Should I pursue traditional publishing for this book? This is one of the most common questions writers ask, and the answer is almost always, “It depends.”

But what does it depend on?

Pros of Traditional Publishing

Why do authors pick traditional publishing as an option? Successful traditionally published authors keep coming back to traditional publishers. So what are the pros of traditional publishing?

Pro #1: The publisher edits, packages, and markets the book.

When it comes to writing a book, much of the heavy lifting—like finding a good editor, cover designer, interior designer, marketing team, and publicity support—is handled and paid for by the traditional publisher.

Pro #2: Gatekeepers help protect your reputation.

The second advantage of traditional publishing is the presence of gatekeepers. You might think, “Wait a minute, I thought gatekeepers were a downside.” Gatekeepers can be a downside, but they also provide benefits. Gatekeepers, like literary agents and editors, help protect your reputation because they won’t publish something unless they’re willing to stake their own reputation on it. They’re looking out for you in that sense.

Some authors lack a clear perspective on the quality of their own writing. As my co-host on my other podcast, Novel Marketing, likes to say, “It’s hard to read the label when you’re standing inside the bottle.” Some writers think their work is terrible when it’s actually great, while others believe their writing is excellent when it really needs improvement.

Gatekeepers provide an unbiased third-party opinion. An editor or literary agent who doesn’t know you personally has no obligation to maintain a friendship with you. They’re not married to you or part of your family; their loyalty is to the truth. They won’t tell you your book is excellent when it really needs work. Gatekeepers are valuable in protecting your reputation by ensuring that you don’t publish something that could embarrass you. Once a book is out there, especially in printed form, it’s nearly impossible to take it back.

George Lucas created the original Star Wars trilogy, which was excellent. He also made the prequels, which I personally think are great. However, he also created the Star Wars Holiday Special, and it’s terrible. It’s so bad that Lucas has tried to destroy all copies of it. You can’t buy it anywhere. There are no legitimate copies available, yet it persists. If only a gatekeeper had told him, “George, this isn’t good enough.” The same thing happens in publishing.

Pro #3: The Three Cs

When somebody asks me what traditional publishing brings to the table, I rattle off the three Cs of capital, credibility, and contacts.

Capital

The business model of traditional publishing is similar to that of venture capitalists, such as those who invest in Silicon Valley startups. Venture capitalists might invest in ten companies and expect seven or eight of them to fail. Out of the remaining three, they expect two to break even, and one to become the next Facebook—worth billions of dollars and generating enough profit to cover the losses from the companies that failed.

Believe it or not, this venture capital model works and has done so fairly consistently for the past 30 years. Companies like Facebook, Uber, and Dropbox have become worth billions. The relatively small investment became a significant return.

It’s the same in traditional publishing. Most of the costs of publishing a book, paying the editor, cover designer, and interior designer are all one-time costs and don’t vary much based on how many copies are sold.

If you spend $1,000 on the cover of your book and sell 1,000 copies, the cost of the cover per book is $1. But if you spend the same $1,000 and sell 10,000 copies, the cost per book drops to just $0.10. This is why having a bestseller is incredibly lucrative for publishing companies. They make most of their money from big hits. Every time they sign an author, they’re aiming for a home run. If they can get a book to sell 100,000 copies, they stand to make a significant profit due to the way the economics work.

Traditional publishing is a high-risk business because of these fixed costs. If a book doesn’t sell enough copies, they don’t recoup their investment and end up losing money. However, the risk isn’t as extreme as in venture capital endeavors. Traditional publishers generally lose money on about five of every ten books they publish, and they break even on more of them. Compared to venture capitalists, who expect to lose money on seven of ten investments, publishers expect to lose money on about half of their books. They aim to break even or make a modest profit on a few, and they’re always hoping for that one home run out of ten.

Some publishers perform better, while others do worse, and each has its own approach to the business. Some smaller publishers take a more conservative strategy. They invest minimal amounts, aiming for modest returns rather than big hits. But in general, this is the trend I’ve observed in the industry.

When a traditional house publishes a book, they often invest between $10,000 and $30,000 into it. This amount covers the author’s advance, the work of various professionals involved, and the overhead costs of the publishing company, which the book must also support. The specific amount varies by publisher. Larger publishers have higher overhead costs, so each book needs to sell more copies to be profitable. Smaller publishers, while requiring fewer sales to break even, still face significant upfront expenses. Even a small publisher typically expects to invest at least $5,000 or more into publishing a book.

