A friend asked me what kinds of publishing I recommend--approaching traditional publishers, self-publishing a printed book or an ebook?
The answer is...it depends on your goal.
Here's a rundown of what I consider the pros and cons of each option:
1) Traditional publishers. You get an agent or approach the publishers yourself. If they like the book they pay you an advance (usually pretty small these days, and some don't pay any advance) plus a royalty. If you get an advance, you have to earn that back before you collect more royalties.
For instance, let's say you get an advance of $1000. Your book sells for $10 and you get $1 royalty (I'm just using convenient numbers to illustrate the point.) You have to sell a thousand copies in order to earn back that $1000 they advanced you. Then, from copy 1001 on, you'd get another dollar per copy sold. They may create an ebook at the same time they print the hard copy version.
Pros: Has the most prestige, probably gets the book into book stores, might get it reviewed, they take care of cover design, interior design, editing, printing and distribution. They will do a bit of marketing but not a lot. Doesn't cost you anything. This is also the most impressive calling card if you want a book to use that way. Less likely than an ebook to be pirated.
Cons: Harder to get books accepted these days, might take some time to get an answer, profit margin lower than self-publishing, much lower than ebook self-publishing.
2) Traditional self-publishing. You get a graphic designer to do your cover and layout of the pages and take the file to a printer. He prints and binds them and delivers however many copies you ordered--the more you order, the less the per-book price.
Pros: Everything is under your control and you make 100% of the profit after expenses. Not as good a calling card, but still something tangible you can hand people. Less likely to be pirated.
Cons: You have to coordinate everything, bookstores won't stock it, you'll have to store the copies and send out the books as orders come in. It'll cost quite a bit up front.
3) Print on demand. You pay (although not too much) to have a company do the design, etc. and they keep the digital file. When an order comes in they print the book and ship it. You can set the price at any level you want above cost. They collect the money and send you your share. You can use the book as a calling card but the per-book cost will be higher than if you print a lot of copies.
Pros: Small upfront cost, no storage or fulfilment on your side. Easy to revise--you just send them an updated file. Less likely to be pirated.
Cons: Smaller profit margin because the per-book cost is higher than books printed in quantity. No book store distribution.
4) Self published ebook (for Kindle, etc.). You can do this yourself or have it done by a company that will do the cover and interior design, issue it in the various ebook formats (there are three or four, depending on which device the person is using) and list it with Amazon, the Apple book site, etc.
Pros: Best profit margins, easy to revise as often as you want for a small fee. Easy for people to read on the go. Also easy for you to sell from your site.
Cons: Even though this segment of publishing is growing very quickly, there are still a lot of people who don't have smart phones or ipads, etc. Pricing can be tricky--there's an unfortunate trend for authors in this category to price their books really low (like 99 cents) in order to try to get big sales. That will work for some people, it won't work for most. Also not good as a calling card. Easy to pirate.
CONSIDER A COMBINATION
Of course there's no reason that you can't start with one format and then go on to another one.
For instance, it might be easiest to self publish in ebook form first--it's quick, not too expensive, and you can easily test it at various price points. This is also a format that allows updating relatively easily. With a paperback, lets say you have 200 copies left but you want to put out a new edition. Do you just throw away those 200 or do you wait until they sell before putting out the new edition? Either one has drawbacks.
If the ebook takes off you can either go to a publisher, show them the sales data, and see if they want to publish it traditionally. Or you at that stage you can add a print on demand edition or self-publish a paperback.
Another combination would be to produce an ebook and a print on demand version at the same time. That way you can offer hard copies, but with a low up front cost.
There are many companies that will provide the services I've described. Some of them unfortunately are variations of the old vanity publishing houses and charge for services you don't really need or could get much cheaper elsewhere, so be careful.
One reputable company that you might want to consider is Lulu.com--their website will give you a good idea of the relative costs.
Do check around and compare before you decide--depending on how much you are willing to do yourself, costs can vary quite a lot.
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