The publishing world is constantly changing and with the availability of millions of books at every reader’s fingertips, it is important to know the differences between a “traditional” publisher and book self-publishing services once your book is ready for publication.

What is Traditional Publishing?

Traditional publishing is the name used for anyone who follows the “traditional” process of finding a publisher who produces the type of content you write, finding a literary agent who represents your kind of book, and submitting a book proposal (or synopsis and outline for fiction) to that agent. If that agent agrees to represent you, the agent then submits your book proposal around to the various publishers that publish that kind of book. If the agent makes a sale, they represent you for all of your literary business, negotiating publication rights, advances, and royalty rates. Agents earn 10 to 20% of your total royalties for the duration of the contract.

With the book now in the hands of a publisher, they will ask you to make revisions to the manuscript and will engage their internal marketing group to handle promotion for the book, cover design, manuscript layout, and much more. Except in extremely rare situations, you will not have any influence on the changes, cover design, look, and feel of the book. You won’t even have control over whether you produce a hardcover or paperback book. These are all decisions made by the publisher.

Once the book has been completed, it is put on a release calendar and distributed to major bookstores, and online booksellers, and (in the case of most first-time authors) completely forgotten. This process typically takes at least a year, but more often than not several years before you see your book on the shelf of your local bookstore. This brings us to the 1^st major difference between traditional and self-publishers.

1 – Self-Publishing is Faster

Once you have your book finished you don’t need to go through the tedious process of finding an agent and hoping that you will be taken on as a client, or waiting to be put on a release calendar several years down the road. You can get your book in the hands of your readers far faster than following the traditional route.

2 – You Keep Control of the Look and Feel of Your Book

In self-publishing you have complete creative control over aspects such as the book cover design, the book manuscript format, and length of the book. You can do the design yourself, or hire an expert to create a custom book cover and layout of the book.

3 – You Choose the Publishing Format of Your Book

Traditional publishers are often limited by what their accounting departments determine is an acceptable risk when selecting a format for the publication of your book. They may require a hardcover version of the book (even if your audience probably can’t afford it), or require you to publish only in the form of a mass-market paperback for your first book–in order to minimize the risk on their end. They may decide not to create an audiobook version of your book, an eBook, or publish the book in other languages. With self-publishing, you make every choice for yourself. Want your book to be produced with a leather-bound book binding? Done. Need your workshop’s notebook to have spiral-bound book binding? No problem. You can print your book in as many (or as few) versions as you wish.

4 – You Handle the Distribution of Your Book

Traditionally, this is one of the strengths of traditional publishers. They have connections to major book distributors and chain bookstores that most self-publishers don’t have. But as a self-published book author, you can sell your book however you see fit.

5 – You Handle the Marketing of Your Book

Most first-time authors get no marketing budget from traditional publishers. High visibility book tour and promotion budgets typically only apply to bestselling authors who traditional publishers see as a “sure thing.” As a self-published author, you set your own budget for marketing your book. You can have your own nationwide book tour, or simply promote your book sitting behind your desk, sending out newsletters, and doing podcast interviews about your book. The ways of promoting self-published books are almost limitless.

So, Are You Ready to be InstantPublisher’s Next Author?

Of course, you are. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t interested in taking complete control of your writing career and literary efforts. And InstantPublisher is always standing by to help you reach your publishing goals. Give us a call at 1-800-259-2592, fill out our online contact form, or send an email to questions@instantpublisher.com to get the process started today.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging across the globe, many potential authors now have that time they always wanted to reach their goal of publishing a book. But facing the blank page (or screen) is intimidating, and even the most accomplished authors struggle to get a new writing project started. We here at InstantPublisher have been there. Here are 15 ways to get that writing project started.

1 – Write Fast

Natalie Goldberg, the author of the best-selling book Writing Down the Bones, recommends that you “keep your hand moving.” That is, don’t pause for inspiration, to find the perfect word, or give your brain time to slow down at all. Keeping your hands moving, whether this is writing quickly in a notebook or typing in a new document file, helps you get an uncensored version of your thoughts. So, write as fast as you can to get that rough draft down on the page.

2 – Use Timed Writing Sessions

Timed writing sessions are an excellent way to create a sense of urgency and help keep your hands moving. Plus setting a timer for 5, 10 or 15 minutes does not seem like a big investment of time, so writing won’t intimidate you. Even the busiest person can find 5 minutes at lunch or when they first wake up to get some writing time in.

