I think authors like you, not just taking one shot on goal, will likely become more valuable to publishers too. Having the track record of working with them will likely work in your favor too.
Didn’t realize war of art was self published. That’s cool.
Love how you steel-manned the self-pub route first, because self-publishing CAN indeed be the best route for some writers, at various stages of their writing career.
You shared the benefits that are hard (though not impossible) to replicate by self publishing. Hey if you have the time, money, audience, and expertise to replicate those benefits, perhaps you should self publish. Most people do not.
For better or worse, publishers are the gatekeepers of many opportunities today. The “real” Best seller lists being one of them. A book from a published author is a simple quality measure that many readers and tastemakers will happily outsource to.
I think of it like paying my M&A advisor a percentage of the sale of my company. Writing that check kinda hurt. But they made me way, way more than that amount because of their expertise. they have done this dozens of times compared to me having never done it, knew what to say and do, and stopped me from doing silly things. Heck I may have totally killed my own deal if not for them. I’d choose to write that check every time.
The good thing is that authors today have a choice unlike in the past. So it’s horses for courses.
I am paying for a custom/hybrid publisher because I’m using my book as a business card, don’t have a big enough platform (or a large enough demo) to get a deal - but I do NOT want to manage the whole thing myself. It feels like the hybrid publishing world doesn’t get enough press!
With hybrid or custom publishing, you essentially pay for the services you would get from a traditional publisher and get to keep more or all of your unit publishing profit, while having the power of a real publisher. You obviously don’t have an advance but maintain creative control.
$100,000 dollars to self pub?? 😳 I'm sorry, but that is a grossly exaggerated number. I've self pubbed four books that are all of high quality and well edited, and I spent no more than $800 dollars per book. It's the marketing and advertising that is the real money drain.
I think people don't know what good editing looks like until they see it from a professional. This is not just catching errors and typos. Computers can do that.
It's about making sure things are the said the best way possible, without diverting from the points, and seeing the entire work impersonally to bring it together. I can't imagine getting a quality editor for a 60k+ word book at anything less than $10k, honestly.
Congrats on getting your book published! For fiction, I don't think you need to spend $100k + on production to get to a profesional level product. But I think it makes sense that you need more layers of editing (like legal editing, never thought about that!) for a non-fiction book. And I'd bet fiction readers (specifically sci-fi/fantasy and romance) probably have different expectations for their boooks. Fiction and non-fiction really do seem like different beasts when it comes to the traditional vs. self-pub debate. I'm currently planning on self-publishing a fantasy novel, and I enjoyed reading your perspective. Always good to remember that just because some people have bad experiences doesn't mean everyone does!
I think authors like you, not just taking one shot on goal, will likely become more valuable to publishers too. Having the track record of working with them will likely work in your favor too.
Didn’t realize war of art was self published. That’s cool.
Agreed, they’re always looking for their next person who can do 5, 10+ big books over their lifetime
Love how you steel-manned the self-pub route first, because self-publishing CAN indeed be the best route for some writers, at various stages of their writing career.
You shared the benefits that are hard (though not impossible) to replicate by self publishing. Hey if you have the time, money, audience, and expertise to replicate those benefits, perhaps you should self publish. Most people do not.
For better or worse, publishers are the gatekeepers of many opportunities today. The “real” Best seller lists being one of them. A book from a published author is a simple quality measure that many readers and tastemakers will happily outsource to.
I think of it like paying my M&A advisor a percentage of the sale of my company. Writing that check kinda hurt. But they made me way, way more than that amount because of their expertise. they have done this dozens of times compared to me having never done it, knew what to say and do, and stopped me from doing silly things. Heck I may have totally killed my own deal if not for them. I’d choose to write that check every time.
The good thing is that authors today have a choice unlike in the past. So it’s horses for courses.
Love how you steel-manned the first part and then presented your take.
Absolutely incredible :)
I am paying for a custom/hybrid publisher because I’m using my book as a business card, don’t have a big enough platform (or a large enough demo) to get a deal - but I do NOT want to manage the whole thing myself. It feels like the hybrid publishing world doesn’t get enough press!
I thought hybrid usually meant you do some books self, some books trad. Is there a way to do a single book as a mix of both?
With hybrid or custom publishing, you essentially pay for the services you would get from a traditional publisher and get to keep more or all of your unit publishing profit, while having the power of a real publisher. You obviously don’t have an advance but maintain creative control.
Yes but it can be expensive. Though Small press distributors just went out of business so it is throwing the world into flux a bit.
PS I did order your book on Amazon a couple of weeks ago. What are the bonuses and how do I get them? Sorry I missed that!
Email explaining on Monday!
$100,000 dollars to self pub?? 😳 I'm sorry, but that is a grossly exaggerated number. I've self pubbed four books that are all of high quality and well edited, and I spent no more than $800 dollars per book. It's the marketing and advertising that is the real money drain.
I think people don't know what good editing looks like until they see it from a professional. This is not just catching errors and typos. Computers can do that.
It's about making sure things are the said the best way possible, without diverting from the points, and seeing the entire work impersonally to bring it together. I can't imagine getting a quality editor for a 60k+ word book at anything less than $10k, honestly.
I could name you 5 people right now who have spent over $100,000 on the editing of their book alone.
You can publish a book for $0 like I said, but the sky's the limit on what you can invest in the production. Not just the marketing.
Congrats on getting your book published! For fiction, I don't think you need to spend $100k + on production to get to a profesional level product. But I think it makes sense that you need more layers of editing (like legal editing, never thought about that!) for a non-fiction book. And I'd bet fiction readers (specifically sci-fi/fantasy and romance) probably have different expectations for their boooks. Fiction and non-fiction really do seem like different beasts when it comes to the traditional vs. self-pub debate. I'm currently planning on self-publishing a fantasy novel, and I enjoyed reading your perspective. Always good to remember that just because some people have bad experiences doesn't mean everyone does!
So helpful, thanks.
Never knew how to get successful Publisher. Threw my book to the wind. It was published and advertised on the Internet. Not one dime received since.
BTW, it is called,
Rock of Ages...a novel based on True
events. I lived it and am still happy I wrote it.