My first book, The Art of Pickleball, is an instructional guide to a sport few people had heard of when I wrote it in 2005. As a pickleball player, I knew the book would appeal to a growing niche market.
In 2005, the self-publishing industry didn’t include Amazon, KDP, or ebooks. My dream was to conduct book signings in Barnes & Noble and have the best-selling book about the sport. I signed with a hybrid publisher who helped me with tasks I didn’t understand or couldn’t do easily. Because of my belief in the sport’s future and the quality of my book, we offset-printed 1,200 copies and began marketing.
From that publisher, I learned enough to work on my own. After I began writing fiction, I created a company to self-publish my own books and those of other local authors. I helped dozens of other people get their books to print, under my imprint and Amazon’s. Since then, I’ve self-published five novels for children and two for teens, delivered presentations about self-publishing at writing conferences, and taught classes at local institutions.
Much has changed since 2005, but the steps an author must take to publish a book today are largely the same. One of the toughest questions is still whether to seek a traditional publisher or self-publish. The path isn’t clear-cut because it can change with each book and from year to year.
Some Facts
In the mid-1990s, the publishing world considered self-published works as inferior and unworthy of attention, and today traditional publishing still holds an allure of prestige in the minds of many authors. Yet many self-published authors now criticize traditionally published writers for clinging to an outdated and unfair system.
The largest difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing is control: traditional publishing takes control from the author in exchange for their knowledge and resources, while self-publishing leaves the author with complete control—but also complete responsibility.
Publishing Paths, Responsibility, and Control
The table below is derived from one created by Jane Friedman, a publishing guru, whose website provides a wealth of information about all types of publishing.
Traditional
Assisted/Full-Service
Hybrid
DIY / Indie
Publisher contracts with author for rights to manuscript
Author pays a service company; virtually no one is turned away
Author pays publisher up front but is selected and vetted in some way
Author directly hires any help needed
Not always easy to sever relationship
Typically, easy to sever relationship
May be harder to sever relationship
Usually easy to sever relationship
Possible royalty paid up front and with book sales; author may need to pay for extras
Many budget categories and packages available
Potential for greater marketing and promotion support (with added expense)
Greater chance of profit
Offset printing for large runs; also make books available through online channels
Beware of predatory companies that take large amounts of your money and provide little in return
Check contract for services rendered and percentages/payment terms
Traditional Publishing Today
The “Big Five” major publishing groups handle most traditional publishing, earning approximately 25% of their income from ebooks. You must secure an agent to present your work to these (or most other) houses. Getting an agent can be a daunting task, and crafting an agent’s query letter is an art in itself, but it’s necessary to avoid your request landing in their proverbial slush pile.
Once a publisher accepts your manuscript, they own its rights, and your contract specifies what they can do with it. You receive royalties, while they manage editing, cover design, marketing, and distribution. You have minimal input or control over these processes, but they cover all associated costs.
A traditionally published book can take up to two years to reach bookstore shelves. Royalties from traditional publishers are smaller than those received from self-publishing, but an expected larger number of sales offsets this.
Self-Publishing
Once your manuscript is ready for publication, you can make it available through self-publishing online in just hours. Most companies that assist you in uploading books do not charge for their services. However, you must pay the upfront costs of editing and cover design and, later, distribution and marketing. You receive no advance, but you will get larger royalties.
Self-published authors earn most of their income from ebooks sold or borrowed through Amazon. Larger bookstores and libraries rarely take self-published books because their purchasing channels do not carry them.
Good candidates for self-publishing are romance, erotica, branded series, prolific genre fiction, and informative nonfiction with online support (a website, blog, etc.).
Hybrid Publishing
Combining elements of traditional and self-publishing, hybrid publishing can be a good option for authors who want the support of traditional publishing but still want creative control.
Reputable hybrid publishers are quite different from vanity presses or “predatory publishers” that lure you into expensive packages and offer little to no support or deliverables. (You can find lists of these predatory publishers online.)
You pay a hybrid publisher to produce and distribute your book in return for a high percentage of the royalties. The publisher handles the editing, design, production, distribution, and sales. However, you retain the rights to your book and have creative control.