3 – Don’t Worry About What Others Will Think

Don’t censor yourself or worry about what other people might think if they read your words. Remember that this is the first draft, and chances are no one will ever see it. All writing projects undergo considerable revision with sections being written and rewritten several times. So, feel free to let it fly. Write the raw, unhinged words as they flow into your brain. Again, this will be easier if you use the “keep your hand moving” approach to writing. Writing fast tends to short circuit the part of your brain that worries about offending people or being afraid of looking stupid.

4 – Don’t Worry About Spelling, Grammar, or Punctuation

Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all issues that can be fixed in later drafts. The goal right now is to get a first draft written.

5 – Ask Yourself – “What Am I Trying to Say?”

This is a good question to explore in a 15-minute timed writing session. Describe the “big picture” of your writing project. What is the big theme of the book or story? What important information should be included in it? What is your inspiration or the original spark that got the story started and growing in your head? Write down all of the details both big and small.

6 – Ask Yourself – “Why Should I Write This?”

This question is almost important as “what am I trying to say,” because it starts you thinking about the audience for your book. Why is this story or subject important to you? And, more importantly, why would someone want to read it? Another thing to think about during this 15-minute writing session is to think about why you are the perfect person to create this work.

7 – Create a List

Creating a list is a quick and easy way to capture any of the important information you would like to cover in your project. For non-fiction projects, this could be a list of questions that the book needs to answer, or information you need to research. For fiction projects, this list may include characters, setting, background information, plot points within the story, scenes, and much more. This doesn’t have to be in any particular order, this is just about getting important information about your project on the page.

8 – Break the Project Down into Bite-Sized, Manageable Tasks

Writing a book is a huge endeavor encompassing hundreds of hours of work. When you think of the hundreds (if not thousands) of tasks that need to be completed before you see your book on the shelf, it is easy to be completely overwhelmed. So, break the project down into simple, manageable tasks. These tasks can be about writing, research, marketing, or administrative tasks–such as selecting a book cover design, or getting the proper book manuscript format–that need to be finish before the project is complete. Once you have a master list of project tasks it is easier to manage them one task at a time.

9 – Write at the Same Time Each Day

Your brain likes routine. This helps it save energy by bringing predictability and routine into its awareness. And if you establish a regular writing time and stick with it, your brain will begin to help you by processing your thoughts about the project and often surprise you with good content when it knows it is time to write.

10 – Warm Up Before Working on Your Writing Project

Give your brain a chance to purge all of the distractions, recurring thoughts, fears, frustrations, and other minutiae that are rattling around in your head. Take 5 to 10 minutes each day to warm up, to get those thoughts onto the page, and out of your head so you can focus on more important writing project work.

11 – Write the Easiest Parts First

No one has ever said that writing has to be done in strict sequential order–beginning with the first word on page 1 straight through to the words “the end” on the last page of the project. Most authors hop around a lot throughout the writing process. Many mystery writers draft the ending to the mystery first so that they know where the story will end and then construct the rest of the story to help get to that reveal on the last page. So, if you get stuck anywhere in a writing project, don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it, just skip to the next section where you know what needs to be written and go back to that other section later.

12 – Describe the Writing Project to a Loved One or Close Friend

Another approach to take–if you get stuck–is to step away from the project and describe it, as well as the part that is vexing you at the moment, to a sympathetic ear such as a close friend or loved one in the form of a letter. This helps your brain look at the project from a different point of view and may help you break through your writer’s block.

13 – Allow Yourself to Write Garbage

According to William Faulkner, you simply need to “Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” You need to give yourself permission to write crap. Words that are full of typos and misspellings and awkward phrasing. Just get it on the page. You can always make it better later.

14 – Focus on Progress Not Perfection

The goal when working on the first draft of any writing project is to get it down. Don’t judge your first draft by the quality of the manuscript, but by the progress you make each day. Track the time you spend working on the manuscript, or better still, the word count of your project. That will help keep you motivated and moving forward.

15 – Start Right Now

The best way to get that writing project underway is to simply start working on it. Right now! Begin typing and see where it goes.

Is Your Manuscript Complete? Take Advantage of InstantPublisher’s Discount for First Time Customers

When you are ready to publish your book, contact us here at InstantPublisher. We are here to help you reach the goal of seeing your work in print.

InstantPublisher is here to encourage potential authors during this difficult time. Helping them get those books written and into print as fast as possible. We have printed over 11 million books since our start in 2001, and help authors achieve their self-publishing dreams, and create something positive out of this crisis.

To facilitate this, InstantPublisher is offering a limited-time 10% discount for first-time customers on any book publishing package if the order has been placed by July 1^st, 2020. Use the coupon code: print-2020. If you have any questions at all, please give us a call at 1-800-259-2592, fill out our online contact form, or send an email to questions@instantpublisher.com.