Traditional Compared to Custom Publishing
Traditional Publishing
In a traditional publishing arrangement, a publisher acquires the right to publish and (hopefully) profit from the sale of your book in return for a commitment to cover all of the costs involved in bringing your book to market, promoting, selling, warehousing and distributing it, and reporting back to you regularly (generally semi-annually) on the financial results. Your royalty payments will typically be from 8-12% of the retain income generated by your book during the period concerned.
Crucial to the success of the book will always be the level to which the author is personally engaged in enthusiastically promoting their book through personal contacts, speeches, articles, blogs, presentations, social media efforts and outreach to potential individual, corporate and institutional buyers to broaden the potential audience for their book.
The advantage to the author in this approach is the avoidance of all financial risk, the security of working with an established publishing house, access to the publisher’s design and marketing expertise, and elimination of responsibility for storage, fulfillment, distribution, sales and record-keeping. The disadvantages are loss of control and reduced profit potential.
Custom Publishing
Custom, or self-publishing, offers a range of advantages, and few disadvantages, when compared to the traditional approach of the big-box, bricks-and-mortar publishers. On the plus side, a custom publishing package such as those offered by Civil Sector Press will give you a high level of control and greater involvement in return for sharing the cost of bringing your book to market in a professional package.
You work closely with the publisher on cover and page design, timing, pricing and marketing, without any need to assume responsibility for storage, fulfillment, distribution and record-keeping. You have a much greater influence on the final product, more impact on the results of the marketing effort, and you receive a much larger share of the net income from your book.