Hybrid publishing can be expensive, as you may have to pay all the production costs. Publication quality also varies, and the publisher may have less prestige than traditional publishers and, therefore, less reach in the marketplace.
Feature
Traditional Publishing
Self-Publishing
Publisher’s Role
Active
Minimal or none
Author’s Role
Passive
Active
Costs
Publisher
Author
Time to Publication
Longer
Shorter
Royalties
Lower
Higher
Distribution
Wider
Limited
Marketing
Publisher
Author
Note: More than half of all books sold in the United States sell through Amazon (regardless of format).
To Help You Decide
First, determine your book’s purpose and target market. Then, gauge your writing methods, goals, or aspirations for the project, as well as your budget, assets, and how much uncertainty you’re willing to accept.
Purpose
Knowing your book’s purpose will keep you on track while writing, help you find an agent or prospective customers. In general, a book’s purpose is to educate, entertain, and/or persuade—to share a story, idea, or message with readers. You should be able to state your book’s purpose in one sentence.
Some examples might be that your book shows people how to promote their businesses or encourage innovation. Your romance novel will provide an escape from everyday life. My first book teaches people how to play pickleball.
Target Market
Understanding your book’s purpose helps you define your target market. Start by identifying three large groups of people who might benefit from reading your book. These could be professional organizations, hobbyists, age or other demographic groups, social media groups, etc. Going beyond that, Eldred Bird wrote a fine blog for Writers in the Storm that details how you can uncover more audience for your book. I don’t have time or space to cover this topic in detail, so I’ll leave the reading to you and share only the main points he covers in his blog:
Know your genre.
Know your book’s age group.
Define your media format (book, ebook, etc.)
Distribution
Bird’s closing remarks sum up the process: “Knowledge of your reader base will inform not only your writing process, but how and where you market your work. Do your research. Find out who your potential readers are, what they value in a story, and how they prefer to consume it.”
[While I was writing this, a new post popped up in my inbox from Writers in the Storm: “AI: The Secret Weapon in Finding a Book’s True Audience” by Brittany Pinney. It’s a new twist on how we can manage book discovery and definitely worth a read.
How does knowing your target market help you choose between traditional and self-publishing?
Self-publishing is well-suited for the genres of romance, fantasy, science fiction, thrillers, and non-fiction (especially self-help) due to their large self-publishing audience and potential for strong reader bases. Genres like literary fiction, children's books, and highly academic works are generally better suited for traditional publishing due to the importance of established credibility in those markets.
Do you plan to write only one book?
Are your books (or planned books) in genres that are well represented by self-publishing?
Do you dislike deadlines and pressure?
Do you want to control all of your editing, cover design, and more?
If the answer to one or more of the above questions is yes, look to self-publishing. Agents don’t want to represent someone who has only one book to offer and none to come. Also, publishing is driven by current sales, so be aware that your greatest book ever might not be something an agent can represent in the current market.
Do you hope to find your book in bookstores across the nation?
Want to make the NYT bestseller list?
Do you want the support and validation a traditional publisher will provide?
Are you patient, willing to wait up to two years before your book is available in stores?
If you answered yes to any of the above, seek an agent who will deliver your manuscript to a traditional publisher. Jane Friedman says, “If you have any interest whatsoever in traditional publishing, exhaust all your agent/publisher options first. Get thoroughly rejected (as much as that may hurt), and then self-publish. It’s very, very hard to go in the other direction successfully.”
By the way, she also says if you think you’ll self-publish and be picked up by a major publisher later, stop and rethink. This is especially important for series. It is highly unlikely that a publisher will consider your self-published book unless you can show extraordinary sales in a short time.
A side note about writing for children
You don’t market to children; you market to their parents or to the persons procuring for the schools or libraries.
Marketing
I can’t begin to do justice to this topic here, but hopefully I can in a future post. The success rate for self-publishing is comparable to that of traditional publishing. A few authors, through talent and hard work, rise to become bestselling superstars. A few others achieve significant literary recognition and substantial sales. The majority do not make a living from it.
