Traditional Publishing vs Self-Publishing: The Complete Guide for Authors & Founders
You’re at a pivotal point in your author's journey where your manuscript is complete, and your message is clear. Now comes the million-dollar question: should I go traditional or self-publish?
As a founder, CEO, or thought leader, publishing your book calls for a strategic business decision. A book is a powerful asset that can generate high-ticket leads, high-ticket keynote speaking gigs, and solidify your legacy as an expert. However, if you choose the wrong publishing option, you could potentially hold up your publishing timeline, dilute your message, and lose out on significant revenue.
It is essential to understand the subtle differences between traditional publishing and self-publishing.
This 2,500+ word guide will explain the myths, how each publishing option works, and how to determine which publishing option is best for you.
Are you feeling overwhelmed or unsure about your publishing options? Rolling Authors is Asia’s leading book development studio. With 400+ books written and 750+ books edited, we are here to help you refine your manuscript masterfully and assist with traditional publishing. Let’s talk to a Rolling Authors publishing expert!
Table of Content
What Is Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing?
Let’s start by understanding what traditional publishing and self-publishing are.
Traditional Publishing
Traditional publishing involves selling the rights to your manuscript to a publishing house (e.g., Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, or a reputable indie press). The publishing house will take on the risk of publishing your book. You will receive an advance. They will professionally edit your manuscript, design your cover, format your interior, and distribute your book.
However, the publishing house will take a large cut of the profits while having creative control over your book. This includes the title, cover design, and even content.
Self-Publishing (Indie Publishing)
Self-publishing involves you being the publisher. You will have full creative control and 100% of the copyright. You will need to hire a team to edit your manuscript, design your cover, format your interior, and market your book.
As you are taking on the risk, you will receive the majority of the royalties (60%–70% on digital). Your book can also be published much faster than traditional publishing.
Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: 5 Key Differences
There are five key points to understand when comparing traditional publishing vs. self-publishing.
1. Creative Control
Traditional: You will lose a lot of the creative control over your book. The marketing and sales team will decide on the title, cover design, and often even suggest changes to your content to make it more commercially viable. You are licensing your rights.
Self-Publishing: You have full creative control. You decide on the title, who designs your cover, the font, the price, and every single detail. You have 100% of your copyright and all subsidiary rights (audiobook, translation, film, and merchandise).
2. Time to Market
Traditional: Traditional publishing is notoriously slow. From signing a contract with a publishing house, it can take 18–24 months to edit, design, and add your book to their seasonal list.
Self-Publishing: Self-publishing offers faster publication. Once your manuscript is professionally edited and formatted, you can upload it to Amazon KDP or IngramSpark, and your book will be available to purchase globally.
3. Cost & Royalties
Traditional: There is no cost involved from your end. You will actually be paid an advance (although this will be low if you are a debut author). Your royalties will be low, too. You will earn 10%–15% on hardback and 25% on e-book sales after your advance has been earned.
Self-Publishing: You will need to invest in hiring a professional team of editors, designers, and marketers. A high-quality self-published book can cost $3,000 to $15,000+. However, you’ll have the lion’s share of royalties. On Amazon KDP, you can earn up to 70% on e-book sales and 60% on print sales (minus printing costs).
4. Distribution
Traditional: A major advantage of traditional publishing is that major publishing houses have solid relationships with bookstores (Barnes & Noble, independent stores) and libraries. Your book will be available to purchase in physical bookstores.
Self-Publishing: Although Amazon dominates the market (80% of book sales), it is a challenge to get your book into physical bookstores. Bookstores are reluctant to stock indie books as they cannot return copies to you as easily as they can to a major publisher.
5. Marketing
Traditional: Many first-time authors have the misconception that traditional publishing houses will market their book for them. However, unless you are a celebrity or a guaranteed bestseller, you will be expected to market your book. They will provide you with the distribution channels, but you will need to drive demand using your platform.
Self-Publishing: As the “CEO” of your book, you will be 100% responsible for marketing. This includes Amazon ads, podcast interviews, and building your author platform. The advantage is that you can change your marketing strategy instantly.
Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishing
If you are considering traditional publishing, you should be aware of its pros and cons.
Pros
Prestige: A publishing house endorsing your book can open up many doors of opportunities. You will be able to gain media exposure, traditional book reviews (e.g., The New York Times), and speaking engagements that may otherwise be skeptical of self-published authors.
No Cost: Everything will be paid for by the publishing house; you won’t pay a penny.
Professional Team: You will work with experienced acquiring editors, award-winning cover designers, and experienced publicists.
Bookstore Availability: There is a significant chance your book will be available to purchase in physical bookstores.
Cons
Query Hell: Getting a traditional publishing deal can be competitive. You will need to write a query letter and a detailed book proposal. You will then need to pitch your book to literary agents and hope they pitch it to a publisher. You will likely face rejection, and it can take years to get a deal.
Slow: It can take 18–24 months to publish your book, meaning your book may be outdated by the time it gets published (especially if it’s in a fast-moving industry such as tech, AI, or business).
Low Royalties: Even if your book does well commercially, you won’t earn much. You might be losing out on long-term earnings for short-term prestige.
Losing Rights: You may lose the rights to your audiobook, translation, or merchandise.
Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing
Self-publishing has lost its stigma. Being an indie author is now seen as a badge of honor. However, it is not a cakewalk either.
Pros
Full Control: You decide when to publish, the price, the cover design, and the content. If you want to update a chapter with new information two years after publishing, you can.
Higher Profits: As you keep 60%–70% of the profits, you can become profitable faster. This is great if you are a founder using your book to generate high-ticket leads.
