Benefits of a Traditional Publisher

Why not self-publish?

A friend who produces online art education said that so far they’ve been self publishing “because we figured most of the sales are going to come from our own marketing and I heard publishers take almost all the profit. Is that true? What do you think are the benefits of working with a publisher?”

My friend asks a great question, one that I've thought a lot about.

As they say, self publishing yields a higher percentage of the dollar value per book, and the artist fully controls all the creative decisions. But those are the only advantages, and they get outweighed by the benefits of collaborating with an established book publisher.

I collaborated closely with my co-authors and editor to develop the cover for The Artist’s Guide to Sketching

In my experience, a good publisher will:

1. Help you shape the concept and presentation.

2. Improve the design and production, and build a book that is more professional and polished.

3. Maintain inventory levels, warehousing, and deal with returns. Returns are a big issue if you ever hope to get your books into a regular brick-and-mortar bookstore.

4. Sell the book into foreign markets by having a presence at Frankfurt Book Fair, Bologna Book Fair, etc.

But it's got to be the right publisher to deliver on this. The wrong publisher won't support a book after a year or two, or they'll be touchy about an artist who likes to have a hand in the design. And unless you’ve written a best-seller, most publishers won't do too much to help you with publicity and marketing, knowing that someone like you or me has our own social media energy. Having a strong social-media following makes it pretty easy to land a deal and negotiate a good contract.

A good publisher should offer the following: