I've been doing a lot of research and reading lately on the various avenues of publication - Big 5, small presses, "indie" publishing, and so forth. When it comes to marketing your book, I seem to be hearing two differing stories:
1. Some say something to the effect of, "Don't self publish because you need the publisher to market your book. It is too hard to market your book yourself and you won't get any readers."
2. But then I hear, "Traditional publishers don't do anything to market your book, so if you get a publishing contract, expect to do your own promotions."
(I'm not quoting anyone specifically - just the general sense I get from the reading I have done).
I'm wondering where the truth actually lies, so my question is this: what do trade publishers ACTUALLY do to market a new author's book (both Big 5 publishers and smaller presses)? What do they expect the author to do to market their own book?
I'm just trying to get a better idea of how this portion of the business actually works.
Thanks so much!
1. Some say something to the effect of, "Don't self publish because you need the publisher to market your book. It is too hard to market your book yourself and you won't get any readers."
2. But then I hear, "Traditional publishers don't do anything to market your book, so if you get a publishing contract, expect to do your own promotions."
(I'm not quoting anyone specifically - just the general sense I get from the reading I have done).
I'm wondering where the truth actually lies, so my question is this: what do trade publishers ACTUALLY do to market a new author's book (both Big 5 publishers and smaller presses)? What do they expect the author to do to market their own book?
I'm just trying to get a better idea of how this portion of the business actually works.
Thanks so much!