Fast: You can capitalize on current trends, news, and business milestones. Your book can go live and generate leads in months.
Data: You will have access to all your sales data. You can run A/B tests on your cover design and optimize your book.
Cons
Cost: To make your book look and feel like a traditionally published book, you will need to hire skilled professionals. If you don’t invest in editing and designing your book, it will look amateurish.
Project Management: You will be acting as the publisher. You will need to hire an editor, manage deadlines, format your interior, upload your files, and troubleshoot any errors. It can be a lot to chew on.
Discoverability: Over 4,000 books are self-published every single day on Amazon. You will need to invest in a strong marketing campaign to stand out.
No Gatekeepers: While this is a positive, there are many low-quality, AI-generated, and poorly edited books in the market. Readers could be skeptical of indie books.
Professional Publishing Assistance
Traditional vs. self-publishing is a false dilemma fallacy. Many founders, thought leaders, and busy professionals will not want to go to either extreme.
Professional publishing assistance is the answer.
At Rolling Authors, we know that our clients want the prestige of traditional publishing but also the speed, control, and higher royalties of self-publishing. We also understand that you might not want to go through the hassle of querying agents.
We can help you with:
1. Master-Level Editing: We will provide you with high-quality developmental editing, line editing, cover design, and interior formatting on par with Big Five publishers. Your book will look and read like a bestseller.
2. Traditional Publishing Assistance: If your manuscript deserves a traditional publishing deal, we can use our industry connections to help pitch your book to literary agents and renowned traditional publishing houses.
3. Premium Self-Publishing: If you want to keep your rights, leave the rest to us. We will manage your ISBN, format your book for print and digital, and set up your book for global distribution. All you need to do is market your book.
How to Decide
Still unsure which option to choose? Use our decision matrix.
Choose Traditional Publishing if:
You want prestige, media recognition, and your book to be available in physical bookstores.
You are writing literary fiction, a high-concept thriller, or a mass-market memoir.
You have the time and patience to go through the one- to two-year querying process and the two-year publishing process.
You don’t know how to manage the business side of publishing.
Choose Self-Publishing (with Professional Assistance) if:
You are a founder, CEO, or consultant using your book as a high-level business card to generate leads, speaking gigs, and build your authority.
You want to get your book published faster.
You want 100% of your rights, creative control, and the majority of the royalties.
You are willing to invest to ensure your book is professionally produced.
Masters, Not Generalists
Whether you go with a traditional publishing house or self-publish, one thing is certain: your manuscript needs to have high quality.
If your manuscript is not well written, you will be rejected by agents at a glance. If your book is not well edited and formatted, you will receive one-star reviews and damage your professional reputation.
At Rolling Authors, we believe that great books need Masters.
We have seen too many brilliant founders and thought leaders let down by low-cost ghostwriting and editing. Their books end up reading lifeless, generic, and mechanical.
When you work with Rolling Authors, you will be working with a team that has meticulously edited 750+ books and written 400+ books for clients across 20+ countries. We are patient, honest, and personable. We don’t just fix your commas; we work with you to elevate your message so your book will be respected, whether it lands on an agent’s desk in New York or in the hands of a high-ticket client.
FAQs
1. Can I change from self-publishing to traditional publishing?
Yes, however, it can be complicated. If your book does competitively well (proving there is a market for your book), traditional publishers may take interest. However, to sign a traditional deal, you will need to unpublish your book and give the rights to the publisher. This means you will lose out on sales for that particular book. It is best to decide which option you want to go for before hitting publish.
2. Will traditional publishers market my book?
One of the biggest myths around publishing is that traditional publishers will market your book for you. However, they will only market their lead titles and bestsellers. For debut or mid-list authors, you will be expected to do the majority of the marketing. They will provide you with the distribution, but you need to cater to the demand.
3. How much does it cost to self-publish a book professionally?
To produce a high-quality self-published book, you should expect to spend $3,000 to $15,000+. This includes hiring a professional developmental editor, line editor, copy editor, professional cover designer, interior formatter, and initial marketing. If you don’t invest in these services, you will have a poor-quality book in your hand, which can damage your professional reputation.
4. Which will earn me more money long term?
This will depend on how many sales you make. With traditional publishing, you will earn an advance, but the royalties will be low (10%–15%). With self-publishing, you will have an upfront cost, but the royalties will be high (up to 70%). If you don’t sell a certain number of copies (under 5,000–10,000 copies), traditional publishing will often be more profitable as you don’t have any upfront costs. If you sell tens of thousands of copies, self-publishing will be much more profitable as you will keep the majority of the profits.
5. Can I get a traditional publishing deal without a literary agent?
For the Big Five publishing houses (Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan), the answer will almost always be no. They don’t accept unagented submissions and rely on literary agents to filter through the slush pile. However, many smaller independent presses and academic publishers do accept submissions. If you want a major traditional publishing deal, you will need a literary agent.
Get Your Book to Market
Knowing the difference between traditional and self-publishing is the first step to taking control of your author's journey. There is no right or wrong answer, just the right answer for you.
However, you don’t have to do it on your own. Whether you need a world-class editorial team to help you prepare your manuscript for traditional publishing or a full-service publishing assistance partner to help you self-publish a masterpiece, the experts at Rolling Authors are here to help.
Your ideas are too good to sit in your draft folder. It’s time to share your message with the world.
Ready to make the right decision for your book? [WhatsApp Us Now] to speak to a Rolling Authors publishing expert, discuss your manuscript, and get a strategic roadmap.
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