Are you an author looking at the possibility of publishing? Have you become overwhelmed by the many options or routes you can take? Publishing is something that you definitely want to plan carefully and take a good path. Because of the important nature of it, it’s never taken lightly and there should always be plenty of research done.

As previously stated, there are many way that one may go about publishing. The main ones of these that I’ll be looking at are traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, and e-book vs. physical publishing. I was very familiar with these methods when I began my research, but I wanted to know which form or way of publishing worked best. As I researched, I discovered that each mode is good in different ways, and the advantages and disadvantages of each one make it fit certain circumstances. There are different ways to approach publishing for beginning and developed authors.

I began my research by going to a very familiar, trusted source of mine:
www.holyworlds.org. I found much valuable information there, and links to other websites. From these links I chose to look at what some publishing companies had to say first-hand, particularly www.lulu.com, and www.smashwords.com. Lulu is a self-publishing service, and Smashwords is an e-book publishing service. I also checked out some other trusted sources, and soon enough I had plenty of information to work with.

The first thing I learned in my research was an almost obvious statement from Valerie Peterson: It doesn’t matter if the piece you are looking to publish is printed or in e-book format, or whether it is traditionally or self-published if the content doesn’t satisfy readers. Also I learned from Robert Treskillard that any method decided upon, much, if not all of the marketing is left up to the author.

Another thing I learned from Treskillard was that traditional publishing is very cheap. In fact, the author actually makes money if their draft is accepted; there is an advance given against future sales. In turn, the publishing company will get a bigger percentage per book sold than the author. Why is this? The author takes no risk in printing the book. The publishing company does, so it’s a small trade off.

The second thing about traditional publishing is it gives the author some credibility in the eyes of the reader. If readers were to see a book that was self-published beside a book that was published traditionally, they would be more likely to pick up the book that was traditionally published. In their mind, if the book was good enough for the publisher, it’s good enough for them. When self-publishing, the reader doesn’t know if the book is good or not off hand, because there is no mark of a publisher that they trust or like to prove to them that the read is worth their time and money. So, self-publishing gives the author less credibility in the eyes of the public.

I also learned from Treskillard that self-publishing can be expensive. Authors must pay money out of their own pocket to finance the printing and marketing of the book. However, because of this, the author will receive the maximum amount of authority when it comes to cover design and editing, as well as getting a higher cut per sale, if not all of it. The author also doesn’t need to worry about the book getting accepted or rejected by a publisher.

When I was looking on Smashwords.com and Lulu.com, I saw that like a traditionally published book, an e-book is very cheap to produce. When self-published, e-books themselves are completely free, but the author must still pay for marketing. If the process is through an e-book publisher, then the author receives a similar cut as if they were being traditionally published. However, an e-book is probably the form of publishing in which the author receives the least amount of credibility. The reader community has a mentality that any Joe can publish an e-book, because it’s a relatively easy process.

But e-books do have advantages. Services such as Smashwords distribute the copy of the book to most of the major e-book stores, including Apple and Barnes&Noble. Many more people own devices dedicated to reading e-books than they did several years ago, and the market for them is increasing quickly.

I have concluded that each way of publishing was effective for different means. Traditional publishing is best for beginning authors who have not yet gained credibility with readers, and who are looking to start out in the publishing world. Self-publishing is good for authors who have already gained this credibility and who have been relatively successful; not to say that a beginning author cannot effectively self-publish. E-books are good as a secondary way to publish your book so it is available to both those who take a ride down to the library or bookstore to pick up a book and those who sit at home and buy it for their e-reader.

There are exceptions to this of course. There are authors who have begun very successfully with a self-published work, and many authors who have gained reader credibility still use traditional publishing means for their novels or other works.

Because of the important nature of it, it’s never taken lightly and there should always be plenty of research done.

Because of how important publishing is, the process is never taken lightly, and you should always do plenty of research beforehand.

As previously stated, there are many way that one may go about publishing.

As I researched, I discovered that each mode is good in different ways, and the advantages and disadvantages of each one make it fit certain circumstances.

As I researched, I discovered that each of these types of publishing have both great advantages and disadvantages allowing them to fulfill certain purposes.

I found much valuable information there, and links to other websites.

From these links I chose to look at what some publishing companies had to say first-hand, particularly http://www.lulu.com, and http://www.smashwords.com. Lulu is a self-publishing service, and Smashwords is an e-book publishing service. I also checked out some other trusted sources, and soon enough I had plenty of information to work with.

The first thing I learned in my research was an almost obvious statement from Valerie Peterson: It doesn’t matter if the piece you are looking to publish is printed or in e-book format, or whether it is traditionally or self-published if the content doesn’t satisfy readers. Also I learned from Robert Treskillard that any method decided upon, much, if not all of the marketing is left up to the author.

In fact, the author actually makes money if their draft is accepted; there is an advance given against future sales.

In fact, the author actually makes money if their draft is accepted; they are given an advance against future sales.

