# Types of publishing



## Addison (Mar 25, 2014)

We grew up with printed books and audio books. Nothing else, just paper and ink. Now we have traditional, self/indie and e-books. Each and everyone has their pros and cons. I found this article and knew I had to get it out there. I also thought it would be interesting to see who preferred what type of publishing. 

The Roses are Dead (Too Much Manure in Publishing) | H.M. Ward: New York Times Bestselling NA Romance & YA Author

I haven't had a lot of experience with the other publishing types. I prefer the printed book, something solid you can hold in your hands, pages to dog-ear, reasons to buy and USE book marks.


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## Steerpike (Mar 25, 2014)

Can't traditional, self, and indie all encompass eBook? Most self-publishers do eBooks these days it seems. What distinction are you wanting to make there?


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## Addison (Mar 25, 2014)

Ah. Okay, traditional means going the traditional way. Writing the story, maybe an agent and going to a big publishing house who can get it in book stores and help plan book signings.  

Selfie/Indie: Write the book (not sure if agents go with this), find a publisher who either prints on demand or such. I'm not sure how this method works.

E-book: Write the book, no agent, log on to the right site and set it up so people can buy and download a copy. 

I hope this clarified things.


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## TWErvin2 (Mar 25, 2014)

So, traditional is only for like the big five publishers?

The second method is a small press, but I am not sure why it's called selfie?

The third is basically self-publishing, but self-publishing often includes print books and sometimes audiobooks.?


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## Philip Overby (Mar 26, 2014)

This article kind of seems like one of those "the industry is changing and you're going to get left behind" posts that I see a lot of. Not to say what she says isn't true, it's just I kind of have "publishing fatigue" from hearing about which "side" is right. Want to publish traditionally? Cool, try it. Want to go indie? Cool, try that as well. If the industry does change in one direction and all traditional publishers become obsolete, I can't see that as a good thing. I don't understand this all or nothing way of approaching publishing. Maybe I'm a "newb" and just don't get it, but I don't see why any author wouldn't weigh their options depending on each book. Maybe some have a marketing master plan, but for me, I think I may have some books that may work better as being traditionally published, why I have others that might be better suited for self-publishing.

That said, if I had my druthers, I'd pick hybrid, meaning publishing traditionally (which I would include big publishers and small presses) with some books and self-publishing others. When I think of traditional, I think of submitting a manuscript to someone who then says yay or nay. When I think self-publishing, I think doing all of the quality control yourself (which can be zero or a lot, depending on your approach). 

As for the hybrid approach, I don't know every step that goes into doing this, but those who do it have convinced me it's worth trying.


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## Addison (Mar 26, 2014)

I've done some research, both on the publishing itself and the end results, and have found a small distinction between E-publishing and selfie publishing. 

With e-publishing, in today's technological high, anyone can publish anything. Whether it's the next horror to give Stephen King a run or a five-year old's story about a spotted kitty. But usually these stories stay in the virtual techno world orbiting our atmosphere and bouncing between towers. 

With selfie I've found most of it is published on demand. I got that type of book once, I think it was called "Demons, Seers and Sorcerers" or such. It was a good book too. With this selfie thin the publisher only actually publishes for book stores if so many are bought. I believe in these cases, most of these cases any way, the publishers double check-they're hybrid publishers and editors-before it's printed. In more of these cases these days, the stories are bought first in virtual then, when so many are bought, they become tangible books on shelves. 

Me, personally, I prefer either traditional or selfie as both provide tangible books.


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## Addison (Mar 26, 2014)

I've recently done a LOT of research into the world of publishing. There's a lot of publishers that do self-publishing works. If you've read "The Tiger's Curse" series then you may know it started as a self-publish and was bought by a traditional publisher. So we know that a self-published story can take a freeway to the city of traditional publishing. So can't traditional publishing take the exit to self-publishing?

If so, which route do you use? Self to traditional or traditional to self?


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## Steerpike (Mar 26, 2014)

But when you publish an ebook by yourself, you are, by definition, "self publishing." I think that was part of the initial confusion. Self-publishing can be in ebook form or by physical books. I think indie publishing is usually considered publishing through someone else, but not one of the established publishers (small press, etc), and can also be physical books or ebooks.

And of course traditional publishers also publish ebooks.


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## Addison (Mar 26, 2014)

I guess I' really asking which route do you prefer?

