“What’s the difference between royalty publishing and self publishing?”

I often hear this question when I meet with writers at Christian writers conferences, and always appreciate the opportunity to answer it.

Let’s start by explaining how a royalty publisher works. When contracting with you as an author, the publisher:

1. Funds the professional production of the book
2. Owns the rights
3. Retains editorial rights to the content
4. Takes approximately two years to get your book into print
5. Pays a small royalty on sales (typically 5-15% of the net, or anywhere between $0.25 and $1.50 per copy)
6. Makes the profit from the sales
7. Has their in-house publicist conduct a limited campaign
8. Advertises the book in their catalog
9. Sells through their sales force to bookstores
10. Determines how long the book stays in print

However, when self-publishing, you:

1. Fund the production of your book
2. Retain all rights
3. Maintain editorial control
4. Can get your book into print in much less than one year
5. Earn a much higher return on each sale
6. Make the profit (typically 4-5 times more than what you’d earn in royalties)
7. Fund your own publicity and marketing campaign
8. Plan and underwrite your own advertising campaign
9. Secure distribution to bookstores
10. Keep your book in print as long as you want

Oftentimes, the challenge in self-publishing is ending up with a product that is inferior and losing out on distribution to bookstores. That’s why working with a reputable custom publisher is so vital.

Just today I heard from an author who decided to save money by going to a “do-it-yourself” self-publisher to get his book out. He had to provide the cover and the formatted text, which he is now embarrassed by due to numerous typos and grammar issues. Sure, it’s available on Amazon, but he has absolutely no distribution to bookstores. He got his book in print quickly, but now he’s sorry he didn’t publish with WinePress in the first place.

After all, you never have a second chance to make a first impression!

Athena Dean is a Solutions Advisor for the WinePress division. She works with new authors who have a need for at least 2,500 copies printed on a traditional press.