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How to Choose the Right Book Publishing Option
Originally Posted June 20, 2020
by Joe K.
Last Updated February 08, 2023
The publishing landscape is complex, to say the least. For individuals wondering how to choose the right book publishing option, there are many, many aspects to consider and many questions to ask. You might be wondering how to promote a book, how to market a self-published book, but also...
- How does the book publishing business work?
- What book promotion services will work for me?
- What are my self-publishing options?
- Can I still choose a traditional publishing route?
- How do I get a traditional publishing deal?
- What’s the best way to evaluate traditional or self-publishing options?
This article will answer these questions and more, starting with the complications of the book publishing landscape (which are constantly changing, shifting, and growing). This article will discuss book promotion, free book promotion, and book promotion services.
Understanding the Book Publishing Landscape
Over the years, the business side of book publishing has changed a great deal and this is also why much of the advice you might read is completely wrong or outdated. In James Patterson’s MasterClass, he actually said not to worry about marketing. That’s good advice, if your name is James Patterson - less so for everyone else.
As such, any advice you might have already found is likely geared towards professional writers and novelists. Novice writers - entrepreneurs, business owners, personal development authors, and hobbyists - need to see the landscape through a different lens. Sure, there are tracks to follow, but no one has exactly the same route to a successful career as a published author.
First, we need to cover the two generic options for getting your book published. There’s the traditional route (which James Patterson used years ago) and the self-published example (which can surprisingly make you more money per book).
Traditional Vs. Self-Publishing Book Promotion
In a nutshell, traditional publishing means working with an agent and trying to get your book into stores. Self-publishing is the same sort of goal, but you’re going at it mostly by yourself.
This is an oversimplification, of course, so let’s dig in a little deeper...
1. Traditional Publishing & Book Promotion
In traditional publishing, authors seek out book agents to represent their work and literally show it to potential publishing companies. The agent and the author pitch the idea to the book publishing company. If the idea gets a green light, the publishing company will offer the author a book deal. This could be a few thousand dollars or hundreds of thousands.
Then, the company buys the ownerships of the print license in return for an advance on the royalties (the author keeps this advance despite the results). Fiction writers generally require a completed manuscript before the pitch meeting, where non-fiction writers can just submit a sample chapter and outline. But non-fiction works either require a truly remarkable story, or a platform in which to sell the book (memoirs are a little more complicated, but generally follow the non-fiction rule of thumb).
The publishing company will own the print license (including digital), but the author should own the copyright (movie rights and excerpts are generally negotiable afterward). According to Tucker Max’s company Scribe, the typical royalty rate is “15 percent hardcover, 7.5 percent trade paperback, 5 percent mass market.”
These days, the writer is generally in charge of all marketing and editing (but it’s possible to work out a deal with the agent), the company should handle the design, distribution, and it takes 12-36 months to publish the book.
In summary, authors get an advance, the chance for media coverage, and potential bookstore placement, but it’s very hard to get a deal. It’s a major time investment and there’s the loss of ownership, marketing control, and even creative control in some cases. For the most part, traditional book deals will find you (negotiating between agents is a whole other story).
The Bigger Question to Answer…
Let’s discuss the traditional route for a moment...
If you find an agent willing to represent you, write a proposal, shop the proposal, negotiate and accept an offer - almost all of this is riding on one factor: do you have an existing audience waiting to buy your book? Do you have loyal Twitter followers? Do you have a huge email list? How many people “clap” for your work on Medium? All of this matters a great deal.
If you have a massive audience (we’re talking 100,000+ email signups, engaged Twitter followers, or YouTube subscribers), then you have a chance in following the path above. From the agent’s perspective, publishers want to see a clear path to 25,000 sales. This might not work out, but they need to see the potential. It’s a gamble, but publishers are less willing to take gambles than they used to be.
Without this journey, it’s nearly impossible to get a traditional book deal. “Publishers aren’t buying anything that doesn’t come with a built-in audience that will buy it. They don’t take risks anymore, they don’t gamble on authors, they only want sure things,” wrote book agent Byrd Leavell. “I won’t even take an author unless they have an audience they can guarantee 25k presales to…”
So here’s the bigger question… If you’re working to grow a platform that can guarantee 25,000 sales, then why go the traditional route anyway? Do you simply want to see your book in bookstores? How many brick and mortar bookstores are left anyway?
2. Self-Publishing & Book Promotion
In the self-publishing model, the author retains ownership of the book, manages the entire process, and does most of the work (some writers hire freelancers to help with editing, ghostwriting, or marketing). There’s no acceptance and no advance, but the author owns everything.
The royalty rate carries between 40 percent and 100 percent, depending on the model (ebooks are obviously the cheapest option, but most people want a physical book. Some sites are also doing audio-only now). To summarize everything else in a nutshell, the author manages writing, editing, publishing services, distribution, marketing, and time to publish.
Therefore, you can hit the market faster with total control, but there’s a lot of work to do, it can appear unprofessional, and you either have to spend a great deal of time on the book or hire someone, which can be expensive. It’s a balance of time and money from start to finish.