The traditional path? Get an agent, get a publisher and published.
The e-book path? Write the story, convert the format and put it on amazon.
The other selfie path? Write a story, find a self-publishing company to get your story out in e or physical format.


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## psychotick (Mar 26, 2014)

Hi,

I voted for both self and ebook since they seemed the same. And given your definitions they still seem the same. Look I self publish - I'm proud to be an indie. That means my books go as ebooks on Amazon and Smashwords. They also go as paperbacks through CreateSpace - which is another branch of Amazon. It's all indie.

The only thing I can imagine you're trying to seperate out is something like boutique publishing through tiny little indipendant publishers - but that would still be trade publishing in my view. It's still giving it to someone else to publish vs doing it yourself.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Julian S Bartz (Mar 26, 2014)

psychotick said:


> Hi,
> 
> The only thing I can imagine you're trying to seperate out is something like boutique publishing through tiny little indipendant publishers - but that would still be trade publishing in my view. It's still giving it to someone else to publish vs doing it yourself.



I concur with Greg. There is self publishing. The most common route these days is Smashwords and Amazon for eBook and then Createspace for print paperback on demand. Essentially you are doing it all yourself. You end up with both paperbacks and digital novels.

I self published but did try to go traditional first with no luck. I enjoyed both the process of submitting to publishers and also self publishing. I recently published a blog post about some of the truths of self publishing a lot of people don't often talk about. Got a *lot* of feedback for that so it seems there are a lot of indie publishers out there. I think as a result of fewer traditional publishers taking on new authors, and the ease of self publishing, combined with more writers than ever out there.


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## TWErvin2 (Mar 27, 2014)

A lot of the confusion is that the terminology used to described the types or routes to publication varies from one person to the next, with overlapping features.

*Traditional* publishing is also called trade publishing. Some consider only the major five with small press not being counted in this area.
*Small Press Publishing*, which some call e-publishing (ebook publishing) or indie publishing.
*Self-publishing*, which some also call indie publishing, or e-publishing.
*Subsidy Publishing *which some also call vanity publishing, and some also call a form of self-publishing.

Relatively newer is the *Hybrid Publishing*, which would include some form of self-publishing and some form of either traditional small press.


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## Chilari (Mar 27, 2014)

Addison, don't confuse medium with route. All routes offer the opportunity to publish in ebook and physical copies, albeit in different ways. The way I see it, these are the key categories:

*Traditional publishing*. Usually refers to the Big Five/Six, but depending on who you ask, can include small presses too. Involves finding an agent, submitting to a publisher, being paid an advance and/or royalties. The author just needs to write, edit, and do some marketing. The publisher deals with covers, formatting and distribution, and assists with editing. The agent deals with contracts.

*Small press-publishing*. Same process as for the Big Five/Six, but you're more likely to get a publishing contract without needing to get an agent. You're also more likely to be able to keep ebook rights yourself, enabling a hybrid route.

*Self-publishing*. No agent and no publisher required. The author does everything, from writing and editing to finding a cover artist and a professional editor, and ultimately to arranging or doing formatting and uploading to a distibrutor's website, whether that's an ebook distibrutor or a print on demand service (or both). Can be part of, or lead to, hyrbid publishing.

*Hybrid publishing*. A mixture of self-publication and traditional or small press publication. Either you publish first, a publisher or agent spots it and decides to offer a contract for publishing physical books or the sequel, etc, or you get a contract with a small press and hold onto your ebook rights, and thus have yourself as publisher for one book or one medium, and a small press or sometimes big press for another book or medium. Basically, you're doing a bit of self-publishing, and a bit of traditional/small press publishing.

*Vanity publishing*. The wrong way to go. Author pays upfront fees to a "publisher" who then arranges cover, editing, marketing, or none of the above, depending on what they commit to. They upload your book to Amazon, POD services etc and pay you a fraction of the royalties you'd get if you'd just done it yourself.

All routes have some option for both ebook and paper book, it's just different routes need different ways of approaching getting them, and the cover price and royalties vary depending on the medium and the publication route.


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## Addison (Mar 31, 2014)

I did some research and found a site that gave me the top five self publishing companies. The site weighed in on everything, price, range of distribution, services included, royalties retained and given, customer satisfaction, customer base, marketing services, response time, user friendly website, pre-publishing help, response time and everything. 
Here is their list:
1.) First Edition Design Publishing.
2.)Ebooks2Go
3.)Publishing Green
4.) Book Masters
5.) Bookbaby
6.)Lulu
7.)Outskirts Press
8.)Smashwords

Weigh in everyone. Agree, disagree, know other companies?


