Self-Publishing or Traditional Publishing of a Book; What You Should Do as an Author

Prestige, validation, and approval; especially if you are a new writer, approval of a field expert is nothing but essential. Therefore, hiring a prestigious publisher is a good idea. Besides, other reasons why you should consider a traditional publisher include:

• ·        Easier print distribution in the bookstores
• ·         An acclaimed professional team at work
• ·         A route to critical acclaim and literary prizes; as they are often not open to independent authors
• ·         Potential of becoming a brand-name author

However, there are certain cons of hiring a publisher like super slow process book launch, giving up of creative control, low royalty rates and lack of noteworthy marketing help, often discourage enthusiastic writers and new talent.

On the other hand, doing everything from writing to proofreading, from editing to marketing and finally publishing on your own is also not an easy job.

When a person has to do everything single-handedly, things get complicated. Also, if you are planning to self-publish a book, you might as well end up needing a professional’s help for marketing and other work which you have no prior experience or expertise of.

Self-publishing of books is often ideal for situations where the author does not intend a career instead wants to write for a limited market with complete knowledge of how to reach out to the limited number of readers.

The biggest disadvantage of choosing self-publishing for those who are looking forward to getting their books critically acclaimed or win any literary prizes is that most of the mainstream literary critics do not even review self-published books. 

However, certain positive points for self-publishing include:

• ·       Total control over creativity of content and design
• ·         Faster marketing time
• ·         Higher royalty rates
• ·         Reserve all selling rights

While the reality in most situations is that self-publishing will not at all help the book land into bookstores due to lack of a professional’s perspective. Therefore, it is all in the hands of the author whether to decide for a traditional publisher or not depending upon his budget, requirements, target market and ability to publish a book.

However, a new term has been introduced in the market called ‘the hybrid model’ where the author can enjoy more creative and marketing rights and may opt for taking traditional deals for some tasks and using independent model for others as well. For those who are still confused, this might just be the right thing to do.