This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Welcome to Side Hustle School, episode 2,366. That's right, it is here in the middle of June. Well, I guess towards the end of June. For those listening along in real time, I have a book coming out in about two months. Book is called Gonzo Capitalism.
I've been working on it for the past three years. Really excited to share it with you. I'll tell you more as it gets closer. But for now, I've actually got a listener question from another author. Well, from an aspiring author.
This is Sam on the line from Ohio. He is a behavioral psychologist with a wealth of knowledge about the power of habits. Now habits can be a very effective book topic as well. Lots of books, best-selling books in that field. Sam is challenging his expertise into a book, hoping to help readers establish healthier routines.
And in doing so, he's begun to dip his toes into this self-publishing world. Now Sam has noticed that I have chosen to publish my books traditionally, like I have a publisher that I work with. They handle the distribution. They work with my foreign rights and translations and such. And so he's curious, why don't I just do it myself?
Like why not self-publish? You can make a lot more money doing it, at least on a per copy or per royalty basis. So let's talk about it. Sam, this is actually a really good question. It brings us to the heart of an important decision every author must face.
So let's talk about the two paths that Sam, as well as anybody else who wants to write a book, has before them when looking to share their work with the world. So why don't I self-publish my books? Detailed answer and Sam's question, of course, coming up after this quick shout out to our sponsor. [Music]
Hello, my name is Sam. And I've been listening to your podcast ever since the beginning.
As a behavioral psychologist, I've also spent years studying the power of habits in our daily lives. I've decided to channel this knowledge into writing a book aimed at helping people create healthier habits. As I dig into the world of self-publishing, figuring out the ins and outs of this industry, it got me thinking about you and your series of successful books. I've noticed you've opted to go the traditional publishing route, and I'm curious to understand why you made that choice. Specifically, why haven't you considered self-publishing your books?
Understanding your rationale might help me make a more informed decision about my own work. - Sam, great question. Congratulations on writing your book. I tend to geek out on this kind of topic, so I'm gonna try to be concise. I actually love everything about writing books.
When I was a kid, I was a big reader, and then later as an adult, when I started studying the world of publishing, I really went into understanding all the details and nuance of it and such. So, like I said, I'll try to be concise. Definitely more money involved in self-publishing, at least per copy or per royalty, just to give you some rough parameters. For a traditionally published book, if you buy the hardcover copy of it, author's gonna make between one and $3 a copy. If you buy the paperback, author's gonna make like a dollar, maybe.
Maybe $2, no more than that, for sure. Ebooks, audio, it's also in that like $1 to $3 range. That's for traditionally published. If an author is self-publishing and the book costs $20, they can make $15 on it, in some cases. May not always be that much, it might be half of that, but still, it's like a lot more compared to the royalty for traditional publishing.
So, why doesn't everybody do it that way? Why don't I do it that way? Well, I'm kind of a one-man shop for the most part, and I've got a couple people that work with me, but there's a lot of stuff that I don't want to do. And so, working with a traditional publisher, they do a lot of stuff that I don't wanna do. They handle the distribution all across North America, and then for all my foreign markets as well.
Like there's relationships with sub-rights publishers in lots of different countries for all the translations. There's just a lot to that. And even just with like the traditional publishing in one country for one book, I really benefit from my relationship with my editor and some of the other team members at the publisher, the sense of accountability, the sense of, okay, there's some deadlines. That really helps me as somebody who has ADD and has a lot of different projects in the mix. I like to be able to have a sense of accountability that traditional publishing provides.
And then if you have a book that really takes off, which doesn't always happen, it's what you always want to happen, but usually it doesn't. But when it does, like there is a lot that has to happen with distribution and printing and promotion, and just having some more people in the process, I have found to be very helpful for me. So that's why I do it that way. There's nothing wrong with one way or the other really. And of course, not everybody has the opportunity to do traditional publishing, whereas everyone can self-publish a book.
So that also comes with pros and cons. Most self-published books never really go anywhere, like sell very, very few copies. But of course, a lot of traditionally published books don't sell well either. So you just got to figure out what's best for you, but those are some pros and cons. Hopefully that helps a little bit.
Let me know if I can help further. And listeners, if you have a question, www.sidehustleschool.com/questions. Love to know what you're up to, what your money-making ideas are, if you're writing books or anything else. And of course, we have a new episode, "Seven Days a Week." My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
