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- Rank: Wise Jester
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So for those who’ve published before or are thinking about it, which method did you use – self-publishing or traditional publishing? Which is easier for the writer as far as finances (not to be centered on money, but you still kinda need to know…)? This basically all I THINK I know…
1. Traditional publishing involves query letters to an agent, who gets you a publisher. Agents are kind of your publisher liasion. You sign a contract, collect royalties. I’ve heard something about a fifteen percent commission, what is that?
2. Self-publishing you edit, do cover design, etc. yourself. You get more royalties and don’t have to wait a long time for your book to come out, but ya got to format yourself and all.
I don’t know who to tag… @r-m-archer maybe?
@booksandbeakers
Great question! I don’t think I know anymore than you, but I do know that you are on the right track (concerning how each type of publishing works)
Indy (self) publishing may be easier (I think indie and self are the same), but I do not know from experience. For example, I may try that route if traditional publishing doesn’t work for me because I know people personally that can edit my book and design the cover. Now… I’ve always thought that when you self publish, that the book is an ebook; but I think someone said that you can self publish but make it a physical book, not an ebook. Don’t take my word on that though. 😉
As for traditional publishing, I don’t know as much about it. I suggest reading Dear Ally by Ally Carter. It’s all about writing and it’s super helpful. It also has a lot of info on both types of publishing that I can’t remember at the moment. (Warning: she is not a Christian, though.) In all honesty, I went into reading the book thinking I wouldn’t learn much but, oh boy, was I wrong! I learned a lot and I highly recommend it!
So as you can see, I don’t know much about traditional vs. self publishing. I think @gracie-j has published before, so maybe she’ll have some info on it as well.
🙂
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
Oh, and @wilder-w has published as well.
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
@booksandbeakers Heya! I’ve self-published 10 books (some novels, some short stories, etc.) over the last 4 years with Kindle Direct Publishing!
As far as finances go, with self-publishing, you’re in complete control of how much or how little money you put into it. When I published my first novel, I put in exactly $0.00 to publish it. Publishing it on KDP is 100% free, and I created my own cover, edited myself (and with the help of a cousin), and formatted with KDP’s Kindle Create. My novel’s available for purchase on Amazon in paperback and ebook format (with the option to publish in hardcover and audiobook formats as well), and I’m able to order author copies at the printing cost (which is about 1/3 of the price readers pay).
With one of my short stories, I published with Draft2Digital, which currently only publishes in ebook format, but it does all the formatting for you (super easy!) and distributes to basically every single ebook seller out there (Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, etc.)!
With my latest release, I paid for a custom book cover (cost about $250-$300, but absolutely worth every penny) and did edits myself and with the help of my beta readers.
Of course, you can also pay for editing and formatting if you don’t want to do it all yourself!
And if you don’t have the funds, a lot of authors use crowdfunding like Kickstarter to raise money to cover the upfront costs of editing, cover design, formatting, and more!
There’s a lot more to be said, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask away! I also wrote an article covering all the different publishing routes that you can read here: http://www.teenwritersnook.com/2021/10/04/meant-to-be-6-steps-to-discovering-the-right-publishing-route-guest-post-by-amazon-bestselling-author-grace-a-johnson/
And an article on traditional publishing here: http://www.teenwritersnook.com/2022/04/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-traditional-publishing-guest-post-from-grace-a-johnson/
the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel
- Rank: Wise Jester
- Total Posts: 76
@esther-c Yes yes, I’m pretty sure you CAN make a physical book with self-publishing. Don’t quote me on that though:) I’ve actually read that book you recommended before, and I thought it was awesome (great minds think alike, eh?). She didn’t touch on any publishing routes beyond traditional I don’t think though… I’ve recommended that to one of my writer friends before.
So, I think this is what one of the articles that one of the articles (phew!) Gracie suggested said the Indie and self are often confused but are not the same thing. Indie is more like small press publishing I think???
I have some short stories that I maybe want to publish someday, and I think I’d have to do self for that, because traditional doesn’t publish anthologies I don’t think.
Thank you so much for all that info!!!
@gracie-j Ten books? That’s crazy:) I think self-publishing might be the route for me… I don’t know yet though. I was thinking maybe self publish first and get my name out there, but if my book was a flop agents might not be too quick to come if I tried to traditional publish a book later.KDP is the one I’ve heard the most about for self-publishing I believe. There’s no printing cost then?
Marketing would probably take a lot of time from what I’ve heard… yeah. but probably totally worth it to hold YOUR OWN REAL LIVE BOOK in your hands. Okay, that was probably overkill on the caps lock.
*files away other information for later use*
Those articles were really helpful! I also looked at some of the articles that the articles suggested:) Thank you so much!!!
@booksandbeakers Welp, think about it, do all the research you can, and pray! I definitely recommend giving it a shot, though, and seeing how it goes! 😀
There is a printing cost, but they take it out of the book’s price, so you don’t pay anything unless you want to order copies for yourself!
