What are my options for publishing my book? What are the advantages and disadvantages of Self-publishing vs. traditional publishing houses, are there any other alternatives?

Here is Part Three of the simple evaluation questionnaire you answered in Part One.  Continue reading the summaries below to see which option might suit you better.

Traditional publishing house (answered mostly c’s)

I am happy for someone else to do all the work to publish my book and to have control over changing my manuscript and committing to re-writes and editing as requested.  Please be cautious, I know an author who is now on re-write # 6 and 3 years later her publisher has still not given her final approval. She used her advance within 6 months to support herself while doing the edits, now she has run out of steam on her book and finds it difficult to fit in her re-writes with her regular job.

Rejection does not bother me, I am willing to spend the time researching the right fit publisher and submitting a professional book proposal/ query letter and marketing plan by following their submission guidelines on the publisher’s website.  I understand it will take perseverance and patience to find the right publisher and that could take years.  I also appreciate I might never be accepted by a publisher or literary agent.  See Association of Canadian Publishers and other websites for more information on submitting your proposal to a publisher.

I am happy with 5% royalties on all book sales once I find a publisher and that all other travel expenses will be met by me for promotional activity.  I understand the process to get my book published could take years from the time of the publishing contract being signed.

Up-front money/capital investment in your book:  None, other than your own time while you are writing and editing the book.  However you could encounter large expenses during the launch of your book in transport and accommodation costs.

I am willing to give my time and own money to attend book reviews/signings and book tours that the publisher organizes for me.

You will be asked to sign a contract to agree to the terms of your advance payment and your commitment once the advance runs out.  Please remember an “advance” is exactly that, an “advance” on your future book sales, which is why it is your responsibility to assist your publisher to drive sales to your book.  If your book sales do not reach your advance within a certain time frame you may be asked to buy back your own book stock (usually book launches have a maximum of 90 days sale or return from the launch date); if your book does not sell in this time the retailer can return it to the publisher and it will not be given another opportunity in the book stores.

The next generation Publishing 2.0 (answered mostly d’s)

A new publishing platform for books that may not suit the mass-appeal-middle-of-the-road mainstream publishers and buyers. By harnessing the power of new technology including: Print On Demand production, Book Vending Machines, Ebooks and Online Retail Channels, this platform effectively creates a new publishing niche called “Publishing 2.0?.  This is a new type of publishing started by Bookshaker.com who now publish 60 books per year and growing by the minute with new imprints being introduced every day including www.influencepublishing.com

Up front money/capital investment:  None, the publisher takes all responsibility for the costs of producing your book in the same way as the traditional publishers.  The main difference is that by using POD technology they have no capital investment or risk by printing thousands of books like the traditional publishers.  This means they can pay higher royalties. The advantages are:

• Paying the highest royalties to authors in the industry (even more than paid-for-publishers) and allowing the author to maintain their rights
• Refusing to accept the crippling retail terms of the past that have taken profit away from the author and choice away from the reader (sale or return policy and high trade discounts)
• They still operate in the same way as traditional publishers so you will still have to go through the proposal and query process and only 3% of all applications are accepted.  However, educational programs are offered to assist you in this process and give you a better chance of being accepted.  See www.inspireabook.com and http://www.publishingacademy.com/116.html
• This publishing process is successful by encouraging and educating the author how to help themselves to market their own book in partnership with the publisher.  It is a win win situation where the publisher only makes money on the book when it sells, the more it sells, the more the author and the publisher makes with a more equal split in profit.