Guest Post: Ruth Nestvold

Once again, I’m honored to bring a fellow writer to my blog. This time, give a warm welcome for author Ruth Nestvold, whose novel Island of Glass is out today. She’s sharing some of her insights regarding the difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing. For this piece, “traditional publishing” refers to established, known labels (such as Random House or Penguin Books), not independent, small, or art house publishers.

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Chiara Dragoni is a master glassmaker of Venice, a position that is both a privilege — and a trap. For the glassmakers of Murano are forbidden to ever leave the islands of the Venetian lagoon.

When Chiara’s uncle is caught on the mainland and thrown into the dungeon of the Doge’s Palace, she must use all her talents, including magic, to help free him. But the gift she creates for the prince of Venice has unintended consequences, and now Chiara must decide whether to give up everything — and everyone — she knows and loves in order to save her dream.

Set in an alternate historical Venice with alchemists, witches and magic, the story uses familiar motifs from the beloved fairy tale “Cinderella” to tell a tale with a very different message.

Island of Glass is a Young Adult fantasy novella of approximately 25,000 words, or 100 pages. It is the first book in The Glassmakers Trilogy.

Now available for an introductory price of only 99c!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Island-Glass-Glassmakers-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00NVGGSL0/

The Advantages of Self-Publishing

by Ruth Nestvold

First off, to be perfectly clear, I don’t want to come across as the kind of indie writer who thinks that anyone who goes the traditional publishing route is deluded. Amy specifically asked me write about the advantages of self-publishing in order to keep this article positive. So here are the main advantages of self-publishing as I see them:

Speed

A traditionally published novel can easily take up to two years from the time it is accepted to the time it actually comes out. And that isn’t even counting the years of sending the manuscript out to agents and editors.

By comparison, self-publishing is almost instant. E-publishing may take up to a day from the time you hit the publish button until the time your book is available. Print on Demand (PoD) takes a little longer, but in my experience, the physical copy of your book is available in less than a week. Of course, that doesn’t include editing and cover design, but a self-publisher can probably have that completed in weeks rather than years.

Rights Retention

Many publishing contracts are not designed to benefit the author, they are designed to benefit the publisher, as numerous legal battles in recent years have shown. All rights to self‑published books belong to the author. She can do whatever she wants with the book and does not have to consult a publisher about it.

Control

This is probably the advantage most frequently cited by indie authors. As an indie author, you have complete control of deadlines, editing, formatting and cover design. You control the price and can adjust it up or down in reaction to sales numbers. It is easy to implement changes, including changes to the text. You could even pull the book for a rewrite if you so choose. Or if the cover doesn’t seem to be working, replace it.

In traditional publishing, an author usually has very little say in cover, design, or marketing strategies. A case in point: my novel Yseult, a retelling of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, was originally published in translation with Random House Germany. They provided stunning cover art which is now being shared all over Pinterest:

The problem? It looks like the Lady of the Lake, not the tragic love story of Tristan and Iseult. Not only that, the book came out in a fantasy imprint for mostly YA readers because the publisher wanted to cash in on the popularity of Harry Potter. But — the book has a number of graphic sex scenes. Publishers sometimes make strange marketing decisions which are more concerned with where they think the money is than what would be best for the book.

Your book has all the time in the world to catch on

Traditional publishing houses will give a book around half a year to see whether it’s going to become a bestseller or not. If it doesn’t, it will soon be remaindered. Your book had its chance, and now it’s dead.

With self-publishing, the “shelf-life” of your book is as long as you care to keep trying to put effort into marketing it. Even if it has dropped into oblivion, you can always try some new marketing strategies to bring it back to life. As long as you want to keep it alive, it never has to go “out of print.”

Larger percentage of the profits

In traditional publishing, the royalty rates tend to be between 6% (for audio) and 25% (for ebooks). As an example, for the hardcover of Yseult in German translation, which sold for 19.95 €, I earned under 2 € per copy. (OTOH, I did get a big advance, the most money I’ve ever seen for my writing.)

By contrast, Amazon pays Kindle authors 35% (for books under $2.99 or over $9.99) or 70% for everything in between. Most other ebook vendors have similar rate structures. When I was selling Yseult for $2.99 for the ebook, I was earning about the same amount per book as I did with the 19.95 € hardcover of the German translation.

More frequent payments

Most traditional publishing houses (like Random House) send out account statements twice a year and the payment shortly thereafter.

All the digital distributors I have dealt with until now send payments monthly, with a delay of about a month after sales were made — assuming sales have surpassed a certain payment threshold, usually $10.

Getting around the blockbuster mentality

One of the difficulties in getting a book published in traditional markets these days is the perceived need on the part of many publishing houses that a book has to have the potential to be a bestseller. This is often referred to as the death of the midlist — those books that sold regularly, but were never expected to produce runaway sales.

If your book is in some kind of niche category, sometimes your only chance is either self-publishing or publishing with a small press specializing in the kind of fiction you write.

In conclusion

Each writer has to decide for herself whether she wants to pursue the traditional publishing path, or whether she wants to go it on her own. Self-publishing is definitely more work, but it can also mean more freedom and more profits in the long run.

About the author: Ruth Nestvold’s short stories have appeared in numerous markets, including Asimov’s, F&SF, Baen’s Universe, Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, and Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction. Her fiction has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella “Looking Through Lace” won the “Premio Italia” award for best international work. Her novel Yseult appeared in German translation as Flamme und Harfe with Random House Germany and has since been translated into Dutch and Italian. It is now available as an ebook in the original English.

Find Ruth Nestvold on the Internet:

Blog: https://ruthnestvold.wordpress.com

Web site: http://www.ruthnestvold.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ruth.Nestvold.Author

Twitter: @Ruth_Nestvold