5 Self Pub Misconceptions (Trad Pubbed Authors Have) 

As the owner of a bookstore I often receive unsolicited self-published books in the mail. I guess the authors hope that I enjoy the free book and decide to stock it. I would recommend against this practice. Firstly, it’s rather presumptuous. Also, I can usually spot a self-published book ten feet away. Presentation is indeed important, and pixelated cover designs, spelling errors on the cover, a back cover blurb that bludgeons the reader over the head with the book’s “message”, are some of the most common pitfalls I see. I’m instantly predisposed against such books, because I believe they don’t respect the reader. As Alexa says, if you can’t do it professionally... This has gotten better in recent years, though I must admit the sheer quantity of absurdly terrible vanity pieces I’ve received in the mail has left me disproportionately embittered against self-publishing. I’m working on my prejudices, because I know there’s more and more good stuff and I like the idea of indie publishing.

I would love a whole video on libraries and how they select and purchase books!

Publishing is the easy part. Being successful at it is the hard part.

Technically, there are some really bad covers out there. Some on books that sell like hot cakes. But this generally happens in in specific cases. Mainly, if you're a super loved author and you have a horde or readers that buy everything you put out, then your cover doesn't matter much. The kicker is that even when such covers look amateurish, let's say, they communicate genre really well. it is also quite possible to just put a book out there and get a lot of sales. But it's rare, the stars need to be aligned right, and in most cases it happens because the author did their research, is writing to market, and they've found a hungry and underserved subgenre. I'd definitely recommend checking Chris Fox and Derek Murphy here on RU-vid for more on self-publishing from the business standpoint. If you can't write fast, the workaround is to pre-write. Publishing fast sometimes means piling up books and then doing a "rapid" release. I put rapid in quotes because that can mean many things. On the physical copies front, Draft2Digital is currently in beta with their print program. They want to combine the Ingram model and also offer ISBNS which is... pretty amazing if you're tight on funds or from a country where they ISBNS for indies are a huge issue (looking at you, Romania :D) I'd also add that from what I've seen, a lot of indies push audiobook production and marketing harder than print books. As in they sell paperbacks and even hardcovers, but they are more interested in marketing ebooks and audiobooks. Basically because you make a lot more money off those. And apparently, from what I've seen others post, a title generally sells better when you have more formats available.

Oh wow, I’m honored. ❤️❤️ For ebooks, you can get your self-published titles in with Baker and Taylor using Draft2Digital platform, using the OCOU (one copy one user model) since I know a lot of libraries are using e-books now too. Yay digital age! For paperbacks, you can totally negotiate deals with Barnes directly if you publish your paperbacks through their platform (though they use in the Ingram network as well). Ingram is a great place to be and there are always coupons too so you don’t have to pay to submit every single time. Also, with Ingram you can pay $85 to get you paperback listed in their monthly e-catalog called Advanced that goes out to thousand and thousands of booksellers/libraries. And there’s always selling your subrights to a publisher for paperbacks if you sell well. LOL. I’ll stop now. Sooooooo many options! And totally agree.... Hybrid seems like the best of both worlds! 💯

A misconception that needs to die is that a traditional publishing deal means a higher quality book, while indie publishing means lower-quality hacks who couldn't cut it. The traditional world has little real variety. There are plenty that read as if an editor never saw them since the writers didn't want to make changes. Some people want the oversight of others, for others to create the covers and everything. But the indie scene has more variety, authors who can take chances since they aren't told NO. Indie publishing means getting to be in control of what you created from end to end and not being at the mercy of a publisher who may end up shelving your book and making you wait five years to get it back, as has happened to several author friends of mine. It's disheartening. There are pros and cons on each side, and neither side guarantees quality nor guarantees crap, and the traditional authors who shit on indies need to pack up and get the hell out. It's not becoming to try to trash the other side as worthless to eliminate competition. If traditional publishing is so much better, then those authors shouldn't be worried about taking out indies. Yet I've seen it so, so many times. It's bad sportsmanship and terrible conduct.

Point of clarification: Smashwords provides overdrive and Baker&Taylor access as well.

Love these misconception videos! It clears a lot of stuff up for both sides of publishing :)

Omigosh yes! You gotta have that much better of a cover since you'll not be exposed as much as in traditional publishing. Don't judge a book by its cover is basically out the window when it comes to an actual book.

As a self-published author, I love that you are tackling this topic. Thank you for calling out these misconceptions.