Credibility

This credibility isn’t primarily with readers. Most readers don’t know or care whether a book is traditionally or independently published as long as it’s well-produced. It’s only when a book is poorly self-published that obvious signs give it away. However, if you invest a reasonable amount in a quality cover, interior design, and professional editing, readers will likely have no idea that your book was independently published.

The credibility we’re talking about here is with others in the industry—people who know the difference between publishers like Harvest House and Thomas Nelson. This includes bookstore owners, award committees, journalists, librarians, and media outlets. For example, major media outlets often have established relationships with big publishers. The PR representative from a major publisher might be on a first-name basis with a TV show’s producer, making it easier to get a book featured on that show. Librarians are also aware of which publishers have strong reputations. That’s the kind of credibility that matters in the industry.

While independent authors might argue that readers don’t care who publishes a book (and they’re right!), this credibility is essential when dealing with industry professionals who do pay attention to the publisher’s name.

Contacts

Having industry contacts goes hand in hand with credibility. Publishers often have connections with a network of bloggers who regularly review books and relationships with various podcasts. I believe podcasting is an underutilized tool in marketing. Building a network of podcasts provides opportunities for advertising and allows authors to be featured as guests, which expands their reach.

Building networks of contacts is crucial, especially when it comes to bookstores. Any independently published book can be ordered through a service like Ingram or Amazon, and you can walk into any Barnes & Noble and have it shipped to you at full price.

However, getting your book on the shelf is a different challenge. For that to happen, the bookstore owner or manager must decide to stock your book, and that usually requires a personal relationship. Traditional publishers have sales teams dedicated to building these relationships. These teams don’t talk to readers; they talk to bookstore owners. As large bookstore chains decline or close, the need for these sales teams is increasing. What used to be a single call to a major chain like LifeWay now requires multiple calls to smaller regional bookstores and even to churches that have their own bookstores.

Pro #4: You’re surrounded by professionals.

One advantage of traditional publishing is that you’re surrounded by a team of professionals. You’ll have an agent (which is essential unless you’re working with a very small publishing house), an experienced editor, a professional cover designer, PR people, and sales and marketing experts. All these people work together like a safety net, ensuring your book is presented in the best possible light.

Pro #5: Your book can be placed in physical bookstores.

Traditional publishing is still the primary way to get your book into physical bookstores. While it’s possible for independently published books to be shelved in stores, making that happen often requires a significant financial investment, like hiring your own sales team and essentially operating like a traditional publisher. One of the biggest advantages of traditional publishing is having your book placed in bookstores, which can be critical for some titles.

However, this advantage is less relevant for fiction. About 70% of audiobook sales and most ebook sales are for fiction, meaning that fiction readers often prefer digital formats. Those who read over 100 books a year usually choose ebooks or audiobooks because they’re more cost-effective and save physical space. While some readers still enjoy being surrounded by stacks of paperbacks, many have shifted to digital formats, making bookstore placement less crucial for fiction than it once was.

For nonfiction, the situation is quite different. Most nonfiction book sales have traditionally been in the print format, and that is likely to continue. Print is simply a better format for nonfiction because it allows readers to highlight text, remember the location of information on a page, and engage their spatial memory. It’s also easier to skip chapters, skim content, and navigate the book in a way that suits their needs. Skimming, in particular, is much more challenging with ebooks and almost impossible with audiobooks. As someone who’s read over 500 audiobooks, I find it nearly impossible to skim them effectively. This makes physical bookstore placement crucial for nonfiction, as nonfiction readers still prefer print.

Pro #6: Most awards are for traditionally published authors only.

Most prestigious awards are exclusive to traditionally published books because traditional publishers pay to enter these competitions. Typically, publishers choose what they consider their best books and pay a submission fee, which can be a few hundred dollars or more, depending on the award. This means independent authors generally aren’t eligible for the top-tier awards in the publishing world.

While independent authors have created their own awards, these are usually less well-known. But winning an indie award and displaying a badge like “Independent Book Award” could signal to readers that the book is self-published, which they might not have noticed otherwise. If winning awards is a significant part of your publishing strategy, traditional publishing is likely your best option.

Pro #7: Traditional publishers use Matthew-Principle-based marketing investments.

The Matthew Principle is a business concept rooted in a passage from the book of Matthew in the Bible, specifically the parable of the talents. In this story, Jesus describes three servants: one receives five talents, another three, and the last one receives just one talent. The servant with five talents earns five more, the one with three gains three more, but the servant with one talent buries it in the ground and earns nothing.

