A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: How Much of the Self-Publishing Hype to Believe

 (photo by Frank Perez)

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.

Today's topic is about assessing the hype for self-publishing. What should you believe and not believe?

Hype abounds for self-publishing. Some of it is somewhat accurate, but many of the claims, while not necessarily false, are generally de-contextualized. We have friends and colleagues who have self-published books. While some of them are very nicely laid out and well-written, most can be easily discerned as self-published because of the quality. In one case, we were so appalled by the results of a friend who self-published through a vanity press, we offered to republish the book so that it had a professional look. We now use that as an example in our seminars of the differences one typically sees in vanity presses vs. traditional publishers.

Some claims of self-publishers, though, do have some validity while at the same time being a but misleading. Let's discuss some of the more common claims.

Claim: As a self-published author, you get to keep all the revenue from the book.

• This is true.
• The expanded view, though, is that chances are the total revenue for your book will likely be lower without the marketing assistance of a professional team. Most self-published book sales max out at 100 copies. Depending upon the price of the book and net income chances are that even a micro-publisher will sell at least five times that number of copies, which even with 10% royalties would be more than you would make on 100 copies, keeping all revenue.
• If you are famous and have a huge platform, with 50,000 followers and 10% of them ready to buy your book as soon as it is off the presses (e.g., The Shack, essentially a self-published book, had these circumstances), then, by all means, self-publish. If this is not you, then perhaps you would benefit from the help of a traditional press.

Claim: As a self-published author, you have full control over book layout and cover design.

• This is true.'t use 
• The expanded view is that unless you are a graphic artist and typesetter by trade or hobby, chances are your product will look and feel amateur, which adds to the difficulty in getting sales.
• If you are not a graphic artist and want a professional-looking book, then, in order to self-publish adequately, you will need to pay for a good graphic artist to design your cover, provide interior illustrations, and typeset your book.

Claim: As a self-published author, you have full control over content.

• This is true.
• The expanded vies is unless your are a professional editor or copyeditor, you have your work cut out for you. Spellcheckers can only do so much, and the mechanics of the book -- spelling, grammar, syntax, rhetoric, discourse, organization & structure -- if not of professional quality, can destroy your reputation before you get a chance to build one. Beyond the mechanics, the ideational content -- ideas, information, premise, point, goal -- can be so well known to you that you miss the fact that some building blocks of information are missing, the order of presentation is confusing, or the text contains leaps in logic. Even professors writing textbooks for their students can encounter these kinds of problems. A professional publisher will not let this happen; in fact, a professional publisher will not accept a manuscript where this happens and, a kind acquisitions editor, will point out these kinds of reasons for rejection.
• If you still want full control and are steaming ahead with self-publication, then hire a professional editor with knowledge of your field.

Claim: As a self-published author, you have control over when you offer sales.

• This is true.
• The expanded view is that you do not need to self-publish to have control over when you offer sales. If there is a good reason for a sale, most publishers will respond positively to your pointing it out them.
• Don't use this piece of hype that you may see here and there to guide your decision-making. If this is important to you and you are in conversation with a potential publisher, ask what the possibilities are.

Claim: As a self-published author, you can get your book out to the public more quickly.

• This is true.
• Th expanded view is that speed and quality rarely go hand in glove. A publisher will not rush a book to print that has not been  adequately copyedited and all aspects of the production process adequately reviewed. Speed does not allow for advance review copies, which are often helpful in gaining pre-publication reviews and ultimately more sales.
• If there is a particular reason for publication by a quick date, such as a book reacting to a current event, which will be obsolete in a few months, then self-publication is indeed the way to go, and it is not likely that any publisher will pick up that book. If there is no pushing event, then, it is better to get it right than to get it fast.

Claim: As a self-published author, your book will never be backlisted.

• You can make this be true by keeping your book active with the online sellers.
• The expanded view is that even when book publishers backlist a book (stop putting marketing efforts into it because it has become a money loser), they almost always keep the e-version of the book active at the online seller sites.
• Even as a self-published author, at some point, you will need to assess the revenue situation realistically and make a determination of how much good money you want to throw after bad.

As a publisher, we periodically have self-published authors contact as to take on their self-published book as a traditionally published book. We to date have never done so, and most publishers we know will not do so. There are a number of reasons for that -- we will address them in a future blog post.

Want more specific guidance on this topic? Check out this blog post from The Write Life that poses five questions to help authors decide whether to self-publish or look for a traditional publisher. 

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Make decisions based on your needs, desires, and the bigger picture, not on hype!
Think through the answers to the questions posed at The Write Life, and you will likely end up with the correct choice for you. If you choose self-publishing, however, beware the hype. If it seems too good to be true, chances are it is not true.

Read more posts about publishing HERE.