Karen E. Quinones Miller's
Publishing Boot Camp
Publishing Vs. Self-Publishing
Self-Publishing can be a lot more lucrative than being published at a small or even a large publishing house. For instance, self-publishing a book of about 200 pages in trade paperback, and having it retail for $15.00 will net you about $4.00 after deducting all the discounts given distributors/bookstores, the price of printing, and the costs of promotion. That doesn't seem like a lot, huh? But, if you sell 15,000 copies in a year you've netted a PROFIT of $60,000. Come on . . . that's not bad.
On the other hand, if you publish a 200 page trade paperback book through a large publisher, and it retails for $15.00 you only make $1.05 a book! Instead of making $60,000, you wind up making less than $16,000. Yep, that's right.
So then why would anyone go through a publisher rather self-publishing? BECAUSE SELF-PUBLISHING IS HARD AS ALL HELL! Sorry . . . . didn't mean to yell. Let me try that again. SELF-PUBLISHING IS HARD AS ALL HELL! There . . . I think that came out better. <smile>
When you self-publish you are not only the author, but you are the publisher; the bookkeeper; the person in charge of shipping and handling; the person in charge of collecting debts; the person who has to find a graphics designer for your cover; you find the printer and get all the materials he needs to him; you are in charge of promotion and trying to get the media to write or talk about your book; you are the all and everything! My biggest issue with self-publishing was that in doing all that I didn't have time to sit down and write my next book!
And let's face it, self-publishing isn't cheap! The printing costs for 5,000 copies of a 200 page book can be anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 (Yes! Prices can vary by that much . . . which is why you HAVE to shop around for your printer!), and then typesetting can be as high as $1,000 and editing can be anywhere from $750 to $2,000.
And here's the real scary bottom line . . . 96 percent of the people who self-publish never make their money back! Uh huh . . . you read correctly. 96 percent of the people who self-publish lose money in doing so.
By the way . . . so many people think that they can bypass these costs if you use Print on Demand, but that's the worse type of self-publishing there is. And the chances of being your successful go from 4 percent to .3 percent! (I'll try write a paper explaining all the whys and wherefores that make this true and add it as a link to this site soon.)
On the other hand, when you book is published by a large publisher, they actually GIVE YOU MONEY IN ADVANCE OF YOUR BOOK EVEN BEING PUBLISHED! Sweet! But then, of course, as we have seen above, it's still not as much as you can make if you self-publish . . . but that's only if you successfully self-publish.
Personally, I loved the self-publishing process, and I'm so thankful I went through it. BUT, it's not what I recommend for most people. Listen, if you think that you might want to self-publish because you don't want to go through the rejection process that most people go through trying to find a publisher . . HAH! You don't know the meaning of rejection until you've self-published!
But see, I have thick skin, I'm tenacious without being obnoxious, I don't mind hearing the word "no," (My philosophy? No simply means I can't do it with you. It doesn't mean I can't do it.), and I love being out in front of people telling them about my book and why they just have to buy it. I also found that I'm really creative when it comes to marketing! I was made for self-publishing! But still, since I also very much love writing, I felt that I needed to go from self-publishing to being published, and I haven't regretted that decision either.
I think it's a personal choice, but my advice to most people is to try to find a publisher before deciding to self-publish. It makes life sooooo much easier!
Just my two cents.