by Bill Woffington

Created on: July 20, 2008   Last Updated: January 30, 2010

Should a writer sign with a legitimate publisher or self publish?  My vote is for legitimate publishers.

From my own limited experience I can tell you that legitimate publishers front all of the expenses and the writer usually gets a 15% royalty. Not only does the publisher pay the expenses of publishing, they also market the book. Plus they give you an editor to work with, proof readers to go over your copy and more help and directions than you ever thought you needed.  They are experts at this. It is what they do.

They will make suggestions, tell you what they think needs to be re-written and maybe even suggest that a character be dropped because they don't contribute to the story. They will send you blues' to review, copy to proof read on your own and a deadline to meet.

Legitimate publishers know things. Things you may not know; things that really help.

On the other hand there is self publishing which is a whole other world.  I have a book that’s been in search of a publisher for a long, long time.  Long enough that I'm now thinking of trying out an On Demand publisher, or at least attempting too if I can figure out how to change files to the way the publisher wants them. I'm also trying to write an ad that describes the book and staying in the word count the publisher insists on. If and when I get it all uploaded and they are happy with it, I get to figure out how to market it. It would be great to have the book where people can find it and hopefully buy it but how do I do that? 

For the book in question, it seems that publishers don't to want to read anything that doesn’t come from an agent and agents don't seem willing to work with you if you aren't already established. The one book I had published a long time ago doesn’t count as being established. The irony here is, if you are already established, why do you need an agent?  You can get really tired of rejection letters and publishers and agents. That negativity certainly adds to the appeal of self publishing.

Do you want to see your work published? If the answer is no, you have no problem. If it's yes, and no legitimate source will give it a shot, now what? Do you put it in the burn pile or look into self publishing?

I might try self publishing. Then again I may try to find a publisher who hasn’t rejected the book yet. 

Hope springs eternal.

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