Posts
We all know how long it takes to write a book. We also know how long it takes to publish one. Here are my pros and cons on the time involved in both traditional and indie publishing.
Traditional:
- Pros:
- It may take a while, but you know they're doing it "right".
- If it's delayed even longer, it's possibly because your book will do better if released at another time.
- Cons:
- It typically takes a MINIMUM of a 1 1/2 years from deal to publication.
- Many times the list gets shuffled and your release is delayed. Sometimes it's better for the house and not your specific book.
Indie:
- Pros:
- You control the timeline. If you decide to put all your effort and time in, it's not like you're splitting that between dozens of other books and submissions, so you can push it through faster. *note this will also appear as a potential con below.
- You can put out secondary novels/sequels faster than a traditional publisher would, potentially reaching more readers/fans faster.
- Cons:
- You control the timeline. Yup. You might be so excited or so sure your book is perfect that you don't invest the time necessary to do it "right" as sited above. That's up to you as a professional and a true writer.
- You can become so overwhelmed with trying to act like the publisher that you forget to spend time writing and revising and subsequent books can suffer.
So there you have it. My second edition. What can you add? Next week is something I touched on today: Round 3. Quality
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think there is SO much more to add to this that it would cover numerous blog posts, so what I will say is, I totally agree with this point: "You can become so overwhelmed with trying to act like the publisher that you forget to spend time writing"
ReplyDeleteBut if you can find a balance, it's awesome.
Now that I'm planning to self publish, I'm realizing I don't have as much control on the timing of things as I would have liked. Because I plan to have my books professionally edited, I'll be working on the editor's timelines, too. But at least while I'm waiting, I'll have time to work on my next project.
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of you for taking this path. And having just finished going through editorial on my short story with them, and having read the two anthologies you were in, I can say that I am beyond confident that the quality will be amazing. I'm not sure that's always the case with every indie publisher, or every traditional publisher, these days, but you are doing it right!
ReplyDeleteSo agree with your pros and cons of each. Stina has a good point that the timing of self-publishing is sometimes governed by those you hire to help you. I do think that some SP authors get their books out too soon without enough editing or marketing wise, not realizing that we only have so much time to read any authors books.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, just like before! Another con with the indie way, which I've personally experienced, is that you might take too long to get a new book out there. As important as it is to edit a book, it's easy to get obsessed with it and not learn to move on, since there's no deadline from a publisher looming over your head...
ReplyDeleteNice list, Lisa. I like that you're representing the 'sides' equally -- because truly, as with most things in life, there are pros and cons to all decisions we make.
ReplyDeleteI thought your cons to indie publishing were perfectly stated. And now that I think about it to traditional publishing too. Gives us all something to think about.
ReplyDeleteFunny how control is a pro and a con, LOL!
ReplyDeleteNice post!
Thanks so much for the list! I could imagine how controlling the timeline could be both a pro and a con. It's a lot of pressure!
ReplyDeleteYup - being in control is really one of those infamous double edge swords! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat points about possibly rushing the book out before it's ready and your writing/revising time suffering. Control vs. control. Never seen it put like that, but you make perfect sense.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I just love the fact that there are so many choices for us these days. Nice list.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest con to me with both traditional and self publishing is discoverability. I've read some terrific books published both ways that I just can't understand why they're not selling better. Even before self publishing, I wasn't aware of the myriad of books that were published that I'd never even heard about, that never made it to the bookstore. Now there are even more books!
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the pros and cons, have never been a huge issue for me. If anything I'm more focused on my writing and have produced more since I started my small business of self publishing.
This is one reason I've loved working with Sourcebooks. They've been great about speeding up timelines so that there's not too much lag between books, especially now that we're later in the UnFairy series. And my next series is going to be super fast, which is both exciting and scary. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat pros and cons of timelines! I agree that self-publishing takes discipline, which can be hard in that excitement of wanting to share your books with others. Self publishing just takes discipline period. :D
ReplyDeleteWhich is why maybe it's not the best option for everybody. <3
Very impartial list. Nothing but facts. I like that. :)
ReplyDeleteanother pro of traditional publishing: you can focus on being a writer, instead of having to act as a publisher, marketing manager and so on.
ReplyDeleteNutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Great summary!
ReplyDeleteTrad-Pub-Con: What they think is "right" may not be what you think is "right" - if they want you to add more sexy to the book and that was not your intention, your choice may be do it or walk away. With indie, you can be sure that your book reflects your author vision, whether or not that lines up with the latest trend in publishing.
Trad-Pub-Con: You still have to do a lot of the marketing, but it may not be along your timeline - there's a lot of "hurry up and wait" in trad-pub. Hurry, hurry these edits, then wait a long time until it's your turn to hurry again.
Indie-Pro: You mention this, but it's HUGE, so I'm elaborating - getting your books into the hands of your readers sooner (i.e. not the 1 1/2 year wait from completion to publication) is HUGE. In the year and a half since I pulled my first Mindjack book from agents and decided to self-pub, I've written and published two more books, three novellas, produced a trailer and sold over 23k books. If I had kept with the agent/editor search, and the very earliest, I would be looking at publication of the first book about now. It would take me two more years to release the other books, I probably wouldn't have written the novellas, and the trailer likely wouldn't exist (at least not in current form). I would have had no income for the last year and a half (except possibly 1/3 of typical debut novel advance (~$5k) so a couple thousand dollars), and limited prospects for income over the next two years (due to limited release rates on the books).
Indie-Con: Because you CAN publish quickly, there's the pressure to write-edit-market 24/7. This isn't a CON about rushing to publish before you're ready, but rather the tendency to let the work overwhelm your life. When your publishing is only limited by how much time you put into it, you're tempted to put a LOT of time into it (this is the motivation to write more that Laura speaks of). Or maybe it's just me that struggles with work/life balance? :)
So how do you know your book is perfect? That's the big, big, big question I have. Experienced publishing houses have a good feel for the "ready" question. Fortunately some experienced editors are available for "side work", but do you rely on one editor's advice? And after taking their advice and re-writing do you stop there, or possibly pay another fee to see if you are "ready" or if there might be yet more issues to work out?
ReplyDeleteAll the Indies I've read so far have been good, but could've been better with more polish.