RussInCheshireNov 9, 2022

I made my first foray into publishing. It's ... weird.

First: pre-orders for my book exceeded £120k, and top 10 in Sunday Times, which is lovely.

But then I find out that translates to about £8k income for me because

- Amazon take 60%
- Distribution takes 10%
- I have to fund any additional prints of the book
- Publishers take half of what's left
- And I don't get anything - ANYTHING - for a year.

How do people make a living at this? Seriously? How?

Show threadRussInCheshireNov 9, 2022

I'm seriously considering self-publishing from now on. I can design promo and sales websites, design covers, typeset the book, market it via social media.

All I need is a printer and a warehouse, and how hard can it be to get that? Or just do it digital-only.

The entire industry seems swamped with needless delays, needless expenses, and needless layers of managers and editors.

Show threadthe other grumpy pharmacist ☑️
@RussInCheshire BUT you don't have the access to marketing..Thats where your current publishers are bridging the gap..but self publishing is never the way
Nov 9, 2022 at 9:36pmWeb
Show threadRussInCheshireNov 9, 2022
@richardeggleston I did 100% of the marketing for the book. No, not quite: 0.7% of sales came via the publisher's email newsletter. The rest: via my twitter account.
Show threadthe other grumpy pharmacist ☑️Nov 9, 2022
@RussInCheshire Fair enough.. I didnt realise that. Having been involved with previous unbound publications I thought they did 'THAT' bit.. In that case go for it
Show threadJonathan DownieNov 10, 2022
@richardeggleston @RussInCheshire Marketing, QC, layout, design and editing are what I rely on my publisher for.
Show threadAndy JonesNov 11, 2022

@DrInterpreter @richardeggleston @RussInCheshire

Absolutely this. Same with me. And I'm not entrepreneurial enough to handle all that. Plus I have had good experiences regarding marketing. Far more disappointing ones though.

Show threadMaggieRawlingsNov 10, 2022

@RussInCheshire @richardeggleston

Exactly

Show threadRichard PierceNov 9, 2022
@richardeggleston @RussInCheshire don't entirely agree. Authors who have been trad published often move to self-pub, and become hybrid authors (like me), but generating revenue from self-pub is v v difficult. Even best-case scenario is 3 months to write (4h/d on top of 8h/d working) plus 6-month marketing campaign for which I have never had time. Self-pub is difficult but much of it is high-quality (and some absolute shite writing, tbh).
Show threadAndy JonesNov 11, 2022

@richardeggleston @RussInCheshire I disagree that self-publishing is never the way. Lots of people doing very well. So well they've decline trad publishing offers.

Also, the majority - vast majority - of books/authors get little to no marketing from their publishers. The publishers are working hard but generally under-staffed and can only effectively service a few books. Usually cash cows and debuts. Too many books being published.

Of course there are benefits to trad.