I've been asked a few times why I've self-published some of my books and the answer is simple - money. I'm what I would describe as a 'jobbing' writer. At one point I managed (just) to make a living from writing, however that changed when the economy took a nose dive. So I had to look at ways of bringing in extra income. Self-publishing seemed an obvious route to take. I knew the arguments against self publishing including:
- Perceived lack of quality
- Authors only self publish for vanity reasons
- You have to be everything: accountant, designer, marketing department etc.
But I also knew that not all published books are a high quality (so as long as I had my books professionally edited they could compete against traditionally published books). Also many of the other jobs linked to book publishing I was already doing e.g. my accounts, marketing (publishers expect you to market your books). So I figured it wasn't really that much difference. However I've discoverer one big difference since publishing my first book (
Anansi The Trickster Spider, volume one) just over two years ago. That difference being my earnings.
I know typically people don't talk about their earnings but I'm going to here, just in general terms. If you're a published author you know that twice a year your royalty statements turn up and you discover how many books you have or haven't sold. Over the last month or so those royalty statements have been turning up. Now here is the difference between my traditionally published books and my self-published eBooks. For one of my publishers my royalty income for the last 6 months was half that of one month's royalty income for my eBooks.
This has left me wondering what benefits are there for a 'jobbing' writer to go the traditional published route?
Lynne Garner
Comments
Although sometimes going the traditional route can work better in terms of getting out there. I helped a friend self-pub a book about football. I explained that he'd have to do a bit of marketing and publicity, but he didn't really have the time for it beyond sending out a few flyers with an invitation to try it for free plus a two-day freebie. He sold around a dozen, (half of those being freebies) Two years later he managed to get a contract with a small specialist trad. publisher, and in the first three weeks alone has sold 76 copies. Ummmm ....
Discounting the evenings I write and the networking I do all the time on Facebook and wherever, last month was the first month I earned more from my self-pubbing "business" (per hour of a working day) than I did at my day job.
Yes, you can argue nett v gross, the fact that I write at weekends etc - but I'm not presenting accounts. I'm just saying I think I'm earning more self-pubbing than I ever would have with a traditional contract. It's just paid for my daughter's first car!
Lee - as you pointed out as writers we tend to look at it from our perspective. In my view the one real thing it means to readers is they get a wider choice. All my self-published work would never have been published by a main stream publisher (no market) but I knew there was and the sales reflect that.
Debbie - great to hear your writing has just paid for your daughters first car.
Susan - I may just put my readers head on and write next months blog from that perspective.
Lydia - all my publishers expect me to market my books and do the job of their marketing department often with little or no support and defiantly without being paid to do the job.
Lee - as you pointed out as writers we tend to look at it from our perspective. In my view the one real thing it means to readers is they get a wider choice. All my self-published work would never have been published by a main stream publisher (no market) but I knew there was and the sales reflect that.
Debbie - great to hear your writing has just paid for your daughters first car.
Susan - I may just put my readers head on and write next months blog from that perspective.
Lydia - all my publishers expect me to market my books and do the job of their marketing department often with little or no support and defiantly without being paid to do the job.
(Dan, if I misunderstand your viewpoint, apologies - and do correct me!)