Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing: The Truth About Which Is Better

by Ameesha Green

As an aspiring author considering publishing a book, you’ll be faced with the often difficult decision of whether to seek a traditional publishing deal or self-publish. And which option you choose determines the rest of your actions, like a choose-your-own-adventure book. So, how do you make the right decision for you and your book? Here, we’ll give you the lowdown on the pros and cons of both options so you choose the right publishing path for you.

Traditional publishing

When most people think of publishing, they generally imagine this type of publishing, where a traditional publishing house agrees to publish the author’s book, and the publisher takes on the responsibility for editing, design, proofreading, and so on. The author pays nothing to the publisher, and the publisher pays the author “royalties”, which is a percentage of book sales. 

Traditional publishers can be big household names (like the Big 5: Penguin Random House, Hachette, Harper Collins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster) or small, niche, or independent publishers who you may never have heard of. Either way, the author has to convince the publisher to publish their work, and the publisher pays the author, not the other way around. So, what are the pros and cons of traditional publishing?

➕ The pros:

• It is completely free to submit your manuscript for consideration.
• The publisher may pay you an “advance” payment to write the book, starting at around £5k.
• Editing, design, and proofreading are often included in the publisher’s deal, so you don’t have to hire freelancers to provide these services for you.
• Your book will be eligible to win major book awards such as the Booker Prize or become a New York Times bestseller.
• Big publishers know how to market a book successfully, so they choose cover designs that will attract readers, and they may help with marketing and PR.
• You may potentially gain a very wide-scale readership (thousands or millions of readers).
• You may see your book in physical retailers as publishers have agreements in place with these stores.
• This path is considered the most prestigious method of publishing and generally garners more respect, especially if you land one of the Big 5.

➖ The cons:

• There is a very high barrier to entry, and an estimated 99.9% of manuscripts are rejected. 
• For big publishers, and some small publishers, you need to secure a literary agent first as you cannot submit your manuscript directly, and can be very difficult to get a literary agent.
• For nonfiction, you will need a book proposal document, which essentially a business plan for your book, and you may need to hire an editor to help you prepare this.
• It takes up to 12 weeks to hear back from agents/publishers, and they may not reply at all.
• It generally takes 2 to 3 years for your book to be published, which means you may miss the boat for currently trending topics.
• You have little to no control or autonomy over your book, including the cover, interior layout, editing, proofreading and so on.
• All publishers expect you to do at least some of the marketing yourself.
• Publishers pay authors only 5–10% in royalties, while they retain the other 90–95% to cover production costs and profit.
• Your literary agent will then take a 5–15% cut of your royalties. 
• Bookstores expect around a 50% discount on the retail price.
• Many authors make so few sales that they never earn any royalties beyond the initial advance.

Self-publishing

While self-publishing has existed as a concept for centuries, it became extremely popular when Amazon created a publishing platform called Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) in 2007 alongside their new e-reader, the Kindle device. Suddenly, anyone anywhere could upload a book in as little as 10 minutes and readers could buy it from Amazon’s website and download it to their Kindle. Other platforms followed suit, including IngramSpark in 2013.

With self-publishing, the author is their own publisher, and this means they take on responsibility for editing, design, proofreading, and so on. The author pays nothing to Amazon KDP, and they get paid royalties when the book makes sales. An author can choose to self-publish on one platform or many. 

➕ The pros:

• There is no barrier to entry, so anyone anywhere can self-publish a book as long as they have access to the internet.
• You can potentially self-publish in days, weeks, or months rather than years.
• You retain control and autonomy over your book, including cover design, editing, and proofreading, as you choose whether you hire anyone to provide these, and if so, who.
• It is relatively easy to upload a book to Amazon KDP’s platform.
• It is free to upload a book to Amazon; IngramSpark charge a small fee of around £35.
• Both platforms offer “expanded distribution”, which means they will make the book available to other retailers.
• IngramSpark makes the book available to the middleman wholesalers that supply bookstores, so it is possible for a retailer to order or stock your book.
• Amazon offers various formats, including print-on-demand services for hardback and paperback, e-books, and audiobooks.
• With Amazon, you can order up to 400 copies at cost price (printing, posting, and packaging) to sell or give away.
• Amazon offers marketing services (some free and some paid) within their platform.
• Royalty rates are much higher, for example, Amazon offers 60% royalties on print books and 70% on e-books if you publish exclusively with them.

➖ The cons:

• If you want a professional book, the same quality as a traditional publisher, then you will need to hire editors, designers, and a proofreader, which may cost thousands.
• You have to do all of the marketing yourself or pay for marketing services.
• Most self-publishing authors sell less than 100 copies because they do not invest sufficient time, effort, and money into professional services such as design and marketing.
• Although IngramSpark technically make it possible for bookstores to stock your book, it is very difficult to persuade retailers to do so, and you will need to provide a business case for them to stock your book (for example, that you are selling a lot of copies).
• Your book will not be eligible to win many major book awards as they do not consider self-published books.
• IngramSpark is not designed for individual authors to self-publish, and so you may need a professional to help with this.
• Self-publishing is unfortunately still considered inferior by much of the traditional elitist publishing industry. 

A minor note, and not to cause confusion, is that there are two other types of publishing you might come across: hybrid publishing and vanity publishing. You can find out more about these types here.

So, how do you decide? 

Essentially, it depends on your goals, motivations, and resources as an aspiring author, and the truth is there is not one right path for everyone. Some authors dream of seeing their book in a bookshop. Others would prefer to retain their control and royalties. Some want to become a household name with a Penguin logo on the spine of their book. Others want to publish quickly to disrupt the market with a trending topic. Some have no up-front budget and cannot afford to self-publish professionally. Others feel strongly about being able to choose their editor or their book cover.

As such, it is up to each author to choose what is right for them. If you’re not sure, go through the pros and cons lists and write down which are most important factors for you. What are your must-haves and your nice-to-haves? What are your deal-breakers and non-negotiables? Ultimately, only you know which factors are important to you.

And what next? 

If you decide to seek a traditional publishing deal and you’re writing nonfiction, you will need a book proposal. If you’re certain that you want to take this challenging path, we offer a book proposal service to help you prepare a solid proposal that gives you a much higher chance of success than the 99.9% rejection rate. 

Or if you choose to self-publish, we offer a range of services to guide you on that path, including coaching, critique, editing, design, proofreading, and marketing. We’re not a publisher; we help people like you get their books ready to self-publish professionally, with a high-quality finish that rivals that of a traditional publisher, only 10 times faster. And you keep your control and your royalties. 

Either way, get in touch with us for a free call to discuss your manuscript and your aspirations. We’d love to work with you to bring your book to life!