They say that everyone has at least one book in them. And I think they might be right—whoever “they” are. The great thing about books is that they’re so varied. Some books are truly works of literary genius. Others aren’t particularly impressive for their word wizardry, but shine because they’re packed with really useful information presented in an easy-to-understand way. All this to say that, whether you consider yourself a writer or not, publishing a book could be an ideal career milestone for you.
Multipotentialites typically have a lot to say. Whether it’s about how we juggle so many different tasks, the common threads between our seemingly disparate projects or the transferable skills that have helped us in our multipotentialite journey, we have knowledge that other people want. You probably already share your wisdom with others in many different ways—through your social media content, in talks, through coaching and mentoring—but perhaps you’ve decided it’s time to put pen to paper and share your gifts with the world. Congratulations! Writing a book is a long and difficult journey but it’s one that is incredibly rewarding, and I’m excited for you to embark on it.
Decisions, decisions…
One of the big decisions that comes with taking the leap to publish your own book is this: do I go it alone and self-publish or go with a traditional publishing house? This choice will have a huge impact on everything from the writing process to your earnings, and is not one to be taken lightly…but it can also be very confusing to navigate!
Having self-published an ebook back in 2018 and more recently published a book via the traditional route, I thought I’d share a few of my observations on the difference between self-publishing and working with a publishing house to help you decide which feels best for you. The truth is both routes have both pros and cons, and neither guarantees success. But hopefully being a bit more informed will lead you down the road of no regrets.
1. How much money do I expect to earn and/or invest?
Before we get into the specifics, let me just say this. Whichever route you go down, being an author is not a get rich quick scheme. It’s not even a get rich slow scheme. As my school teachers often told me growing up, authors do not make a lot of money. Of course, we hear about 7-figure advances and 3-book deals for the likes of Stephen King and Akwaeke Emezi but these are very much the exception! For multipotentialites, writing a book can definitely boost your income indirectly by getting you more speaking or consulting gigs for example, but the book itself is unlikely to be a huge money maker. Because of this, it’s important to think about the costs involved with the different methods of publishing, as well as the potential income. The process of writing, printing, distributing and selling a book costs a lot.
First, the time it takes you to write. Your time is valuable! And writing a book can take a lot of time. I’ve heard of people finishing their book within a month…and I’ve heard of people finishing after ten years! Writing my book took about 18 months, including editing. And six of those months were dedicated fully to completing my manuscript, with no other projects. I received a small advance which, along with a grant I was awarded, the support of my wonderful mother, and two months at fully funded writers residencies gave me the space to do nothing but write for six months.
Notice how the advance is one of four income sources I listed. My advance alone wouldn’t have been anywhere near enough to survive on for the time it took me to write the book, and this is typical for first-time authors like me. In addition, it’s important to know that an advance is not typically paid as a lump sum. It’s usually split into three installments; one upon signing the book deal, one upon completing the manuscript (edits and all), and one on publication day. So let’s say, for example, you get an advance of £10,000 and you have a year to write your book. What you’re really getting is £3,333 at the point of signing your deal—to last you a whole year until you submit your manuscript. Of course, that’s £3,333 more than you’ll earn upfront for self-publishing but probably not enough to be the reason you would choose the traditional route. So, whichever route you choose, you will need to invest a huge amount of time, with the cost of that time and living expenses being covered through other means.
Once you’ve finally finished your manuscript (hurrah!) there’s a lot to be done before it’s ready to go out into the world. It will need to be copy edited, proofread, formatted and be adorned with a beautiful cover. When you work with a publisher, they cover the cost of all of this. If you self-publish you’ll have to foot the bill. It’s true, you could forgo some of these, call in favors or get some DIY in if you have the skills. But for the best possible outcome, you’ll want to outsource to professionals who have specific experience with books.
It is possible to publish a book as an ebook only, which removes any printing considerations but let’s assume you want a physical book you can hold in your hands. When working with a publisher, they cover the cost of printing and shipping the books to wherever they need to go – another huge cost to take on by yourself. There is the option to print on demand, in which case your book is only ever printed at the point when someone orders it, removing a huge upfront cost. The downside to this is that it limits distribution channels, but depending on your objectives, this could be the perfect option for you!
As well as the costs mentioned above, self-publishing will also mean you’ll need to invest in things like marketing and logistics, which we’ll go into more detail about soon.
2. Am I ready to handle all the logistics?
When someone asks me where they can get my book, I send them a website link with a list of retailers. If someone has a problem with their order, I ask them to contact the retailer directly. I know myself. And there is no way that I would have been able to manage the whole distribution and sales process myself. Pitching to booksellers, getting my book an ISBN, setting up e-commerce channels, managing customer orders – this all sounds like hell to me. I wouldn’t even have known where to start! The traditional publishing route takes care of all of this for you and their sales teams have existing relationships with booksellers, making it much more likely they’ll give your book a chance. With these distribution channels sorted, customers will receive your book without you having to lift a finger or lick a postage stamp! You get some of this benefit with print on demand, as the books are shipped out by the supplier, but if you decide to print in bulk, then you’ll need to arrange and pay for shipping yourself. While you can of course pass this cost onto customers, there’s again the cost of the time it will take you to package and post your precious parcels.
While having a publisher deal with distribution leaves you free of the stress, the downside is you don’t have control over where your book is stocked. If it’s important to you to closely manage where your book is seen and purchased, perhaps for ethical or brand-related reasons, then self-publishing gives you much more control.
