It’s your dream to be an author, and that dream needs the wings to turn it into a reality. In the year 2020, we witnessed a considerable increase in the number of self-published writers over traditionally published authors. What is the secret behind the sudden change in the choice among authors? Self-publishing of books turned out to be an outstanding alternative, and several reasons are there behind its popularity.
Traditional Publishing VS Self-Publishing
Traditional publishing needs a contract to be signed between the writer and the publisher. As a writer, you need to give several rights to the publisher for your work, which might not appear attractive.
On the other hand, self-publishing is an option that allows the writer in retaining those rights. Even the writer will have control over the price, advertising, and marketing process. The complete involvement of the author will be there at every stage.
Besides this, in Self publications, the author gets the chance to bag higher royalty and retain almost 80-85% of profits, compared to writers selecting traditional publishing who get some 10-12% of the profits. Some of the leading publishing houses like SpotWrite Publications is offering 100 % royalty to the authors self-publishing with the house.
Hence, we can conclude that self-publishing is undoubtedly a preferred way for authors to enjoy creative control over their work. It also ensures that after book publishing
same gets readily available for the book lovers.
Available options for self-publishing your book
When we talk about self-publishing, we witnessed that several changes happened to this segment of the industry. A massive percentage of the self-publishing books are now the Ebooks. For many authors, proceedings from eBook sales are one of the prime sources of income. Amazon is a notable channel that records more than 85% sales of E-books. The key reason behind the popularity of Amazon is that it helps authors make the eBook available and that with NIL upfront payment. There are two options for self-publishing, and we will share a brief for both.
Self-publishing with online book publishing Platforms:
Many refer to it as Free Publishing. One key feature of this format of self-publishing is that control of decision-making remains with the author. Starting from drafting to designing, publishing to distributing, all are done by the authors. All creative & business decisions remain with the author, in addition to the profits. The cost of publishing is NIL when you choose Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, or Draft2Digital. Application for both electronic books and paperback. When a copy of the book gets sold, the distributor and retailer will cut their payment from the profit. The rest will be get added to the author dashboard. But few shortcomings are there in the process. Due to a lack of editing knowledge at the time of uploading, the final book is made available with formatting errors. You need to have expertise in handling the publication of such books, which most of the authors lack.
Being a good author does not signify that you will also be a good editor or technical expert. Typo error is one of the common forms of error which can ruin the good elements of a book and even the author’s reputation. If you want the book to create the desired impact on the minds of the readers, then either you need to hire an editor separately or think of another way of self-publishing. The same is the case with book cover designing. Amazon KDP offers free cover pages and also paid cover designing services. If you are not comfortable in self-book cover designing, then you can choose free cover or paid cover designing services. Copyright of the book remains with the author with the assurance of guaranteed publishing.
Self-Publishing in association with a reputed self-publishing service company:
One of the ideal ways of self-publishing, with professional editing, cover page designing, marketing, and, distribution is to work with a self-publishing service company like SpotWrite. When you hire a good self-publishing company, it will erase the stress of self-publishing. What are the advantages that you get to enjoy? If you choose to avail of the help of a publishing house for self-publishing, then all that you need to do is to submit the manuscript. All leading publishing houses, for example, SpotWrite Publications, provide end-to-end publishing services. The dedicated editors of the firm will go through your manuscript and will make the editing and proofreading to erase errors.
Such services are faster, with guaranteed highest royalty. The author also remains free from the fear of facing rejection, which is very common to see in traditional publishing.
There is a difference between the revenue model of traditional publishing and self-publishing. You need to pay a decent amount for self-publishing with service companies. The price is taken majorly for issuing ISBN, distribution, marketing, cover design, editing, formatting, and printing (hardcover/paperback). If you are confident in your editing and formatting skills, you can skip that cost. The same applies to cover page designing. But we strictly recommend that you go for marketing and distribution services from the companies as they are experts in the job. It can help you in attaining the dream of reaching the maximum readers with your book. SpotWrite is one of India’s most affordable publications, on which you can bank upon. But at the end of the end, copyright and royalties remain with the author.
In traditional publishing, the rights and royalty owner remain the publisher, and a small percentage is given as royalty to the author. The royalty for self-publishing is much more than traditional publishing, and all reputed publishers give 100% royalty to self-published authors.
Different self-publishing packages are there that are offered by the publishing houses. You can choose any as per budget. The complimentary copies are offered to the authors in self-publishing, similar to traditional publishing. All in all, self-publishing is a better choice over traditional publishing with a better return on investment.
Reputed self-publishing companies also offer assistance in the release of e-books along with paperback/hardcover. It helps in increasing the number of copies sold (both paperback/ hardcover & E-books). Readers preferring eBooks can go for the same, while readers in love with physical copies can buy the paperback/hardcover.
So, what’s your take as an author? Self-publishing or traditional publishing, what will be your choice? Share your view, and we will love to hear from you.