Understanding the differences between publishing vs. self-publishing is crucial in deciding which pathway is best suited to you.

Self-publishing has become a very popular pathway to publishing. There are many reasons for this but in our experience one of the main reasons is that it is a much easier and faster route to getting that book out into the market place.

There are of course, pros and cons for each route, so let’s take a closer look at each of these, so you can see for yourself which route is best for you.

Here are some of the reasons why some people prefer to work with a traditional publishing house rather than self-publish.

1. You want the credibility of saying your book has been published by a traditional publishing firm

A traditional publishing house, particularly the top ones such as Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Livre, Simon and Schuster and Macmillan have great reputations of publishing quality books.

Given you would have gone through their rigorous vetting process of submitting your manuscript for approval and passing, gives you the instance credibility of having a quality book.

This doesn’t mean to say that if your manuscript does not get approved that it won’t sell or that it’s of inferior quality. For example, there’s the classic tale of J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter’ book. This book was rejected 12 times before being picked up by a publishing firm (that was only because the eight- year-old daughter of the editor wanted to read it).

The moral of that story, is to never give up and certainly don’t let anyone stop you from completing your dreams.

    2. Distribution

Traditional Publishing Houses often have wide distribution networks, and as a consequence your book can reach a lot more stores than it would otherwise (note this is different from the marketing of the book, which will still need to be undertaken by you).

3. Completion of the book is handled by the Publishing Firm

Another benefit of publishing your book through a traditional Publishing House is that they will help you with the book title, book cover design, editing, interior design, and the actual publishing of the book itself.

It is worth noting that traditional publishers purchase the rights to your book when you accept a book deal with them and thus they affectively have the controlling power over editing i.e. they could materially change the voice, the plot and characters of your book, along with the design and distribution. For example, we know of one author who wanted to publish his book in Asia but wasn’t allowed because the publishing house he was with didn’t have an outlet there.

Most importantly, they will not take care of the marketing of your book. This will still be something that you will need to do.

4. Upfront Advance with No or limited Upfront costs to you

Another big benefit is that a lot of publishing houses will give you an advance of your book sales, based on how many books the publishing house believes will sell.

It is worth noting that although you may receive an advance from a publishing house, this is usually taken out of the profits of your book sales, before you see any further royalties.

The other thing the publishing house will usually cover is all the upfront costs, such as, the book cover design, editing, publishing costs and distribution. The flip side of this however is that they will take most of the royalties, roughly 88-90%. Why is this? Generally because they have to pay all the staff, such as the designers, the editors, and so forth. Plus the publishing house is a business after all and they want to make money too. For example, Penguin Random House revenues increased 6.2% in 2019 to reach €3.64 billion.

     5. A Slow and Steady Progress

Generally it takes a good 18 months from the date of submission to get your book out into the market. If you’re not in any rush, then you might find having this length of time a more relaxing and more enjoyable way to publish your book.

   6. More Connections in the Industry

Traditional Publishing houses, particularly the ones who have been around quite a few years, have built up connections, experience and expertise in this field. Having a support team, someone to hold your hand through the process can be quite reassuring.

The flip side of letting them run the project is that they have most of the control, and final decision making, they take the majority of the royalties and it is a much longer process of getting that book out into the market place.

Although these benefits may sound enticing, it’s important to be aware that the chances of landing a contract with a publishing house is very low. It often takes a lot of time, effort and rejection (so you need a tough skin and a strong belief in your book) before there is even a remote chance of being successful.

The only exceptions to this is if you already have a huge following, say if you are a movie or pop star or a well-known scandalous politician, if your self-published book is wildly successful or if you have very close ties with someone in the industry.

So why are more people choosing to self-publish?

Here a number of reasons why self-publishing has become a very popular way of publishing your book.

 1. You Receive a lot More Royalties!

Sure you might receive an upfront payment in advance with a traditional publishing house but once the sales come rolling in, you will only see a fraction of the profits.

Self-publishing however you get to keep most of your earnings, usually you get to keep anywhere between 50-70% of your book profits.

How much money you make publishing a book depends on your royalty rate, how much you sell the book for, and of course how much books you sell. Hence knowing how to market your book is crucial.

  2. You retain Total Creative Control

If you want to have total creative control but pay a little more upfront (with the knowledge you also make a lot more in royalties), self-publishing is the best route.

With self-publishing you get to decide when and how to publish your book. You alone get to choose every word in your book, you get to tell your story exactly how you want to, you also get to choose the cover (and change it later if you so desire), distribution (location of your book sales) and the format i.e. audio, ebook, sizes, kindle or print on demand or both.

Just as importantly, when you self-publish, you also control who you write for. The target audience that you are wanting to help. The great thing is if you sell via the Amazon Kindle store, you can edit and tweak your book anytime, and you get to choose your categories and keywords. You can even pull it out of print.

  3. You can get your book out into the market FASTER.

As I said earlier it takes a good 18 months for you to publish through a publishing house. When you self-publish however, you can determine how quickly you would like this process to take. I have known people to write and publish their books within a 6 week period. With the Amazon Kindle store, you can publish a new book whenever you want.

   4. You can Choose the Future Path of Your book 

With self-publishing you own the rights to your book, so you have total control over what happens in the life of your book. At a future date you could sell the rights to other publishers, foreign publishers, movie studios. You can even make a supplementary online course that includes material from your book, you could take your book contents on a speaking tour, you could share parts of your book with your fans for free. As I said earlier there is no traditional publishing firm stopping you from re-releasing your book with a new cover or as a hard back version, as an audio, or even an updated version of your book, the choices are yours.

Self-publishing does mean that you have to take care of the completion of your book, like the cover of your book, interior, the editing and you have to bring it to market.

  5. You get to Join Like-minded Communities

Some people think the self-publishing road is a lonely one with no support but this is not true.

As the self-publishing world continues to grow exponentially so too do the online communities and forums on such social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit. Not only that most self-publishing schools have private online Facebook groups. With these groups you can obtain that much needed support, motivation and advice.

6. You can also have your Hand Held through the Process

There are many self-publishing schools out there who can walk you through the process step by step. The great thing is that they often have different programs to suit your budget, from do it yourself online courses to done for you programs.

With its numerous benefits, such as, full flexibility, faster publishing, more control and more royalties, taking your book to market has never been easier following the self-publishing pathway.

At the end of the day though, it’s about producing a quality product and marketing that. So if you’re dedicated and committed to getting the results that you desire, anything is possible. If you need that extra help, then stay tuned because we will soon be releasing our Fast Track Author Success Formula, where we can help you write, publish, leverage and monetize your book.

If you are willing to trade out for lower royalty fees, little creative control, a lengthy process and have a thick skin, for the benefits of having access to wider distribution channels, no upfront costs, less work, then going through the traditional publishing pathway might be better for you.

So no matter what route you decide to take, start writing your own best seller today. You have a book inside of you and the world needs to read it!