Choosing a #Publishing Track

Choosing what to do with your book baby is a tough choice. You have so many more options that you once did, and choosing the right one for you can be an agonizing decision. 

This is a topic that has been coming up a lot lately in groups I belong to and with other author friends who are nearing the point in their career where they have to make that decision. So, I thought I'd share some of the pros and cons of traditional and self-publishing I've experienced and why I've gone the way I have.


Let's break this down by the most common pre-publishing aspects like editing, cover design, formatting, and marketing, and what you'll get with both traditional and self-publishing.

Editing

 Traditional

Most reputable publishers will provide editing at no cost to the author. If a publisher wants to charge you for editing, that's a big red flag that you should take your book elsewhere. HOWEVER, finding a good editor is like finding the Holy Grail, and that applies to publishers and indie authors. I've worked with many editors and I can honestly say that only two have done a good enough job that I would work with them again. Don't think that going with a publisher means you'll get a perfectly edited book unless you sign with one of the Big 6. Smaller publishers can't afford multiple edits of a book, so you should plan to do a very thorough read through and possibly even hire an outside editor if the quality of the publisher's editor isn't what you were hoping.

Self-pub

Editing is all up to you when you self-publish. Editing your own work is tough. It's hard to catch all your mistakes. So, what are your options for a well-edited book? Hire an editor, of course, although, really good editors are extremely hard to find. Vet your editor well. Ask for samples of their work, references, and request a short sample edit of your work to test their skills. Many editors are willing to do this.

You can also work out a trade. However, don't just assume that another author can edit as well. Trades can be great, but do your research first. There's also the option to ask a friend. Know a good technical writer, English teacher, etc? See what they would charge you or work out a trade.

Formatting

Traditional

Formatting varies by publisher. Some will put a lot of time into making the formatting look nice and others will just do the basics. For ebooks, there's not a lot you can do as far as fancy formatting goes. Print books are different, but formatting is one of the easier areas of publishing (in my opinion), so it's usually not a huge concern with choosing a publisher. If you'd like to see the quality of their formatting, download samples of some of their books to check them out.

Self-Pub

Formatting can be learned by anyone willing to put a little time into it. There are great tutorials online, and most ebook publishers have guides for authors that spell out what you need to do. It may be a little time consuming at first, but it gets easier the more you do it. All of your formatting can be done in Microsoft Word, but if you're interested in trying some fancier paperback formatting, InDesign can do some really neat things.

Cover Design

Traditional

Cover design is hugely important no matter how you publish your book. Most publishers are willing to pony up for a good cover designer because they understand this very well. Even still, having a publisher does not a gaurantee that you'll end up with an awesome cover, but most do a pretty good job. When shopping around, check out their previous covers, and ask about whether or not they're willing to let authors have any say in the cover design. If you're with a big publisher, chances are you will get zero input, but some of the smaller publishers are willing to listen to author input.

Self-Pub

Cover design is one of my favorite things to do, but I do have a background in art and graphic design. For those who are not artistic or aren't familiar with GIMP or Photoshop, cover design will be a challenge in self-publishing. Createspace and now even Kindle KDP have cover creating software to help you put together a nicely formatted cover.

You'll still need good pictures or stock photography, though. Fortunately, there are plenty of sites out their to find great stock art fvor reasonable prices. My personal favorites are Dollar Photo Club, Shutterstock, and iStock. If you know a photographer, you can get original photos as well. Just make sure to give credit to the photographer.

And if you're not comfortable putting together a cover, there are some amazing designers out there who work for very reasonable prices, like Tirzah Goodwin. Having a great cover is extremely important, but self-publishing doesn't mean you can't have that.

Marketing

Traditional

Marketing. This is probably the area that most new authors will struggle with, and what will push them toward a traditional publisher, but authors need to have realistic expectations about marketing. Most publishers, small or Big 6, have a limited budget for marketing, especially if you're not a top seller. Big 6 publishers will only put their money behind books they KNOW are going to sell tons of books. Newbies won't get much help and will be expected to pull most of the marketing weight. A lot of small publishers (though certainly not all) will put more effort into helping authors market because they need the sales too, but they have very small budgets and most of the work will fall to the author.

Sel-Pub

Obviously, all the work of marketing is on the author in self-publishing, but you also get the full benefit of your efforts by not giving up royalties. Marketing is hard, no matter what publishing path you take. When you self-publish, you have control over how your book is marketed, how much free or paid advertising is done, and what audience you're targeting. With self-publishing, you also have direct access to your sales numbers, so it's a little easier to monitor how effective your marketing efforts are by watching changes in sales numbers. There's a big learning curve to marketing if it's new for you, but there are many articles and books available to help you figure it out, and other authors are a great resource and source of marketing help as well.

