Factor
|
Self-Publishing
|
Traditional Publishing
|
| Waiting Period |
Self publishing model helps authors get their books published in a very short span of few days to weeks |
Traditional publishers take upto 6-12 months to bring a book into the market, IF they select the work for publishing. |
| Possibility of Getting Published |
In self-publishing, there is no rejection. |
Depends on evaluation of the manuscript. |
| Availability |
Online across all major book selling platforms globally. |
Availability limited to specific markets/bookstores |
| Copyright |
Copyright remains with the Author |
Traditional publishers usually keep the copyright of the book |
| In-Print |
The book never goes out of print by the self publishing, print-on-demand model. |
Traditional publishers print the books for maximum 2-4 years seeing the sales and then do away with the book. |
| Royalty Payment |
Self publishing offers transparency with respect to sales and royalties for the book. Author can monitor the sales and royalties online. Royalties are provided to the author directly without any middlemen. |
Traditional publishers usually pay some royalty amount upfront and later if they feel so. Rarely there is any clarity or transparency in the total number of books sold. |
| Royalty Rates |
Royalty rates in self publishing is higher than traditional publishing as there are no middlemen involved. |
Royalty rates are less than self publishing |
| Print Quality |
Print quality of books is better in print-on-demand (POD) self publishing model which uses digital printing technologies and also better quality paper |
Traditional publishing model uses offset printing. Quality of books is usually not as good as books printed with POD technologies. |
| Author's Investment |
Author only pays for the services opted. There is no upfront requirement to purchase a specific number of books. |
Most traditional publishers ask the authors to purchase a few hundered copies to recover some (or even all) of the printing costs. |