The reality of marketing and promotion can hit self-published authors hard; they often face a steeper climb than anticipated, battling limited resources and the struggle to gain wide readership. It typically takes self-published authors years and the release of four or five books to achieve noticeable success and earn a substantial income, a process marked by countless hours of writing, editing, marketing, and promotion. Before embarking on this path, make sure you are dedicated to the consistent creation and promotion of your work, a cycle that continues year after year, building momentum and expanding your reach.
Charting a course that works for you
In a nutshell, these are your options:
1. Find an agent who will deliver your book to a publisher.
2. Hire a full-service company to act as your publisher.
3. Work with a “hybrid” publisher.
4. Self-publish on your own, hiring any freelance assistance you need, and work directly with retailers and distributors to sell your book.
I’m working on the strictly “Self-Publishing” article that follows this one and hope to have it ready for publication soon.
Good luck on your journey!
Do you aspire to be traditionally published? Self-published? If you are already published what has your journey been like?
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About Gale
Writing The Art of Pickleball in 2005 launched Gale Leach’s career as an award-winning author. From 2011 to 2020, she also created her own company, Two Cats Press, which published the works of six Arizona authors, including seven of her own fantasy adventure novels for children and teens. Currently, she’s at work on a fantasy series that involves technology and magic, multiple worlds, and creatures you only thought were mythological.
Gale and her husband recently relocated to Texas, accompanied by a rescue dog, two rescue kittens, and a bearded dragon. Her interests outside of writing include singing, playing music, genealogy, reading, crafting, and many types of puzzles and games.
Every writer runs low on ideas at some point during their journey. One way I’ve found to get inspired to write again is to take a page out of Hollywood’s book. I look to the past. The entertainment industry is famous for recycling stories, be it retellings of historical events or adding a new twist to a classic film.
As writers there’s no reason we can’t take the same approach. Pulling from places like history, classic literature, and folktales can be a great source of inspiration. No matter how many times a story has been told, there’s always a new way to tell it. Add your unique voice and point of view, and you could have a whole new narrative on your hands.
So, where do we start? Here are a few ideas.
History
One of the best subjects to delve into when looking for inspiration is history. There are literally thousands of years to pull from. I’m not just talking about events, but also people and locations.
Pick any era and you’ll probably find that Hollywood has written countless scripts based on it. Some are updates of old stories while others may be a completely new tale told from a different perspective.
A good example of this is World War II movies. Hundreds of films have been made about this one tragic period, yet every one of them is different. Some are broad in scope, while others focus on specific events or characters. The genres range from action to love stories, and drama to comedy.
While most are told from the ally point of view, looking through the eyes of the axis can add an interesting twist. Think of a time or event in history that interests you, do the research, then turn it upside down and see what falls out.
Classic Literature
Hollywood is famous for tapping into classic literature when looking for material. Everyone from Homer to Shakespeare to Arthur Conan Doyle have been mined for story-gold. One big advantage of this source is that books and characters old enough to be in the public domain are free to use any way you wish, without the cost of licensing the material.
Think back to your school days and the classics you’ve read. Is there one that stands out? Maybe there’s a specific character you remember being drawn to. Try imagining that character in a different setting or even a different time period.
You could try writing a fictional biography for your favorite character to get your juices flowing. Shakespeare In Love and Young Sherlock Holmes are prime examples of fictionalized biographies involving both classic characters and classic authors.
Fairytales and Folklore
One need look no further than Disney to recognize the value of fairytales and folklore as a source of inspiration. A significant percentage of their entertainment empire has been built on these enduring stories. They’ve even done countless remakes and retellings of their own versions of these tales.
But Disney hasn’t cornered the market in this genre. Check out adaptations by other studios, such as Ella Enchanted and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, both complete reimagining of the original tales. My own take on The Three Little Pigs has the Big Bad Wolf cast as a crooked real estate developer trying to run the pigs out of their homes.
What was your favorite fairytale as a child? How would you alter the story now that you have some life experience behind you? Maybe you could try turning the story inside out and make the villain the hero.
