To Publish Traditionally or Print on Demand

The Raging Debate between Two Paradigms

If you're going to publish traditionally, you have to get an agent. The literary agent will be the one to submit your manuscript to a "traditional" publisher. There are probably still small and regional traditional publishers who will accept unsolicited manuscripts, or queries direct from writers. But you have about as much chance of being traditionally published without an agent as you do winning the lottery. Traditional publishers want literary agents to wade through manuscripts and select ones they submit to them for consideration.

That is the first issue you must face head-on if you're going to be published the traditional way.

What is "traditional" publishing? It is getting your book published by a royalty-paying publisher (fat chance at getting an advance), without expecting authors to pay to have their book published, without paying for editing services, without paying for book promotion, without having to pay for cover design, and having their books appear on brick and mortar bookstore shelves. Further, traditionally published books do not have the stigma that is attached to self-published books. Bookstores and libraries look askance at self-published or POD books.

That is the second issue you need to know before considering self-publishing or having your book available through "print on demand" technology. Most publishers and agents believe that a self-published book means that the author is not good enough to be published traditionally. Before print-on-demand "publishing" opened the flood gates to the unwashed masses being able to get their books published (for a fee), there was what was known as "vanity" publishers. And today, POD published books are widely considered to be "vanity" published.

But...if you're going to be published traditionally, here is the downside:

• New writers will probably not be offered an advance. Forget about buying your parents a new car with your hefty advance. If you do get an advance against royalties, it will probably be less than $5,000. 
• A traditional publisher only truly promotes best-selling authors. You'll be lucky to have your book sent out to a few review publications, and no, you're not going to be appearing on Oprah, The Today Show, or Good Morning America. These promotions are reserved for well-known writers or infamous people.
• You will have about six months on bookstore shelves for your book to prove that it will sell well. Bookstores have limited shelf space, and they're not going to waste it on titles that sit there and don't sell.
• Your book will get no more than a year of life before it is taken "out of print" by the publisher if it doesn't sell well. 
• When your book is taken out of print, it goes onto the remainder shelves, and no, you don't get any royalties from remaindered books.

The problem with traditional publishers is that they have been aggregated into only five mega companies, and they control the lion's share of published books that appear on bookstore shelves.

Now let's consider being self-published or published through print on demand.

The first issue that you're going to have to face is being accused of having to pay to have your book published. Bookstores won't stock your books; book review magazines won't review your books—unless you pay to have it done. This means that you are going to have to do the promotion yourself.

But there is an even more important consideration with self-publishing. You will have to prove that your book is excellent. If you do not care about sloppy writing, misspelled words, grammatical and other errors in your work, and all you care about is getting your book "published" despite the fact that you have to pay for it, and all you want is to see your title listed on Amazon, lean in a little closer, and I will tell you a secret:

Your book is only going to sell a few copies online, and then readers are going to prove exactly what agents, bookstores, and traditional publishers have been saying. Readers will say that your book is not good. You'll harm yourself as a writer if you do not care about excellence. And you'll harm the POD side of book publishing.

But this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, to be a successful self-published writer, you're going to have to make sure that your book is good, really really good. The cover design has to be top-notch, the structure and layout of the body of the book has to compete with traditionally published books. It has to be tightly written, free of egregious errors, typos, misspelled words, and just about everything a traditionally published book is.

If you're going to be self-published and you write an excellent book, here is the upside to non-traditional, POD publishing:

• When a reader discovers your book on Amazon and gives you a good review, word-of-mouth advertising and a glowing review will encourage new buyers.
• Your book does not have to break sales records to stay in print. In fact, your book will never go out of print. Over time, you will garner respectable sales numbers.
• Although you won't get an advance against royalties, you can get much better royalties than a new writer with a traditional publisher. Instead of 6% royalties (or at most 10% royalties) that a traditional publisher pays, you will get at least 40% royalties. Instead of being paid royalties every 90 days (through a traditional publisher), you will get paid royalties every month.

Indeed, it takes a hefty dose of self-confidence to publish your own book, you do have to find independent cover artists, pay to have your book edited, and do your own promotion. But the greatest upside to publishing your own books (as long as they are excellent) is that the more you publish the greater your income.

So, let's say you're a young person. Try to get an agent and go the traditional publishing route.

But let's say that you're somewhat older or retired and you want to set your hand at writing. I strongly suggest self-publishing, especially if you have more than one book inside of you. Don't waste your time getting a bale of rejection slips from agents or publishers as the months and years slip away. Gear up, write your book, hire an editor. (Don't pay the exorbitant fees through a POD company like Authorhouse, CreateSpace, iUniverse, Xfinity, etc.) Hire independent editors and eliminate the middle man. Instead of paying $4500.00 to have your book professionally edited, pay $1200.00 or less through an independent editor. With an independent editor, you will have a one-on-one relationship with the editor that you don't get through a POD company.

Nora Jones (singer/songwriter) and other musical artists have proven that they do not need a recording contract to become well known. What they do, however, is insist that their work is excellent. They do not settle for sloppy production values, and as a writer, neither should you.