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## Addison (Mar 31, 2014)

Found two more:

Xlibris and Pagepublishing


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## Chilari (Apr 1, 2014)

I don't know about the others, but Page Publishing seems to have something unsavoury about it. There was a thread about it here.


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## The Blue Lotus (Apr 2, 2014)

Personally speaking, since I do not own an E-Reader it is not a route that I would want to go. 
I prefer like you Addison, an actual book made from dead trees.

This thread did teach me something! I'd not heard of this hybrid route until now. (Learn something new every day right?) 
That seems like a pretty good balance. 
Techy enough for the people who don't want a physical book, but old school enough for those who still have or want to have a library! 

It took me far too long in school to learn to read, write, and spell, so that I could spend countless hours digging through the piles of books in all the libraries in the places I've lived. Card Catalogues, the Dewey Decimal system, both annoying and cumbersome, but worth it when, after all that effort you walk through the stacks and locate your prey. 

It makes one feel like a wild lion on the Savanna, stalking the Zebra and leaping upon it. Bringing it down, and dancing in victory as you ward off potential rivals seeking to take your kill from you. :dance:

You just don't get the same sense of accomplishment with e-books. 

Since we started talking about building a house, there are things we all need, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and for husband a theater room and for me a freaking library with floor to ceiling shelving! How can I fill up those planned shelves if no one wants to be bothered with traditional publishing any more? 

I want my children, the neighbor's children and my sibling's children to have that experience, that moment of victory, even if it is just on a smaller scale in my own personal library. 

I have three steamer trunks filled with books, along with suitcases of all sizes. I pick up free books from local people in the area who are decluttering and I'd say at this point I'd be hard pressed to give it all up for yet another electronic device, that will die in a few years and need to be replaced. Books don't die! Well, not unless you do something especially dumb like getting them wet or setting them on fire.


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## Devor (Apr 4, 2014)

Addison said:


> I did some research and found a site that gave me the top five self publishing companies. The site weighed in on everything, price, range of distribution, services included, royalties retained and given, customer satisfaction, customer base, marketing services, response time, user friendly website, pre-publishing help, response time and everything.



What's your source?  I don't understand that list at all.


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## Addison (Apr 4, 2014)

Here's the link to the website where I got the list:

Self Publishing Publisher Ranking - Top 10 - Reviews eBooks and POD / Print


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## Mythopoet (Apr 5, 2014)

Addison said:


> I did some research and found a site that gave me the top five self publishing companies. The site weighed in on everything, price, range of distribution, services included, royalties retained and given, customer satisfaction, customer base, marketing services, response time, user friendly website, pre-publishing help, response time and everything.
> Here is their list:
> 1.) First Edition Design Publishing.
> 2.)Ebooks2Go
> ...



Addison, licensing the rights to your work to have a company other than yourself publish it is NOT self-publishing, by definition. Companies that claim they will help you "self-publish" a book are generally scams and vanity publishers.

The differing methods of publishing have nothing to do with what kind of companies you do business with but everything to do with what the author does with the rights to their work. Licensing your rights to a publishing company to publish the book and for that company to take on all expenses in publishing the book in exchange for a percentage of the profits from the book is traditional publishing. It doesn't matter what the company is or how large or small it is or what format it publishes your book in. It's still traditional publishing.

Companies who license the rights to your book but make you pay up front the costs of publishing the book as well as taking a percentage of the profits from the book are vanity publishers. This route is a scam and all authors should avoid this route no matter what. Many so called self publishing companies work this way. This includes companies like Author Solutions and Xlibris which are owned by some of the Big Pub companies. 

Self publishing is when the author retains the rights to their work and takes on the responsibilities of publishing the work themselves. The author is the publisher. The author can do all the tasks involved in preparing the work for publication themselves or may choose to hire out the work to freelance professionals for a flat fee. If the author hires a cover artist or an editor those professionals have no stake it the rights to the work. The author works directly with retailers to sell the work and thus is the only one with direct access to sales data and the only one who receives money directly from the retailer for sales. The author is in control.

I chose the self-publishing option on the poll before reading into the thread with this description in mind.


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## MichaelSullivan (Apr 8, 2014)

I don't understand the choices. The poll should be:

* Self
* Traditional
* Hybrid

There are plenty of ebook only traditional publishers and most self-published authors are ebook only so having it included int he list just doesn't make sense to me.


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