Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: The Pros & Cons

It can be a tough call; do you pay lots of money for a publisher because it feels safe, or do you decide to embrace courage, and go down the lesser trodden path of self-publishing?

The honest answer is, it depends entirely on your goals, but that's not very helpful on its own so I've put together the scorecard below, which shows how the two publishing options facilitate the features and benefits of publishing a business book.

Of course all traditional publishing firms’ offerings may vary, just as self-publishing can come with some or all of the benefits listed. The list below provides a detailed overview of the main services you can expect to have access to, depending on which publishing route you choose.

And after that, you'll see which route I encourage all WBR clients to take, and why...

	Traditional	Self-Publishing
Autonomy & control	❌	✅
Prestige & authority	✅	✅
Ability to increase your revenue	✅	✅
Thought leadership	✅	✅
Done-for-you book writing services	❌	✅
Writing support	✅	✅
Full marketing campaign	❌	✅
Professional team to work with	✅	✅
Designers/illustrators	❌	✅
Editing support	✅	✅
Flexible/simple contracts	❌	✅
Potential to become a brand name	✅	✅
Easy to start	❌	✅
Fast overall process	❌	✅
Kind to your time/energy	❌	✅
ISBN	✅	✅
Copyright	❌	✅
Author royalties	✅	✅
Online presence	-	✅

So you can see that self-publishing provides significantly more creative freedom and control to authors, with less input and less expense.

At Write Business Results, we provide packages that can take the entire book project, including the writing, illustration and promotion, off your hands completely, while leaving you with full copyright.

We publish all of our clients’ books on Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle, setting up the account in their name. They therefore have the autonomy to choose the retail price, distribution channels, they get to decide the style of the book, the topic, the illustrations, the marketing campaign; they have an author profile online and readers can leave reviews. They can still aim for best-seller status if they wish. The print on demand service means they don't have stock piles sitting around, and they can order discounted author copies to hand out to their connections as they wish.

If you decide to do the book yourself on the other hand, perhaps only hiring a writing coach, you’ll have to manage the other moving parts yourself. You still get all the creative and financial benefits, it just takes longer and more focus.

If you want to become a bestseller, you can still accomplish that with self-publishing. It just requires a specific and focussed marketing campaign. Typically speaking though, if you are a business owner looking to author a book in order to:

• Get ahead of your competition
• Own the space you’re in
• Attract more right-fit clients
• Get more speaking gigs
• Make more money
• Share your knowledge and wisdom

You can easily achieve that by becoming a self-published author. So why doesn’t everyone do this, and why do some people seem obsessed with finding a publisher?

Two reasons:

• Lack of awareness of all that self-publishing has to offer
• Fear of failure
  

A lot of people worry that they won’t do it right if they write it themselves, that their idea isn’t good enough, that going with a traditional publisher increases their chances of success.

In reality, none of these scenarios have to be true. You just need to get really clear on what you want your book to do for you, and a clear process to lead you through the project from start to finish.

If that sounds like you, get an overview of the Write Business Results book process right here before you start your self-publishing journey.

Alternatively, you can hire Write Business Results to manage the whole thing leaving you to simply talk and review. So simple! You don’t even have to write a word. Our packages are designed around the level of involvement you wish to have. You can find out more at our website.

Publishing a great book that you’ll be proud of and your clients and prospects will love to read can be simple and stress-free - you’ve just got to have the right level of support!

Email Georgia at info@writebusinessresults.com with any further questions or to talk about your book idea. She’ll get back to you in person within 2 working days!