Novel Writing Made Less Impossible -- Career Comparison Shopping
- Brian K. Morris
- Feb 28, 2018
- 4 min read
We've been discussing the potential of your book in both traditional printing as well as self-publishing. But how do the two stack up when compared side-by-side?
THE WRITING PROCESS: Up to a certain point, from initial idea to post-Beta reader edit, the process is the same. But once you're done typing, that's when the differences begin to pile up.
PRO: With regular publishing, you can hand off the story to a professional who will do the work for you. With self-publishing, you can begin production immediately.
CON: With regular publishing, there is no guarantee of placement with a publisher. Time must be taken with finding an agent and/or a publisher for your work which could take months or even years. With self-publishing, you must take over all of the processes to get your manuscript to the marketplace. THE PRODUCTION PROCESS: This would likely occur during the final editing phase. This includes formatting your interior for print and preparing the visual elements for the cover, including all cover copy.
PRO: With regular publishing, professionals would take over the production aspects of your work, people who do this work all the time, where you might only do this every few months, or years, when you had a book ready to print. With self-publishing, you retain total control over the final product and with the higher royalty percentages involved, you'd be more directly rewarded for your efforts. You could also farm out the work to the appropriate experts in that specific discipline.
CON: With regular publishing, "professional" does not always equal "expert." And while you may want your book to look a certain way, your opinion my be listened to, even solicited, but the final word comes from the publisher (who is paying these professionals to produce your work). With self-publishing, you have to FIND those professionals to help you, and their pay comes out of YOUR wallet. And if you do the work yourself, you need to do your research and hope you get it right. THE EDITING PROCESS: Copy editing and developmental editing happens while the other elements of the book are being worked on. This is the phase where multiple eyes go over your manuscript to catch errors and whatever improves readability.
PRO: The publisher will pay for this and where you might only have one person per editing discipline, the publisher will likely hire numerous editors, each one seeking errors the previous one(s) missed. With self-publishing, you can establish a relationship with editing pros that can benefit you for years.
CON: With regular publishing, many proofreaders are hired, but not encouraged to do more than skim the manuscripts (I have a friend who used to be a proofreader and she said one of the Big Five told her this). With self-publishing, the temptation to scrimp on this step is strong, due to the expense (although it's really an investment in a better manuscript). THE PROMOTION PROCESS: Before the book is published, the advertising goes out and the buzz begins. Promotion is how you excite previous readers about your new work and how you attract new, curious customers.
PRO: A publisher, especially one of the larger houses, will have a promotional staff standing ready to find your audience, and a budget to make it happen. Self-publishers aren't bound to follow convention and their promotions can be as out-of-the-box as their imaginations will allow without a committee to tell them no.
CON: Even the large publishers won't spend any more than they have to, if they spend anything at all on new, or lesser-selling, talent. Self-publishers won't always have the resources to do an intense promotional campaign, even if they knew how. Plus, their budgets often consist of whatever's in their bank account at the moment, if they could spare anything.
OVERALL: There is a certain amount of prestige that goes along with traditional publishing, if you're willing to accept 10 to 12.5% of your book's Suggested Retail Price. On the other hand, your friends and family are likely to be pretty impressed that YOU put out your work, and your precentage can be as his as 70% of your SRP. So what works for you?
NEXT WEDNESDAY: Further Down the Self-Publishing Path
TOMORROW: Who is Conrad von Honig?
SPECIAL NOTE: My newest book, The Haunting Scripts of Bachelors Grove, is currently on sale. It's part memoir, part grimoire. The first half deals with my entry into writing indie comics and joining Silver Phoenix Entertainment. I print four of my comic scripts for The Haunting Tales of Bachelors Grove, three of which have not been produced yet. Then I add four horror prose tales, three of which are NEW. All this behind a great cover by my Art Sherpa, Trevor Erick Hawkins, over 300 pages of terror and history for only $19.95 in paperback, $2.99 in e-book (FREE if you belong to Amazon Prime).
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