The world has changed immensely since the times when prospective writers pounded out words on dusty typewriters, before posting them off to a publishing house, nervously hoping for that letter of acceptance.
Publishing houses evolved a bit like our Kings and Queens. They came about because of people who stepped up, unsheathed their pens, rather than their swords, and were cleverer, faster, and stronger than anyone else in the running. They decided that managing and distributing other people’s words was a good paying deal. The agreement was simple. They would back a writer who showed promise, in return for a cut of the earnings. It was all about the profits.
Of course, a bit of honour and glory built up over time. If a publisher agreed to back you, that meant you had to be good, right?
And writers — well, their egos — were drawn in by that prestige.
Then along came the digital age, and a greater freedom of words. No longer controlled by a few privileged owners of printing presses and buckets of money, suddenly anybody — and sometimes their dog — could get their words out there. So long as their work was any good, they had a chance.
In response, digital distributors like Amazon and Apple iBooks sprung up to support these more independent efforts. While traditional publishers still held a strong grasp on the prestige, they were no longer the undisputed masters of the publishing world.
There are mixed feelings about this. We still sit with active and competitive “traditional” publishing houses. We also have freedom of the presses where writers can self-publish for very little cost.
Yes, this does mean a lot more books on the market. But it’s not a zero-sum game. The market is busy but not saturated by any means. There are plenty of readers wanting to read. And one avid reader can read a lot.
In the end, the way our online world works now, the dross sifts itself out, eventually.
You can read long diatribes for and against both kinds of publishing. Those who have “made it” into traditional publishing often feel like they need to defend their turf against the gazillions of “wannabe” authors out there. Meanwhile, everyone else just wants a chance to break the mould, get their work out there, and subvert traditional creative constraints.
Of course, there are always a cunning few in the industry who are willing to exploit the ignorant or unprepared.
Within the publishing industry is a beast known as the subsidy publisher, or publishing-adjacent service. These guys will take big chunks of your money in return for what amounts to a vanity deal. You pay for their ‘consideration’ which means diddly squat. They have an editor and cover designer do their thing. They get an ISBN for you. They may even list you on their website. They generally use an intermediary like Smashwords, or simply upload to Amazon on your behalf. They are not doing anything that you couldn’t do for yourself, or have done, for a lot less.
With these guys there’s little to no support after initial publication, and very limited after-sales marketing. They have your money already, and there is no reason for them to worry if the book doesn’t sell. If your book crashes, it crashes. Many of them crash.
If that wasn’t worrying enough, enter the passive-income book laundering market. Smoke and mirrors are rife. People are clever like that. You can literally hire a ghostwriter to write for you, an editor, a cover designer and all the rest, and launch a very professional-looking book in a month or so, if you have the financial resources to throw at it. While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this method, its common implementation has added growing noise to the market, with loads of books of variable and questionable quality.
But life is not clear cut, right? What works for you as an author may not work for me, and vice versa.
While we could debate on what the values and goals of a modern author ought to be, let’s rather focus on the truths about publishing that I know for certain:
- We currently face a publishing market where around 11, 000 books are published daily – this includes eBooks, print, and audio. That’s a very noisy market. There are a lot of people promising to make you the next bestselling author – some are authentic and good at what they do, and others are not. You need to do your homework.
- If a book is not good quality, with sound content, it might sell at first if you market the hell out of it, but then your sales will drop. Reviews are pivotal – and people make buying decisions based on perceived quality (aka other people’s opinions).
- If a book is not properly promoted, it won’t sell. It could contain the real recipe to the philosopher’s stone, and it still wouldn’t sell if no-one knew about it. Books do not sell themselves!
- The average sales are around 250 – 300 books per title a year, at around $9 per book before costs and tax. You do the maths. It is possible to sell a lot more, at a better price, of course. It is also possible to have several titles all trickling in steady royalties that add up to a living. None of this is likely for inexperienced indie authors who don’t know how to publish or market.
- Book publishing is a marathon not a race. There is no time limit and no specific formula. Well, the algorithm on Amazon may kick you to the bottom of the pile if you make no sales, sure, but Amazon is not your only option. You need to keep going. You need to get creative, inventive, and daring with your marketing. If something isn’t working, you need to dig into why and maybe try something new. And you need to decide when the cost of your time is worth more than the potential future sales of a book.
