Butterfly Briefs

Butterfly Brief #8  Self-publish or royalty publish?

This is a pivotal decision for a writer who is nearing the finish of a book manuscript.

The hard fact is that to publish through a reputable, traditional, royalty publisher takes much longer than to go through an indie (independent self-publisher.)

You must do a lot of preliminary research to find out exactly what that publisher's acquisition platform is and whether your manuscript fits it.

You must send a query letter first with a near perfect, attractive, right-on-target “pitch.”

Then, if requested, the next step is to present a killer book proposal that will knock the editor's socks off.

Then wait for an acquisitions committee to decide if the publisher can make enough money on their investment in your book.

At the same time the publisher's sales reps are deciding whether your book will sell briskly—it has to stand out among perhaps hundreds of other manuscripts sent to that publisher.

If the consensus of their opinions is favorable, you might be offered a contract and asked to send your manuscript to them—with your permission for a total rewrite, if necessary, by one of their in-house editors.

Or, in the end your manuscript still might be rejected—and you have to start all over with another publisher. The clock keeps ticking.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade or discourage you from going down the traditional publisher path. I've done so with a number of my books. I didn't hit the lottery to be a best seller author since my books are non-fiction, niche books whose target audience isn't into the millions.

However, there are some incredible success stories for first time authors and many benefits to this long, arduous process of getting your manuscript scrutinized.

To compare the two publishing routes and help you make the best decision about your particular manuscript, the following FREE Online Course should be of considerable help:

“https:blog.reedsy.com/learning/courses/publishing/self-publishing-vs-traditional-publishing/”