What does it all boil down to? 

For me, I've been doing this long enough and put out enough books, that I'm comfortable finding editors, doing my own formatting and cover design, and coming up with my own marketing plan. I have worked with four different publishers since I began publishing. Some have worked out, some haven't. I currently still have my contemporary romances with a publisher, because that's a new market for me and I felt the exchange of roaylties for their knowledge of the romance genre was worth it. For my YA books, that trade wasn't worth it for me and now I have all my YA books published independently.

I also like having control over my covers, formatting, editing, and how my books are marketed. I put a lot of time into learning more about the publishing industry and increasing my skills in design and marketing. Self-publishing takes a lot of work, but I enjoy doing it, and it's a good fit for me and my books.

Choosing a publishing path is a completely individual choice. What each author is comfortable with doing on their own will play a huge part. Break it down and see what you're willing to do on your own and what you need help with, then decide whether or not that help is worth giving up the percent of royalties the publisher is asking for. Don't jump into either option without knowing what you're getting yourself into.

What aspects of publishing intimidate you most? 

There is a point...

There is a point in most writer's career when they realize... they don't crave that external validation like they once did. 

No, it doesn't come when you hit the NYT Best Seller list. I mean, maybe it does. I haven't gotten there yet, but I'm sure it's an awesome feeling either way. Regardless, it doesn't have to take accomplishing a milestone like that to have it hit you. 

When most writers start out, I think we all have that same feeling of nearly crippling insecurity. It sounds something like this ...

Is my writing good enough? Will anyone want to read it? Will my friends laugh at me if I tell them I'm writing a book? Am I totally crazy for thinking I can write more than my name? 

Then, as you get more serious about writing, it changes to ...

Can I get this published? Would an agent even be willing to entertain the idea of signing my ramblings? Why would anyone ever read one of my books when there are writers like Janet Evanovich out there cracking people up on a regularly basis? 

Then as you start submitting to agents and publishers and the rejection letters begin to pile up and your manuscript is gathering dust, that's when the panic begins to set in. It sounds something like this ...

WHEN will I get published? How do I make agents take me seriously? Why won't someone look at my book? What is wrong with my writing? Why don't people like my stories? Why don't people like me? 

Seriously, you start to feel like every rejection of your book is a rejection of you. You think you must be doing something wrong, but you have no clue what it is. We lose a few fellow writers at this point, but in general we're a persistent bunch, and we keep trying. We think everything will turn up rainbows and lollipops when we finally land our first contract. Then it HAPPENS ...and then we start to sound like this ... 

Why isn't my book selling better? Why isn't my publisher doing more? Who designed that awful cover? Is there an editor alive who actually knows how to edit for real? When will I finally get paid? Marketing sucks! This is way harder than I thought it would be. Noooo! I got a bad review!!! Why doesn't everyone adore my book? 

Writers spend years riding the roller coaster that is the world of writing and publishing. We go from emotional basket cases to deliriously over the moon to spitting mad at everyone involved in producing a book. 

And then that moment finally hits you ... 

There is a point when all of the frustration and agony you have been through suddenly doesn't matter anymore, because you realize you aren't crazy for wanting to be an author, and it doesn't matter if a few people don't like your writing (readers, agents, and publishers included), and you don't need that constant external validation from other people to understand that you know what you're doing. 

You've been at this long enough to know that you're a good writer. Whether an agent thinks your topic is derivative, or a publisher says they already have enough of what you just spent the last year pouring yourself into, or a reader thinks you're just writing Twilight knockoffs, you know that your stories have merit and will have an impact on the people who read it, and suddenly, that's all you need to know. 

Getting praise and great reviews is still fabulous, but being able do what you love is just as rewarding. If a publisher doesn't want your book, that's okay, because you have other options. You don't need them to tell you your book is good. You already know that. 

Everything else is just a bonus. 

Luck 13?

This spring has been a marathon of book releases!

Last fall, my original spring book-related plans involved releasing Intangible (Aerling Series #2) and Soul Stone (Escaping Fate #2).

Two books, that's not to bad, so how did it turn into releasing FIVE books within four months? 

It started with the fact that the publisher I was signed with at the time was not holding up their end of the bargain and I was very unhappy with them. I ended up breaking contract and taking Wicked Hunger back. I wasn't looking for another publisher (I was pretty done with that by then), but my friend Leah recommended Clean Teen Publishing to me. Now, Leah always has the best ideas, so naturally, I listened.