Your Past Works
Hollywood is forever creating spinoffs of other projects, and you can too. Whether it’s published works, half-finished stories, or notes to yourself, your previous efforts can be a goldmine. Dig through your prized pieces and cast-offs as well. Look for those nuggets that can be hammered into something shiny and new.
Think of the characters you’ve created in your past works, especially the secondary characters. Is there one that stands out? One that, if developed further, could carry a story forward? Try writing a bio for them and see where it leads you. You might end up with a solid spinoff on your hands.
I’m currently doing this for one of the characters from my James McCarthy series. I had such a positive response to Deputy Sheriff Nestor Yazzi, a main player in both Catching Karma and Cold Karma, that I’m working on building a new series around the character.
Final Thoughts
Be it spinoffs, sequels, series, or remakes, Hollywood is constantly recycling stories, characters, and even entire scripts. There’s no shame in digging into past projects to find your future inspiration. Find something that resonates with you and dig into it, then filter it through your own life experiences and unique voice. You never know what might emerge until you try.
What is your favorite movie, fairytale, or classic book? How would you retell the story? Have you ever taken inspiration from past projects? Let us know in the comments.
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About Bob
Eldred Bird writes contemporary fiction, short stories, and personal essays. He has spent a great deal of time exploring the deserts, forests, and deep canyons inside his home state of Arizona. His James McCarthy adventures, Killing Karma, Catching Karma, and Cold Karma, reflect this love of the Grand Canyon State even as his character solves mysteries amidst danger. Eldred explores the boundaries of short fiction in his stories, The Waking Room, Treble in Paradise: A Tale of Sax and Violins, and The Smell of Fear.
When he’s not writing, Eldred spends time cycling, hiking, and juggling (yes, juggling…bowling balls and 21-inch knives).
His passion for photography allows him to record his travels. He can be found on Twitter or Facebook, or at his website.
Many writers make some imposing resolutions. Here at WITS, we keep it simple and stick to one word to guide our writing journey for the new year.
Ellen
My word for 2025 is Dream.
Dreams can be entertaining, frightening, and amusing. They may also inspire creativity, providing clear, surreal, and sometimes weird scenarios. As a writer, you may find that some of your ideas originate in these intriguing landscapes. I plan to use more of my dreams in my writing.
Dreams can be a goldmine for writers. Many famous writers have given credit to their dreams as the origin of some of their best works. Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series was inspired by a vivid dream she had, leading her to create the very popular supernatural world of vampires and werewolves.
Embrace the power of dreams.
Jenn
My word for 2025 is Bloom.
I believe the creative mind is like a plant or flower. You need to cultivate it, water it, and feed it nutrients in order for it to thrive and grow. That's exactly what I did in 2024, I fed my creative mind with classes and new/old art adventures. I worked hard to stimulate the artist part of myself that seemed to be wilting.
So in 2025, I plan to bloom as a writer, illustrator, and designer. I want to push past the boundaries, be braver, be bolder, and break out of my creative comfort zone.
Jenny
My word for 2025 is Implement.
Treatment time is thinking time. During my two years of treatment surrounding triple-negative breast cancer, I had scads of time to think about my goals and dreams. Chemo time, when you're hooked up to your IV for hours on end is supreme thinking time. I changed my entire business type and thought about where I wanted to take it. I dictated a memoir during the 6 weeks of recovery from surgery. I wrote a business book to help my day job crowd.
Now it is time to implement. To edit those books, finish that new business website, and build the dreams I built during those years of thinking time. I'm expecting a pretty exciting year.
Kris
My word for 2025 is Acceptance.
In our craft, our author business, and in life, acceptance can free us up to move forward in practical ways.
Lisa
My word for 2025 is Transform.
2024 has been a time of radical change in the tech industry, and every sign for 2025 is that this will be a time of transformation and rebirth, turning the rubble of the old into fire and fuel for the new.
Lynette
My word for 2025 is Actualize.
I’ve put a lot of things off in my life, often for good reason. In 2025, I’m focusing doing things to actualize my dream writing life. No more saying I can't do that now. No more not yet. No more I'm not ready. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” So— get ready world, that’s what I’m going to do.
