The Truth about Traditional Book Publishers

Traditional Book Publishers have a lot to offer the right author. Most authors spend a great deal of time in the book stores and are thus exposed to the stars of that platform. Traditional Book Publishers are, in fact, the gatekeepers to becoming a star of the bookstore show. 

Most people think the norm is getting a landmark deal, cashing an obscene advance check, and kicking back while the book sales stats make history. When they think of reality they accept that they may have to do a few guest appearances, book signings, and speaking engagements; reluctantly. Now, back to reality. In reality, traditional book publishers don’t really have much to offer the beginning author.  

I’m going to share with you some pros and cons of this form of publishing.  

Cons of traditional book publishers:

·         Takes years to find a publisher. Do you realize that most authors spend anywhere between one and two years just trying to get accepted by a publisher? You may think you will shorten that time by having an agent but if you don’t have a strong platform already, you’re not likely to be accepted by an agent. You better have rhinoceros skin because you’re going most likely deal with years of rejection before you get a publishing deal; if you get one. 

·         NO, No, no, nO…. Get used to hearing this word is as many different forms as they come because it cannot be overstated how pointless this process is for a beginning author with little national celebrity already established.  

·         Little return. If you do actually get published after a year and a half of begging and another year and a half producing the book, you will most likely get between $1,000-$5,000 as an advance. After that, if you don’t work your tail off to make your book sale for the publisher, that’s going to be the end of your career as an author; $5,000 for years of work. That’s all she wrote! 

·         You still have to market. This is probably the basic issue with the entire setup. You may think that a traditional publisher is going to market and promote your book for you and make you a star. The truth is they will push your book for about 2-3 months, and not the kind of push you would expect, and if your book doesn’t catch on strong, you’re fired.

      That’s why you have to already have a pre-established platform upon which to draw for sales. That means it’s up to you. Look at Dr. Phil. He became a star with Oprah before he put his first book out. That’s why it is doing well; not because he’s a great author, but because he had created a platform upon which to draw for sales. The book publishers didn’t make him successful, he made him successful.  

·         You lose control of your work. The publishing company takes control of your book cover, design, layout, and makes final editorial decisions. Meaning if they don’t like some of your content or your writing style, they can make you change. Your heart and vision becomes their vision for you. Besides that, you don’t own the rights to the book, the book publisher does. 

Pros of traditional book publishers:  

·         Publisher fronts the money. They will cover the cost of producing your manuscript and printing it. They will cover the cost of marketing to the bookstores. They will pay you some amount of advance money. If you’re highly demanded, this could be hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. 

·         Less workload than self publishing. You don’t have to manage every aspect of your career as closely as you do as a self publisher; unless you just hire a marketing company or publicist. 

·         Stroke your ego. You get to say that you landed a traditional book publishing deal, which does have prestige in certain circles. You may not be making any money or be selling any books but it’s prestigious to some folks. 

·         DISTRIBUTION Power. The biggest and most important benefit (business wise) of getting a traditional book publishing deal is that they have the best distribution available to getting your book on the shelves. 

How to win a major publishing deal

You have to ask yourself why so many people are becoming self-published authors. Its because for far too long, people have clamored around traditional book publishers as the gatekeepers to their success as authors. If you want to truly succeed as an author you have to be business-minded. You are the manager of your own writing career, whether you want to accept it or not.  

Traditional book publishers have a lot to offer the right authors, I said that at the beginning. Then I went on to tell you all these negative things that killed your hope momentarily. I want to completely rebuild that hope and set you on the right track, right here. If you want to make it BIG and reach thousands or millions of people with your book you have to take this approach and think long-term: 

Self publish a book as inexpensively as possible while maximizing the book’s quality. Don’t self publish a cheap looking book because you certainly won’t get taken seriously.

Learn how to sell your book. This is easier said than done, right? You need to immerse yourself into getting educated on the many alternative venues through which books are promoted and sold. Only 20% of book sales come through bookstores. So where’s the rest of those sales being made. Look at our book marketing webpage to find out more about where these sales are being made.

Build a business. You will unquestionably build a book selling empire by building a strong platform. Dave Ramsey is a best selling author on living a debt free lifestyle. His book became a best-seller and will remain a strong seller because he’s a nationally syndicated radio talk show host and conference speaker.

I told you earlier about Dr. Phil, he has his own show now; he’s going to continue to write best-sellers because of his platform. You may not build the career that Dr. Phil or Dave Ramsey has but you can certainly build a strong enough platform and sell thousands of copies of your self-published book.   

Once you have strong sales and a strong platform, you can walk outside and a swarm of traditional book publishers will be rioting for your business. That’s when you become a business partner with the publisher and earn real money and real attention from traditional book publishers.

If you think this information was helpful and you’re really serious about writing the best book you possibly can, get the best book publishing deal you can and selling thousands and thousands of copies of your book then you need to [CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE]