This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Should you hire a vanity publisher for your book? Should you actually pay a publisher to publish your book? I really appreciated this question as an author. I often talk to other people who want to write books and this question comes up in some forms. They don't always realize what they're getting into.
And so we're gonna talk about it here today. The best publishing options for your book and why, in my opinion, I'll just say it right now, why you should avoid vanity presses, why you should not pay companies to publish your book. It's usually better to go the other way around. And also if you can't get a traditional publisher while self-publishing is totally fine and great and wonderful. And it's a lot different from what we're talking about here.
So if this is confusing, I'm gonna break it down for you. We have a question from Mary in Chicago. She's in the process of writing your first book and is looking at different options. So if you have ever wondered whether to go with a fee-based publisher or explore another route, or if you're just like, hey, maybe one day I wanna write a book, what's the best way to do it? Well, there is more than one way, but there's also a way that you should not do it.
Again, in my opinion, but I'm always gonna give it to you straight. Let's talk it out. Detailed question and my answer coming up after this quick shout out to our sponsor. [Music]
Hi Chris, this is Mary from Chicago. I'm in the process of writing my first book and exploring different publishing options.
I've come across publishers that offer to publish my book for a fee. Should I go with one of these companies or are there better alternatives? What are the pros and cons of using a publisher? And how can I ensure that my book reaches its audience effectively? Your insights have always been invaluable and I'd love your advice on this.
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Hey Mary, I'm so glad you brought this up and also congratulations on writing your first book. Definitely a fun journey. I recommend writing a book as an author. I know I'm a little bit biased, but let's dive into some possibilities here. And also, as I said, my clear opinion, why you should stay clear, steer clear that is, I guess both stay and steer clear of vanity publishers.
So basically there are these companies that charge you a fee to publish your book. They often make really big promises, but then they don't deliver on the value they claim. They're like, oh, we're gonna design a cover for you. Well, you can do that pretty easily yourself these days. You can hire somebody on fiber to do it.
A lot of people are using AI art for covers. Other promises they make, other services they offer, but they come at a steep price and with questionable quality. So vanity presses, I don't recommend that. But what do you do instead? Well, you can of course try to get a traditional publisher, which is a whole journey.
We've talked about it a couple of times in other episodes. You need to find an agent usually, the agent pitches. It's a long process, maybe three to six months. If it's fast, sometimes it can take a year or longer. And of course not everybody's able to get a traditional publishing deal.
So if you can't do that, or maybe even if you can, self-publishing, that is different than vanity press publishing. Self-publishing is like, I'm just gonna do it myself. I don't have to pay this company. I'm gonna use Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing or there are others, IngramSpark, Smashwords. And this way you retain complete control over your book.
You keep the biggest share of the profits, which is actually even better than traditional publishing. You can keep up to 70% of royalties on your ebook sales in particular. Audio book, you can have a really high margin as well. So these are the two paths I recommend people to consider. Traditional publishing with those pros and cons.
Self-publishing with those pros and cons. The third route of the vanity press, not the best option for most people. I know there's lots of different companies out there. I don't mean to criticize the entire industry. Maybe there's some exception, but for the most part, I think if you want to publish a book, you've got better options.
And I don't want you to waste your money. So good luck listeners. Let me know if you have had some experience with this. We have lots of authors out there and lots of people writing books. And so always wishing you well.
I'm excited about writing my next book comes out. Well, it's still like many months off. So I'll tell you about it more as it gets closer, but I do love the world of books. So always hope to be helpful there. If you have a question or comment, sidehustleschool.com/questions, we'll continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow their projects.
Thank you for being out there. Much more is coming up. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from the Onward Project.
