Factor |
Self-Publishing |
Traditional Publishing |
---|---|---|
Waiting Period | Self-publishing model helps authors get their books published in a very short span of few days to weeks | Traditional publishers take upto 6-12 months to bring a book into the market, if they select the work for publishing. |
Possibility of Getting Published | In self-publishing, there is no rejection. | Depends on evaluation of the manuscript. |
Availability | Online across all major book selling platforms globally. | Availability limited to specific markets/bookstores |
Copyright | Copyright remains with the Author | Traditional publishers usually keep the copyright of the book |
In-Print | The book never goes out of print by the self-publishing, print-on-demand model. | Traditional publishers print the books for maximum 2-4 years seeing the sales and then do away with the book. |
Royalty Payment | Self-publishing offers transparency with respect to sales and royalties for the book. Author can monitor the sales and royalties online. Royalties are provided to the author directly without any middlemen. | Traditional publishers usually pay some royalty amount upfront and later if they feel so. Rarely there is any clarity or transparency in the total number of books sold. |
Royalty Rates | Royalty rates in self-publishing is higher than traditional publishing as there are no middlemen involved. | Royalty rates are less than self-publishing |
Print Quality | Print quality of books is better in print-on-demand (POD) self-publishing model which uses digital printing technologies and also better quality paper | Traditional publishing model uses offset printing. Quality of books is usually not as good as books printed with POD technologies. |
Author's Investment | Author only pays for the services opted. There is no upfront requirement to purchase a specific number of books. | Most traditional publishers ask the authors to purchase a few hundred copies to recover some (or even all) of the printing costs. |