You want to publish your book.
I did, too. It happened, and the more I learn, the more I realize having an English major doesn't prepare you to be a published author.
Here's what they don't teach you in school about what it takes to survive in the...
That's the author's biggest dilemma. Will he or she self-publish or traditionally publish a book? Here's my comical way of looking at it. Yes, there are a lot of details left out, but can you see my point?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The world is changing. Traditional publishing has its perks, but so does self-publishing. The only way you're going to find what works for you is by knowing what your goal is for your book.
*Do you dream of being found in every chain bookstore?
*Are you okay with giving control over your story to someone else?
*Are you okay with being paid smaller royalties for a little bit of marketing assistance?
Then traditional publishing is probably for you.
But remember, it's a dog eat dog world out there (pardon the cliche) wherever you end up.
And even if you do get a traditional contract, you will have to market yourself. Publishers offer less and less of that these days.
My advice? The only traditional publishing contract worth accepting is from one of the big five publishing houses. (In my opinion, nothing else is worthy of your book baby.)
Now, what if you aren't okay with surrendering control of your book?
*Do you want to be able to choose your cover?
*Do you want to make sure you have an editor who works well with you?
*Do you want to be in charge of, well, EVERYTHING?
Then self-publishing is for you.
Check out this list of pros and cons of self-publishing from Book Marketing Tools:
The Pros
*You have creative and scheduling control of your book from cover to cover and from manuscript to market.
*You are not dependent on a publisher who is juggling other projects so you can get your book to market much more quickly than most publishers can.
*You can control who you target and how you reach them in your marketing and have full control of your marketing message.
*You have the ability to work with editors, proofers, designers, etc. you choose instead of having them assigned to you by a publisher.
*You have the possibility of a much larger return on your publishing investment since you keep 70-100% of sales rather than get a 15% royalty.
*You don't need to seek and pay an agent.
The Cons
*Because a lot of not-so-inspiring material has been self-published (along with some excellent stuff by established authors) it's an uphill battle to gain the credibility your work deserves and which automatically comes from being published by a major publishing house. It can be done but it is far from automatic.
