Which is better for writers: Finding a print or online publisher?

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by Megan Hart

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I love the internet like school kids love snow days. I shop on the internet, talk to my friends on the internet, pay bills on the internet. I write and publish on the internet, too.

I started writing fiction before there was an internet for us common folk to use. I wrote first by hand, then on a typewriter and later a word processor and a computer. I sent away for submission guidelines using self-addressed, stamped envelopes, and I mailed my submissions that same way. I wanted to see my books on the shelves of bookstores and in the library, because that's what being a writer meant, to me. A book to hold in my hands.

But I was first published by an electronic press.

In fact, my first twenty or so novels, novellas and stories were published electronically (though my publisher also used print-on-demand technology to sell paper copies, too.) I was a published writer at last, and people bought my work. They read it. I even got paid! I was doing what I'd always dreamed of.

I never considered my electronically published work not as good as "real" books, or myself anything other than a "real" author. I wrote stories. Someone paid me for them. People read them.

My success with online publishing, however, didn't keep me from pursuing publication with traditional publishers. Not because I felt inadequate with what I was doing, but because as with any career, I wanted and expected to grow. I wanted to reach more readers. I wanted to sell more books. Writing is more than a hobby for me, it's a job. I wanted a raise.

I'd never stopped looking toward traditional publishing, and after several years of writing for online publishers, I finally sold to a major print publishing house. The differences were astounding. I got paid an advance instead of being paid only royalties. I got my book into stores that wouldn't carry my other titles, therefore assuring I'd be put in front of audiences I didn't have to search as hard for. I had publisher support for advertising and promotion. I still wrote the books I wanted to write, but I was making more money and reaching far more readers.

My belief, however, that print publishing is more beneficial than online publishing, isn't based purely on money. In fact, the truth is that it's difficult to choose one publishing model over another because both operate so differently. Both have advantages and disadvantages in the way and amounts authors are paid, the input they have into the editorial process and the amount of publisher support provided. Neither publishing model is more valid than the other, simply different.

In the end, the lines are blurring so much that in a few years there will be little difference between whether a book is published by a predominantly online publisher or a print publisher. Print publishers are putting their titles out in electronic formats and electronic publishers are providing their content in paper.

My belief that print publishing is more beneficial than online publishing boils down to one simple reason: e-book piracy. Electronic files are far more easily duplicated and uploaded to file-sharing sites than print books are (which can, and are, scanned and duplicated illegally, but at much greater effort.) When literally thousands of copies of an author's work are being offered for free - thus denying that author and the publisher their due income, that hurts the industry, and not just for authors. If publishers don't make money, they don't give contracts. If authors don't make money, they can't afford to write. And if publishers don't buy and authors don't write, readers will have nothing to read.

E-books can be as wonderful or as awful as any print book. They can sell as well or as poorly, too. But they are inherently easier to illegally reproduce and distribute than print books, and that's why, though I love online publishing and have had success with it, I believe print books are better for authors.

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