What is the Difference Between Indie-Publishing and Traditional Publishing

Wednesday Writing Weekly #84

What is the Difference Between Indie-Publishing and Traditional Publishing

Publishing a book is hard. No matter what route you chose (or what one works out for you) it is important to know what the difference is between indie and traditional publishing. Whether you want to attempt both or are weighing the pros and cons to see what one is the best fit for you, there is a lot to think about!

What is Traditional Publishing?

Traditional publishing is the term used when discussing publishing within the publishing industry. The publishing industry is made up five main publishing houses (and thousands of others!) where your book’s, marketing, editorial work, editing, and more all happen. These books, once published, can be found virtually anywhere and in any store, depending on their distribution.

The usual process is to query a literary agent for representation, the agent will pitch your books to traditional publishers, and then the publishing houses will either outright purchase or bid for your manuscript. The author will then work with an in-house editor. Details such as the book’s cover, title, marketing, and publishing schedule are all handled by the publishing house.

What is Indie-Publishing

Indie-publishing is when an author self-publishes and does the entire process mentioned above, themselves! There are many different levels from self-publishing by yourself or working with small or midsize independent presses that can help with marketing, printing, and distribution.

Self-publishing puts the control in the author’s hands. You can decide your marketing plans, publicity, editing needs, the cover, and title. You will need to format your book and decide what formats you would like to offer, what platforms to sell your book on, and what distributors or printers you would like to use. This freedom is really tempting to many but it’s important to understand how much work this takes!

Can I Try Both Indie and Traditional Publishing?

You might have surmised from above that neither route is the “easy” one. Getting your book published one way or another is not a guaranteed success either.

Something I love to bring up (if you are deciding what route you would like to go) is that you can try both! No matter what kind of publishing you decide to do, you will always need to edit your manuscript, potentially work with editors, and polish it to near perfection.

Why? In traditional publishing, you want a finished product when you query your book to literary agents. If you submit a manuscript full of typos or in need of some TLC, it will be rejected.

When self-publishing, you need to make extra sure your book is proofread and fully edited because that is the product you are selling. If you put a book up on Amazon and the first line needs some help… your readers might not want to turn past that first page!

Since the editing work is the same for both querying and self-publishing, authors are more than welcome to try out querying first. If you do not find representation but still want to get your book out there, try self-publishing as another option once you exhaust your querying list. You have many options!

Does Self-Publishing Mean You Failed at Getting Traditionally Published?

Not at all!

Literary agents (our lovely gatekeepers of the industry) receive hundreds, if not thousands, of queries a week. It is simply not possible to represent everyone as there are limited professionals in the industry and not enough time to go around. Not everyone can secure representation, but that doesn’t mean your work isn’t good enough or doesn’t deserve to be shared.

Of course, a caveat is to always view your work subjectively. Can your work be improved? Have you done all you can? I always believe in improvement, and these are good questions to ask yourself, within reason.

Conclusion

No matter what path you choose, your book deserves to be out in the world. Make sure you edit multiple times, gather some treasured editors and beta readers, and give your book a chance!

I am going to start diving into the world of self-publishing after this article. There is so much to talk about from how to format your book, different distributors and ways to get your book out into the world, how to organize events, how to market, and more. I want to shed light on what you should avoid while trying to publish your book and ways you can ease yourself into the process.

We have a lot to explore but, in the meantime, happy writing!