It's common to hear a potential author ask as to which direction is better to go: Traditional Publishing or Self-Publishing. And, there are any number of videos and/or blog posts that address the subject. However, most of them often leave out some pretty essential information that might be handy to know. So, I decided to create a list of the advantages/ disadvantages/differences of each path.
I tried to keep the observations and breakdown between the the two paths as objective as possible. The fact is, some people gets tons of offers from agents to go the traditional path, while people like me get none. There are a lot of variables in play with some of these differences. So, keep that in mind.
Traditional | Self-Publish | |
Difficulty getting a book to market. | Very difficult. You need to query agents and publishers. Depending on your genre, and the types of stories the publisher wants, your query could be picked up quickly, or not at all. Make no mistake, few authors who go this route get published. They don't call it, "the query trenches," for nothing. | Easy. You can have a book out on Amazon in no time whatsoever. And you can put out as many books as you like, as long as you like. |
Time to publish (assuming the book is complete). | Anywhere from 2 to 5 years, based on the publisher's release schedule. Sometimes, you don't get published at all. | Anywhere from days to months. It takes me roughly 6 months to get a book from rough draft to available for presale on Amazon. |
Cost to publish. | Essentially, nothing. Typically, the publisher pays you. | Costs vary. Anywhere from $100 to thousands of dollars. Much of it depends on how much you're willing to do yourself. You can shop around and reduce costs by limiting the formats you release. You only really need an eBook, which is fairly easy to produce. |
Investment in time. | Low. Generally, your biggest investment in time is with discussing things with the publisher and the editor: editorial changes, your thoughts on the cover, the title, and so on. You'll probably have to spend many days with multiple rounds of revisions and edits. You may also be asked to help promote your book in addition to everything else. | High. Even with paying for interior formatting, cover design, and editing, I spend the majority of my time either producing a book, marketing and promoting my book, as well as scheduling things for a launch. If you expect your book to sell itself, well, then the investment in time is pretty modest. But one self-published book in a sea of MILLIONS of books isn't going to attract much attention on its own. So...think about investing time in marketing and promotion. |
Marketing and promotion. | The publisher (theoretically) markets your book. You will be asked to help, but if you have a large enough publisher, they have access to stuff WAY beyond your ability to provide. However, you may be asked to go on book signings and author appearances. The reality is that bigger publishers get lots of advantages in this area, which is why even a failure sells a thousand copies or more. | You are on the hook, both time and money, to promote and market your book. This is THE GREATEST bane of all indie / self-publish authors. Unless you already have an audience for your work, you will be neck deep in ads, interviews, and marketing. Likewise, an indie author is almost a second-class citizen when it comes to marketing and promotion. If you're well-known, this may not be an issue. But if you are like me, there are far fewer avenues for you to promote your book than if I were a large publisher. |
Repeatability (publishing a second book). | Much of this depends on the contract you sign with the publisher. Some authors get multi-book deals, some only get single-book deals. It really depends on whatever deal you signed. What can be assured is that if your books don't sell, you won't be publishing with them again. Then...it'll be back to the "query trenches." | You can publish as many or as few books as you want, and (in most cases) keep them available for as long as you like. The only people you need to make happy is your reader. |
Longevity. | Unless you're Steven King or J. R. R. Tolkien, books that no longer sell often go out of print. A contract may allow you to get back your publishing rights after a certain period of time. Some authors have bought back their books, and either self-published, or took them to another publisher. | Unless a vendor will no longer print, distribute, or stock your books, you can sell them as long as you wish. |
Direct sales. | With a traditional publisher, direct sales at an event or from your website are unlikely. Maybe some publishers allow it, but I sort of doubt it. | No issue here, so long as you are publishing "wide" (meaning that you're not exclusive to Amazon or another outlet). Direct sales are a much trickier issue than most people think. They do, however, allow you to make an even larger chunk of revenue per sale. |