Haha, yep, marketing’s the most time-consuming, but it can be fun! 😀 YES!!!
Glad you found them helpful! You’re so welcome!
the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel
@booksandbeakers
(great minds think alike, eh?)
Totally. 😉
Thank you so much for all that info!!!
Of course! I’m glad it helped, if even just a little bit. 🙂
…
I am going to be referring to this info in the future…
XD
Even though you weren’t replying to me, it is going super helpful for me in the future!!
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
@esther-c Glad to hear it! Lemme know if you ever have any questions! 😀
the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel
@booksandbeakers Heya! I’ve self-published 10 books (some novels, some short stories, etc.) over the last 4 years with Kindle Direct Publishing!
As far as finances go, with self-publishing, you’re in complete control of how much or how little money you put into it. When I published my first novel, I put in exactly $0.00 to publish it. Publishing it on KDP is 100% free, and I created my own cover, edited myself (and with the help of a cousin), and formatted with KDP’s Kindle Create. My novel’s available for purchase on Amazon in paperback and ebook format (with the option to publish in hardcover and audiobook formats as well), and I’m able to order author copies at the printing cost (which is about 1/3 of the price readers pay).
With one of my short stories, I published with Draft2Digital, which currently only publishes in ebook format, but it does all the formatting for you (super easy!) and distributes to basically every single ebook seller out there (Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, etc.)!
With my latest release, I paid for a custom book cover (cost about $250-$300, but absolutely worth every penny) and did edits myself and with the help of my beta readers.
Of course, you can also pay for editing and formatting if you don’t want to do it all yourself!
And if you don’t have the funds, a lot of authors use crowdfunding like Kickstarter to raise money to cover the upfront costs of editing, cover design, formatting, and more!
There’s a lot more to be said, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask away! I also wrote an article covering all the different publishing routes that you can read here and an article on traditional publishing here!
the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel
- Rank: Wise Jester
- Total Posts: 76
@gracie-j Did KP randomly repost your comment? Just asking, in case it does that to me sometime…
Also, a new question… What’s the website for Draft2Digital? It sounds intriguing:)
Thanks for everything!
@booksandbeakers
M’kay, KP is liable to eat my post if I try to put links in it, so I’m going to lay everything out and then post individual links to each post I reference. I apologize in advance for how obnoxious that is, lol.
If you’d rather save money than time and you want a great-quality end result, traditional publishing is the way you want to go. It will take time, lots of revisions, lots of research, lots of querying agents, but once you get a book deal the cover, formatting, and final edits will be on a team of professionals who work in advance of royalties and don’t get paid until the book sells and they take a cut. Generally a bigger cut than a self-publishing platform takes, but then it does balance with the work they’ve done. And you get an advance to start out with, followed by royalties once that advance is made back in full (as I understand it).
In order to self-publish a high-quality book, you need to be willing to invest money in areas that are not your strength. If you have a lot of design experience, maybe you can do your cover and formatting on your own and just pay for editing. (Editing is something I always recommend investing in, even if you’re a good editor yourself; it’s never the same to edit your own work as someone else’s, and an outside eye is invaluable.) But most indie authors are not also designers, and you want a cover and formatting that looks professional and can compete with traditionally published book designs. I paid about $400 for the cover on my novel, and about $200 for the formatting. (I could have formatted it myself, but I didn’t want the personal headache of getting everything precisely perfect so it was worth the trade-off to me to hire it out.)
I have a blog post on traditional vs. indie publishing, followed by a series on the indie publishing process, and Rachel Leitch guested on my blog to talk about why she chose traditional publishing while I posted on hers about why I chose indie publishing. I think indie publishing can be highly rewarding, but which path you choose depends on your priorities, and indie publishing is often an expensive venture.
Whichever way you decide to go, I hope it works out great for you! And I’d be happy to answer more questions if you have them! I’m not as knowledgeable about traditional publishing, but I can help with the contrast of the two and I can talk about indie publishing at decent length. 🙂
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
Traditional vs. Indie publishing
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
Why I Chose Traditional Publishing – Rachel Leitch
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
- Rank: Wise Jester
- Total Posts: 76
@r-m-archer Thanks a lot for those articles! KP ate my first post too, kind of… with the whole “pending moderation” thing.
The articles were actually really helpful. I have a basic question: which costs more money, on average? I’ve kind of heard conflicting things, I guess, but based on what you said above, traditional publishing is generally cheaper, minus the marketing.
Did you use KDP for self-publishing? Formatting sounds like a total pain, from what I’ve heard, but probably worth it in the end! I’m thinking about maybe self-publishing short stories later on, but if it doesn’t work out, it might kind of ruin everything. Not to be dramatic, but still…
Ah, editing. There’s so many services online that it seems hard to choose something reliable. We’ll see, though, I’m definitely not to that stage yet.
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