This is one of my favorite writing-related videos. Thank you for covering this

As an indie for nine years who is moving into traditional, the one thing I would add is that you must ask yourself an important question: am I really an indie? You remarked on the grueling pace with which you must produce books. That alone can be the main factor. It's the primary reason for my transition. I'm getting burned out. But there so much more. Do you have a business mind? Because that is precisely what you become. A business. Writing often takes a backseat to what it takes to put out quality indie work. Many writers simply can't cope. This is not their fault. They aren't indies - even if they want to be. The road to success is no easier as an indie as it is through traditional publishing. Quicker, more seductive....oh wait...that's the dark side of the force. I meant to say you succeed or fail more quickly. But the number of indie novelists making a living are roughly the same traditional.

Thank you for the insight. Maybe you could make a video about foreigners publishing in English? Should we try traditional or self-publishing? :)

Just discovered your channel and you are such a wonderful writing resource and so enjoyable to listen to! Brb binging of all your videos all night.

I really appreciated this video. I've learned so much about traditional publishing from you and other author tubers who are traditional and it helps me keep up with the way publishing is evolving.

as someone who is currently querying for my first book and worries that i wont be able to sell it in traditional publishing, id love to see more videos on self publishing if you can. this one was super helpful (all your vids are super helpful actually).

learning about bookstore distribution was fascinating! I bet there are a lot of gritty politics that go into placement, flyer advertisement space, and their book club too. Super thought-provoking.

I looooveeee jim butcher (his books and your background). 😊 thank you for this vid Alexa. More power.

Omg, I love this video! I think that you made some excellent points, and most of them I reiterate every time someone says, "It's so easy to self-pub." It's so not and a whole lot of time, work and money! Its an investment and I have loved doing all of it, but it defiantly has not been easy! Also for returns, you have to be with Ingramspark or at least at my Barnes and Noble you do, to be in store. This is because of the returnable feature which to my knowledge of talking to my manger is free for self-published authors!

Thanks for touching on a key topic a surprising number of people omit when talking about success and strategy in publishing: genre (and category). The market and tactics are very different depending on what genre you're writing in. Some people obsess over whether traditional or self-publishing is the way to go, and honestly, it depends a lot on the genre. Everyone knows traditionally published romance is suffering a slow, certain death and indie largely rules. For YA, things are different and it's all about what does well where. Self-published YA seems like a completely different world to traditionally published YA. Something I've noticed is that more literary YA doesn't seem to do very well on the Amazon ecosystem, but very tropey, romance-driven and risqué YA definitely has a good market there.

So many great points here! People who get self publishing right work so hard!

When I first saw this video, I was like "it has happened, Alexa has became a vampire."

Just letting you know, indies on Ingram can select to make their books returnable. So that’s not really a con anymore.

I self pubbed under a pen name in NA contemporary romance for the first time in April. I have another title coming out in September (was supposed to be July but life... UGH and I definitely took a hit having to wait.) I don't remember you mentioning it in your video, so I thought I'd chime in. I chose to go with Amazon KDP instead of Ingram or other distributors. Now, KDP is an exclusive rights deal. If you pub through KDP you cannot publish the ebook anywhere else. So, it's an option you have to weigh. Things I considered were, KDP provides you with an ISBN, so you don't have to buy your own if you don't want to(but still can. Which has it's benefits if you change your mind and want to go wide in the future.) KDP has a paid per page read system. You can enroll your ebook in KDP Select and get paid per page when someone reads your book via Kindle Unlimited and through the lending library. Amazon KDP also has the option to take a lower royalty for expanded distribution which means your book is available to bookstores and libraries. For me, all of these things sounded great for a first timer. And I've seen the benefits already to KDP Select. Most of what I've made has been in page reads. The genre plays a big part in that though. Great discussion! Love the respect you have for indie authors ♥ Thanks, Alexa!

Hey Alexa :) first of all I love your videos. They are extremely helpful and you sound so honest and transparent with us. I have a question. You’ve talked about trad publishing and self-publishing, but what’s your opinion on writing community sites like Wattpad (and have you had any experience with them)?

