This post is going to cover everything you need to know about charting a path for your book. Self-publishing or traditional publishing. Which should you choose? I’m here to help.
Before I start, I want to make one thing clear: there are no universal answers, only what’s right for you and your book.
Very Online traditional and self-publishing evangelists often hurl accusations that anyone who doesn’t follow their personal path is crazy. Ignore the noise. Get in tune with what’s important to you, because that’s the only true determining factor. There are plenty of successful traditionally published books and plenty of successful self-published books.
How do I know? I’ve followed both paths! My Jacob Wonderbar series was traditionally published, and I self-published How to Write a Novel and How to Publish a Book. My self-published books have sold about as much as my traditionally published books, and I ultimately enjoyed both approaches.
If you’d like advice that considers your individual circumstances, feel free to book a consultation with me!
Here’s what I’m going to cover in this post on choosing between traditional publishing vs. self-publishing:
- A brief overview of traditional and self-publishing (and hybrid too)
- Cost/benefits of traditional and self-publishing
- Moving between traditional and self-publishing (and vice versa)
- Getting in tune with your goals
- Questions to consider
- Charting a course that works for you
A brief overview of traditional publishing and self-publishing (and hybrid too)
If you’re coming to the publication process fresh, it’s important first get your bearings on how these processes differ. Here’s a brief look at how a book becomes traditionally published or self-published. You can find more extensive posts that cover the ins and outs here:
Traditional publishing
Traditional publishing is the classic process that was largely the only game in town in the pre-Amazon days of the publishing industry. Here’s how it works.
An author with a finished manuscript (fiction) or a book proposal and sample pages (nonfiction) finds a literary agent (major publishers) or approaches publishers directly (small presses). If there’s interest, a publisher makes an offer (more on this in a bit), and a deal and contracts are negotiated.
An editor at the publisher helps the author improve the book, and the publisher begins to put the book together (cover design, interior design, etc.). The publisher’s PR, marketing, and sales teams work to drum up interest in the book, hoping “accounts” (mostly bookstores) will place large orders. This pre-publication process can often take a year or more.
On publication day, the publisher’s distribution ensures that the book appears in bookstores and is restocked promptly, and the author (now rich and famous beyond their wildest dreams! just kidding probably not!) gets to work on their next book.
Self-publishing
Self-publishing works much like traditional publishing with a few key differences: 1) the author has to put the book together and market it on their own (or subcontract these responsibilities), and 2) self-publishing doesn’t have traditional distribution or sales teams, so a self-published book is not likely to end up in bookstores.
You can think of self-publishing as comprising six key tasks. Either the author must handle these on their own, or work with freelancers to accomplish them:
- Editing (developmental editing and copyediting)
- Writing cover copy and marketing materials
- Interior design
- Cover design
- Determining your price point and marketplaces
- Marketing and promotion
When all the appropriate files are ready and you’ve determined how and where you want to publish, your book can be uploaded and available for sale nearly instantaneously.
Then you just have to figure out how you’re going to market it to your first readers…
Hybrid publishing
In the last ten years, new upstart hybrid publishers have entered the scene that combine some of the features of traditional publishing and self-publishing.
They might, for instance, offer some of the “services” of traditional publishing like editing and cover design, but instead of offering authors an advance for the rights to the book, they may ask authors to make an up front investment to cover the costs of these services. Typically authors will earn less per copy sold than self-publishing, but more than traditional publishing.
The models and reputability of hybrid publishers vary tremendously, so make sure to vet a potential publisher thoroughly and research the process thoroughly.
Costs/benefits of traditional publishing vs. self-publishing
Let’s get straight to the brass tacks. How exactly do authors make money via traditional publishing, and what costs can they expect?
Here are some basics. For a more thorough look at the money side of things, check out these in-depth articles:
Traditional publishing
One of the benefits of traditional publishing is that it doesn’t cost authors anything (even postage is largely a thing of the past), and, in fact, publishers pay you.
Reputable agents do not charge authors up front, and work for a 15% commission on domestic deals and 20% on foreign rights deals (typically split 10% to the primary agent and 10% to a subagent). It’s crucial to understand that agents only get paid when you get paid, so if an agent is asking you for money, there’s a decent chance they’re a scammer.
When they’re interested in acquiring a book, publishers offer an advance against royalties–anywhere from a negligible fee to millions of dollars–which is the author’s to keep if they abide by the terms of the agreement. Typically advances are divided into installments as the book moves through various benchmarks of the publishing process.