Royalties. | While it's been a while for me, I still suspect that your royalty per sale is pretty low. Much of this has to do with how big your readership is, what you negotiate, and such. And, in many cases, you need to make back your advance before collecting royalties. | Much of how you make per sale depends on how you price your book. However, on average, royalties per sale are higher. Moreover, it is important to understand, you won't be making money until all of the royalties you've earned pays for the amount you invested in your book. |
Do you need to have your own website? | Yep. | Yep. |
Do you need to be on social media? | Yep. | Yep. |
Risk. | Some. There is always a chance that your publisher "buys" your book, then shelves it, or decides to not go forward with publication. There are also clauses in contracts where the deal can be voided based on various conditions (which is something Cait Corrain learned the hard way). | Some. There have been authors whose accounts had been terminated without explanation. There is also the possibility that your book will be pirated, or you will be accused of plagiarism. When you're on your own, you have to handle these directly. This includes your work being pirated. |
Editing and revisions. | The publisher pays for all of the editing and revisions required, though you will have to make the changes or explain why the change is invalid. | You either edit the manuscript yourself, or you hire an editor. Either way, it's all on you. |
Cover and artwork. | This is handled by the publisher. While you can offer suggestions or register your opinion, the fact is, the publisher controls what goes on and in your book. | Whatever you want and can afford. You can do pretty much what you want. That being said, you also have to pay the artists, or spend the time creating all of this stuff yourself. A good cover? Not something that is easily done. |
Copyright. | The publisher registers the work with the Library of Congress. Typically (although there are some exceptions), you retain the copyright for the work. However, the rights to use your work are transferred to the publisher. | You have to register the work. Yes, I know, "YoU hAvE a CoPyRiGhT tHe MiNuTe YoU wRiTe tHe BoOk!!!" That may be true, but unless you can prove you wrote it when you did, a court of law will require a lengthy trial process to determine who is the rightful owner of a work during a copyright dispute. Do yourself a favor: protect your property. Register the book with the Library of Congress. Oh, and mailing the manuscript to yourself won't hold up in a court of law in the US. |
So this brings us to the question, "Should I go the traditional publishing route, or should I self-publish?" The answer to that question is pretty simple: if you have what a publisher wants, and fit whatever modern day profile these big publishers have for an author, then you'll most likely get picked up. How long will that take? It's almost impossible to say. You can start down the path to self-publishing about a second after you make the decision.
"But...but I'm a talented writer!" you say. Guess what? Your talent has virtually no bearing on whether you can attract an agent or publisher. The only thing that matters is whether a literary agent sees something in your manuscript that they think they can sell to a publisher. However, if you're a celebrity, or have an angle that a publisher can use to promote you, you'll have a much easier time of it. And, believe you me, I've seen books written by celebrity types that were utterly unreadable, mainly because they were too proud to hire a ghost writer. But they, nonetheless, got published through a big house.
Sound unfair? Yep. But that's they way things are.
Mind you, there are a multitude of specialty publishers out there: publishers of literature focused on women, Black people, Hispanics, Asians, political viewpoints, LGBTQ+ literature, LitRPG, Military SciFi...you name it. So, there are lots of avenues outside of the Big Five publishers and their imprints. However, If you wander into a specialty publisher with something that does not match their publishing goals, you'll get a rejection. Likewise, there are those publishers that have specific preferences. You either write the story to their requirements, or you move on.
The people who get a publishing agreement are few and far between. So when I hear people say, "I'm considering the traditional publishing route," as if it's almost a certainty they'll get published, I just sort of chuckle. Whether you get accepted or not really isn't something you have much control over.
The fact is, you'll spend nothing but time and emotional capital to get your book to market if you go the traditional route. That's if you get published, which is unlikely. You have TONS of control when you self-publish but you'll need money and time to make it happen. Unless you're very fortunate, neither publishing paths have the potential to make you an overnight success. But you'll never see success unless you actually publish something.
So, that's the long and the short of it.