3. Do I know how to market myself and my book?
In order to buy your book, people need to know about it. And that’s where marketing comes in. Publishing houses have design, marketing and PR teams in-house, meaning you don’t necessarily have to get your own publicist or pay a graphic designer to make content for you. That said, there is still a huge burden on the author to do most of the marketing. Using my own experience as an example, my publisher Hay House helped me out by designing some graphics, arranging some social media activations on their channels, and covering the cost of gifting the book to influencers. But marketing efforts really have to be pushed by the author, which is understandable because you’re the only one who really knows how to market your book. Publishers rarely help with or fund book launch parties or book tours, so this was an aspect I had to manage alone. Despite the advice not to hire a publicist, I did because one of my best friends is an amazing PR pro. The vast majority of the podcast and press opportunities I’ve received so far came from her and not from the publisher’s team.
The important thing to remember, throughout the process but especially when it comes to PR and marketing, is that with a publishing house your book is one of potentially hundreds that they’re working on. And especially if you’re a new or “small” author, you’re probably not as high on the priority list as you might like to think. In addition, the teams at large publishers are hugely under-resourced and under-compensated, from what I’ve read and heard. So even though they’re all rooting for you, they can never prioritize your book as much as you will.
This is why, aside from a few cost savings, I don’t feel there’s a huge difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing when it comes to marketing your book. So, whatever option you choose, it’s wise to brush up on your marketing skills. Both routes will require you to pour a huge amount of time and effort—and perhaps some money—into building a successful launch campaign.
4. Who is my audience and how can I best reach them?
Despite my obvious star quality, I am not (yet) famous. I have a paltry 3,000 or so followers on Instagram and my mailing list is somewhat of a slow grower. And the book that I wrote is BIG. It’s important and timely and relevant to Black people all over the world, and I wanted it to reach all those people! For me, this was my main deciding factor in wanting to work with a publishing house. Working with a publisher can give you a much greater reach through their distribution channels, their platform, their existing audience, their credibility.
When I self-published my first ebook, it was more as a personal goal, a thought leadership exercise and lead magnet for attracting new coaching clients. I didn’t need it to go far and wide, and I already had an audience of blog subscribers who had been consuming similar content from me for years. You might already have the reach you desire for your book. Maybe you’re writing on music production and you’re already known in the industry. Or perhaps you’re writing a more general book but you’re a hugely popular TikTok influencer. In this case, a publisher might not give you such a boost in terms of reach, since you’ve already got the eyes and ears of your ideal audience.
You can also, of course, consider how important reach is to your goals. Perhaps you’re a high ticket coach and this book is really a part of your sales funnel—so it is targeted at potential clients rather than the reading public at large. Or maybe you’re a lecturer or public speaker looking to add credibility to your profile. You don’t necessarily need to be a bestseller, but having a published book will help with getting booked. In either of these cases self-publishing may be the way to go.
5. Am I okay with giving up some control?
What is it about creatives and control? We can get so precious about our work! If you know that unwelcome suggestions on your art often lead to tantrums then you might want to steer clear of the publishing houses. When you sign a contract with them, you’re also signing away a degree of control. Publishers may have final say on everything—from the book title, to the layout, to the cover design. Of course, that’s not to say they will exercise that control. I was really lucky in that Hay House allowed me to take the lead on everything. Even when we were all truly sick of working on the cover, they allowed us to continue until I was 100% happy with the outcome. Where they challenged some of the text and I provided counter arguments, they backed off. At no point did they make any decisions I wasn’t fully on board with. But they could have if they had wanted to. Such is the agreement between an author and publishing house.
When self-publishing, you have full control! While this can be a good thing, it really depends on your personality. It’s rare that someone is really able to go it alone. If you decide self-publishing is for you, I recommend getting together a team of trusted advisors who can give you feedback on anything from the text to the cover. You don’t want the first time anyone else lays eyes on your book to be after everything is finalized!
6. What kind of support do I need?
Writing a book can be a long and lonely process. If you’re working with a publisher, you’ll have a point of contact who’s always on hand to talk through your progress, your blocks, and your concerns. Of course, you can do this with friends and family but honestly they’ll get (understandably) sick of you after a while!
Again I was lucky to have a Commissioning Editor (who acted kind of like my book’s project manager) who was kind, patient and actually cared about my book (shoutout Kezia!) so I had a good experience. I’m sure there are others who haven’t enjoyed who they’ve worked with, which would perhaps add stress rather than relieve it.
7. How soon do I want my book out in the world?
The time between signing my book deal and launching my book was about 1 year and 10 months, and that’s pretty quick as far as traditional publishing goes. You should expect to work on the book for another 12 or so months from the point when your manuscript is complete. For many people, this is simply too slow—especially once you consider the months or years it can take to shop your manuscript or book proposal around in order to land that book deal in the first place.
When self-publishing, you can launch almost as soon as you’ve finished writing! If what you’re writing on is particularly timely and you don’t want to miss the moment, self-publishing might be the better route.
Final word
Publishing a book is a long and intense process. There are many more questions you’ll need to ask yourself as you go on this journey but I hope I’ve given you enough of a starting point to help you on your way. I’m a huge believer in learning through experience, so if you still find yourself unsure about which route to take, my advice is…take the one in front of you!
Your turn
Do you have experiences with traditional publishing and/or self-publishing? If you’re yet to publish, which route are you leaning towards? We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments!
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