Traditional vs Self-Publishing

PUBLISHING TODAY – A FOUNDATION FOR SELF-PUBLISHERS

I came of age during the Watergate years, when scores of young people (including me) enrolled in journalism schools, aspiring to become the next Woodward or Bernstein. I wouldn’t have expressed it that way at the time, but I internalized the meaning behind the story: writing and publishing had the power to change the world—or at least alter the course of events. This passion to effect change has kept me fully engaged…and it’s why I’ve worked in the printing and publishing industry ever since. 

Over the years, I’ve acquired skills on both sides of the printing press. I’ve held jobs in newspaper and book publishing, print production and sales, digital prepress education, and marketing. I also worked on print product development—printing and publishing for my own greeting card start-up, which I operated for fifteen years. As an entrepreneurial publisher, I built my company, Paper Lantern, from the ground up by creating its products and catalogs. I developed sales channels nationwide, attended trade shows—and marketed through the Internet. I learned by doing, and believe me, success did not happen overnight. The same is true for self-publishing a book. 

I wrote and self-published my first book Living into Art, Journeys Through Collage, and released it in 2008 with Paper Lantern as my platform. I had already built a customer base of independent retailers (with dozens of bookstores), a print catalog, and a website, so I began on solid ground and had some distinct advantages in the marketplace. Yet, despite all my publishing experience, it was still thrilling to be introduced as “author” for the first time. 

Since you’re reading this, most likely you’re impassioned about writing and the power of publishing too. Today we have more opportunities than ever to get our work into print, online, and distributed as e-books, yet authors have to do even more than before to market their own writing, and to get the attention of readers in a competitive marketplace. I wrote this article to share my own writing and publishing experiences and to help other self-publishers understand what lies on the road ahead. No matter what your profession or background, the information outlined here is meant to prepare you for the excitement—and the challenges—of planning, producing, and marketing your own book.

Publishing Today

The definition of the word “publish” is from the Latin “publicare”, to make public. By sharing your special expertise and spreading your message through a book, you enter into a public dialogue with your readers. Writing a book is the single most effective tool for business owners, entrepreneurs, educators and experts to express themselves, to market their businesses, and to share their knowledge. These days, having a book can put you ahead of your competition.

According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the United States leads the world in the number of books published per year. UNESCO monitors both the number and type of books published as an index of standard of living and education, and of a country's self-awareness. Since 2007, the number of independent small press and self-published books has grown significantly, and has eclipsed the number of reported new titles released from traditional commercial publishers. This doesn’t mean these books sell more copies or earn more profits, only that more and more books come from these alternative sources.

Of all manuscripts submitted annually to traditional commercial publishers, only small percentages are published. Big publishing houses have a target number of titles that they can publish in a year. On average, most titles from these traditional, commercial publishers sell around 2000 copies. And advances to new authors are relatively low, with most nonfiction titles awarded between $5000 – 20,000. As your book sells, you are credited for each sale until you “earn out” your advance. Sad to say, many authors never earn back their advance, never mind reaping any additional profits. 

In addition, most authors have to pay for their own travel and buy copies of their own books from their publishers (at wholesale cost). The sales and marketing support your big publisher offers is rather thin on the ground: they will post your book in their catalog and maybe do some marketing activity for 3 months or so…but then move on to the next project. Authors shoulder the lion’s share of selling and marketing no matter who publishes your book.

As a result, small presses and self-publishers have taken matters into their own hands. With the help of today’s technology, publishing books has never been more affordable. New categories of printing and publishing companies emerge every day with services to prepare and format manuscripts for reproduction or electronic distribution.

Yet the types of services and terminology can be very confusing—even to publishing professionals. Various skill sets and job descriptions have been consolidated. New technologies may eliminate or combine steps in the publishing process. Inexperienced self-publishers may skip or ignore tasks that seem petty, but that could have a significant effect on the quality of the finished product. All these factors combine to complicate and obscure the publishing process.

The basic definition of self-publishing is the publication of a book by the author of the work without involving an established commercial publisher, and where the author pays all expenses. Self-publishing has been around in one form or another since the beginning of publishing but in recent years, self-publishing has exploded with the emergence of print-on-demand (POD) digital printing technologies and online bookselling.

Types of Self-Publishing

Printing companies previously referred to as vanity and subsidy presses, are sharing boundaries with today’s new print-on-demand companies. Generally speaking, vanity presses make money from fees authors pay to print their work, and not so much from selling those books. Subsidy presses also take money from authors and contribute adjunct services, although sometimes only minimally. They usually retain publishing rights like commercial publishers and pay author royalties. And along with vanity and subsidy presses, print-on-demand companies offer a la carte services for novice and experienced publishers alike. 

It’s not so important what these service providers are called, as what they do, how they do it, and what benefits they offer to self-publishers. The most important considerations for self-publishers working with any printing or publishing contractor are:

• Securing fair contracts
• Retaining rights
• Acceptable print quality
• Standard royalties
• File ownership
• ISBN ownership
• Distribution and marketing
• Total costs 

Use these points to measure the amount of control you want to have over the process of publishing. You definitely want to retain all rights to your materials, so you can opt to publish with others, and you also want to keep ownership of all digital files when possible. Print-on-demand companies are in competition with one another and offer ongoing specials. The sales and distribution services of each service provider will vary widely. In some cases, you may want to take advantage of these opportunities, but be careful that you don’t get locked into exclusivity with one marketing channel. 

The best way to approach self-publishing is to be scrupulously honest with yourself. You must go beyond the illusory, mythical image of what it means to be a published author and cultivate realistic expectations. As you document your motivations, skills, and resources, you become better equipped to build a solid plan. 

The real challenge for self-publishers is to bring the quality of their work up to the benchmarks set by the big, commercial publishers. By hiring professional book editors and designers, and creating innovative sales and marketing plans, self-publishers will most certainly raise their profiles, attract new opportunities and take pride in their books for years to come.

If you’re not sure if your book is a good idea, or you don’t have a clear plan, download my FREE GUIDE. 

If you want guidance and help creating a plan, schedule a FREE DISCOVERY CALL with me to see how I can help.

 Plan for Success!

 Lindsay