Does self-publishing hurt the chance of royalty publishing, later?

Question

As a first-time author, I'm trying to decide whether to go with a subsidy publisher (one with a good reputation), just to give the book an in-print chance, or to wait another year to see if an agent or standard royalty publisher takes an interest. Could I do both, since I would still hold the rights with the print-on-demand subsidy publisher?

Answer 1

Be careful of subsidy publishers. Too many readers know exactly who they are and will refuse to buy books published by them because they are unedited and not the same quality that a real publisher has.

I have seen an iUniverse author get booed by fans at a writers conference. They wanted him off the writers panel because he wasn't really published.

You'll be letting yourself in for the same kind of abuse if you go to conferences.

I'd suggest you go with small royalty paying publishers. They respond faster than the big boys and are willing to take good stories that don't fit snugly in a marketing niche. Some of the best novels these days are coming out from Hard Shell Word Factory and other small publishers.

To find these publishers, go first to Writers Market and secondly to www.fictionwise.com. Browse the books there with an eye as to who published them. Look for the publishers' websites.

When looking at small publishers, there are TWO criteria you need them to meet. They MUST be available on Fictionwise and they MUST be available through Amazon. They SHOULD be available through Ingrams (the largest book distributor). If you decide to go with a vanity press after all, you should check to see if they meet those criteria as well. If people can't find your books, you might as well have them sitting in your garage.

By the way, if a small press book sells well, then the big boys get more interested and faster than they would if you had it with a vanity press.

Answer 2

Legally, you may destroy your chances of getting a traditional publisher by self-publishing. Mant publishers expect what is called First Time publishing rights, which means they get to publish a book first. If you have already self-published, then you cannot "sell" these rights to a publisher. You can only offer reprint rights.

Unless your self-published book was a huge success, few publishers are interested in reprints when they have stacks of original manuscripts sitting on their desks. Publishers do not troll around subsidy publisher sites looking to snatch up writers and their books. It does not happen.

Self-publishing is a good route if any of the following apply:
1. You have a technical journal with a targeted audience that already knows you (i.e. you are a well-known programmer and you write a book on C++ language).
2. You have a niche market that you are known in, or the topic would only be of interest to a niche group. (Hobby books, local histories, do-it-yourself books would fall into this catagory).
3. You are reprinting a book that was previously published elsewhere, but is now out of print. (Ron Miller, the former Hugo award winner, is doing this with his Bronwyn series).
4. You are publishing the book for sentimental or personal reasons (such as your grandmother's journal for the family, a poetry anthology for your local writer's group, etc.)
5. You already have a firm understanding of your market, a strong business background, and resources to properly produce, market and distribute your book.

Subsidy publishing is a scam, and should be avoided. Subsidy publishers charge exorborate fees for their services, and do not even do them well. A subsidy publisher basically requires a minimum book order from the author, along with set-up fees and other changes, and then pretends to be a real publisher. But they do nothing to promote your work.

That said, there are print-on-demand services that allow you to publish your book for little or no upfront cost (lulu.com is the most popular), however these are completely do-it-yourself services, and you will need to do all of your own proofreading, editing, book design, marketing, and distribution. Using a POD service is the same as going to your local printer. You pay for services as needed, and many of the production services like artwork or proofreading you can shop around and find for yourself. Whereas a subsidy publisher requires you to use their "publishing house" and pay their fees.

Answer 3

Yes, you can do both. If you self-publish and the book sells well, a royalty publisher will be interested. If you self-publish and the book doesn't sell, it will be harder to interest an agent or publisher than if you had never self published at all. Weigh your decision carefully!

If you do decide to self publish, you might wish to consider instantpublisher.com. They produce top-quality books at a very reasonable price; we've had excellent luck with them. The downside is that YOU do all the typing, editing, formatting, and marketing yourself - plus, their website produces little in the way of book sales. Good luck!