Monday, April 30th, 2012...4:22 pm
Comparing Traditional and Self Publishing
Self-publishing is often a risk, you can invest a lot of money but the returns could be low. But come to think of it, everything is a risk. It’s a part of success. Self Publishing can give you control on your book and boost your profits all at once. Those are among the reasons why you should engage in self publishing. Often, writing the content isnt the only factor that’s difficult about writing, we get encumbered withchoosing an excellent book cover too. Take a look at book cover for expert help!
The fact remains that traditional publishing is only going to give authors 5-10% of the sales. With self publishing, you can increase the profit up to 50%. But the downside is that you would have to subsidize every little thing beforehand. It is a risk. You cannot always ensure that you’re acquiring everything you paid for.
Not all book sellers buy books directly from the author so you may require the services of a distributor. You may not get your target 50% targeted profit since the author will have to get discounts to the distributor and booksellers. If the book doesn’t sell that much, that could be another issue. Apart from less profit, some bookstores would return the book and ask for a refund. Some self-publishers would draw up a contract that would not permit returns and refund, in a special price of course. Competition can be tough. Readers would not conveniently buy your book. You will need to give them a reason to get your book over books with the same topic. Marketing and publicity might be a key. And you would have to spend on that, too.
They say that a book is sort of a writer’s own child. Knowing this, it can be difficult for you to criticize your kid. Because authors would have to do everything, editing included, it’s not easy to be objective at all times. If there are parts that are certainly not exactly very important, the writer may be unable to delete it. The author will have an inclination to be biased and not delete the parts that are not at all significant. Editors are often assigned to do this. But if an author is his own editor, then there might be biases.
The author’s reputation can also be placed on the line. Not all readers regard self published books highly. In their line of thinking, self published books are not good enough because it has not been approved by major Publishing companies.
Multitasking is one drawback of self publishing. You have to do everything. If you compare and contrast it with traditional publishing, self publishing will not give you the chance to work with editors, layout artists, cover artists, etc. But in self-publishing you would have to cope with all of this, if you cannot do it all, you have the choice to get or seek the services of somebody who can. This will, obviously, cost you some money. Picking outsource will just give you extra work to do since you have to see if they meet your standards.
Oftentimes, writing the book isnt the only thing that’s hard with writing, we get stuck with finding a good cover design at the same time. Better hire experts and go to book covers.