Imagine: you’re a bestselling author. You have a horde of rabid fans awaiting your next book, and you’re making your living off your words. For most of us who are working towards publication, this is the dream. But when you imagine it, do you have an agent and publishing house at your back? Or have you done it all through self-publishing?
As we move into a world where publishing and marketing tools are increasingly easy and available for everyone to use, the benefits of self-publishing a book can be major dealbreakers. This goes even for traditionally published authors (hellooo, Brandon Sanderson). Let’s look at how self-publishing works, and three of the biggest perks for authors who consider going indie.
Three Biggest Benefits of Self-Publishing
Money
If you’re familiar with how traditional publishing works, you may raise an eyebrow when I say that money is a major benefit of self-publishing these days. After all, between editing, cover design, proofreading, and layout, the upfront costs of publishing a book can be steep.
Meanwhile, traditionally published authors will often get an advance even from smaller presses. This suggests that if your primary goal is supporting yourself as an author, self-publishing would not be the way to go. But as ever, things aren’t quite that simple.
According to a recent report by the Alliance of Independent Authors, on average, self-published authors are now making more money than their traditionally published counterparts in the UK. Part of it no doubt has to do simply with the way that authors in general make money.
Basically, authors (both self-published and traditional) are paid in royalties. These are usually calculated as a percentage of a book’s list price. Even a traditionally published author’s advance is measured against the royalties earned from sales.
Traditionally published authors are most often paid somewhere around 10% in royalties (though this number can range anywhere from 5-25%. It depends on format and the specifics of an author’s deal). Meanwhile, a self-published author can earn anywhere from 30-80% on their book’s list price, depending on how they distribute it.
Of course, actually making those sales for a self-published author can be a lot more work. Still a self-published author can make 4x the royalties. And that means if they’re very good at the marketing side of things, they can make 4x the profit.
Speed
Here’s a question I’m often asked: How long does it take to publish a book? While the simple answer is, as always, “It depends”, there’s a stark difference in timelines for traditional and self-publishing.
First off, let’s make one thing clear: traditional publishing is slow. No matter where you are in the process, most of the time working in traditional publishing is a matter of “hurry up and wait”. Between querying, submissions, editing, and production time, it can be years before your debut novel finds its way into readers’ hands. And that’s not even counting the actual drafting time!
Meanwhile, self-publishing happens at your own pace. The time between finishing a draft of a book and releasing it to the public can be a short as a month. It all depends on how clean your drafts are and how organised you are. And of course, whether you can find editors and designers to keep up with you.
Maybe you’re the sort of writer who writes two or more books in a year. If you want to get those books into readers’ hands as quickly as possible, then self-publishing is the ideal way to do that.
Control
Finally, perhaps the most important thing that self-publishing can give authors is a sense of control. This includes control over their work, over their audience, over their rights and the decisions that are made about their books. Moreso than traditional publishing, in self-publishing, it’s the author calling the shots.
As a self-published author, you get to make the decisions on everything from cover design to marketing budget to sales strategies. However, this can be a double-edged sword. Because while you might be the one calling the shots, it also means you’re the one taking responsibility.
You don’t get the benefit of dedicated design, marketing & PR, or production teams as an indie author. (To be fair, it’s also debatable how much access traditionally published authors have to these resources, even at bigger houses).
The only thing you can rely on in self-publishing is your own knowledge, plus the expertise of anyone else you hire to help you with your book. Which means that if you’re a savvy, well-researched author with honed marketing skills and a developed platform, self-publishing allows you to organise every part of the process to fit your vision.
Self-Publishing or Traditional?
Those are my big three, but now it’s your turn. If you’re a self-published author, what drew you to self-publishing in the first place? Let me know in the comments. And if you’re still figuring out which route you want to pursue with your writing, I’d love to chat with you. Feel free to book a free consultation to discuss your work and learn how a professional editor can help you wow your readers.
In an upcoming blog post, I’ll share the three biggest benefits of traditional publishing. Drop your email below to stay updated.
