Traditional Publishing vs Self-Publishing: Pros & Cons

If you’re set on publishing a book, one of the biggest decisions you need to make is whether to go down the traditional publishing or self-publishing route.

Today, I’ll share what these 2 routes are like and the pros and cons of each type.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. I will earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase through these links. Your support encourages me to continue blogging and help with the costs of hosting this site. Thank you!

Traditional Publishing

Traditional publishing is where you send your query letters and manuscripts to publishing houses. If they see value in your story, they’ll pay you a royalty advance and help you publish your book.

Traditional publishers have literary agents to screen manuscripts. Usually, you can’t approach a traditional publisher directly if you aren’t represented by an agent. So, the first step is finding an agent willing to represent you and get you a publishing contract.

Agents are familiar with what publishing houses are looking for. In this case, they’re looking for books that will be a commercial success which will thus offset the time and money invested into the book. Debut authors are regarded as risks because they have no track record of success.

But getting an agent is hard. Bear in mind that an agent will only take on a limited number of clients. And there are thousands of writers who want to be published.

As mentioned, the first step is finding an agent and this is done via a querying process. Note that some agents may be so busy that they don’t accept any submissions while others may be open to queries for only a few months each year. They also have different submission guidelines. Do review them carefully and adhere to these guidelines. Otherwise, they might use it as a reason for rejecting your submission. In this query letter, you probably need a synopsis and a writing sample between 5 to 50 pages.

Photo by Kaboompics on Pexels

After submitting your query letter, all you have to do is wait. Some agents will let you know how long it takes to get back to you. This could be as long as 12 weeks. On the other hand, some agents might not get back to you unless they’re interested in your manuscript.

Most of your queries are likely to be rejections. This might be demoralizing but you’ll have to persevere.

If an agent is interested, they might ask you to provide the full manuscript. Thus, ensure that you’ve finished writing your manuscript before you start querying.

If an agent decides to represent you, they will pitch your book to various publishers. Or the agent might ask for a round of edits to polish your manuscript further. Again, you’ll have to wait for a publisher who is willing to publish your book.

Traditional publishing is thus a long drawn-out process. There is a lot of waiting. In fact, even when your book is accepted for publishing, you still have to wait. There are manuscripts before yours that the publisher has accepted. Your book will have to wait in line until these books are published first. Therefore, it might take 2 to 3 years from query to your book’s release date.

Pros & Cons

Here are the pros and cons of traditional publishing:

(+) Prestige of your book being published by a well-recognized publisher
(+) Get royalty advance
(+) Support of editing, design & marketing teams
(+) Production costs are covered by the publisher
(+) Strong relationship with book sellers

(-) Long drawn-out process that is often not successful
(-) Less creative control: book cover, marketing etc.
(-) Books tend to be priced higher because the publisher takes a big cut of sales
(-) Royalty is between 5% – 15%

Photo by Caio on Pexels

Self-Publishing

With technological advancements, you can now publish your books on platforms like Amazon KDP, Apple Books and Kobo Writing Life.

However, note that this route means you’re cutting out the publishing house. In other words, you’re like an entrepreneur where you have to do everything yourself from writing, publishing to marketing. But of course, you can hire professionals like editor and book cover designer. Note that you will have to pay for these services out of your own pocket.

You may choose to hone your skills and complete some of the tasks yourself. For example, I learned to use Styles in Microsoft Word. I still consider myself as an amateur. But I can at least format the book layout myself (though eBook isn’t as difficult as paperback or hardcover). You simply need to apply headings to your chapter titles and add a table of contents. When you upload your Microsoft Word document onto Draft2Digital, you can choose to apply one of Draft2Digital’s eBook templates.

Or you can choose to purchase tools that will make your life easier. For instance, ProWritingAid is a proofreading tool that double-checks and corrects your grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes. Such tools can’t completely replace an editor. But they can help with self-editing so the editor you hire can focus on bigger issues.

Photo by 3844328 on Pixabay

As a self-publisher, you’ll maintain ownership of your book’s rights and royalties. This is one reason why people choose to take this route.

Precisely because you’re bypassing agents and you’re the publisher yourself, you don’t have to wait years for your book to be published. You can publish it on a date you like at the price you set with the retailers you choose. For example, you might choose to only make your books available on Amazon. Or you may choose to make your books available on Amazon, Kobo and Apple. Also, you get to decide whether you’re selling your book as eBook, paperback or hardcover. Most printers will also allow you, the author, to buy your books at printing cost so you can purchase a few copies to gift to friends and family or sell at book events.

Most people have this misconception that self-publishers won’t be able to get their books into bookstores and libraries. Well, let me bust this myth. Whether you use Amazon KDP’s or IngramSpark’s printer, bookstores will still buy your books (even if you’re self-published) as long as there’s a demand for those books. Likewise, you can make your books available to libraries via Kobo Writing Life (by enabling OverDrive) and Draft2Digital (which has partnerships with Bibliotheca, Baker & Taylor, hoopla and more).

Pros & Cons

Here are the pros and cons of self-publishing:

(+) Guarantee that your book gets published
(+) You control everything: cover design, release date, book format
(+) Your royalties on eBooks can be as high as 70% and 60% for print books

(-) You need to cover all expenses
(-) May be difficult to reach readers (without the prestige and expertise of a traditional publisher)

Photo by marysse93 on Pixabay

Now It’s Your Turn

There is no right or wrong answer when choosing between traditional publisher and self-publisher. It all boils down to your needs and goals.

In my case, I wanted full creative control. Plus, I didn’t think most readers would like my books that have a happily never after ending (most romance readers would rather much prefer a happily ever after or happy for now ending). This is why I chose to self-publish my books.

P.S. If you decide on self-publishing, do browse my self-publishing blog articles. There are some pretty in-depth guides which I hope will help you!

Also, you can hire book formatting and layout, editing and book cover design top-rated professionals from Fiverr Pro.

Remember, you do you~ :)