The second thing about traditional publishing is it gives the author some credibility in the eyes of the reader. If readers were to see a book that was self-published beside a book that was published traditionally, they would be more likely to pick up the book that was traditionally published. In their mind, if the book was good enough for the publisher, it’s good enough for them. When self-publishing, the reader doesn’t know if the book is good or not off hand, because there is no mark of a publisher that they trust or like to prove to them that the read is worth their time and money. So, self-publishing gives the author less credibility in the eyes of the public.

If the process is through an e-book publisher, then the author receives a similar cut as if they were being traditionally published.

But e-books do have advantages.

E-books do have their advantages, however.

There are exceptions to this of course. There are authors who have begun very successfully with a self-published work, and many authors who have gained reader credibility still use traditional publishing means for their novels or other works.

Overall, I have found that _____ method of publishing has been very successful, and I highly recommend it.

All of these are very effective ways of publishing, and I encourage you to research them yourself and figure out which means is the best for you.

@Aniese - Yeah, I felt that way too...maybe if I just refer to Treskillard once and take the other references out? Maybe we should get Treskillard himself over here for input.

And, you did great!

Are you an author looking at the possibility of publishing? Have you become overwhelmed by the many options or routes you can take? Publishing is something that you definitely want to plan carefully and take a good path. Because of how important publishing is, the process is never taken lightly, and you should always do plenty of research beforehand.

As previously stated, there are many ways that one may go about publishing. The main ones of these that I’ll be looking at are traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, and e-book vs. physical publishing. I was very familiar with these methods when I began my research, but I wanted to know which form or way of publishing worked best. As I researched, I discovered that each method has their own advantages and disadvantages, making them useful in different situations. There are different ways to approach publishing for beginning and developed authors.

I began my research by going to a very familiar, trusted source of mine:
www.holyworlds.org. I found much valuable information there and links to other websites. From these links I chose to look at what some publishing companies had to say first-hand, particularly www.lulu.com, and www.smashwords.com. Lulu is a self-publishing service, and Smashwords is an e-book publishing service. I also checked out some other trusted sources, and soon enough I had plenty of information to work with.

The first thing I learned in my research was an almost obvious statement from Valerie Peterson: “It doesn’t matter if the piece you are looking to publish is printed or in e-book format, or whether it is traditionally or self-published if the content doesn’t satisfy readers.” Also, I learned from Robert Treskillard that any method decided upon, much, if not all of the marketing is left up to the author.

Traditional publishing is very cheap. In fact, the author actually makes money if his draft is accepted; he is given an advance against future sales. In turn, the publishing company will get a bigger percentage per book sold than the author. Why is this? The author takes no risk in printing the book. The publishing company does, so it’s a small trade off.

The second thing about traditional publishing is it gives the author some credibility in the eyes of the reader. If readers were to see a book that was self-published beside a book that was published traditionally, they would be more likely to pick up the book that was traditionally published. In their mind, if the book was good enough for the publisher, it’s good enough for them. When self-publishing, the reader doesn’t know if the book is good or not off hand, because there is no mark of a publisher that they trust or like to prove to them that the read is worth their time and money. So, self-publishing gives the author less credibility in the eyes of the public.

Self-publishing can be expensive. Authors must pay money out of their own pocket to finance the printing and marketing of the book. However, because of this, the author will receive the maximum amount of authority when it comes to cover design and editing, as well as getting a higher cut per sale, if not all of it. The author also doesn’t need to worry about the book getting accepted or rejected by a publisher.

When I was looking on Smashwords.com and Lulu.com, I saw that like a traditionally published book, an e-book is very cheap to produce. When self-published, e-books themselves are completely free, but the author must still pay for marketing. If the process is through an e-book publisher, then the author receives a similar cut as if he were being traditionally published. However, an e-book is probably the form of publishing in which the author receives the least amount of credibility. The reader community has a mentality that any Joe can publish an e-book, because it’s a relatively easy process.

However, e-books do have advantages. Services such as Smashwords distribute the copy of the book to most of the major e-book stores, including Apple and Barnes&Noble. Many more people own devices dedicated to reading e-books than they did several years ago, and the market for them is increasing quickly.

I have concluded that each way of publishing was effective for different means. Traditional publishing is best for beginning authors who have not yet gained credibility with readers, and who are looking to start out in the publishing world. Self-publishing is good for authors who have already gained this credibility and who have been relatively successful; not to say that a beginning author cannot effectively self-publish. E-books are good as a secondary way to publish your book so it is available to both those who take a ride down to the library or bookstore to pick up a book and those who sit at home and buy it for their e-reader.

There are exceptions to this of course. There are authors who have begun very successfully with a self-published work, and many authors who have gained reader credibility still use traditional publishing means for their novels or other works. Each and every one of these methods are useful in different ways. Go beyond this blog post and see for yourself which way is best for you!

He asked me to publish it already, but if you want an account for next time, Caleb, send me the specs via PM.

Yes, don't you remember? You'll be writing for the blog ten or twenty times more in the future.