If you can’t make a professional-looking book, it’s likely best to not publish at all. Not only does your audience judge a book by its cover, but they also judge the title, the description, the author photo, the blurbs, and everything in between (along with editing, it’s a good idea to hire help in these areas).
There used to be a stigma with self-publishing, but times have changed. A successful example is Hugh Howey’s self-published novel Wool - which sold millions of copies - and is currently being made into a movie by director Ridley Scott.
But you’re still wondering... how to market a self-published book? What if I get an offer, but prefer to self-publish?
Another example, where a platform was already in place, is The Aviary Cocktail Book. Nick Kokonos said, “The typical publishing deal came into us. It was $250,000 to $300,000. They would basically say, well, out of that, you’re going to pay for the designer and the photographer, and you need a 30-day photoshoot. Here are the guidelines for how many photos you want in the book, to keep costs down.”
Kokonos checked the specs and realized the publishing industry was no better than the failed music industry. “I knew people in bands that would get signed to a record label back in the day, and they would get a quarter-million dollar advance. That seems like a lot of money, right? Then all of a sudden, all your studio time comes out of that, and you don’t recoup another dime until you’ve sold X number of records or CDs or, in this case, books.”
When he asked how much it would cost to print the books, they referred the number to the publishing company and essentially couldn’t come up with a figure. He called it “willful, plausible ignorance.” He said, “In the contract, it actually said, the restaurant guarantees that they will buy 2,500 books at half of retail price. I was like, Whoa. You’re looking at something like $80,000 right there. That goes right back to them, in essence.”
After doing his own research, he discovered a few American printers who would charge $15-20 per book (full-color cocktail photos on each page). But, digging a little deeper, he found a company overseas who would print 30,000 books for only $2.23 per book (still, full color photos like he wanted).
“When I would call publishers and tell them this, they would go, ‘Oh, yeah, but look. We did 40 different books last year. Only five of them did well.’ I’m like, ‘That’s your problem. I know we’re going to sell well. I don’t really give a shit if you lost 35 percent of the time, and you need to spread your portfolio risk. I’m the one you’re spreading it on.’”
The Bigger Question to Answer…
For self-publishing, it’s all about balancing time and money. If you’re just writing to write, spend a few books designing your own novel cover or use a website like Canvas, and post the ebook. Then, move on to the next one. For the Cocktail book above, they were actually in a better position to sell their own books, at their restaurant, rather than go the traditional route and line the pockets of a publisher.
But if you’re trying to push copies or sell books in the physical world, your self-published book needs to look and feel super professional. If not, book sales (and possibly your reputation as an author) will suffer. People have so many options these days that anything that doesn’t look professional simply won’t work. It must look, feel, and appear to be the real deal. It doesn’t matter what’s inside if no one picks up the book.
It’s not hard to follow the steps necessary to make a professional book, but it all comes down to a simple calculation: do you need to save your time or your money? Spend money to save time. Save time by spending money. There are no free book promotion services, per se, but creating virality around your book in the form of book trailers or articles can help spread the word.
3. Hybrid Publishing & Book Promotion
In an effort to try and combine the best of both worlds, the publisher might offer an option where they combine traditional and self-publishing practices. For the most part, however, the hybrid option doesn’t really exist.
Tucker Max has written, “It’s a made-up word so that publishing companies that use a variation of the traditional model can pretend they are something different.” They want to offer you free book promotion services, but publishers don’t really care about how to market a self-published book. That’s your problem.
This option is more of a fee-for-service option for the publishing company, so they can make money, but take less risk. This way, the author feels chosen, but there’s no advance for the author. It’s generally a bad deal, wrapped in free book promotion services. They want to pat you on the back, but in this world, ask for coins, not applause.
Another warning comes to hybrid options as the publishing company may also try to retain copyright or other rights for the book. Again, they’re taking a portfolio gamble on a variety of books and covering themselves with what they believe to be the best bets.
So how do you make a decision?
These days, for the most part, traditional publishing is meant for celebrities, athletes, actors, musicians, professional novelists, and politicians (people who don’t need to worry about how to promote a book). But, first-time authors, including entrepreneurs, executives, financial planners, doctors, lawyers, consultants, coaches, and everyone in between, should consider self-publishing.
You can always make your own hybrid option, on your terms. Consider going the traditional route - pitching your book idea to agents - and, along the way, you’ll get a deeper understanding of what your book is about. In addition, you’ll grow as a writer and as a person, even if outside validation isn’t something that happens right away.
It’s possible you’ll sell the book and get an advance. And, if not, you’ll be in a position to decide whether or not your book idea is worth writing. It’s also possible to self publish one book and traditionally publish the next. Essentially, the entire publishing world works on a system of leverage. When you have more leverage, you have more options. With more leverage, you can choose your own book promotion services and figure out how to market a self-published book.
For first time writers, the traditional agents have all of the leverage. Build your platform. Write your book. Grow your leverage. One way to grow your leverage is to start working on your social media accounts, in addition to your treatments and writing samples. If you already have a book, consider creating a book trailer to spread the news about your book in a bite-sized format.