PUBLISHING
Indie or TRADITIONAL?
That is the question!
In the first of a new series on self publishing, indie author DJ Bowman-Smith argues that the choice is yours
Listen in to any group of writers and before long, you will hear them debating the advantages and disadvantages of self-and traditional publishing. There are for and against on both fronts – what is more important is to decide what you want to achieve as an author.
Many writers harbour a dream of seeing their work on the shelves of a bookshop and believe that a traditional publishing house or small press is the only way to make this happen. However, recent years have seen thriving print-on-demand businesses that serve both the indie and traditional community. The books they produce are high quality and they can deliver a book per individual sale or print a short run for bookshops to stock. The trend is growing so much that many bookshops are content to sell books published by independent authors.
Another often-made point is that if a book is self-published, it is likely to be inferior. Over the last ten years, the indie movement has developed. Shoddy, unedited books with ghastly covers and no formatting are now infrequent. A modern indie author knows how to publish to a high standard – indie books, paper or electronic, can now sit seamlessly alongside the traditionally published. We have all read a traditionally published work with poor formatting and errors. There is good and bad on both sides. So, as far as the finished product is concerned, it does not matter which route an author takes. Quality is achievable with diligence and hard work for all authors.