In this blog post, we will be looking at some of the benefits of working with a traditional publishing house to publish your nonfiction book. Alternatively, you may decide to self-publish, which has its own advantages. We will look at these in a later blog post so that you can consider both options before you make up your mind. You can then decide what is the best fit for you and your book – different methods suit different people.
Publisher Pays Upfront
One advantage of using a traditional publisher is that they will pay all of the costs associated with publishing upfront. Publishing a book is very expensive and likely to be more so for a nonfiction one, which often needs to be published in full colour, with many detailed diagrams. You will also need some fact-checking of your work, an editor who deals with references in the style you have used, and an indexer.
There will also be all of the normal costs – multiple rounds of editing, cover design, formatting, printing, distribution and marketing. As you can imagine, this quickly adds up to a very big bill! This can be difficult or impossible if you don’t have a publishing deal. A traditional publisher should pay all of this. If a publisher asks you for money, be wary. This is a common scam that takes advantage of new authors.
The publisher paying for the costs also means that they bear all of the risks of publishing. If your book doesn’t sell as many copies as predicted, you won’t have lost any money on it. You won’t get the royalties, but you shouldn’t have anything to pay off either; instead, this responsibility lies with the publisher. This takes out the element of risk for you and makes publishing an easier decision and a safer source of income.
Advance on Royalties
Furthermore, traditional publishing means that you get an advance payment before your book is actually published. You generally have to pay this back from your royalties, but it does give you some money early on in the publishing process. This can help support you through the editing process and while everything is prepared for publication.
Potentially, an advance can allow you to focus on just your writing, which is a major benefit if you plan to be a full-time author. In particular, this advance should give you sufficient time to make any suggested improvements and check that all of your research is correct and cited properly. In addition, once you have published one book with a traditional publisher, they may be more likely to give you an advance on a pitch for another. This could cover the initial writing time, helping you to become a full-time author.
The Publisher Organises Everything
As well as having to pay for everything such as editing, cover design and marketing if you self-publish, you will also have to organise it all. This means that you will need to work through everything you will need step-by-step, as well as trying to tie up the timings so that it is all ready for launch. You will also need to choose multiple freelancers to do these jobs, evaluating them first to decide if they are reliable and a good fit for what you want.
However, if you work with a traditional publisher, they should organise all of this for you. They will have done it for every book they have published, so they have plenty of experience of what is needed and how it all fits together. In addition, they will probably already have people working for them to deal with editing and cover design, for example. Alternatively, they might have a pool of trusted freelancers that they use regularly.
Better Publicity
Publishers will also have spent time cultivating good relationships with the media and journalists, which means that your book is much more likely to be mentioned at launch by major media publications. This helps you to attract more readers, especially those that would otherwise not have known about your book.
In addition, many major reviewers will only cover traditionally published books, so if you want your book to be reviewed by these publications, it would be best to choose a publishing house. Reviews don’t just give you publicity, they are also a mark of prestige for some potential readers, so they help you attract more sales this way as well.
Easier Distribution
Working with a traditional publisher also means that they deal with all of the storage and distribution. Once your book has been printed, you don’t need to worry about how it is getting to your readers or where to store excess copies.
You are also a lot more likely to get your book in bookshops if you use a traditional publisher. Many bookshops only accept books from traditional publishers and will reject anything that is self-published.
Wrapping Up
I hope that this blog post helps you decide how to publish your nonfiction book. In my next blog post, we will be looking at some of the advantages of self-publishing, so come back in two weeks for that!
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