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Diving into The Great Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishers
Sunfire
CONTENTS
Introduction
At one point as you work on your book, whether you’re writing a scene or doing some revisions, thoughts about how to get it published will creep in. You might wonder where and how do I go about that? One avenue you could pursue is to use one of what’s called traditional publishers.
Traditional publishers are companies that publish your work, for a fee of course. Many of the popular ones have been in business for a long time which means they have great reputations. If you opt to use one, it’s imperative that you do your homework and find one that works the best for you. After all, it’s your book and you want to go with one that you feel comfortable with.
What exactly do traditional publishers do and how do they get your novel out to the public? Submitting your novel and finding one that will accept it is the beginning of a long process that leads to your book hitting the bookshelves. The publisher will give you recommendations to change parts of your novel and work on raising awareness for it.
Just as with everything, there are pros of going down this route. One such is that they do a lot of work for you like organizing a book tour on your behalf. Many of these advantages are tempting for first-time writers who don’t know a whole lot about the publishing process since they believe going traditional is the best way for their books to be published.
Unfortunately, there are pitfalls to using traditional publishers. They take a cut for every book you sell which means you get a lower payout or they can have you wholly change your book beyond recognition to one they believe will sell. Sometimes they use first-time writers’ little knowledge of the process to their advantage.
This is number forty-five in the series chronicling writing a fantasy book. If you wind up liking this article and are interested in seeing what else we have to offer, we have plenty more for you which you can find on our blog page.
What Do Traditional Publishers Do?
As you ponder which road to take in regard to publishing your book, you might be curious as to what traditional publishing is all about. For decades, it was the go-to option — and the only one at that — for all aspiring writers but due to the rise of self-publishing, it’s no longer as dominant as it once was.
Even though it’s competing with self-publishing, many authors still take this option since it’s one they know works and is beneficial to their flourishing careers. Always research the ones you’re looking at to see if they’re a good fit for both you and your novel. Don’t forget to read their submission guidelines to see what you need to do in order to ensure your book complies.
Traditional publishers do a lot of work for you. They have an in-house team of editors at all levels and one or several will review your story and get back to you with their list of recommendations on what changes you need to make. Their editors will work with you to polish your book.
In addition to editors, these companies employ artists who specialize in designing book covers, both front and back. They’ll give you several options of mock-ups so you can decide which one is the best for your book. Whichever one you wind up using, you can rest assured it will be of professional quality which will undoubtedly impress prospective readers.
Traditional publishers organize book tours in multiple cities. These tours are multifaceted, meaning there will be times where you’ll speak with radio disc jockeys, or appear on local podcasts and tv news stations as well as hold book-signing events at bookstores. These events are all designed to promote your book.
Even though they’ll do most of the work for you, they’re not doing it because they necessarily believe in your book. They’re doing it because they think your book will sell and the more copies it sells, the more money they’ll make. Never forget this fact.
Advantages of Traditional Publishers
When weighing whether to go down the road of traditional publishing, looking at both sides will help you make the best decision for yourself. Take as much time as you need to make said decision. There’s a reason why many authors still use traditional publishers in this day and age.
Their number one advantage is that they do a lot of work for you. There’s tons of decisions that need to be made in the publishing process from finding the right editor to thinking about how to promote your novel. Having to make all these decisions can feel overwhelming at times and traditional publishers alleviate that concern.
Another pro is that many of them have long been in business and are considered experts in the publishing field. Choosing one of them ensures that your book will look professional, especially to discerning prospective readers who’s looking for a new one to read. For first-time authors, having your book look and feel professional is a great advantage!
Due to their expertise, traditional publishers have a long list of contacts at their disposal. From disc jockeys to artists, they have multiple people who are specialized in their field that they use at every step in the publishing process. This enables you to network far more quickly without you having to do all that by yourself which is a tremendous time-saver.
Many publishers constantly watch the ever-changing markets to see what’s in and out in the genres they work on. They use the wealth of information they collect to determine what prospective books are more likely to sell at that particular moment in time. If your book happens to be in one of the ‘hot’ spots, they’re more likely to take it and get it out to the market faster. Unfortunately the opposite holds true for those where the market in the genres they’re in are declining which increases the likelihood they’ll sit on it and wait for things to turn around.
They can use their connections to put your book in multiple markets simultaneously. These markets range from cities and states all the way up to different countries. This is a superb way to reach potential customers in different places quickly.
Reasons Why You Don’t Want to Use Traditional Publishers
While it can be tempting to go with what’s generally considered the popular option, it does have its own downfalls. It would be wise to take those into consideration as you ponder whether to go with traditional publishing or not. As always, do your homework so you can have as much information as you need to make that decision.
The first reason why you might forgo traditional publishers is that many of them only accept submissions from those who have an agent. Only rarely will they take one from an unknown author. The reason is that having an agent helps you look more professional and if you have no desire to have an agent, well it’ll be more difficult for them to accept your submission.
Another reason why you might not bother is that it’s a long process. Many publishers are large companies and they move slowly. It might be a month or two before you hear from them after you submit your book. Should they decide they’re interested in your book, they don’t move as fast as you’d like since they’re juggling many books at the same time.
One downside of relying on publishers is that even though they might have accepted your novel, they may not make it a high priority. They place a higher value on books and authors they believe will sell which will bring in more money for them. If you’re not one of them, it’ll take more time before your book hits the shelves and even then, they might not promote your book as much as they would for their VIP clients.
A major reason to not use traditional publishers is that you no longer control your book. While you’ll be involved in many decisions, you’ll often have to choose from a list of suggestions every step of the way. In some cases, you might even dislike all the suggestions but you have no choice but to choose one. Your book will undergo many changes to the point where it might be barely recognizable which many authors aren’t fond of.
And finally, the last reason to not go with them is that they take a cut of your profit for each book that sells. You wind up not making as much money per sale. This one is a sticking point for some authors who believe they charge too high a rate per sale for them to make a decent living off their creations.
Tying it all Together
Even if you’re writing your book, you may start to look towards the horizon as to how you want to publish it. For those doing it for the first time, they might be unsure of what the publishing process entails and they go with the most ‘safe’ option, traditional publishing.
There’s a reason why traditional publishers still dominate the marketplace even as self-publishing becomes increasingly more popular nowadays. They’re the go-to option for many aspiring authors due to their long studied history of publishing books through the decades. As such, they’re experts in the field and choosing one helps ensure that your book is as professional as can be.
As you ponder on whether to use them, look at what advantages come in using them. They do a lot of the work for you which is great if you’d prefer to not have to worry about all the decisions you have to make. They also know a lot of people that you can get in touch with as your book glides alongside the process, thereby increasing your network.
While considering the advantages, don’t overlook the cons of relying on them. For starters, you no longer have as much control of your book as you once did. This makes you subject to decisions you may not necessarily agree with in regard to what you made.
Only you can make the best decision for yourself and your book. If traditional publishing is the way you want to go, go for it! If not, there’s always self-publishing!
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Thanks for reading this and until the next time,
Sunfire
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