Authors are also allocated royalties–a percentage of every copy sold or a percentage of the publishers’ net profits–and can also earn income from subrights, for instance if the publisher retains translation rights and sells French language rights to a publisher in France.
Sometimes agents will also try to sell subrights they reserved for the author, such as film and audio rights, and sell those to studios and audio publishers directly.
After their advance, authors do not receive additional income from publishers until their book “earns out,” meaning the royalties and subrights income exceeds the amount of the advance. Then they receive royalties and other income per the split allocated in the agreement.
Self-publishing
One of the benefits of self-publishing is that authors receive more per copy sold than in traditional publishing, but self-published authors typically start in the hole because of what it typically costs to self-publish well.
Between professional editing, design, and marketing, it can easily cost several thousand dollars or more to produce a professional-looking book (and/or a professional audiobook). You can definitely get thrifty and work out barters to keep costs down, but whether it’s time or money, self-publishing requires a commitment.
Moving between traditional publishing and self-publishing
It’s a perennial ongoing myth that self-publishing will kill your chances with traditional publishers. It’s just not true. There are plenty of examples of authors who have moved from self-publishing to traditional, including some seriously huge ones like Colleen Hoover.
Just because it happens doesn’t mean it’s easy. Unless a self-published book really, seriously takes off (think: thousands of copies sold minimum), it’s unlikely a publisher is going to be interested. If you want to move from self-publishing to traditional, it’s more likely that agents and publishers would be more interested in a new, non-sequel book of yours that you can pitch fresh.
But these days, agents and publishers understand that author careers take many different paths. Some authors even consider themselves “hybrid” authors who float between traditional publishing and self-publishing depending on the project.
Like me. Even my Jacob Wonderbar books have moved between traditional publishing and self-publishing. I eventually got the rights back from my original publisher and re-self-published them, meaning I now receive a share of every new copy sold directly.
In sum: Self-publishing isn’t going to kill your chances with traditional publishing. But there are definitely things you should take into account if you want to keep your options open.
Getting in tune with your goals
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s turn back to you. Because it’s your goals and priorities that will determine the path that’s right for you.
Engage in some reflection. Dig a layer deeper. Of course you want your book to be published, but why?
Why did you write the book? How important is it to you to make it revenue positive? Do you want it out there in a big way or are you content just having copies you can give to friends and family?
Try to sort out whether internal or external validation is driving you. Think about how patient you are and how much control you want over the process.
Starting this process with some self-reflection and getting in tune with your writing goals will prime you to make the best decision. I also have some questions to help focus you…
Questions to consider to decide between traditional publishing vs. self-publishing
Having trouble deciding?
Here are seven questions to ask yourself to help narrow down which path you should choose:
- Is your book a niche/passion project or does it have broad, national appeal?
- How much control do you want over the publishing process?
- How much does the validation of traditional publishing matter to you?
- How important is it for your book to be in bookstores and libraries?
- How capable are you at marketing and self-promotion?
- Can you afford to invest money in your book?
- How patient are you?
Is your book a niche/passion project or does it have broad, national appeal?
In order to attract a traditional publisher, particularly the major ones, you’re going to need to have a book that fits into an established genre, is of appropriate length, and has mass commercial appeal. I like to use the airport bookstore test here. Is your book something you could potentially see on sale in an airport bookstore?
The major publishers (and the literary agents who work with them) are going for mainstream audiences. If your potential readership is more narrow, you might want to go directly to a small press or self-publish.
And if you’re writing most kinds of nonfiction, you need to be one of the top people in the entire world to write and promote that book if you want to pursue traditional publishing. Assume that everyone in the entire world is writing a book (mostly true). Publishers are going to pick among the top two or three people on the planet for any given subject.
If you are writing nonfiction and lack a significant platform (with the exception of memoirs, which operate more like fiction), you may want to just go ahead and self-publish.
How much control do you want over the publishing process?
One of the things I like most about the traditional publishing process is the collaboration with experienced professionals.
But this means giving up some control. Your agent may want you to revise before they send it to publishers. You will almost assuredly be edited at a publishing house. You won’t have approval over your book’s cover and you’ll probably only have mutual consent on your book title. You’ll have limited control over how and where your book is marketed and things like discounts and promotions.
This requires a collaborative mindset and ceding some decision-making. Your publisher may make decisions you don’t agree with, and that might even drive you a bit insane.