When the master returns, he takes the single talent from the servant who buried it and gives it to the one who had five. The moral of the parable is: “To him who has, more will be given. But to him who does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.” Traditional publishers apply this principle in their marketing strategy by investing more in their best-performing books and pulling resources from those that sell poorly.

If your publisher has other books that are easier to sell or are already selling better than yours, they’re likely to reallocate marketing funds away from your book and toward those higher-performing titles. On the other hand, if your book is among the most successful, the publisher will take funds from less popular books and invest them in yours.

As a former marketing director, I saw firsthand why this strategy works. For example, if I spent $100 on advertising for our most popular book, it would bring it $300. Investing $100 in our second-best book would yield $200—still profitable but a 50% lower return. But when I invested $100 in our worst-performing book, I might get back $10 or nothing at all. After seeing such poor results, I wouldn’t want to invest more in that book; instead, I’d redirect that budget to the top-selling book.

Some people might say this approach isn’t fair, but I’d respond: “Take it up with Jesus.” He’s the one who laid out this principle, which is a fundamental strategy for succeeding in business and maximizing sales. The goal is to focus on the books that resonate most with readers, making this strategy both an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on your book’s performance.

Cons of Traditional Publishing

Con #1: Traditional publishers use Matthew-Principle-based marketing investments.

If your book doesn’t make it into the top tier with a traditional publisher, it likely has only about 30 days to prove itself. After that initial period, the publisher will shift its focus to other titles, flagging your book as a poor performer and pulling marketing support. They’ll concentrate their efforts on books that are selling well.

Bookstores operate the same way. They’ll carry a new book for about 30 days, but if it doesn’t sell during that time, they’ll return it to the publisher without paying for it. Authors often celebrate when they hear that 5,000 copies of their book shipped out at launch, only to find out later that 3,000 copies were returned unsold. Once a bookstore returns the books it ordered, it’s unlikely to restock them.

For books that don’t sell well, the unsold copies might even be pulped and recycled into other products. It’s a tough market where success breeds more success.

Con #2: Gatekeepers can prevent you from being published.

You cannot say yes to yourself in traditional publishing. If the gatekeepers say no for whatever reason, you cannot be published traditionally.

For example, Mary DeMuth is an author who has published dozens of books. I’ve worked with her on many projects, and several years ago, she wanted to write a book about overcoming sexual abuse. When she presented the idea to her publisher, they turned it down. She then approached another publisher, who also said no. In total, she pitched the book to about a dozen publishers, including some she had worked with before. Despite her track record as a successful author with numerous books on the shelves, no one would publish it. The publishers believed there was no market for a book about women overcoming sexual abuse—hard to imagine, especially considering this was only six years ago, before the #MeToo movement.

Frustrated but determined, Mary decided to bypass traditional publishing. She launched a campaign on Indiegogo, asking her fans to help raise $10,000 to cover the costs of producing the book so she could use the same professionals she would have used if it had been traditionally published. Her fans responded with overwhelming support, raising $25,000, which was enough to publish the book and create an audiobook version.

You can now find Mary DeMuth’s book on Amazon and other retailers. This highlights one of the downsides of gatekeepers in traditional publishing: they can sometimes be blind to emerging trends in the market. If even one of those publishers had agreed to publish her book on overcoming sexual abuse back in 2014, they would have been well-positioned when the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the church abuse scandals came to light.

As someone who used to work as a gatekeeper in publishing, I can say that predicting the future is hard. We’re putting real money on the line, and if editors or agents at publishing houses make the wrong call, it can cost them their jobs. It’s a difficult balancing act, deciding which books will succeed and which won’t.

Every agent and editor has stories of passing on a book that went on to become successful. For example, Harry Potter was famously rejected by dozens of publishers, all of whom now regret that decision. Who could have predicted that a story about a young wizard attending a boarding school would become so successful? At the time, it was really hard to see, and that’s the risk that comes with being a gatekeeper in the industry.

Gatekeepers can be both a disadvantage and an advantage in traditional publishing. On the downside, if they say no, that’s the end of the road for traditional publishing for you and that book. However, on the upside, they can also protect your reputation by ensuring that only high-quality work gets through. But ultimately, to become traditionally published, you need a gatekeeper to say yes.

Con #3: You make between 80¢ and $1 per book.

