Traditional publishing is no longer the only way to get your book out to audiences.  In addition to self-publishing, made popular by KDP publishing and other resources, there also is vanity and hybrid publishing to consider.

Here are some quick pros and cons of each publishing option to help you figure out which route will be the best for you to get your book out to audiences.

Traditional Publishing

The publishing company invests its money and resources (ex: marketing and printing) into the promise that books will sell. They purchase the rights to manuscripts and pay royalties to authors, at times offering advances prior to publishing.

Popular Traditional Publishers:

Pros:

• Support of a team of agents, editors, and publishers
• Easier to get books in stores
• Wide distribution
• More likely to receive literary awards
• Most prestigious form of publishing
• Assistance with marketing your book

Cons:

• A slow process of rejection letters and publishing schedules
• Low royalty rates
• Lose rights to work
• Despite signing a contract there is no guarantee the book will be published.  And since the publisher owns the rights to your work, you can’t sell it to another publisher or self-publish if they don’t return the rights.

 

Self-Publishing

The publication of media by its author without the involvement of an established publisher.

Popular self-publishing platforms:

 

 

 

 

Pros:

• Maintain all rights
• Complete creative control
• Can publish immediately
• Receive a more significant percentage of sales
• Can set price and get paid as the book is sold

Cons:

• Time and effort to format work to publishing services credentials
• Out of pocket cost for a copy editor, cover design and marketing with personal funds
• Will need to self-promote and market book

Vanity/Subsidy Publishing

The author pays a company to publish their book

Pros:

• No rejections
• May receive services such as cover design and editing

Cons:

• The author assumes all risks
• Out of pocket costs up to thousands of dollars to publish
• The author loses rights down to the ISBN number once published
• Less prestigious than traditional publishing

Hybrid Publishing

The middle ground between traditional and self-publishing and therefore includes many different publishing models— basically anything that is not self-publishing or traditional publishing.