There seems to be a lot of controversy in certain writing circles these days about the pros and cons of the specific choices of publishing.

PUBLISHING VS. PUBLISHING – PICK YOUR POISON

By

Wendy Kudlicka



There seems to be a lot of controversy in certain writing circles these days about the pros and cons of the specific choices of publishing. In this article we will discuss those options, and the benefits and inconveniences of each choice. When it comes to publishing we have four options; the traditional print publisher, the Print on Demand publisher, the Electronic publisher, and the Vanity publisher.

Everyone seems to want his or her books published by the traditional print publisher. Why? Because of the prestige that goes along with it, and because the traditional publisher in most cases takes care of all marketing and promoting. The author gets to sit back and collect those 7 to 20 percent royalty checks and not do anything more than sit and write their next book. Norman Harris, author of "Fruit of a Poisonous Tree" states clearly his opinion on traditional publishing. This is what he had to say…

Do you spend years courting agents and editors only to get rejected and beaten down hoping that you could be one of the 50,000 or so that get picked up? And if you do you may spend another year waiting for your book to hit the market. When it does, because you are an unknown, you have your book mid listed, because the publishers promotion money has gone to their horses, their super star authors.

Mr. Harris goes on to say…

Just because Randomhouse publishes your book, that does not mean Barnes and Noble will stock it. 50,000 books are printed each year. How could Barnes and Noble stock each one of those books?

E.L. Burton, author of "$oft Money: The power in our Nations Capital" takes a look at print publishing a little differently, and says, The advantages of traditionally publishing a book are self-evident. Traditional publishers are far less likely to take advantage of their clients.

Print on Demand, Vanity Publishing and Self-publishing, also have their drawbacks and benefits. One of the drawbacks is you have to work hard to promote this type of book. You have no one to do that task for you. Mr. Harris affirms, self-publishing is like starting a new business, and it is up to the author to grow that business. The more adept you are at growing a demand for your book the more sales you will have. Of the three options POD (print on demand), is the best choice as the cost is lowest. POD has one advantage over all the rest, including traditional. The book never goes out of print. So if it takes a year for your book to gain momentum then in the second year your book is still available for sale.


Mr. Burton adds a comment…

POD, Vanity, and Self-Publication can be used as a means to an end. He states, that it is not the answer, but believes that it can serve as a way to break into the world of the traditionally published, and he offers these examples…

The often-quoted authors of "Elements of Style" Strunk and White; Strunk self-published his work with his students, and White for classes at Cornell University in 1918.

"The One Minute Manager" by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson sold over 20,000 copies locally before they sold it to Morrow. It has since sold over 12 million copies.

"The Celestine Prophecy" by James Renfield. He tried the traditional publishing route, made the rounds with no success. When he decided to publish it himself he sold copies out of the trunk of his Honda. Subsequently he sold it to Time Warner for $800,000. It was a bestseller in 1996 and has sold over 5.5 million copies.

Mr. Burton gives us other instances of success with self-publishing and the list goes on. I say self-publishing doesn’t sound like a bad avenue to take providing you have the stamina and resources to promote your work.

Last but not least we enter the world of Electronic Publishing. E-publishing is great for those first time authors. There is generally no up front costs to the author, and in most cases it helps them make a name for themselves, especially if the E-publisher lists their books on the World Wide Web, and with large .com companies such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others. Some e-books sell as well as traditionally published or self-published books and as far as I’m concerned that also gives the author Mr. Harris’ super star status. As with self-publishing your book need never go out of print. E-publishing is the wave of the future and with the aid of organizations like the Electronic Publishers Coalition, the world of E-publishing is growing in leaps and bounds. Electronic publishers also do a fair amount of promoting and marketing, so it is not all left up the author, and with these shared efforts I’ve seen some e-books sell like hot cakes. E-publishing is also like starting a new business but with a partner who is willing to help.

I would like to thank Norman Harris and Eric Burton for helping me with this article. They have very valid points when it comes to making the decision on which way is the right way to publish. The choice of course is yours and we hope that we have helped you in some way to make your decision.