For years, authors have chosen to publish their novels with the traditional method. This publication route includes the author, having written their final draft, finding an agent, the agent finding a publisher, editing, creating, and publishing the book. However, that route is easier said than done. In the traditional route, authors find themselves querying for hours on end and with tons of rejections before they can even send out their full manuscript, resulting in the creation of self-publishing. So let’s break down the difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing.
Just as the traditional route starts with writing your novel, self-publishing begins the same way, as there is no publishing without something to publish. Then, authors spend time querying, which has to be the most heartbreaking process I’ve ever heard of. It involves authors sending out pitches of their novel and partial pieces with the hopes that an agent will request their full manuscript, which doesn’t always happen and can take plenty of rejections before someone accepts it and agrees to represent them. Once this occurs, they find a publisher which can also take a lot of time. The publisher then will offer them a contract for their book which includes an upfront agreed-upon amount, royalties, or both along with paying for art for the editor, their novel, and marketing. Finally, it gets published.
The biggest advantage traditional publishing offers is that a good portion of the work is out of the author’s hands, which cuts down on costs associated with their work. While this might be the cheaper route, it takes longer. The biggest con is that some of the creative freedom gets taken away. Additionally, there isn’t always a guarantee that a publisher will want your novel. Plenty of books get shelved by their authors when no one will buy their books.
The self-publishing process requires the author to write their book, either edit and market it themselves or pay for an editor, the art, and the ISBN, and get the book published on whatever site they want to go with. In the end, they get to keep all the profits they make and don’t have to wait for anyone’s approval or deal with hindrances to their creative process, which causes a lot of authors to go that route.
I would go with the traditional route as not everyone can afford to put that much money into a project that may not go well. Traditional allows the publisher to take all the risk, but if you have the funds, want your work published quicker, and want free reign to let your creativity flourish self-publishing, with more and more authors choosing it every day, is an amazing route to consider.
