There’s a party happening on my Friday blog. Your invitation is at the bottom of this post. Come check it out!

I’ve been asked many times how I publish my books. Do I publish with a publishing house? How do I get the books printed? Do I think self-publishing is better than traditional publishing? What are the pros and cons for self-publishing? Traditional publishing? Is there really a difference between Self-Publishing and Indie Publishing?

In these four-part blog series, I’m going to answer some of those questions. But first, let’s define a few words.

Publish:

The art of creating (a book) and making it available to the public for purchase, either in printed form such as books, magazines, or newspapers, electronic form such as pdf downloads, or for kindle, nook or other e-reader, or in audio format.

Traditional Publishing:

Where an author signs a contract with an established Publishing House to write a book, or a series of books for them to publish and sell. The author works with the Publishing House, usually through an agent, to edit the story, give advice and suggestions about things like the cover and title, but in the end the Publishing House has the final say.

Self-Publishing:

Where the author writes and publishes their book using such services as CreateSpace or Lulu. The author is in complete charge of editing, cover, uploading, checking proof copies, ordering their books and then selling them. The author sets the price for each book and can change it whenever they want to.

Indie Publishing:

Where the author writes and publishes their book using an Independent publisher who will publish whatever you pay them to publish (some do have regulations about the type of books). They might design a cover for you and do the layout, and then have the book available for the author to purchase copies. Some might offer marketing packets. Usually the author can’t set prices for these books, and they have to order a certain number of books.

Royalties:

The amount of money an author is paid for their work of writing. It varies depending on how an author publishes, and what they write. This is what the author gets after the publisher/printer takes their cut.

Indie Authors:

Authors who use a form a publishing other than the Traditional Publishing. Most self-published authors with use the term Indie Author or Self-Published Author interchangeably to describe themselves.

I hope these definitions are helpful. We’re going to jump right into the pros and cons of one of these ways to publish next week when an author friend of mine (some of you might be familiar with her 🙂 ) is going to share about Traditional Publishing.

Please, feel free to ask any questions during this series. My goal is to make these  informative so that you can better decide on a way to publish, or even just be more knowledgeable when people ask you, “Have you ever considered using a traditional publishing house?” or “Do you make any money with self-publishing?”

If you have published a book, or story, how did you do it? Would you consider going a different route for another book? If you haven’t published, are you considering doing so?

Here’s your invitation! I hope to see you at the party!

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