At the same time, another friend and fellow author, the talented Apryl Baker, recommended her publisher, Limitless Publishing, to me for Invisible, which was doing really well on Wattpad then and now.

So, I decided to test them both out. I sent a query for Wicked Hunger to CTP and one for Invisible to Limitless. CTP got back right away and absolutely loved Wicked Hunger and wanted the whole series. They were so put together and excited, I decided to risk what could possibly be another bad publishing experience, and signed the series with them. I am absolutely thrilled that I did because they have been amazing, and that added two more books to my spring release schedule, since Wicked Power was nearly finished at the time.

Limitless had been inundated with queries at the time I submitted, since the only rarely open up for
submissions, and by the time they got to Invisible they had already closed YA submissions. But... they still read the book, liked my writing, and asked if I had a contemporary romance. As it so happened, I did! I sent them Date Shark, which was scary because NO ONE else had read it (I don't recommend this), but they loved it and offered me a contract for a three book series. I was thrilled, and it added one more book to the spring schedule, topping it off at 5.



This spring has been incredibly hectic having released two indie books and three traditionally published books, but I wouldn't trade the craziness for anything. I now have 13 published books, all of which I am so thrilled to share with my readers. Wicked Hunger and Wicked Power are doing awesome thanks to the tireless hard work of the CTP team, and Date Shark just hit the digital and regular shelves. I consider myself so amazing blessed to have found two publishers willing to get behind me and my books, even when I'm up late at night finishing edits or writing blog tour posts or sharing links on every Facebook group known to man. I also have some of the most amazing fans who share my books with anyone who will listen and never lose their enthusiasm.

If you want to see what all the craziness has been about, you can find my new releases here: 

Date Shark

Wicked Hunger (FREEBIE)

Wicked Power

Soul Stone
Intangible

So, what's coming up this summer? 

Lots and lots of writing. My Wattpad fans are waiting for Invincible (Aerling Series #3) as patiently as the possibly can. CTP is eager for Wicked Glory (Someone Wicked #3). Limitless has Date Shark #2 on the schedule. I also have Oracle Lost outlined and waiting patiently for its turn. It'll be a busy summer, but I'm looking forward to it!

What do your summer reading plans include? 

That's what those are for ...

How many times have you been doing something on a regular basis, thinking you've got it down, only to realize later that you've been doing it all wrong? 

I've recently had one of those moments when it comes to choosing keywords for my books when I list them on ebook stores. 

Earlier this week, my new publisher, Clean Teen Publishing, sent all of us authors a link that gave a breakdown of Amazon's Most Popular Tags. Now, this list isn't just for books, it's for everything searched for on Amazon, but it's easy enough to pick out book related tags. And there are a lot of them. 

What did this link cause me to realize? 

I had been using keywords or tags wrong this whole time! Previously, my keywords were specific to each book. For my first book, Escaping Fate, I had chosen tags like "Aztec," "Arrabella," "Myth," and so on. Seems logical, right? 

After looking at the tag cloud from Amazon, I had an epiphany -- probably one I should have had years ago. What use are book specific tags if no one knows about my book? Why would anyone search for "Arrabella," the MC of Escaping Fate, is they didn't know anything about my book? I saw that I had done the same thing for my other books, choosing tags like Libby and Milo, and similar words that only applied to The Destroyer Series. 

What I realized after studying the cloud was that people are not going onto Amazon and searching for a particular book most of the time. They are searching for whatever genre they like to read and then perusing the search results for something that catches their eye. 

So what did I do after having this epiphany? 

I went and changed the keywords on all my books on the various sites I have my books listed. What did I change them to? Instead of sticking with book specific tags, I chose tags that will help readers find my books within the genres they like to read. 

I write YA fiction ranging from paranormal to science fiction and urban fantasy. So my new tags include words like "Young Adult," "Science Fiction," Paranormal," and "Fantasy." And because I love to add in a good romance to compliment each storyline, I also included tags like "Romance, "Love," and "Paranormal Romance." 

What now? 

Well, now I see how this realization pans out. Will better keywords that are directed at readers who have no clue about me or my books help get my books in their search results better than book specific tags? I'll just have to wait and see. I'm excited to see the impact it will have. I love learning new things about publishing and marketing, and this one is so simple yet important. 

I've been learning more about using Pintrest as and author as well, so check back next week for a new post and some new ideas.