Re:How to Be a Professional Author and Not Die Screaming and...
by ivan_ah on Wednesday September 18, 2019 @08:33PM
(#21012038)
> [...] the publisher's marketing strategy is nothing special.
So true! I'm self publishing for this reason—the 10% of profits as royalty just doesn't make sense... I mean I get it that developmental editing, copy editing, cover design, typesetting and other pre-publication services are useful add ons, but still not worth the publisher's 80% cut.
In one thing mainstream publisher have going for them is the reputation, especially in the academic space (textbooks). Seeing that a book was "vetted" by a serious publisher gets you some immediate respect from the reader—something self-published authors have to earn on their own.
Like you say though, the author's "platform" is the key thing, and who better than the author themselves to build that?
So true! I'm self publishing for this reason—the 10% of profits as royalty just doesn't make sense... I mean I get it that developmental editing, copy editing, cover design, typesetting and other pre-publication services are useful add ons, but still not worth the publisher's 80% cut.
In one thing mainstream publisher have going for them is the reputation, especially in the academic space (textbooks). Seeing that a book was "vetted" by a serious publisher gets you some immediate respect from the reader—something self-published authors have to earn on their own.
Like you say though, the author's "platform" is the key thing, and who better than the author themselves to build that?