Choosing Between Traditional and Alternative Publishing


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Choosing Between Traditional and Alternative Publishing by Tim Sanders

February 11, 2013

Right now, you are at a crossroads: Go the traditional route, which entails writing a book proposal and finding an agent OR just-do-it, via alternative routes such as self-publishing or the Net Minds Team Approach? 

It's not an easy decision, but it's one you'll have to live with later, for better or worse. Over the last few years, I advised dozens of friends and colleagues on this subject.  As time goes on, it's becoming a real crossroads in one's publishing career, because alternative publishing is no longer an author's last resort if they can't get "signed" by a publisher. 

Not all is peachy in traditional publishing, as many authors will tell you.  In fact, a recent survey commissioned by Digital Book World and Writer's Digest reports that one out of three traditionally published authors were considering self-publishing their next book (out of frustration).  Conversely, the vast majority of people that used self-publishing services regret their decision, mostly due to poor quality results and disappointing sales. 

So the decision is not easy.  In fact, it's just as complicated as any decision you'll ever make in your publishing career.  Here are three areas you can look at to inform your decision:

ASSETS: Think of a traditional publisher as a venture capital firm.  They don't sign authors; they make an investment in you and your book. They only invest in assets, not friendships or affinities to your book's subject. 

  • HEAT.  Are you in the news, or widely considered an expert on something?  Do you possess some knowledge (a secret) or proprietary research (Good to Great)?  Are you a celebrity, big name journalist or touted professor? In short: What's the story an agent can tell forward about you? For non-fiction authors, besides biography, not having heat is a deal breaker to most traditional publishers.
  • CRAFT.  Are you a great writer or are you a good talker or scribbler that can be cleaned up with some editorial elbow grease?  For fiction, great writing skills can land you an agent or a book deal.  For non-fiction, possessing great content is the key; publishers can bring the editorial to the table. For those who write well, self-publishing may work as you need less editing.  Another way to think of craft is in terms of your project management skills.  If you are a go-getter and superior organizer, you may really succeed at alternative publishing.  If not, the structure of a traditional publisher is required for you to actually finish your book and properly release it.
  • PLATFORM (This is important, especially if you are a non-fiction author).  Platform is the combination of your built in following, tools to reach them and the willingness to ask them to buy your stuff.  It's not just enough to have a Twitter following, a well read blog or a radio show.  Do they buy from you?  Is your book aligned with what you talk to your audience about?  Or is it a rock star writing about how to do home improvement? (That's called a "modulation").  If you have a great platform, you don't need a traditional publisher to market for you. Combined with HEAT, though, PLATFORM makes you more desirable to a traditional publisher.

GOALS: What do you want to accomplish with your book?  It's important to figure out why you are writing a book.  After all, it takes several hundred hours to write the book, and hundreds more to promote it, so you need to clearly identify the Why-Behind-the-What.

  • MAKE MONEY.  If you are writing for commercial gain as your primary motivator, self-publishing is probably not the way to go.  Unless you are writing a highly technical book in a space with a lot of information scarcity, a traditionally published author stands a better chance of making a lot of money from her book by muscling the book on the shelves at Barnes and Noble or Wal-Mart, where you will be discovered by casual shoppers. 
  • MAKE MEANING.  If you write to change the world, entertain or inspire, then alternative publishing (team or self) may do the trick.  You can get your idea out there without having a small group of people at a New York City publishing house determine your idea's fate. 
  • RAISE YOUR PROFILE.  Sometimes, authors use publishing to increase their exposure, which fuels other business interests they might have.  A best selling book can lead to media coverage, which leads to lucrative lecture circuit gigs or consulting jobs (for business or advice authors).  A smash hit might establish you as a prominent writer that should also be considered for movie scripts, magazine columns or television shows.  If higher profile is your desire, currently, traditional publishers tend to get more media coverage than their alternatives.  However, if you have money (or can crowd fund), you can hire media relations support and if your story is newsworthy (see HEAT), then team publishing or subsidiary publishing (like Greenleaf) may still be a viable option.  Media outlets, except the snootiest, are considering books outside of the Big 6 these days more and more.

NEEDS: Another way to look at this puzzle is to consider what you need to get out of your publishing strategy.  This might allow you make an easier decision or break a tie based on the above set of considerations.

  • MONEY.  Do you need money to support you while you take time off work to write your book?  Do you need to cash in on your fame, secret or expertise?  If the answer is "yes" then you'll need to run the traps of the traditional publishing approach.  While Kickstarter may work for some, the book category fails to raise much capital outside of graphic, comic or cause. 
  • SUPPORT.  Do you need someone to collaborate with you on your book's content or packaging?  Besides money, this is the key thing you'll get from a traditional publisher and lack from self-publishing services. With team publishing, you can find support at all levels, and by sharing in the royalties, have them be even more committed than a traditional publisher.
  • SPEED.  Do you want your book to come out in the next year?  Then forget about traditional publishing.  It will take you six months or so just to write your proposal, get an agent and have meetings with publishers.  The idea-to-on-sale cycle is 2-3 years.  If you can't wait that long, then pursuing alternative publishing may be your best bet, especially if you want to leverage your HEAT before it cools.  This is the #1 reason that traditionally published authors (or whose that could) forgo the traditional approach.  This is why Mark Cuban and recently, Dr. Phil refused to use traditional publishing even though they easily could have.
  • WIDE AVAILABILITY: Do you need your book to be available "where ever books are sold" or does having it available online (or back of room) suffice?  This can often be an emotional decision, as an author hates to hear that a potential buyer "can't find his book in the store."  For years, traditional publishers have added a lot of value here, because getting your books in front of shoppers can deliver your CRAFT to the world, and make you successful.  But shelf space is shrinking, eBook consumption is swelling and increasingly, publishers don't get most of their books on the shelf.  If you have money to invest in your book's distribution, you can pursue alternative publishing and pay for placement in airport bookshops or certain chain stores.  But it's expensive, and only prescribed for author's who are just trying to RAISE THEIR PROFILE by publishing. 

Whew.  That's a lot of things to consider, but like I wrote earlier, this is a complex decision.  If you take the time to think about these three areas, though, you'll likely have a much clearer picture about which way you should turn.

Tim Sanders

About Tim Sanders

Tim is a bestselling author and former Yahoo! executive with a mission to disrupt the traditional publishing and self-publishing industries and share knowledge with authors looking to publish and market high-quality books.

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