Thank you, as always! I'd love to see a video (if you're interested in making it) about why you hope to become a hybrid author. You've alluded to this multiple times, and as someone who is trying to navigate the world of publishing and understand it, your reasoning would be invaluable. Plus, I'm nosy. :)

Yup - being hybrid is the best way to go and it is all about making ‘smart good choices’! I’ve published both traditionally and self and while I’d rather publish more with established and larger houses or get an agent, I’m glad I was able to learn ahead of the curve. There are some savvy things self-publishing authors can do as far as marketing (like contacting local libraries that can stock your book as many will indeed order from Amazon for local authors, or local to your province, state or county) but you are dead correct when you say it pays to get proper cover design. Even if you can do it, that may take a hundred hours away from writing. Or more!

i mean you "can" just throw your book out there and see how it does, but you're just shooting yourself in the foot

Ingram (IngramSpark) and Amazon (KDP formerly Createspace) are the two main rivals in self publishing. It's idealistic dream but I would love to get into Waterstones (whether I traditionally or self publish). 😍

I indy publish everything because I've observed education prejudice in trained writers. Those who didn't pay for a writing education can enjoy a less than perfect book because they don't know it doesn't follow all the picky little rules one learns with a 'proper education'. I market to the people who are free to like what they like. They seem to like my work. I just asked myself if I wanted some comment with my salt. Oh well, that's my experience.

I wish I saved a video that explained this best for me but several years ago Amazon basically forced authors to keep publishing 200-300 pages every 2-3 months. Otherwise, Amazons positioning, recommending, and visibility would plummet the author off the lists. So they would write smaller books or chapters as books, to sell and the grammar/editing was not complete. I believe it is how the authors trained to write faster that you were talking about at roughly 8:30.

I would love to know how to find a good editor. I'd also like to know how much they would cost for a 100000 word novel. A whole video on libraries please and do you know how audible works?

I don't know about the USA but in Canada libraries have "local" author sections and an indie or self published author can take their boon there. It takes a long time for the library to process it but it will get done. Authors fans can also request the book at their library.

Hello, Ms. Donne. My screen name is munku121. My real name is Nick. I am a fan of your channel, and Jenna C. Moreci, as well as Lily C. Reads and IWriterly. :). I have loved the Fantasy genre since I was a small child and read Harry Potter and the Hobbit, as well as Lord of the Rings. I am currently writing a four book Fantasy series called Elf Sisters. The first book is already written and uploaded to Amazon's KDP. I intend to use Amazon's KDP for all of my books, including the ones that I plan on writing after this series. Amazon's KDP is easy for me to understand and use. The long/drawn out process (besides actually writing my books/editing them personally) is paying a freelance editor in Los Angeles to edit it. Grammar/spelling/punctuation/suggestions. She and I come up with a contract each time, which I sign after she does. I then pay her installments, three to four times, until the manuscript is written. Once that is done, I then pay a high school friend of mine to create the cover illustration after I think of the initial concept. This whole process takes months (if not a full year) to complete. And, like I said, that's after I write the book (which in itself takes me a good year and a half). It can be...ah..."tedious/laborious". However, writing is my passion. I have been doing this process since I was twenty-five. I am twenty-nine now, and so far, have not accumulated enough "royalties" for Amazon to send a check to my PO Box. For marketing/advertising, I mostly use RU-vid to make videos to promote my books. Also, whenever I enroll my book in Kindle Select, I am allowed to do Free Promotions every few months. Hopefully, when I can actually afford it, I can do more in terms of advertising/promoting. But until that time comes, I am satisfied with my current process. :). Love your videos and look forward to the next one/s. Keep up the good work. :).

I’ve been wondering for a while how you become a ghost writer. How it works? How you get paid? Can you still publish your own work?

Self publishing is hard, yes, but you have more control over all the things you do and that make it more enjoyable (imo). In the end I think if we talk about 8 years from now the majority of books are digitized, have audio translations, the importance of traditional would be diminished as then we have a lot successful self published authors to learn from (who are now not yet on the ''bookshelf''). Currently children grow up with tablets, people will slowly start to think physical books are a chore to have and to bring along with them. However, In the end the reader decides who will be successful - as it should.

I have a huge curiosity about eBook publishing, like the pros and cons vs traditional.

Sarra Cannon (aka Heart Breathings) ... amazing example of a successful self-published / indie author.

Hi Alexa. Great video....so I’ve written 3 books.....And how many people have seen them? 0. Why? I’ve hidden them in a locked box under my bed. I’m autistic and I write because I love to write and tell stories. Never had any ideas about actually making money off my stories though...but my husband says I should take out the books I’ve written... my stories and show them to someone! That they could be magnificent! Ive never even let him read them. I won’t show them to anyone because I’m just too anxious and nervous. I have a hard time understanding criticism and how to revise a story.... if someone gives a crtiticism and then I revise it to fit the input they’ve given me isn’t that technically stealing someone’s ideas? Alexa could you make a video about how to overcome this initial anxiety around sharing ones work and not keeping it locked away?

