Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

Traditional or Self-publishing? That is the question. For someone like me, Self-publishing looks like the holy grail. It's fast, convenient and the profit looks good on paper, up to 80% of profits end up in my pocket. It's also a lot of work, with no back up, and if you want to use professional services it can be a real chunk of change up front. Depending on the package it can be thousands of dollars out of pocket. Not to mention having to pay for the actual books.

On the other hand, it can take years and countless rejections before an author is published through traditional means. If or when you are picked up, the publishing company keeps a very large portion of your profits, but they also have a great national and even international reach. The company takes care of everything, from editing, publicity, and distribution while self-publishing is trying to catch up to traditional publishing companies. Now they offer more complete distribution through amazon and formatting for e-readers, to help authors reach more people.

It is not unheard of for a few writers to transition from self-publishing to traditional. There seems to be the opinion that traditional is better. More than prestige, the draw of traditional publishing companies is all that authors hope for, but many professionals warn to read the contact's fine print. Authors often have grand intentions, but most of us don't know the financials of the path we've chosen. We all can't be as rich as J.K. Rowling, and especially not right off the bat. The best I hope for is enough to live on, and maybe traveling for book signings.

So my self-publishing journey is just beginning. Thanks to there partnership with NaNoWriMo last year I got a proof copy of my novel from www.lulu.com and it is with them that I plan to publish my book.

As you know I've been editing my novel (several drafts since it was first penned), and I hope to be finished by the first of the year. If you'd like to support me, I have a campaingne going at
  www.gofund.me/g4zsek    

 Thank you for your support & thanks for reading. Here's an older pic of the cover made by my very talented sister, Melanie Brown.