What do you see as the drawbacks or the down side of self-publishing?  Of traditional publication?  Of small presses?  Of the big five/six?

Kat Martin

The down side of ebook publishing is getting the books into readers hands.  The competition is staggering.  Authors don’t value themselves highly enough, sell them for $.99 or give them away for free.  It’s really tough to make a living.  The down-side of traditional is that the print runs are decreasing very rapidly.  Again, hard to make a living.

Benjamin Wallace

Distribution is the biggest downside of self-publishing. Prime placement on thousands of shelves would certainly help with exposure. But, I like the control self-publishing grants compared to traditional publishers. Cover, title, content, release dates and release rate are all mine to decide.

Catherine Bybee

The down side of self-publishing is that many books are being published before they are ready. Some probably shouldn’t be published at all. I know that sounds awful, but if an author releases bad work it will be impossible to get back those readers who took a chance on their book. The down side to traditional publication is low advances and shitty terms. That hasn’t changed. If an author only has a book or two at most in them per year, they really lock up their ability to make a living when going with the big six. Contracts are tricky things and authors need to have legal advice or a damn good agent helping them out. The down side of small press”¦ uhm, I think for new authors there aren’t many. But be very picky about which press you go with. Not all are the same. Pay attention to the other authors and their approval rating of their publisher. I think for new authors learning the process with a small press is very valuable. You work with editors, hopefully have some say in cover art”¦ but small press that doesn’t promote or work to find readers will limit an authors ability to get their books in readers hands. A bad small press can ruin an author. Be very, very careful. Getting your rights back with a bad small press can be very difficult. Find reputable people.

Laurin Wittig

The downside of self-publishing is that you have to become a jack of all publishing trades. Fortunately, now you can hire out a lot of the work, but you still have to find the contractors, arrange for the work to be done, supervise the results, etc. Even if you hire out most of the jobs, you are still ultimately the boss, not just the creator. If you aren’t willing to put in the hours learning all these jobs and then getting them done, you aren’t likely to find a lot of success in indie publishing. Trad publishing ““ the only up-sides I see to trad publishing are the possibility of getting your book in a bookstore (though with more and more bookstores closing, print runs being slashed, and an increase in e-only contracts, this is already not a guarantee for all trad published authors) and the cache that still comes with being trad published (though I am seeing this be less and less important every day). The downsides are often poorer and usually less frequent pay, loss of most if not all control and collaboration in the publishing process beyond the manuscript revision stage, and little if any marketing support unless, of course, you are already a bestselling author. I also have to say that my less than happy experience strongly colors my opinions about trad publishing, so your mileage may vary. I’ve never published with a small press, though I understand some reviewers in the industry consider Montlake a small press due to the number of books they publish per year, but I doubt they function like a small press.

Tanya Anne Crosby

The drawbacks of self publishing: very time consuming, and unless you have a certain track record, or audience, I can see that it might be very difficult to be “discovered.” I have friends with amazing books who can’t seem to get the traction. The drawbacks of traditional publication: lack of overall control, you’re on someone else’s dime and time.

Donna Ann Bell

Price.  It’s hard to compete with free and low-price books until readers can trust that you have a good book.  I’ve been blessed to have been made Deal of the Day twice with Amazon and Kobo.  Fortunately, readers are giving my books a chance and word of mouth, in my opinion, is still the best way to find new authors.

Vicky Dreiling

First of all, you can’t lump all traditional publishers in the same basket, and I imagine the same is true for self-published authors as well. There are always writers who have the talent and the drive to succeed, regardless of what format(s) they choose for publication. My experience with traditional publishing has been positive.

Suzan Tisdale

I’ve only ever self-published so I can’t speak of what I don’t know. However, I do wish I could get the paperbacks into book and mortar stores faster.

Morgan Hannah MacDonald

What do you see as the drawbacks or the down side of self-publishing? The foreign market. I’d like to sell my foreign rights, having a book translated costs thousands of dollars.

Of traditional publication?  They don’t know the ebook market and usually price the books as high as print.

Of small presses?  You get no advances, or little, then make only 35%-50% of the book.  And they don’t market your book.

Of the big five/six? They don’t market your book unless you’ve hit the NY Times best sellers list. And they do a limited print until you prove yourself, but how can you sell books that aren’t available. There have been self-published authors that have passed on offers from NY because they make more on their own.