Things You Should Know Before Self-Publishing

Traditional publishers are investors in ideas. They give advances to their writers so that they have the resources needed to research and write or pay an advance to hold you over and let you work on editing your book. As a self-published author, however, you will be, in most cases, funding your own ideas, and won’t see any income until the book is available for sale. All the resources necessary to research, create, and promote a book will come out of your pocket. If two authors are working on a tight budget, the traditionally published one will get more resources at their disposal compared to the self-published one.

Traditional publishers have a team of in-house editors and designers. When an author completes their manuscript, they hand in the draft to the publisher who manages the various rounds of editing, the cover and layout design, the book production. Ultimately, traditional publishers are responsible for all the processes that turn a manuscript into a book.

Self-published authors, on the other hand, have to handle everything by themselves. Not necessarily literally, but they’re responsible for finding professionals who can edit their manuscripts, design their layout, design their book cover. As a self-published author, the quality of the final copy rests squarely on your shoulders.

Copyright protection, in most cases, falls under the publisher’s mandate. Traditional publishers understand the value of their authors’ intellectual property, and they protect them with strict anti-piracy rules. Additionally, they have a legal team to tackle any copyright infringements that may pop up. Self-published authors are responsible for copyrighting their work. In case of a copyright infringement issue, a self-published author will have to handle the problem or hire a professional to do it for them.

Publishers have distribution networks that ensure that their books are widely available. Self-published books often have limited availability because their authors think of Amazon as their only viable distribution channel.

For a traditionally published author, the publisher does all the heavy lifting in marketing the book and getting the author reviews and coverage. Unlike traditional publishers who have a marketing and publicity team, self-published authors have to handle all those efforts themselves.

1. Do I have experience in this area? If you have more than a year of professional experience doing something, you may want to do it yourself. If you do not, you may want to hire a professional.
2. Am I objective about my skills in this area? (Am I really a great editor of my own work? Very few people are. Am I the best cover designer? Unless you’re a professional, it is unlikely that you can create a cover that looks professional quality. Am I a great publicist? If you haven’t done it before professionally, you may not be…)

1. Does my friend have professional experience in the area?
2. Am I objective about my friend’s skill?
3. If my friend charged me for this, would I pay?

~ Nanda