We get a lot of questions from creative writers all across the country (and from faraway countries as well) here at Writer’s Relief, and we do our best to help writers in all stages of their writing careers. One of our most frequently asked questions is whether there is more money in self-publishing or traditional publishing.
Q. Which makes more money: self-publishing or traditional publishing?
A. Self-publishing and traditional publishing offer very different methods of dealing with finances. The cost of self-publishing is generally absorbed by the author in one form or another; the cost of traditional publishing is absorbed by the publishing house. (Note: This article does not discuss subsidy publishing, in which the author and publisher split the cost of production and the profits. Some publishing houses no longer pay an advance, but they do offer royalties.)
With traditional publishing, authors make most of their profit up front (an advance). Then, if they are able to “sell through” (sell all their copies), they’ll start making royalties. With self-publishing, there is more variety in how an author is paid, if the author is paid at all. Each self-publishing company will have its own standards.
Generally, royalties on self-published books and E-books tend to be higher than royalties on traditionally published books—in part because a self-publishing company has a lot less at stake and puts less effort (and dollars) into a given project than a traditional publisher. Though self-publishing royalties are significantly higher, sales volume tends to be significantly lower in most cases.
In the end, how much money you make depends on 1) how good your book is, 2) how well you market it, and 3) how widely your book is distributed.
Though there are many happily self-published writers out there, the writers who continually seek out our advice are those who are disappointed with the results of their self-publishing efforts and want to know what to do next. They feel saddened that their books didn’t hit it big, their publishers didn’t come through, they accidentally got stuck in bad contracts with distributors, etc. They also wonder how their self-publishing efforts will be received by literary agents and editors.
Self-publishing can be a great way to get your book in print, provided you have business know-how and your expectations are realistic. We hope our articles will help you make informed decisions about when to self-publish and when to keep trying to find a home at a major publishing house. (For more information, see: Is Self-Publishing The Easiest Way To Get Published? Decoding The Hype And The Facts.)
At Writer’s Relief, we love that writers turn to us for answers about self-publishing versus traditional publishing and everything in between; we do our best to develop a plan so that creative writers can get their submissions circulating again. Send your writing and publishing questions to me at info@wrelief.com. And, as always, keep writing!
Ronnie Smith
Writer’s Relief, Inc.
P.S. If you want to chat with me in real time, why not come hang out with me on Twitter? www.twitter.com/writersrelief.
Hey Prez: this is great to have! Here’s my question: what’s the best way to compile a group of short stories into a collection/book– so rather than a novel, you got related (or not) short stories in one book…?
Mary Diane
WR Rocks
I’ve been working on a collection of common-thread stories with a novella as an end-cap.I was informed to stack my stories,meaning your best story first, 2nd best last, 3rd on follows the first, fourth on prior to the last…sort of pyramid style..back and forth. I’ve set my collection this way and then added the novella. We’ll see how that computes when an agent/publisher gets to it.
Anybody elses have an idea?
We’ve seen that technique before for "novel in stories," including the novella end-cap. Good luck!