Self-Publishing vs Traditional: What's best for your first book? 

Are you a writer? Do you plan to go the self-publishing route or try to get a traditional publishing deal? Leave me a comment and let me know! (Also, just curious -- what do you write about??)

I definitely like the sound of self-publishing better. Something about it appeals to my independent spirit.

This is probably one of the hardest choices as a writer. I self-published two of my novels and I think I'll choose the same route for my third novel. If you do your work as a self-published author, it can be just as rewarding as being traditionally published.

I would love for you to do a video on the marketing tools you used to promote your book into being a bestseller.

I hope to be a bestselling author. I’m currently writing a historical fiction series!

I have completed my book and am going with self publishing. Thank you so much for this information.

I have written a few books and definitely the self-publishing route for sure!

I’m thinking of writing a book on nutrition so this is really helpful thank you!!

I am in process of finishing my book about 50 CA native plants. I want to self publish in order to have more control.

I believe I'll try self-publishing for the heck of it one day. I've been signed traditionally for about two years now. It's definitely a grind and learn as you go💯 I have great respect for all my authors that self-publish though 👌 much love JLR

I have never published a book before I am just about to publish my picture diary, which encourages parents to be more present with their children as I work in mental health and feel there is a huge gap in this area, thank you so much for your advise, there is so much info on publishing out there and has been overwhelming as I haveADD thanks so much your info is so clear !

As a writer, self-publishing appeals more to me. The reasons are: Complete creative control Higher royalty rates Hand-picked publishing team No deadline stress Quicker publishing process More frequent pay days No rejection Maintaining rights Of course the process of self-publishing also has its cons but they're nothing compared to traditional publishing in my opinion.

Your straight forward statements are really appreciable, thank you.

Hi, I wrote my first book and is completing some of the finishing touches on it.... I was contemplating between self publishing and going traditional. Thanks to your video I have made a decision based on the feedback you provided. I will be self publishing. Thank you!

I'm Self Publishing For The Same Reason Of Jus Wanting To Put My Work And Way Of Thinking Out There To The World.. I'm Excited In My Last Editing Phase/Process Then Its On To Formatting!! I'm So Excited!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience on this! I am in the beginning of writing my first fiction sci-fi/fantasy book, so naturally I'm absorbing all the information I can about my options and the whole process. Looking forward to watching your other videos!!!

I’m writing and illustrating a scary stories book. It will be my first release and just like you I don’t care about the money, I just want to put out something worth reading.

I have always wanted to write a book and am finally at a good place in my life to do so. Thanks for all the info!

I am on the tail end of writing a book and I'm asking myself if I should find a traditional publisher or if I should self-publish. Now I'm leaning more toward the self-publishing because you made a good argument. Thanks for the video!

Thanks for the tips in your video! I have been thinking of going the self-publishing route and your videos have helped me realize that it isn't as scary as I thought it would be. I am excited to self-publish! I am currently writing a Sci-Fi Dystopian novel that tells the story of an 18 year old girl who travels to a frozen planet to participate in exploring it, where she discovers an ancient group of people living there. Thanks again for your videos, and I look forward to getting my book out there as soon as I can!

Thank you very much for the informative video, Gillian. My name is Naimbai Njerakey and I am from Chad, Africa but live in Ohio. The title of my novel is an Atheist's Letters to Heaven and Wipf and Stock Publishers just pick it up for publishing. I pray that I made the right decision.

I'm really torn with querying my cosmic horror novel right now. I've started querying, but I've also been self publishing my short stories through my short stories and have seen some success since I started doing it three months ago. It's real tempting to go the self pub route with this novel.

I am planning to roll out my book soon, and I believe I will use the self publishing route. Thanks a lot.

I wrote a few mini-books and self-published on Amazon. I haven't made a lot of money from them but they have helped me to learn the process. I'm trying to up my game and write a sci-fi\fantasy short novel. It's the first time I've ever written fiction before.

I'm a world science scholar at world science festival and currently writing a science book more of physics contents explained and I think to choose a hybrid publishing (self publishing and traditional publishing together)

Thinking of writing a book, your video has been very very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to produce such excellent content 👍

I think I am going to self-publish my book for sure ( almost). Thank you for the info :)

Hi Gillian, I am seriously considering self publishing a book. Your input would be extremely valuable as it would save me hours and hours of research thus giving me more time to improve the final product. Oh, my work would be on "how to" financially evaluate different opportunities to determine their viability as an full-time business. In other words, determine the growth potential and what it would take before you could support yourself full-time.

