# Your preferred method of Publishing??



## NewbieWriter (Jul 31, 2013)

So this is just kind of a random question:

What do you prefer to do when it comes to publishing? Do you prefer to self-publish? Get an agent?

What's your opinion on each and why??


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## phillipsauthor (Aug 2, 2013)

Check out the "Submit Direct to a Small Publisher?" thread in this forum for some thoughts already written on this question.


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## Kevin O. McLaughlin (Aug 4, 2013)

Self publish. I've done both, and while I might work with a trade publisher again, I definitely prefer the indie option in the current publishing climate.


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## C Hollis (Aug 4, 2013)

I'm with Kevin on this, for several reasons.

One of them being the brick and mortar stores are falling down around us left and right, which was one of the advantages of trade publishers.


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## Kevin O. McLaughlin (Aug 4, 2013)

C Hollis said:


> I'm with Kevin on this, for several reasons.
> 
> One of them being the brick and mortar stores are falling down around us left and right, which was one of the advantages of trade publishers.



It still IS their main advantage, and will be for a while yet. That and, if you get picked up by a publisher, you know in advance how much you are making (your advance; most books don't earn out). Not so much sweating over whether or not you're going to make any money from the book. 

My main issues with TP right now are pretty simple:
- I will not sign a non-compete clause. (This makes working with most major trad pubs impossible right now.)
- I would like my rights to either revert in a reasonable number of years or the publisher to be contractually obligated to pay me annually to retain the rights.
- I have no interest in hiring an agent at this time, yet many publishers still prefer this.
- The timeline on which major publishers work is not useful to me. If I have a book ready, I'd like to see it published THIS year, not two or three years from now. (This is a smaller quibble, to be fair.)
- I've gone both routes. Indie publishing is frankly WAY more fun for me.


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## C Hollis (Aug 4, 2013)

> It still IS their main advantage, and will be for a while yet. That and, if you get picked up by a publisher, you know in advance how much you are making (your advance; most books don't earn out). Not so much sweating over whether or not you're going to make any money from the book.



I agree, it is still an advantage, but it is shrinking, and as you mentioned with the two or three year layover from acceptance to published, where will the brick and mortar be in 3 years?  B&N continues it's identity crisis...

For myself, the advance is comparable to selling your soul to the devil.

Like I said, I have several reasons for my lack of interest in old school, and you have listed many of them.

It takes patience and perseverance to be Indie, and I have that aplenty.  However, I always encourage folks to research all avenues and find the one that best fits their goals.  For myself, it was Indie, for others it could very well be traditional.  Just make sure you do your research and not buy in to all the hype around any method.


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