What do you all think are the pros and cons of both options? What do you think about copyright, public domain and reprinting in this regard?

Mod Note: A lot of us have very different views on subjects like copyright. Please remember that this thread is for the evaluation and exchange of information, and not the defense or attack of personal views.

Traditional publishing, if you can get it, gives you these benefits:

* Legitimacy in the eyes of the reading public (you've been "curated" as agent Steve Laube puts it)
* Lower up front costs (you don't need to pay an editor or cover designer, or pay for any initial printings)
* Typically, you are given an advance against future sales, so instead of it being a monetary drain, you are rewarded. If you have to pay money, then you are NOT being traditionally published.
* Help with marketing. No, you're not going to get *much* help, but you will get some.

In exchange for all that benefit, you will get a much lower per book percentage. Why is this? It is because the publisher is taking the risk of publishing, not you, and they deserve to make a profit on their investment.

If you self-publish, you get these benefits:

* Complete control over the editing and cover-design. Both of these can come back to snap their ugly jaws on your ankle if you don't get it right.
* A much higher percentage of the profit. You are taking the risk, so you get the reward.

In exchange for that benefit, you will have to outlay a lot more $$$ and effort. Possibly thousands of dollars.

BUT ... the world's-a-changin'. More and more authors are self-publishing, and the black mark that it once was is fading fast. Also, as things go digital, you can really beat the competition by keeping your book price way-way-down and still get as much profit as if you were traditionally published.

-Robert

I agree with those points. I will add that, depending on your contacts and how much you are willing to learn and research, self-publishing can be done quite cheaply. I think I only spent about $60 to do my last book, including putting it on the Pro Plan on Create Space and buying the cover images. But that's doing EVERYTHING yourself (with some help from a few willing friends and family ). You'll likely spend quite a bit more on marketing, which you might end up doing with traditional publishing anyway, but even that can be done at a fairly low cost. It takes some looking around, but I've found a lot of printing websites that are low cost. I've probably spent under $300 in marketing since I started, but still have some great marketing tools.

I think Treskillard's first point on Traditional Publishing is the one that makes me lean most strongly in that direction. That and I don't have the kind of money to self-publish.

Caleb, I think Makilien is right that self-publishing doesn't *have* to cost that much. However, you better be able to edit very well yourself, or else know someone who can do it free or inexpensively.

Same with cover design ... it is possible to do it yourself if you have the right tools. If I self-publish, I will definitely put together my own artwork, but I'm also an amateur graphic-artist with lots of experience, tools, and software available to me.

The main thing is giving the reader a professional quality book as inexpensively as you can.

(Split off the book covers tangent. Carry on )

eru

Yes, and I think the best way that I can do that is by trying first with 'real' publishing.

A couple of notes worth considering:

* Self-publishing royalty rates are much higher. A worksheet published by J.A. Konrath allows you to see the difference in each form (Trade hardback, paperback, ebook vs. Self Pub ebook) can be found here.

In considering that, your book better be ready before you put it out there. I am going to do my best to make sure it is and probably try one self published just to see how it works. But we'll see.

* If you self publish, can you get a small press publisher to pick it up and rerelease it?

I've seen it happen, but I'm assuming it is very rare. I've heard of publishing houses saying no to submit the second book in a series, which means it will be hard to get the next books in the series trad. published if you self pub'ed the first.

Randy Ingermanson, creator of the Snowflake system, and author of The Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, theorizes that self-published is going to become the primary method of publication for mid-list authors. Starting authors who aren't exceptionally talented need to be published traditionally in order to build the fan and marketing base necessary to survive the harsh self-publishing world. On the other hand, once publishers reduce size and figure out how to react to the e-publishing trends, they'll start contracting the authors who do exceptionally well online. Because they'll be smaller, and only picking up the best authors, they'll be able to offer similar (if a little smaller) royalties.

The royalties will be smaller, but fifty percent of fifteen dollars is more money than seventy five percent of six dollars. After several printings, when the publishers stop making lots of money of the books, they'll release the author to the e-market, where he can continue to make money.

Note: These are not my opinions but Mr. Ingermanson's opinions.

In my mind, two of the major benefits to traditional publishing are promotion and distribution. Even if the author still does a lot of their own promotion, the publisher will likely do some promotion through their catalogs and such. As someone mentioned, the publishing house's label can add some credibility to your book. Also, a major publisher has the means and connections to distribute your book to stores across the country or even across the world, as well as online. A self-publisher, especially one working with print editions, may not have these connections and will have to work a lot harder to get their book in stores.

Another benefit to traditional publishing is the fact that the publisher takes on some of the work of getting the book ready for print, leaving the author to focus (more) on writing. Formatting, cover design, etc. are things the publisher might handle, and the author doesn't need to have the know-how or time to deal with them.

On the flip side, self-publishing offers ultimate control. The author has direct control over every aspect of the book, which is something we often do not have with traditional publishing. With traditional publishing, the author may not have a choice in cover design, illustrator, and so forth. Self-published authors do, and they also retain all the rights to their work.

I have a friend that loves to do concept art for me. By self-publishing, I can use these illustrations in my books. With traditional publishing, that probably wouldn't be an option.

Similarly, self-publishing can be friendly to books of unusual format or length, or books that are from an obscure genre or cross-genre. If an author has trouble finding a publisher who markets books of her obscure type, she may have more success self-publishing and promoting directly to her niche market.

An obvious downside to traditional publishing is the hurdles you have to cross to break into the market. Convincing someone to buy your work can be incredibly difficult, and it may take a long time. There are no such hurdles with self-publishing, and you can do it on your own time frame.

I'll be going to the traditional publishing route for the first two reasons Philli mentioned. A big downside, which is also an upside, to traditional publishing is agents. Agents are hard to get, but when you have one they can really do the publicity angle of getting your book published

eru