I'm certainly leaning more towards self publishing as well. One thing I'm thinking about is while a big payment, you lose some control over your story and any money you would get from the book goes towards paying back the payment they give you. It would be nicer to just start receiving that directly.
Yeah, the traditional publishing method for me, at least as of right now, just isn’t right for me. And me saying that could be a completely ignorant statement, and I just mean that I didn’t go that route… so, I technically, don’t know which is actually the better route. There’s clearly tons of writers who love the traditional process. I did weigh both self and traditional before making a final decision. Also, just because I started with self-publishing for this particular series, doesn’t mean that maybe I wouldn’t consider traditional in the future for something else. Maybe someday someone will want to work with me, and that would be interesting, because I do have my own publishing company that I created, so that would have to be involved somehow (I would want it to). Traditional publishers are paying for editors, cover design, for distribution and for marketing. There’s quite a bit that they do. I would never knock traditional publishing, because it’s incredibly appealing - you write a story, and then kind of hand it off and let it (and the people behind the scenes) do the rest of the work. Or so it used to seem, because even nowadays, many traditionally published authors say there’s tons of marketing work on their end, etc. I completely understand though, why people choose to go that route, and I’m sure once you hit a certain stature, you can have your hand more involved in the process. For me, telling the story I want to tell, is what’s most important to me, and I hope I’m able to do that and make a living doing so one day. Hiring a professional editor, elevated my story to new heights. Also, hiring out for formatting, that helped elevate my book overall. I’ve talked with authors who self-publish and they are all in on it, and then have gone and say, sold the rights to their audio books, so they then became a hybrid author. I think what’s most important, is to write your story… and go from there. Make sure you have a story that you’re proud of and happy with, and go from there. For me.. for now, it’s one book at a time. 😊
@@nicholasrova3698 exactly! I would hate for my book to get picked up, but then the traditional publisher wants me to completely alter my story, or they don’t want to pick up any more in the series.
@@jonathanbaumler That's probably why I'm gonna self-publish myself. The chances of it reaching more people is far less, but I don't care. I'd rather my story remain intact.
For me, personally, it was important to build an audience organically, if that makes sense. I think sometimes as creatives (especially in today’s time with social media, “views,” etc.) the personal connection with people can be truly lost, and we forget how important it is to have just one really dedicated fan, friend, admirer, and so on. If you stuck 20 people in a room, and had to look at them in the face… that’s a decent amount of people! Imagine having to look at 100 people or 1,000 people… we see numbers on the internet and it’s very easy to overlook who is a real fan of your work. It’s easy to overlook just how much impact your creative works can have, and how many people you’re actually helping inspire. Having a personal connection with people is important to me. For instance, orders from my website, include a signed copy of my book, an exclusive bookmark and a handwritten note. I don’t tell people I’m giving them a note, but it’s something I really wanted to add to everyone’s order. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do when people order from Amazon directly, but I’m sure eventually I can figure something out, but for now, I offer a very real and personal experience through my website. There may come a time when I’m not able to do that because my books are selling insanely well, but for now, we cannot get there unless we build an audience person by person.
I'm certainly leaning more towards self publishing as well. One thing I'm thinking about is while a big payment, you lose some control over your story and any money you would get from the book goes towards paying back the payment they give you. It would be nicer to just start receiving that directly.
Yeah, the traditional publishing method for me, at least as of right now, just isn’t right for me. And me saying that could be a completely ignorant statement, and I just mean that I didn’t go that route… so, I technically, don’t know which is actually the better route. There’s clearly tons of writers who love the traditional process. I did weigh both self and traditional before making a final decision. Also, just because I started with self-publishing for this particular series, doesn’t mean that maybe I wouldn’t consider traditional in the future for something else. Maybe someday someone will want to work with me, and that would be interesting, because I do have my own publishing company that I created, so that would have to be involved somehow (I would want it to). Traditional publishers are paying for editors, cover design, for distribution and for marketing. There’s quite a bit that they do. I would never knock traditional publishing, because it’s incredibly appealing - you write a story, and then kind of hand it off and let it (and the people behind the scenes) do the rest of the work. Or so it used to seem, because even nowadays, many traditionally published authors say there’s tons of marketing work on their end, etc. I completely understand though, why people choose to go that route, and I’m sure once you hit a certain stature, you can have your hand more involved in the process. For me, telling the story I want to tell, is what’s most important to me, and I hope I’m able to do that and make a living doing so one day. Hiring a professional editor, elevated my story to new heights. Also, hiring out for formatting, that helped elevate my book overall. I’ve talked with authors who self-publish and they are all in on it, and then have gone and say, sold the rights to their audio books, so they then became a hybrid author. I think what’s most important, is to write your story… and go from there. Make sure you have a story that you’re proud of and happy with, and go from there. For me.. for now, it’s one book at a time. 😊
So you get more control, makes sense.
@@nicholasrova3698 exactly! I would hate for my book to get picked up, but then the traditional publisher wants me to completely alter my story, or they don’t want to pick up any more in the series.
@@jonathanbaumler That's probably why I'm gonna self-publish myself. The chances of it reaching more people is far less, but I don't care. I'd rather my story remain intact.
For me, personally, it was important to build an audience organically, if that makes sense. I think sometimes as creatives (especially in today’s time with social media, “views,” etc.) the personal connection with people can be truly lost, and we forget how important it is to have just one really dedicated fan, friend, admirer, and so on. If you stuck 20 people in a room, and had to look at them in the face… that’s a decent amount of people! Imagine having to look at 100 people or 1,000 people… we see numbers on the internet and it’s very easy to overlook who is a real fan of your work. It’s easy to overlook just how much impact your creative works can have, and how many people you’re actually helping inspire. Having a personal connection with people is important to me. For instance, orders from my website, include a signed copy of my book, an exclusive bookmark and a handwritten note. I don’t tell people I’m giving them a note, but it’s something I really wanted to add to everyone’s order. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do when people order from Amazon directly, but I’m sure eventually I can figure something out, but for now, I offer a very real and personal experience through my website. There may come a time when I’m not able to do that because my books are selling insanely well, but for now, we cannot get there unless we build an audience person by person.
@@jonathanbaumler Good point. Keep it up.