Chris A. Baird | June 18, 2020
self publishing vs traditional publishing

Choosing between self publishing vs traditional publishing can be quite confusing. Find out what works best for you and your books that have also worked well for me.

You are going to hear today the three answers to today's question. And the third answer is the key to not losing. If you decide to go the traditional route.

So let's get into it. The question I was asked today is, self publishing vs traditional publishing, who wins and who loses? Which one is the better choice for you and everybody?

Breaking The Rules

It can be different answers depending upon where you are in your self-publishing or your writing journey. This is a question that many authors are wondering where exactly they should start when looking to put a book out.

Check out my Self-Publishing Secrets Checklist which will help you on your self-publishing journey and that's free. So, let's get started.

When I first started, I wasn't even tempted to go the traditional route. I understood it was incredibly difficult. One of my goals was to keep it simple.

So, when I put out my first book, I did the self publishing route. I immediately saw that there was a whole series of challenges and things to learn that was very confusing.

Lots of people were giving contradictory advice. The question then was, what exactly is the best way to go about doing this if I want to make sales? Because I put the book onto the market.

Check out this related article: How To Publish On An Online Bookstore?

I broke all sorts of basic rules that you should be doing when you're going to put your books on the market. The result was very few sales. I wasn't sure what to expect so it wasn't exactly crushing to see that I wasn't making the sales.

Because I haven't really studied it. But after getting into it a while, I began to understand it didn't have to be so hard. By following the right steps, you would be able to get to see the sales that were coming through that route.

Books That Sell

Later on, after studying, even more, I began to understand how exactly if I were to want to go the traditional route, what would be required there. So, let's get into the answers.

Traditional publishing gives you more status since you were selected by some major publishing companies. Whereas, with self-publishing, anybody can put a book out.

Check out this related article: How Much Money Can A First-Time Teenage Author Expect To Make Within Three Months Of Self-Publishing A Book On Amazon KDP?

But with traditional publishing, it requires that there is a gatekeeper that you send the book in, the manuscript. And it is either accepted or rejected.

The downside of traditional publishing is that one, you either need connections within the publishing company to get accepted. Two, your book needs to be of the highest quality possible.

That means you are going to have to sort of understanding exactly what it is. You have to understand what the readers, the market that's out there are wanting to buy. Which types of books are selling already.

Three, you are going to need a following at some level if the traditional publishers are going to want to give you a chance. Since they are looking to get a return on the investment that they are going to put into your book.

In the end, they probably will not be marketing your book. You are going to do that yourself. So there are a lot of the steps that you would have to do with self publishing. You are going to have done it already if you go to the publishing route.

It's not just about writing a book and then somebody's just going to accept it out of the blue. Then you go from there.

Build Up The Skills

The second thing is if you go to the self publishing route, you are going to be able to earn. That is up to 70% in royalties with KDP for books between $3 and $10 on Kindle Direct Publishing. Compared to $12 of royalties that you would get if somebody else owns the rights to your book.

The secret answer for today is that you can start with self-publishing. Building up the skill sets necessary to understand what it is to produce a high-quality book.

Building an audience that shows major publishers that understand that you have a group of people who already are willing to buy from you. Getting your book to be the top of the best-seller class for the type of book that it is.

So that it shows them that people want to read your books. They will buy your books and they are bringing in offers. Or maybe you wish to try sending some of your newer manuscripts to traditional publishers with all of these points included.

In other words, the answer to the question self publishing vs traditional publishing is there is no reason at all that you shouldn't start with self publishing. And then as you build up your skills and your following move over to traditional publishing if you wish to do that.

Check out this related article: 11 Top Reasons You Should Be Self-Publishing On Kindle To Make Money Online

Conclusion

Now, most people when they see the money they are making through self publishing, they don't want to go down a rung for that.

But maybe for the status or for the particular jobs that you have, it may make a difference for you if you published through one of the major publishers.

Why don't you tell me a little bit about what you have found?


Self Publishing VS Traditional Publishing – Have you found Which One Is Better?

Were you able to go from self publishing over traditional publishing? Let me know below in the comments and check out my other self publishing blogs and videos just like this one.

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