The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing
Self-publishing is one way for authors to get their work out there into the world. It means that you don’t need to wait on publishing houses to respond to your queries, and you don’t need to make your work fit into someone else’s idea of ‘good’. Instead, you have complete freedom over your work, you can publish it as soon as you think you’re ready, and of course, you don’t have to split the royalties you earn with your publisher.
However, it’s not all good news. Launching a book isn’t an easy thing to do successfully, nor is it a cheap thing to do well. If this is your first-ever book launch there will be a lot to learn, from how to format your book, to how to build a list of beta readers and quickly gather reviews.
Even so, if we look at the stats, smaller indie publishers can have a lot of success if they know what they’re doing. Approximately, 45% of sales on Amazon are from indie publishers. That’s a huge percentage and highlights the potential opportunities for newer writers who might not be able to catch the attention of one of the big publishers.
In this article we ask, what are the pros and cons of self-publishing on platforms like Amazon, and should you consider this route to publishing?
Pros of Self-Publishing
Get Your Work Out There Faster
If you pursue traditional publishing it can take months or even years for your work to be released. You have months worth of submitting to agents and publishers, and if you are eventually picked up there will be even more time spent editing and preparing the manuscript for publication. On average publishing, a book through one of the big houses takes between 6 to 18 months at a minimum. The result is the best possible version of your work, however, you may not want to wait that long.
With self-publishing, you have much more control over the speed at which you can get your book onto the market ad start earning royalties. What might be a year-long manuscript preparation process with a publisher, might be only a month or two if you manage it yourself.
More Control Over Your Work
Publishing is a commercial industry. This means publishers are, more often than not, looking for work that they believe will sell. Often they will approach a manuscript with a preconceived notion of what that is. For example, after the Twilight movies, there was a huge flurry of werewolf and vampire literature that was published.
When you publish through a larger publishing house then, the editors, marketers, and designers, that work with you will try and tailor your work to fit a target niche which could have a dramatic impact on the creative direction of your story.
On the other hand, you don’t have to bow to external pressures when you self-publish. You can create a story as boldly original or niche as you like and let your creativity shine. You will also get control over cover design, blurb writing, marketing copy, and format.
High Royalty Payout
Traditional publishers tend to pay around 10%-15% of the royalties that your book earns, the publisher taking the vast majority. When you self-publish on Amazon you receive up to 70% of the list price.
Longer Market Exposure
When you self-publish you don’t have to worry about the publishing house discontinuing your work. Instead, you have as long as you need to develop and build a sales strategy to ensure your work finds its audience. Because of this, self-publishing can be a great way for committed new writers to first establish an audience and following which can be leveraged for future success.
Cons of Self-publishing
Less Support
As we’ve already mentioned, one of the key benefits of publishing through a traditional publishing house is your ability to tap into a support network of industry experts. This support will range from editorial support to marketing support and everything in between.
Launching a book is hard work. You will need to manage everything from the cover design to paid ads and everything in between. A publishing team is designed to help you produce the very best product and reach as many relevant potential buyers as possible. Your success is their success and having experts in your corner can mean the difference between a best-seller and a flop.
Related: 5 Things Every Author Needs To Know Before Self-Publishing
Less Recognition
Anyone can self-publish a book. And this means there are a lot of sub-par books on the market. Being picked up and published by someone like Random House is like having a sticker of approval. Your work is good, and these industry experts say so. This recognition will no doubt have a big impact on the acclaim and awards that you win and the reach that you achieve.
Lower Overall Earnings
Because you have less support, especially in the marketing department, then unless you really know what you’re doing or are really lucky, then you are unlikely to achieve the same level of sales and reach as you would if you publish through a large publishing house. These publishing houses have massive audiences already built up and wide distribution networks.
On top of that, you’ll likely get an “advance” upfront which can be crucial in helping you launch yourself as an author.
That being said there are plenty of self-published authors that are doing very well earning tens of thousands of dollars a year from their writing alone. The route to get to this point though was no doubt paved with hardships and drawbacks. By going the traditional publishing route you get a support system and will be able to avoid many of the traps and setbacks that a self-publisher would.