Self-Publishing own book is dream for many but of-course it is not hassle free. For many authors, books are their years of work and they want it to be appreciated from their target audience. A good book needs a good writing skill with proper knowledge of presenting the book. However, writing a good book is for the readers to decide, which means it need to be published first. Now, many thinks that they can go to the publishing house and ask them to publish the book but it again is a complex procedure. To begin with, there are two ways of publishing: self-publishing and traditional publishing. But prior to that, let us understand what is publishing???
Book publishing has no specific date and it has always been there since the ancient times. However, the recorded time is believed to be 868 AD. During this era, all the books were handwritten. Authors use to write their books and make 2-3 copies of the same. These copies were kept at the libraries. The process of getting the books published was very much straightforward along with its distribution. Around 220 AD, a method known as block printing was invented for cloth printing. This method was later brought in use for book publishing as well. Later, technology for book printing grew with movable printers, printing press, white paper books, book sleeves, traditional publishing and self-publishing. White paper books were first published in the year 1744.
Publishing
It can be defined as an approach used for making information, literatures, story, documents, software, academic books or other types of contents available for readers for sale or free. If we look few years back, publishing was usually referred for printed works only, for e.g., books, articles, newspapers, etc. However, with the spread of digitalization in the publishing industry, electronic publishing was introduced which allowed various new publishing methods which comprised publishing of blogs, websites, academic and scientific journals, e-books, entertainment contents, e-news, etc. The publishing process includes creation, acquisition, copy editing, production, printing (and its electronic equivalents), marketing, and distribution.
As mentioned above, there are two types of publishing. Let us begin with traditional publishing…
Traditional publishing
begins flourishing since the mid of 16th century in USA, Europe and many other nations. It is a long procedure and requires lot of patience from the authors to get their books published. When you opt for traditional publishing, you need to submit your book to the publishing house where they are assessed by their editors. Now, it depends upon the editors to decide the worth of your book. There is a high probability that your book gets rejected, or in a better scenario you can be asked for making appropriate changes. When all the changes are done and editors finalize your book, then only it is sent for printing. This whole process might take 6-12 months. However, traditional publishing has a limitation of specific market or bookstores. Sale of the book cannot be properly estimated, especially for new authors. After 2-4 years, the publishing house will reduce or stop the publication of the book. In addition, it is commonly seen that traditional publishing house keeps copyright of the book to themselves. It won’t be exaggerated if you hear a traditional publisher asking the authors to purchase their own book’s first few hundred copies for financial safety of the publishing house.
Now let us have a look over self-publishing…
self-publishing
Currently, self-publishing is a popular and effective method of publishing and distributing books. However, this idea has been around for a long time in the field of literature. Many writers in the past, including Benjamin Franklin and William Blake, marketed their publications via self-publishing.
Self-publishing can be defined as the quick and better version of traditional publishing as it is hassle-free and authors can get their books published in very short time span, i.e., within days or couple of weeks. Since, self-publication involves online publishing, it is not limited to a specific market and any reader can have the access to it. Authors get benefitted with the copyright of their own books and their books get printed on demand. This means that unlike traditional publishing, once the book is published, it is never out of market and will always be available for the readers. Royalty for the authors is higher in self-publishing than in traditional publishing. There is also complete transparency in self-publishing as all the sales are made online. Authors pay for the opted services only and they are not asked to purchase even a single copy their books.
Traditional publishing is a good option if you don’t want to advertise your book or pay for professional services. However, you’ll have to spend time searching for a publisher and then waiting for your book to be published. Self-publishing allows you to make your book available in the market within couple of weeks. It also helps you in avoiding the limitations and hassles of an agreement and provides you with freedom of flexibility and creativity. By summarizing the benefits of self- publishing, we get:
- Faster Exposure
- Greater Creative Control
- Longer “Shelf Life” of the published material
- Lesser waiting period
- Higher availability
- Higher royalty payment
- On demand print
- Better print quality
- Less investment
- More transparency
With the aim of providing our authors with hassle free and financially beneficial services, we at Academic Guru Publishing house (AGPH) provides with self-publishing facilities. AGPH helps the authors to understand the benefits of publishing and assist them in every possible way, if asked by the author. We are more than simply a publishing house. We provide a continuous assistance before and after publishing. We are here with a vision of eradicating the flaws in the process of publishing and make it easy and ‘within reach’ for the authors.