Should I do self-publishing or traditional?

Should I do self-publishing or traditional? 

This is probably one of the most popular questions I get as authors are starting to plan their publishing journey. Which way is right? Which way is better? Which way is easier? 

Like most things, there is no right or wrong answer. It really just depends on what you prefer and what is best for you. So today I'm going to tell you about some of the considerations for each, what you want to think about, and how you can make the best decision for you moving forward.

Self-Publishing

Self-publishing is obviously the hot topic right now, and it is something that is really exciting to see. Authors are taking their publishing journey, their career into their own hands and that's something that a lot of people love. You have more control, you’re more involved on the business side of things, you can make those publishing decisions for your books and for your career. 

But when you're considering self-publishing, you also want to think about the other side of that as well. It is a bit more of a solo endeavor, at least as far as making decisions, because you are the boss—of your book, of your career, everything. That can be really liberating for some people who like making those decisions, but it can also be hard at times as well. 

There's also more of an upfront cost in self-publishing, so you are going to be paying for a lot more before your book even hits the market. After all the time and energy spent writing the book. you'll also be paying for a story developmental editor, a copyeditor, maybe a proofreader, formatter, cover artist, things like that. Then you put all of those together and launch on whatever platform you prefer. 

Like I said, it’s a lot more control but also a lot more on you, so it just depends on what you prefer. 

Traditional Publishing

Now the traditional route is something that people are a bit more familiar with. You either write a synopsis or you write a full book—if you're a brand new author, you're going to want to write the full book. Then, you query agents, and hopefully you find one quite quickly. The agents will query editors, you sign a contract, and you move forward from there. 

So you can see there's a little bit more of a delay; it's a longer process. But you have a lot more people and a lot more support on the early end behind you. You’ll have a whole marketing team, an editorial team, an art team. All of those people are experts in the field that are working for you at no upfront cost. 

Side note: I cannot stress this enough— if you are going the traditional route, you should NOT be paying an agent to represent you. If an agent tries to get money from you, that is not an agent! Find someone else!  

So you do have all of these great resources and experts at your hands that are very familiar with the market and the publishing realm. Certainly, you will have an opportunity to have some bigger exposure because they can connect you with other authors, they can put you on a book tour, they can put you in department stores. None of that is an absolute guarantee, but the opportunities are there and they're a lot more easily accessible because it is a bigger company. You are working with them, like a partnership. 

But the flip side of that coin is you don't have as much control. They know what they think is going to work best in the market. While most publishers are certainly going to confer with you on what you want for a cover or what you're thinking as far as marketing and publicity, they do have the end say. So you might end up with a cover that’s not exactly what you imagined because they make choices that are best for their business and for you—it’s a give and take, there’s compromise.

So which is right for me?

If you can find that balance of wanting the support and the expertise and are okay with the book ending up a little bit different than what you exactly envisioned, traditional publishing could be a great option. Your book will have a lot more exposure and push in the market with the loss of some creative freedom. 

But if you have this vision and you know that you can make it exactly what you wanted it to be, despite some of the upfront costs, self-publishing may sound much better to you. Do remember though that self-publishing involves doing all of the things an expert would do for you, by yourself. You will have to do it yourself or hire a publicity team, a marketing team, an editorial team. 

As you can see, there are pros and cons to each side. One isn't better than the other, people have had bad experiences on both sides, and both sides get a little bit of a bad rap. As an author, you want to talk to your writing groups, your friends, your beta readers, and see what experiences they had. Definitely learn from their  experiences and be able to take that into account to make an educated decision, but it really needs to be on what you know about yourself and how you want your publishing career to go.

My recommendation if you have a choice moving into the future is that you should try both avenues. Be a hybrid author. If you have something that you definitely want to pitch to publishers, get an agent. If you think it would perform better in the market coming from a publisher, definitely do that. But also if you have a series that you want control on, then do it yourself and self-publish. 

One of the biggest things that I think people don't know is that self-published authors many times do and can have an agent, and I highly recommend it. Because while they may not be pitching you directly to the big five publishers in New York, maybe they're helping you with audio foreign rights, maybe they're helping you with movie rights, things like that. Then you're having other avenues explored as well, it's not just about the print and ebook publishing. 

These are all things that you should consider as you're thinking about how you want to move forward with your publishing career, whether you've already started or whether you're just starting on your first draft. If you have any questions about self or traditional publishing, comment below. I can't wait to see what you guys are working on and I hope the absolute best for your publishing journey! 

And until next time, keep writing!