Gillian! I am a huge fan of your channel:) Thanks for this video, I found it really helpful. I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I fall into so many research rabbit holes that I might actually do it when I’m 100! But seriously, when I’m ready I’ll definitely take your online course about it, it sounds awesome, and big congrats on your success!!

I'm currently writing a music book, which is a little different, but somewhat similar. ^_^ I'm also trying to run through the pros and cons of going with a music book publisher like Mel Bay vs. self publishing it. I've started to discover when I talk to music stores that they pretty much only order from Hal Leonard and Mel Bay's catalogs. Music stores aren't ordering from Amazon or specific artists who have an online store... If I want my music book in a music store, I'd probably need to go with a big publisher. Another monkey wrench thrown into the mix is that a lot of print-on-demand publishers seem to make everything much more expensive for a saddle stitch (2 staples..lol..) or spiral binding (I understand the more expensive spiral bindings...), but keep glued bindings fairly cheap, or even "free." I hate when music books have a glued binding because they never stay flat on the music stand, so I really need to go with a saddle stitch or spiral binding... If I self-publish the book, keeping an inventory would be the best option since it literally cuts the printing costs in half using a saddle stitch binding, compared to costs of the print-on-demand saddle stitch binding... But this raises more questions regarding how many books to print, especially since I don't have a whole lot of money to spend on this project... But even with all of these extra speed bumps, I'm still leaning pretty heavily on the self-publishing idea. I guess I'm a bit of a control freak and want to make sure that I own all the rights to my arrangements, and that I can control when my book goes out of print. x_x I'm probably going to do a pre-order to test the waters and get an idea of how many I need to initially print, and then try to have a plan on how to navigate the whole marketing thing once it launches. I don't know anything about marketing, so I'm nervous about that... :S Maybe I should take your workshop! ^_^ I'm a bit nervous thinking about the whole shipping aspect of everything too lol, but I'll cross that bridge later...

Thank you so much for this video I am looking to self publish my first book

Hi Gillian, I just wrote a mystery fiction "The Curse To Ashwathama". It is due to be published on the 5th of Jan, 2020. It is available for review on NetGalley.

I definitely want to do self-publishing but I am scared about choosing a wrong self-publishing house.

I've been featured in published books with some of my work - & I'm almost done with my first solo project! :0)

Thx for the info & great quality of this vid. Currently working on a colouring book for adults which i have grown to be very attached to. Its my baby and i would not like to give the rights away. On the other hand, getting it published traditionally, which would mean holding it in hands inside a bookstore would be very motivating&flattering. Its a tough decision & your thoughts on this helped me getting closer to making that decision. Wish u all the best, fellow author, even though i am more on the illustrator side of the art.

Thanks for the information. It was clear and to the point. Love it.

What are the qualifications to be an international best-seller? Great info in today's video!

Thank you for explaining this really well.

One of the biggest issues I considered was the truthfullness of the self publishing company you go with. Who audits them. I've had a book available on Amazon under a pseudonym for about 7 years and whilst I still get payments each month from the publishing company I've wondered how truthful they actually are. The whole business appears to be totally unregulated.

Just 12 chapters out to finishing the first draft. Nervous, but I've got a lot planned out to clean it up and make it even better. I'm admittedly leaning towards either an indie press or self publishing. But, self publishing does sound more appealing.

I have self-published three books, two fiction novels and one a compilation of my commentaries. Initially, just getting a hard copy book out was a stellar accomplishment, but after that, in all three cases the results were disappointing. Promoting my own books is an uphill climb that wears out a person who has to work another fulltime job. After two book signings, my local and regional markets were exhausted, and beyond those, expect two things: scant interest at your personal signing, or your book being crowded out if you go to a book fair. It's the "lead a horse to water but you can't make 'em drink" principle. Not wanting to sound cynical or bitter for the process (I'm neither, just wiser), but the world does not just flock to a new writer. I'm happy for Gillian, but her results are not typical.

thank you for your video, yes I am self publishing my book

This video has great information. Thank you. I'm on my 15th view of this video, taking notes :) My sincerest thanks.

