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Traditional vs Self-Publishing
There is always a debate about the best way to go when it comes to this. Self-Publshing has such terrible press, mainly due to the unadulterated crap that is uploaded to Amazon with vitrually no filter. I’d go as far as to say that 95% of what is self-published on Amazon is poor. Traditional publishing has filters. They are better known as agents and editors, but normally when you read a traditionally published book it is at least half-decent in terms of structure, formatting, grammar and spelling. But many of the traditionally published books I’ve read recently are just ….dull….it’s like the original writer’s spark has been edited out…
I’ve had considerable luck with being traditionally published before, and hopefully, fingers and toes crossed that continues. But, my last book was rejected by my traditional publisher (partly because instead of working on the book I’d been contracted to write I was writing something else and partly because they said it didn’t fit their list.) I have subsequently finished the contracted book and it is with them now.
For my other book which they didn’t want, I tried to find an agent to represent me with it to other publishers, but I had to tell them that my existing publisher didn’t want it which probably put them off. That left me with Self-Publishing.
I spent a few months learning the ropes and due to the fact I’d been edited by some great people in the past and had learned from them decided to do everything myself. I did not want to hire editors or formatters or cover designers – yes it sounds like a recipe for disaster.
I published the book in January 2023 with trepidation and fear. As of today (25th July 2024), it has amassed over 2400 reviews, most of them four and five stars and has outsold everything else I’ve ever published by about 10:1.
Nobody is more surprised by this than me, I am very bad at marketing and whilst i have learned how to run basic Facebook ads the book has largely done well through word of mouth which in the 21st century is pretty unusual.
So, what have I learned from this?
1. Self-publishing does NOT need to be the last resort. In fact, for certain books that maybe don’t fit the mainstream, it should be the first choice.
2. I no longer have anxiety about my books being rejected by traditional publishers or agents, I can simply do it myself. This is a really powerful realisation.
3. To get traction you need three things: (a) A damn good story (that is true in all types of publishing) There are no shortcuts for that. (b) You need your book to be as professionally put together as possible. This does not necessarily mean spending thousands on editors but it needs to compete and in truth be better than traditionally published books simply due to the discrimination that comes with self-publishing. (c) You need to be prepared to market and promote, no matter how alien that feels to you, because when you self-publish everything lands on you.
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2 Replies
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Hi Danny
Thanks for sharing your experience, I found this very helpful.
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Hi Danny,
This is really helpful. I am currently submitting to agents and publishers. It’s such a slow process. If I’m not successful I really want to try self publishing but I’m very daunted by it.
I’m not on Facebook, I closed my account years ago. I am on Twitter.
Your post is very encouraging.
Thanks,
Martha
