If you have completed your first draft, then you might be considering opting for the traditional route of publishing, in which case, you might want to know the potential benefits of traditional publishing.
So, without further ado, let us jump into the list of the potential benefits of traditional publishing.
Low Upfront Costs
One of the greatest benefits of getting traditionally published is that you will have to deal with very limited upfront costs. Generally, you don’t have to pay anything upfront to get traditionally published.
The thing about money in traditional publishing is that cash always tends to flow to the author of the book. So, as an author, you don’t have to worry about upfront costs as you wouldn’t be paying for an editor or a book cover designer.
You wouldn’t have to worry about the entire book marketingthing as well. Theoretically, you could spend more or less nothing at all and get traditionally published. There might be slight exceptions – but – generally speaking, the upfront costs for self-publication are way higher than the costs for traditional publishing.
If you opt for self-publishing, you will be responsible for funding the entire book-publication endeavor yourself. The costs for self-publishing include the costs of having your book printed or even placed on a platform that your traditional publisher will always take care of for you.
When it comes to money, you can also benefit from the advanced payment system that is an essential part of traditional publishing. An attractive aspect of traditional publishing is that most traditional publishers pay an advance against sales.
The advance payment is usually done in a series of payments, which is not like one lump sum of money.
You Have the Support of an Entire Team
As a traditionally-published author, you won’t have to wear all the hats as you have the support of the entire publication team with you. On the contrary, if you opt for self-publishing, you will be responsible for everything.
With self-publishing, you will be nothing less than a one-person publishing house. And, if you opt for traditional publishing, you will essentially be working with an entire team of people to get everything done to reach the objective of getting your book out in the world.
This aspect means that you won’t have to worry about being a good marketing or salesperson as a traditional publisher. You won’t have to worry about being exceptionally good at publicity or cover design and even know the nuts and bolts of editing.
The thing about traditional publishing is that you will have an entire team that will do everything for you and with you. Different people are doing all the things for you – and the best part is that you don’t have to pay them to do those things because the money will naturally flow to you.
So, if you are the type of person who doesn’t have the wide breadth of skill set that is required for self-publishing – traditional publishing can be quite attractive. But – you will want to know how to write a query letter to pique the interest of the right literary agent so they can take up your case and introduce your work to the publication house.
In case you are wondering what a query letter is – you should know that it is a specific letter you write to introduce yourself to a literary agent and tell them about your work. The objective is to convince the literary press to like your work and help you get published.
Book Distribution Guaranteed
The greatest benefit of traditional publishing is that traditional publishing guarantees book distribution in bookstores, libraries, and other platforms to a certain extent. This is specifically true for having your books distributed in bookstores.
The thing is that traditional publishers have solid relationships – not only with the primary distributors of books – but also with the bookstores themselves. Now if you think about it, you realize that traditional publishers can sell directly to bookstores and large book chains.
This aspect indicates that traditional publishers are experts at placing your book on the shelves, which is essentially every author’s dream. All authors want to see their books on the shelves and in the hands of their target readers.
You Will Have the Back of a Literary Agent
Another potential benefit of getting traditionally published is that you will have a fostering and essentially great relationship with your literary agent. The literary agent will be nothing less than a great business partner for you.
There are serious pros to having literary agents because you essentially have an advocate and a business partner by your side all the time. The literary agent will take care of things on your behalf so that you don’t have to worry about all of that kind of nitty-gritty business matters and the financial aspects of publishing your book.
Firstly, the literary agent will help you get your book to the publisher, and they negotiate on your behalf intending to make the publisher buy your book. The literary agent ensures that you get a contract with the most favorable terms for you as you are the author.
The literary agent also operates as the go-between if you have any issues with your publisher. So, with a literary agent, you have a business partner and advocate on your side. The literary agent will also help you manage all the money.
Here is how it goes – the publisher pays your agent agency, and then they forward the money to you, which means that the literary agent also provides you with the tax documentation that you need.
Your literary agent is basically nothing less than a business partner, and that can be very useful to have – especially – with traditional publishing; you won’t be wearing all the hats, which means that you don’t necessarily want to handle all the business things.
As an aspiring author, you might want to opt for the traditional publication route as it liberates many things. You will have the support of your literary agent and an entire team of people who are exclusively there to help you get published.