Hey girl! This was such a fantastically informative video, thank you 🙏🏼 I’m currently writing a book of short creepy stories 👻 Sweet little nightmares ☺️ After this video I’m thinking of going the self publishing route because like you I don’t have a very wide network either. I’m working on it, but I’m no celebrity lol I’d love to hear your advice on marketing your book and the steps that you took Thank you again for this awesome video 🖤

what platform did you use to publish your book?

You made me very nervous when you said 'self-publishing company'. I was hoping you didn't mean a vanity press! lol For POD it's good to know how different companies work and I'm glad you mentioned that. Some great advice here. :)

Thank you Gillian 🙂Very useful video.

Guess I'll self publish. Tenks.

The one and only downside I can identify with traditional publishing is the loss of control of your IP. Which is significant. But not necessarily a deal breaker.

Is self-publishing a good option for paranormal novels?

I wrote a manuscript of poetry. For the last several years I have been submitting my manuscript and individual poems to small press, literary journals, and poetry contests with little to no success. I am now looking into self-publishing. Pray for me!

thank you for this advice! it was helpful!

Hey Gillian, thanks so much for the insight and pointers!! =)

Love it thank-you, fantastic!

Hi Gillian! I wrote 2 books recently. One is about the RMS Titanic and the other is about the Zodiac Killer case. I'm planning to self-publish. Thanks!

what product(s) you used for that beautiful shiny lip? Most of the time, our first foray into something will be bad. Self-publish for our first book makes more sense to me. And if we decide writing is what we love to do, fighting in traditional publishing route will be more bearable for our next book.

Can you or someone traditional punish after you selfie published?

Hi Gillian your video was very helpful! I've written a children's book and at this point traditional publishing is out but with self publishing I am still trying to figure out the best route to either go with amazon or a self publishing company like lulu. I've heard horror stories about publishing with amazon as far as getting your book on the platform is easy however after some time your book can get lost in the pile and sales will significantly decline. I thought about just getting my book printed maybe like 200 copies and storing them in my home to sell myself that way I have control over everything! What are your thoughts? Thanks again for sharing!

I'm a writer. I've been writing novels and short stories. I have tried to get published before but ran into a lot of scam companies and only published a few stories in Amazon, but I want to publish them in hardcover and not go broke or get scammed doing it

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I actually didn’t think about money when wanting to publish a book. Obviously, I thought of how much a publisher would cost, but I didn’t think about the money that me personally would make.

Thank you, so helpful.

I'm planning a book on kitchen kitchen design for home owners.

She really should have mentioned if she was in fiction or non-fiction from the start. There is a HUGE difference

Didn't you make a video about giving away the first 15,000 books? Wouldn't that be a huge reason that it sold so well?

The one self publishing company I was interested in using they wanted to monopolize the digital copies and also they wanted me to use a website they published and ran. That seems to be a big drawback for me. Its like they are selling a bundle and it's a niche they are in Christian books are not really sold in regular book shops; they are independent of mainstream and have their own distribution networks as far as I know. These things are getting in my way need some other options.

I didn't know if I wanted to self publish or traditional publishing

great insight

I've heard that publishers acquire a self-published book if it is successful. Has anyone approached you yet?

I've finished a novel which will be self-published on Amazon. It is a thriller with a Christian bent. Traditional publishers now have sensitivity readers. Certain subjects are a no-go. Not so if you self-publish.

Hi Can we speak on self publishing

Do you still do this workshop, Gillian?

This is my first book I’m learning,I have a company called Westbow that would like to help me in publishing it there is a huge fee but they are helping with a lot. but I would like to know is if I’m self publishing why would I still need a company to publish ?? Hope this isn’t a stupid question lol

Since my teen years I always wanted to be self-published. Traditional publishing is not for me.

Hi, I am leaning toward self publishing my first book. It is a children's picture book and I have an illustrator working as a partner. Amazon seems to have a couple options...not sure which to go with yet.

Who do you recommend? Amazon Createspace completely botched my first two short novels that I had to retire them and rewrite them into full length novels. Xlibris and author house publishing seemed to be huge scams as they set the prices for your books at outrageous costs.

