As I’ve moved along in my own publishing journey I have had a number of people contact me over the years asking “What is the difference between traditional and indie publishing?” Often these are fellow writers just starting their journey and trying to understand how this crazy writing world works. So I thought, why not take some of the things I’ve said to others and share here in one unified post to try and just give a basic overview as to what is the difference between the two publishing formats to help anyone else searching out there in their decisions as to which route to pursue.
In traditional publishing there are many more resources for editing and book formation that help to really make a work professional and more in the public eye. Though the drawback is they can often push to try to make it what they want the story to be – whatever is currently trending – and less like the original piece you presented to them.
There is also the factor that just because you publish with a traditional printing press it doesn’t mean that they will suddenly take over all of the marketing for your work. The traditional publishing industry changes over time but also has a problem with some of its adaptability and maintaining practices that aren’t super beneficial for the author. Just because you get a book deal it doesn’t mean you’ll go on signing tours, get speaking gigs, have them make internet and physical ads for you. Really that sort of press support is only going to come for the tiny handful of big name sellers they work with. Not saying you can’t dream of hitting that spot, but don’t expect to get there because the publishing house put you on the map. That’s up to you.
Though a positive in the column for traditional publishing is that physical bookstores are more likely to carry your work. That’s not to say that you can’t get your books into brick and mortar buildings as an indie author, just that it’s more difficult. The way things work for indie authors to get their books in a bookstore is that they’ll either have to A.) Know the owner or have some sort of personal connection, B.) have a local bookstore willing to carry local authors, or C.) Have enough customers coming in and request for them to get access to physical copies. For the traditional authors their books will often come in as some bulk order with varying other releases from the publishing house that was set up as a standing transaction between retailer and publishing house.
In self publishing (otherwise called Indie publishing or independent publishing) you will still need to hire a professional editor. Trust me, there is no amount of going back over your work, having friends go back over your work, and so on that won’t leave you missing huge things that a professional editor’s eye will catch.
But editors are not one size fits all, you want to make sure to find one that honors your voice in your story and doesn’t try to supplant it with their own. It can be rough because professional editors aren’t cheap, but they also shouldn’t break the bank on you. I didn’t know this when I first went after this side of publishing and ended paying over $5,000. Do not be like me. Keep researching! I’ve now found editors who can do the same work for a little over $1,000. Yes, still not cheap, but also leaps and bounds better than what I first did.
Also in Indie publishing, you will either need to make the cover art for your book or pay for someone else to do it. And the adage of “You can’t judge a book by its cover” is 100% false when it comes to selling books! 😅 People ALWAYS judge a book by the cover. If it doesn’t “pop” if it doesn’t look “professional” if it isn’t “eye catching” then they ain’t gonna buy it!
Shoot, they won’t even take the time to check out the story blurb on the back. And on top of that you need to make sure that your book cover is in line with the styles that your particular genre normally prints. It may seem advantageous to make a strikingly different cover so your story “stands out.” The thing is there are thousands of books being released daily and as most people are just perusing online they will not click on the books that don’t fit within the particular themes that stand as markers in the genre they’re searching for. For example:
One of these is an adventure style story, the other is romance, both are categorized within “Westerns”. the covers are what will help people recognize instantly what style of Western they are looking at and if that is what they are wanting. Now are there variances within these styles? Of course! You as the Indie author will have to be the one to do the research to figure out what those are and what you want to do if you decide to try and make your cover art yourself. And even if you hire someone else to make the cover art for you, it is still wise to do your research to help guide the artist in the direction you want to go. Cover art, like most products, goes through trends. Certain styles will be more popular at different times. Use your research to help you see what the different trends are and how you want to work either within them or around them.
Other things Indie authors have to set up are the online sales options for your work. If you’re printing it who are you going through? Ingramspark? Kindle (KDP)? Barnes and Noble Print on Demand? Draft 2 Digital? Are you doing ebooks? How are you getting those properly formatted to work with Kindle, etc? Each of these different companies have their pluses and minuses. You have to decide for yourself what are the deciding factors that will make you choose whichever direction. For instance KDP is very user friendly and can print pretty good quality materials with the majority of ebooks being sold through them. A drawback though is that Amazon is not known for healthy business practices where Indie authors have faced various levels of mistreatment from Amazon (from having books being hidden at the bottom where they’re impossible to find online, all the way to having their accounts deleted because someone else pirated and uploaded their work without the author’s permission). For this decision, again, as an Indie author it is crucial you research each option to discover what will fulfill what you need. I have found YouTube in this instance to be incredibly helpful in giving detailed reviews of the different companies.
A positive in the indie column is that you maintain full ownership over your intellectual property (otherwise known as IP). In traditional publishing part of contract negotiations will include how much of the rights to your story can they hold. This means how long can they decide to keep a book in their selling rotation and whether or not they’ll release it back to you to allow you to print it somewhere else for a better deal. Sometimes publishing houses will sit on a book and take it out of print for varying reasons and the authors aren’t allowed to continue creating any more stories through those characters because the contract won’t allow them to publish beyond what the traditional house has negotiated. Traditional publishing can do things such as change character names, ethnicities, backgrounds, or remove them altogether. Again, not all changes are wrong, but there are times in which they may want to “play it safe” based on what is currently popular/trending/selling well, and that may not be what’s best for your story.
As an indie author you get to have the freedom to do whatever you feel is best for your story. For better or for worse.
Finally when it comes to sales you will often have traditional publishing taking a bigger cut of things, but indie isn’t a guaranteed money making scheme either as you are also expected to discount your book quite a bit to get other retailers willing to carry your work. This will often leave it a wiser course of action for indie authors to attempt to sell their products directly through themselves, but then you have to have a place to store your books, take care of shipments, and set up an online store for people to be able to find you and purchase through you. To top it off the majority of readers aren’t that willing to put in the effort to go straight to the source for stories. It’s hard to beat the ease of the big name companies.
Though things have shifted quite considerably in recent years thanks to platforms like TikTok producing “booktok” communities that can be a great avenue for indie authors to break past traditional print, though it’s not a certain thing. You might break through that platform’s algorithm and find a huge onslaught of support, or you may end up making multiple videos weekly for years to never top 200 views at most.
At the end of day, both forms of publishing take a lot of work and dedication. They can feel impossible to break into, but you’d be surprised how far consistency and tenacity can take you in this thing. Whether you want to pursue traditional publishing or indie publishing that is going to have to come down to you as a person and what you feel fits best with what you need and want. And above all, don’t let any one make you feel small for choosing one road over the other.
You got this guys! Now get back to writing. 😘💗