Pros and Cons of different styles of publishing?

Question

I was reading on the meta site that someone thinks we're hostile to self-publishing, and I read over some old questions looking for evidence. I didn't really find signs of hostility, but I certainly did see several people expressing concerns about it. I think we've danced around the question a bit, but maybe it's time to look at it directly. What are the pros and cons of different styles of publishing?I'm thinking we could look at:1) the Traditional route - get an agent, sell to the biggest publisher possible;2) the small publisher route - skip the agent, find a publisher directly (maybe I'm wrong in assuming that this is likely to be a small publisher?);3) the self-published route - probably e-books, but maybe POD as well;4) the vanity publishing route;5) creative, new approaches - serialization on the web, co-operative writers' groups... what else?I know it's a big question, but maybe it would be good to have all the ideas gathered in one place.

Answer 1

Hi! I think I would agree that there isn't necessarily "hostile" response to self-publishing, but I do think there is something to be said for the ways that the different marketing strategies involved with the different types of publication you listed impact the public's attitude toward the products. Let's say that we publish the same book in each method. A big publishing house with a dedicated agent will get you the best sales simply because this route involves the most people invested in the success of your book. A dedicated marketing team with substantial resources makes it their mission to communicate your writing as reputable--and as a result, the public perception of the book is raised based on the established reputation of the publishing house and expert marketing efforts. With each other publication route, the amount of people invested in the success of your book goes down, the resources go down, the established reputation that your book can draw off of goes down, and, ultimately, the public perception of your book is less positive.

The world we live in today is so saturated with expert advertisement that we, as consumers, come to expect to be manipulated. If we see a product with a lower budget or less flashy marketing strategy, we subconsciously associate it with lesser quality. With self publishing, you and your resources are the only tool that your book has for success. It is nearly impossible to garner as much positive attention for a text as a single person when other books out there are benefitting from the resources of the established big-publishing system. In the end, I don't think that this is a sign of hostility, necessarily, but publishing can be a hostile environment for the little guys going against the grain.

I hope this helps!