Hello Gillian, what is your opinion of iuniverse or bookbaby? I am a new author and after 6 years of research, I completed a 60,000 word manuscript for my autobiography and I also have 325 digital photos to include. I paid a professional editor to "clean" my manuscript. I also paid a professional graphic designer to make my front book cover. I now need to get all inside book cover formatting done. Any advice would be appreciated! D. S. Henry

Why don't you put the self publishing company you used

20,000 copies is an "international best seller"? Wow I had no idea. That seems low to me for some reason.

Which self publishing did you use? TY

Hi Gillian. I really liked your advice and i have decided that I will be going for the self publishing route. I wanted to know if you have any recommendations for self publishing companies. I am currently in talks with Notionpress in India. However, i am open to suggestions from writers who can vouch for self publishing companies that they have worked with.

Subscribed ❤️

I have written several books but I never actually considered getting them published until I printed off a copy and loaned it to a local high school literature teacher. She let her high school students read it and they demanded to have the next book in the series. So I loaned them a second book and even more students and teachers wanted the next book and begged me to give them another book. After the fourth book i was getting calls from other schools and individuals wanting copies. Not really sure what to think about that. The original literature teacher recommended getting my books published. But I don't really know where to start. I am getting dozens of requests a week for copies and I have no idea how to go about getting published because that was never the reason why I wrote the books in the first place. I just wrote books that I wanted to read. Any advice on a path to getting published. I already have dozens of completed novels and three book series. Fantasy fiction and science fiction.

What about the rights and ISBN number for the books being published.? Do you have a video on this. Thanks

I am currently editing a short story that I've written and thinking about self publishing it. Question, is it worth the effort to publish a single short story, or should I write more stories and combine them into a book. My story is around 6K on the word count.

Helpful vid. Thanks. I've written a doorstop book, (203,000 words) and I am considering breaking into thirds. So there's that. And I'm editing my own work for now with Grammarly's help. I actually wrote it on Open Office but for some reason OO keeps crashing and not updating all of my previous edits. Three steps forward, one step back. Frustrating. Thinking about switching my manuscript to WORD. Any thoughts?

Mam what is difference between ebook publish vs Printed Published books.Tell me the advantages and disadvantages

You look a bit like my teacher that I had a few years ago. Don't worry, she looks nice. She doesn't look weird or scary.

someday if I get a little extra money you might have a guy in one of your classes. I think you sound honest and are probably have pretty useful information.

I wrote my first book how to publish

Thank you very much I expect an income from this business

I am a full time novelist and would never consider self publishing. Why? It may seem like an appealing idea, but ultimately you can never manage the effort of doing licencing (theater, film, translation) yourself, much less paying a marketing, editing and production team yourself. At the publishing house about 30 people work around the clock to market the books and organise events for the authors. Not to mention the reputatiom of a 300 year old publishing house.

I was wondering if I picked pod initially could I change the method of which they're printed after sales picked up?

Having published 60 peer review articles and an academic book here is my opinion. Everyone wants to publish whether a writer is a competent writer or not when there are so many books out there that it will take more than a hundred years to read them all. Self-publishing is similar to vanity publishing as there is no peer-review process. Traditional publishers are very choosy with a low acceptance rate and an author has to assign copyright to the publisher (similar to a mother who gives birth and after hard labour in delivery gives away her child for adoption) and loses control over it. Is there a solution? Why not self-publish a few books, say ten copies, retaining your copyright to the book and give them to your friends and relatives for free to get feedback on how they feel and to find out if the book will appeal to a wider audience. By taking this approach a person will be able to satisfy his/her ego as a writer at the minimum cost if the book does not appeal to a wider audience by putting the hard labour and the cost as a worthwhile experience and giving up the dream.

Gillian, you said you did lots of research about how to MARKET your self published book. Can you share what books or sites you used for this research?

You are so pretty sister 😊

I have 6 of 8 chapters completed. Will you be in the Los Angeles area? I would like to talk to you if you have a moment. Irene Lopez

hi gill, i'm about to finish my first book. and i'm thinking of doing the self publishing way, i'm writing from the philippines and artists don't really get supported in my country and books and their authors here don't really thrive. so i really want to get in the international market for my book to sell, does any way in self publishing could help me with that? as with the traditional publishing, agents and editors and people who work for books are also non existent here. so self pub is my only option

Iam writing a book not sure what rout I need to go there after

I am a children's book author and I think I will self-publish.

Hey I have a question. Could you publish your book under a alter ego? Like a stage name, and how would what category should a poetry book go under