Self-publishing has become such a viable option to get your book to market these days the choice on whether to pursue traditional publishing or self-publishing has become much tougher.
Each week we get a sizable number of those who read this blog and certainly those that work through our 6-week self-publishing program asking questions about the traditional publishing route versus self-publishing.  Although there are many advantages of self-publishing to be sure, there are still advantages in terms of distribution and in terms of added credibility in securing a traditional publishing deal.
Are the advantages enough to put u with all of the crap?
Here is one author’s point of view, after determining the downsides of traditional publishing – which included in his case:
- More than 1-year to get his book to market
- Giving up 85%+ of his royalties to the publishing company
- Risks of books being returned if they didn’t sell
- Relatively low advance ($10K-$15K for a virtual unknown author)
Though Adam Smiley Poswolsky considered the advantage of added credibility a traditional publishing contract may bring and the potential for wider retail distribution, it really wasn’t much of a choice – and the same holds true for most writers today…the advantages of self-publishing often outweigh the negatives associated with getting that contract.
This is especially true when you think about the fact that you will need to put the same amount of marketing effort into getting people to know about you and your book no matter how you publish, you may as well take advantage of the improved time to market and get paid much higher on the back-end if you intend to spend the next 6-8 months heavily involved in promotion.
In fact, what we share with our students is a system for having your book simply be the “lead-in” to a much more significant back-end offering that will both make you much more money, but will also attract a much wider net of partners who will help you launch and promote your books for you…just watch influential partners endorse you when they know your back-end priced at $147 can earn them $60-$80 in commission each time they refer a sale. Much different than making a few bucks a pop referring a book or ebook sale.
Are you thinking about writing and publishing your own book or ebook? Which way are you leaning…traditional or self-publishing? Leave us a comment.