Do you have a video on Young Adults?

Hi Alexa, Great video! What do you think about Derek Murphy? Have you heard of him? I've been subbed to him for a year and he also has a lot of great self publishing marketing advice as well formatting. I also love your focus on spending money for a decent cover. I have finished my first fantasy book and I'm waiting until I have enough money to get a good cover before I publish it. Smashwords is the 2nd largest publishing platform outside of amazon and it has a list of 14 cover designers who work directly with the website. They range from $300-1000 per cover. I plan to spend around 1,000.

Some (not all) indie publisher don’t get that we prefer to read really nicely polished books. I always read trad published books because I feel safe and I know that professionals have went over it before publishing it. Reading bad books could teach you to badly write if you are not aware of how to actually nicely write.

You can sell paperbacks and reprints if you're successful self-publishing. Even in traditional publishing, there's a lot of money in paperbacks, at least for those of us who write fantasy and historical. I can't speak for other genres. I have never self-published but like you I'd like to try it on some shorter novels. That being said, I doubt any of us who've been traditionally published are thinking of "just putting a book out there to see how it does." It's so hard to write a book, and publishing is always a big deal

Which books are you referring to not doing well in trade pub? Superhero YA and erotica come to mind.

the speed thing is what intimidates me about self publishing. i know that my main genre (LGBT NA romance) is unlikely to do well in trad pub (or even to get picked up out of the pile,) but i balk at the idea of having to churn out a book so fast - i can write a draft in about a month, no bother, but revisions are a slower process for me, and it worries me that i'll have to keep up with people who are releasing a book per month 😬 idk i don't need to worry about this right now anyway, since i have a year left of uni, but i think about it a lot...

Sarra Cannon -- has a die-hard fan base.

Can you make a video about the right and wrong ways to traditional publishing? Just like an overview?

( I wish I could put a picture of Lawrence Fishburne here) But, what if I told you, not all writers who choose self publishing have any intention of making it a career? And so, investing a bunch of money into cover design and such would be completely impractical. Love your videos. Not trying to give you a hard time. Just pointing it out. Keep doing what you do.

I guess I know more writers then many people because not taking it seriously never occurred to me. We live in a digital age, hybrid is the way to go. Marketing is important. Maybe I just spend a lot of time watching these lol.

What I'm most pleasantly surprised by about self-publishing so far is that one *can* be successful in it, and more importantly, self-published books can be *legit.* I'm reading "The Elysian Prophecy" by Vivian Reis" right now, and speeding through it (well, for my usual slow-reading self). Everything from the cover art, to the narration, to the story itself is just so.....legit. I was a fan of one of the other authors you mentioned, until she began talking about things outside the actual sphere of the craft of writing. Telling her viewers/potential customers to think of negative reviews as "trolls," and telling them they need to take a paid SkillShare class (that she just happens to have a vested interest in) seem sketchy as hell to me. I'm sure she has *some* good advice on marketing, but her marketing style (at the time I stopped watching her that is; maybe she's changed since then) is not one I would personally want to emulate, both for moral and self-preservation reasons. But otherwise this was a very helpful video. Thanks for taking the time and effort to give us all this writing advice!

What if you get a copy of your book and just donate it to the library?

I've noticed that self published authors who do well catch mainstream publishers attention and then their book can be re published.

I'd like to add that the professional cover thing has very little to do with "looking professional." If you want to go indie, do NOT just find a cover artist that makes amazing looking covers. Great cover art is 100% based on getting the elements on there that will sell your book in the right category.

sadly, it sounds like you need to already have money to pursue a self published writing career. It sounds like the reality for many self publishers who manage to write after their 10-12 hr work day, that if you can't afford a professional cover designer, a professional editor, a professional ... at that point it feels like, if you have any hope of making it as a writer you just have to take your one in a million chance with traditional writing. That's really sad.

Number 3 is no lie at all! Authors who are youtubers (not trying to throw shade) barley market, they will spend thousands on designing and editing, and even make videos on how much they spend. But will spend next to nothing on marketing, and expect their audience to do all the work.

You caught me. That was the first thing I thought. I’m ashamed

I’d add Sarra Cannon to the list of successful indie authors you can learn from. She’s killing it in Urban Fantasy YA. Check out her HeartBreathings blog and RU-vid Channel.

i think jenna's surname is pronounced "more-essie" not "more-echie" thats how she pronounces it! :)

I love your videos but ftr it's pronounced Jenna Mo-re-Si.

You look quite hot here :D