Self publish or Traditional Publishing

So…

As you may (or may not –if you are kinda new to my blog) know, I am not only a book blogger, but also an aspiring author. I finished my first Manuscript, POWER, in January and have been revising/editing it since then.

Also, I have been working on my second book, HOPE, while I was having my beta readers and Critique Partners read and critique POWER.

Now, I have revised POWER 3 times, and am about half way done with HOPE (with the first draft only!)

I think POWER is about as good as I can get it. I plan on reading through it one more time to look for ANY misspelling or grammatical errors I can find. (You can see my progress on my books HERE)

Then the plan was to self publish...

BUT-  I just kept thinking about what to do... Self publish or go the traditional route.

There is a lot of debate about which way is better, and which way is right. Really, I think both option has pros and cons.

 

So, here we go, Pros and Cons of Traditional vs Self  publishing.

 

Traditional Pros

1. Your prestige level rises with the signing of the contract.
2. Your credibility as an expert increases immediately.
3. Your book will be widely distributed by your publisher's national and/or international distribution channels, and can make its way into the national chains.
4. A sales force will represent your book to bookstores across the country.
5. A publicity person will often send out press releases to the local media in the towns where you will be speaking. (Not all publishers offer this option, and some will offer this option only for a time-limited period).
6. Greater opportunities for media exposure.
7. The publisher assumes all printing costs.

SO- The biggest thing in my opinion is... you get to reach a MUCH wider audience!! This is huge, because even if your book is perfect and there are no errors with it, you still have to promote it yourself, and even with all the promoting in the world, you may never reach more than a few hundred...

Cons to Traditional

1. You must put together an extensive book proposal to sell your book, which can be costly and/or timely to create.
2. You will make approximately .75 cents to a dollar, or so, for every book the publisher sells.
3. Once they've bought your book, a publisher might take a year or two, or longer, before they print your book and it actually makes its way into the bookstores.
4. Editorial and sales staff can come and go, which means your project can be sacked.
5. You have NO control over your cover design and title.
6. A publisher can insist on edits that you might not agree with.
7. You own the copyright, but often not much more, unless you or your agent have negotiated otherwise.
8. Publishers will typically let you buy your book at 40-50% off the cover price, so if you want to order a case of books for yourself you can, however, they will charge you for shipping. Example: if a book sells for $12.95, and you have a 50% discount, you can expect to pay about $7.50 per book with the shipping cost, leaving you a small margin for profit.

So... as you can see, there are a lot of issues! You make a MUCH less amount per book sold. You lose a lot of control over what happens to your book.

So... sell more books or make more money??

Now for self publishing.
Pros

1. You make more money per book every time you sell one.
2. You can get your book printed and have it ready to sell very quickly.
3. You have total control over your cover design and title.
4. No one can tell you to edit anything out.
5. You own all the rights, except for the ISBN.
6. If you already have an audience for your talks or seminars, you can use the book for immediate back of the room sales.
7. You can print in small quantities.
8. You can sell your book on Amazon

and Cons.

1. Distribution is limited as chains, for the most part, do not accept self-published books.
2. Marketing and promotion is your responsibility.
3. You've got to do everything yourself or nothing is going to happen.
4. If you aren't already out speaking or giving seminars, or in the public eye where people will have exposure to you, sales can be quite challenging.
5. A lot of reviewers won't review books that are self-published.

 So there you have it. Like I said before... Reach a wider audience but suffer with less dollar ammount per book, or get more per book and reach a smaller audience with no help from professionals...

So... my decision:

Im going to try once more the tradional route. I want to reach a wider audience, and then once I have an audience and following of readers, I can self publish any books after that.

So, I will go ahead and query agents one more time now that its all revised and edited since the last time I queried. (You can see the last time I Queried agents here: The beginning, Agents, Rejection)

I just redid my Query Letter, and it appears to be SOOOO much better than last time.

I’ll keep yall all in the loop and if I get nothing back from this batch of Agents, then I will self publish!

Wish me luck! J