Meanwhile, with self-publishing, everything is up to you. The edits, cover, title, fonts, marketing, price points… it’s all your choice.
If you have an extremely precise vision of what you want your cover to look like or you’re dead-set on including your own illustrations, self-publishing may be the way to go.
How much does the validation of traditional publishing matter to you?
There’s still something gratifying about making it all the way through the traditional publishing process, having your work validated by professionals, and getting paid for your efforts.
The names Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster… they still matter to people.
But maybe you don’t care one whit about the name of the publisher on the spine of your book. And that’s fine too! Gut check how much a publisher’s validation matters to you or whether you’re fine going straight to readers.
How important is it for your book to be in bookstores and libraries?
Traditional publishers still have a significant competitive edge because of their distribution and sales infrastructure. If you want your book widely available in bookstores and libraries… you are going to need a traditional publisher.
Sure, you might be able to strike up some individual relationships with local bookstores, but traditional publishing is the surest path to having your book widely available in stores and libraries.
Now, in a world where somewhere around half of books are purchased online, maybe this no longer matters to you. If you self-publish, you can have your book available on Amazon and Bookshop.org alongside all the other big names.
How capable are you at marketing and self-promotion?
While there’s no guarantee that a traditional publisher is going to promote your book in a major way, they’ll at least give you some kind of a marketing push
If you self-publish, you’re entirely on your own. You don’t necessarily have to be a social media maven or a celebrity in order to give your book the boost necessary to generate crucial word of mouth, but you’re going to have to do something in order to reach your first readers.
It’s not that hard to put a book together and have it self-published. The marketing is often where people get tripped up.
Can you afford to invest money in your book?
Say what you will about traditional publishing, but one great thing about it is that it is not very cost prohibitive. You might incur some costs printing out your manuscript or if you choose to pay an editor before pursuing publication, but agents don’t charge you until they get commission for selling your book, and publishers pay you.
With self-publishing, there are a lot of tasks involved in self-publishing, such as generating a cover, editing, copyediting, formatting, self-promotion, that you’re either going to have to spend the time to do yourself or pay someone to do for you.
You may end up spending a few thousand dollars to effectively self-publish. Can you afford that? (And, as mentioned earlier, you shouldn’t necessarily assume you’re going to get it back).
How patient are you?
As I’ll discuss in more detail in a second, choosing traditional or self-publishing isn’t necessarily an either/or decision. You can absolutely pursue traditional publishing first and fall back on self-publishing if you so desire.
But even in the best case scenario, traditional publishing can take forever. It can take a year or more to query agents and eventually find one. Then you go on submission to publishers, and that can take months or a year or more. After a deal is agreed upon, it can take months for the publisher to generate a contract. Once the contract is signed, it can be a year or two or more after that before your book comes out.
Even in a best case scenario, it will probably be two or three years from the time you start querying to the time your book comes out. And that’s if things move quickly!
Meanwhile, when I finished How to Write a Novel, it was up for sale a few days later. Self-publishing is practically instantaneous.
Are you the patient type? Do you want to cut to the chase? That can perhaps be the most important factor of all.
Charting a course that works for you
There are no right or wrong answers to be found here. It’s all about choosing what works best for you and for this particular book of yours. (And again, schedule time with me if you need help talking this through).
Maybe you’ve read all this and you know you’re hell-bent on traditional publishing. Great! Maybe you read this and you decided we could all be dead from an asteroid by the time your book comes out and you don’t want to wait around for traditional publishing. That’s fine too!
Or…maybe you’re not quite sure. You’re open to self-publishing, but you want to see if an agent or publisher will snap you up.
Just write your query letter, send it out to a batch of agents, and see what happens! Take it one step at a time. You’ll know when it’s time to change gears and stop querying.
Or you could try the reverse. You could self-publish, gauge the response, use it to inform your next book, and if you start catching on in a big way, trust me the traditional publishers will come knocking.
This is your book and your career we’re talking about, and only you know what’s best for it. What’s great about this era is that there are more options available to you than ever. Listen to yourself and trust yourself.
And the world might just thank you for bringing it into existence.
Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!
For my best advice, check out my online classes, my guide to writing a novel and my guide to publishing a book.
And if you like this post: subscribe to my newsletter!
Art: Bookshop by George Baxendale Kearey
This is amazing, Nathan. Thanks!!!