You might have heard the words, “A writer should never have to pay to publish.” In reality, in our modern writing world, that is quite a limited opinion. Nowadays, to get a book selling is going to require some form of investment, and a level of effort writers from past generations will not have experienced.
No matter what, getting your book out there is going to cost someone in time and/or money. It just has to. In my experience you can either try to do it all yourself, learning at the school of hard knocks along the way, if you have the time, or you can decide to enlist professionals who can do it all for you at a fraction of the time and cost.
This brings you to another question – to self-publish or hold out for that traditional publishing deal? Who is the best to help you get your book out there?
Traditional vs Self-Published
So how do you know what to do, as a writer? Which route should you aim for?
It comes down to why you are publishing. What do you want out of it? What values do you want to embody? What are your goals? What are your priorities?
Regardless of any other motivations you may have, there are ultimately four key aspects that will drive your choice:
- Money (costs and profits)
- Ego (fame & fortune, credibility, reputation)
- Timeframes
- Ideas.
Let’s go graphic.
What this means is that if you can get into a traditional publisher (via an agent or directly) you won’t pay anything upfront, but you may not get a great royalty rate either. It ranges from around 8 to 15% of the books wholesale price after costs. With an agent, that could mean a long wait before you see reasonable returns on your investment. Still, you will get fame, prestige, and get your ideas out there… if the book sells. Although publishers are very good at not backing a losing horse, it can happen.
On the upside, these publishers are made up of teams of experts whose main job is to get your book to sell. On the downside, they apply business formulae so if the book doesn’t sell at first, less and less effort gets put into it, before it is eventually shelved in the loser section.
In terms of timeframes, you can take up to two years to see your name in print if you go the traditional route. A few months at most if you self-publish.
These days, most readers will not know the difference between a self-published book and a traditionally published one – so if your book sells it sells. The fame will come, if your writing and marketing are good enough to get positive notice and keep it.
If you self-publish you can get around 70% royalty (Ts and Cs of the self-publishing platforms apply). You can put as much or as little marketing effort into it as you like. You can keep pushing and it can take off. It’s been known to happen, especially if you are lucky enough to be discovered by a major influencer like Oprah Winfrey.
That said, there are a lot of “ifs” in this game.
To make the uncertainties of those “ifs” more manageable, there are loads of marketing strategies out there. We can even dig into a few in future blogs.
For the time being, all you need to know is that, when it comes to getting your book out there, there is no best way to go, only the way that makes sense to you, based on what you want. What is important to you as a writer?
It often helps to drop prejudice and look at matters objectively, rather than emotionally. Even vanity press, with the pitfalls we mentioned earlier, has its place if done with eyes open. Sometimes all we want is a coffee table book about our holiday in Paris, so we can show it off to our visitors, and that’s okay.
In the End…
Going self-publishing or “indie” is a potentially great option if you can find the right support team. Yes, there will and should be a cost. Even traditional publishers charge you – via reduced royalties – just not upfront because they are old and established enough to carry those initial costs.
Regardless of the precise form it takes, choosing a publishing service provider and route should work like choosing anything else you spend your hard-earned money on – check their reviews, check their history and check their track record.
If you aren’t sure about a service provider, look at what they are doing for you. What effort is going into your book, and is it fair pay for fair labour? If so, there is no reason to rant about the fact you shouldn’t be paying. After all, no professional can afford to work their job for free, and that includes the ones helping you.
Which Brings It Around to Us
Yes, we do charge to assist authors publish. No, we are not a subsidy publisher, just a team of book-loving, passionate, values-driven creatives who want to see more good writing on shelves and screens.
We have learned all the publishing lessons, so you don’t have to.
We stand behind our work by offering very reasonable rates and instead of high fees take a small cut of book sales. If it doesn’t sell, we don’t win either, so we work to make your book happen way past the point many other publishing consultancies would stop.
Quality reads that add value to the world is a driving value for us. Which means only books with true potential will be considered for our next book project. If we believe in a book, there’s not a lot we won’t do to get it where it needs to be. It’s all about real writer support – from mentoring and coaching right through to tracking your royalties for you.We understand that not every writer is a jack-of-all trades, nor should you be. Editing, interior formatting, cover design, and marketing strategies go better if done by professionals. It leaves you to get on with writing your next book.
If you would like to chat about your options, please feel free to get in touch with us: in**@ha********.com
Your book could be our next amazing publishing project!