How much you earn per book depends on various factors, but a good rule of thumb is to assume you make about a dollar per book for easy calculations. So, if you sell 10,000 books, you earn $10,000. If you’re writing one book a year, that means you’re making $10,000 annually, which isn’t a lot on a per-book basis. To make significant money, you need to sell a large number of books.

However, if you manage to sell a million copies, you could make a million dollars, and the earnings start to look much better. In fact, as your sales increase, you might earn more than a dollar per book. Some contracts offer higher royalties once you reach certain sales milestones because the publisher’s upfront costs have already been covered. As the publisher’s profit margins improve, they often share those increased margins with the author.

Con #4: You lack control.

All the professionals involved in traditional publishing, like marketers and designers, play a significant role in shaping your book and have a say in it. That means you have less control over the final product. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.

It’s a disadvantage if you have strong marketing instincts or a background in design, such as formal training in design school. In that case, your input might be overlooked because the professionals on your team are trained experts who have studied and worked in these fields and won’t likely consider your input.

However, the lack of control can actually be a benefit if you overestimate your own skills in areas like design or marketing. Many authors think they know what makes a great book cover or marketing strategy, but in my experience over the past ten years working with authors on websites and book covers, I’ve found that even though writers are artists, they often underestimate the complexity of design. Learning design is just as challenging as becoming a skilled author. People spend years studying in design school, and when they graduate, there’s always more to learn.

If you haven’t studied design or marketing in depth, the fact that professionals handle these aspects of your book is a good thing. You might know what you like, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you know what works to attract readers and sell your book in the marketplace, and that’s the purpose of a book cover. A book cover isn’t meant to be a pretty painting you hang on the wall. It is a persuasive case for somebody on why they should buy your book. A good cover makes somebody say, “I want to buy this book right away.” If it does that, and you hate the way it looks, it’s still a good book cover.

If you love the book cover and it does not make people want to buy, it’s a bad book cover. Ideally, you get both right. It convinces readers to read it, and you like the way that it looks. But ultimately, the book cover is not for the author, it’s for the reader.

Con #5: You get zero marketing data.

With traditional publishing, you get no direct access to marketing data, which is a significant drawback. I recently met with some publishers and vendors at the CPA conference who are introducing new software tools to help address this issue.

For effective marketing, you need to measure results to understand what works and what doesn’t. For example, it’s essential to know how many books were sold after a big radio promotion to gauge its effectiveness. Unfortunately, as a traditionally published author, you don’t have access to that kind of real-time data. You typically only receive aggregated sales reports every six months, which aren’t helpful when you’re trying to make timely marketing decisions.

Now, some publishers are planning to roll out author portals as these new tools allow for their authors to get that marketing data. But as of right now, I don’t know of any traditional publishers who give real-time marketing data, or any marketing data, to their authors.

This is one reason independent authors have made such significant gains in the publishing industry. All the growth in ebooks is happening with independent authors rather than traditional ones, mainly because indie fiction authors can quickly respond to market trends and adapt their marketing strategies in real time. They have a major advantage because they have access to their sales data almost immediately, sometimes within a day. This data allows them to fine-tune their marketing efforts based on what’s working right now.

Independent authors can apply the Matthew Principle themselves, redirecting both their time and money away from ineffective strategies. For example, they can quickly learn that organic Facebook posts aren’t effective for driving book sales, which indie authors have known for a long time. They see from their data that only Facebook ads generate results, while traditional authors may still be posting photos of their books on Facebook, unaware that it doesn’t significantly impact sales, simply because they lack the data to prove it.

Hopefully, the lack of marketing data for traditionally published authors will improve over the next five years. Some publishers are hesitant to share this information because it can be difficult to face the reality that a major PR effort, like a radio or blog tour, didn’t result in significant book sales. Seeing that kind of data can be discouraging for authors, and publishers often want to avoid those uncomfortable conversations.

It’s uncertain whether publishers will actually start providing this data, even as new technology makes it possible. It will be interesting to see whether they share these insights with their authors or not.

Con #6: Publishing with a traditional house is a slow process.

If you want to write a book and have it traditionally published, expect it to take around two years before your book appears on bookstore shelves. First, you’ll need to write the book and create a compelling book proposal. Then, you’ll go through the process of finding an agent. Once you sign with a publisher, it typically takes another 18 months, give or take, for the book to be released. Some publishers move faster than others, but overall, it’s a slow process.

