story that I readily can provide.

Some of the things that I have been considering are the fact that I feel as though I need to have control over my work. While that may seem a bit pretentious, I really believe in this story and it's characters. More importantly, however, the message I am trying to convey along with some of the emotional beats are some of the things that I am simply not willing to budge on at this point and I fear that a traditional publisher may have a bone to pick with a couple of them. That being said, however, I do feel that traditional publishing is something that as a debut author would be valuable for me considering my story will be vetted and handled by industry professionals that have loads more experience in this field than I do.

What do you think? Should I traditionally publish Project 1 or should I go it solo and Self-Publish?