For most books, the slow pace of traditional publishing isn’t a major drawback. If you use that time wisely, you can focus on building your platform and preparing for a strong launch. However, it poses a real challenge in the fiction market, where trends change quickly, and micro-genres can rise and fade within a couple of years. This makes it difficult for traditionally published fiction authors to capitalize on those trends. But for most books, the slow timeline is more of an inconvenience than a significant con.

Con #7: You get paid slowly.

In one sense, you get paid quickly with traditional publishing because you receive an advance before your book even hits the shelves. This advance often covers the first 5,000 copies sold, depending on how your agent negotiates your contract. However, once your book is released, royalty payments come in slowly. Most publishers pay royalties only twice a year, which means there’s a six-month delay in receiving your earnings, creating a slow cash flow cycle.

With indie publishing, you’re typically paid every month, with earnings arriving about 60 days after your sales occur. This means each month, you receive a check or an instant deposit into your bank account from Amazon based on your sales from two months prior. This regular cash flow gives you more flexibility when it comes to advertising, which makes it easier to reinvest in marketing.

I recently discussed book advertising with Chris Fox and noted why it’s not as viable for traditionally published authors. First, the profit margins are too low. If you’re only making a dollar per book, it’s nearly impossible to cover the cost of ads, especially when each click might cost you a dollar. Second, traditional authors lack access to real-time marketing data, making it difficult to track and optimize ad performance. Lastly, even if these issues were resolved, the slow payment cycle from traditional publishers would still create a negative cash flow, making it hard to sustain an advertising strategy.

Chris Fox can fund his ads using the revenue from book sales just a few months earlier. For example, he pays for ads in month four with the money he earned in month one. Even though there’s a slight delay, this cash flow cycle is still much faster than the six-month lag of traditional publishing, which makes it difficult to fund advertising on your own.

But as I mentioned before, if you’re one of the top-selling authors at a traditional publisher, the publisher handles the advertising for you. You don’t have to worry about learning how ads work or paying for them out of pocket. The publisher takes care of everything professionally, ensuring your books are marketed effectively, and all you need to do is focus on your writing.

Bottom Line

Traditional publishing is great if your novel has broad market appeal.

I recommend traditional publishing for authors whose novels have broad market appeal. If your novel is likely to reach a large audience and has the kind of appeal that makes people want to pick it up off a bookstore shelf, traditional publishing could be the right choice.

Traditional publishing is especially beneficial for novelists with a well-established brand. You can often tell how popular an author is by the size of their name on the book cover. For famous “big-name” authors, the font size of their name on the book cover is usually larger than the title because readers are buying the book based on the author’s reputation. For new authors, it’s the opposite. The book title is the most prominent feature on the cover. They rely on the title itself to attract readers since their name isn’t yet widely recognized.

Traditional publishing is better for general nonfiction.

Traditional publishing is also better for general nonfiction since having a print book is so important for nonfiction. You’re able to get placed in physical bookstores. If you go to a church, most of the books facing the congregants as they walk through the bookstore are nonfiction books. There’s a very strong bias for nonfiction in church bookstores.

Traditional publishing is better for reaching lots of people.

Traditional publishing is better if you care more about reaching lots of people than making money. The number of dollars you make per book isn’t great. You’re going to make a lot more money per book with indie publishing than you will with traditional publishing. If your goal is broad reach, traditional publishing is better. If your goal is deep, you might consider indie publishing.

Traditional publishing is better for poor authors.

If you don’t have the budget to invest in your book, traditional publishing is likely your best option. With true traditional publishing, you’re not required to spend money on anything. However, I’ve noticed that some publishers’ marketing departments sometimes try to persuade authors to pay for marketing assets, like a video trailer. They might say, “We don’t have the budget for it, but if you cover the $1,500 cost, we’ll promote it for you.”

While some publishers do this to offload marketing expenses onto the author, it’s not ideal. Marketing is supposed to be the publisher’s responsibility. From their perspective, it makes sense to get the author to cover these costs. It saves their budget and makes their marketing efforts look more robust, but it’s generally not in the author’s best interest to pay for these things.

Overall, if you’re broke, traditional publishing is the better choice because the publisher provides the capital and covers the expenses needed to produce and market your book.

Just as we took a deep dive into traditional publishing, exploring both its highlights and gritty details with honesty, we’ve done the same with independent publishing. Check out our episode on The Pros and Cons of Indie Publishing.

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