As more of us discover the power that comes with self publishing fewer and fewer authors are going for traditional deals. Even on my own author journey I’ve found it really hard to understand what a publisher can do for me or any writer for that matter. The funny thing is that when we talk to a traditional publisher and ask them exactly how they can help they can’t answer that question either.

For the record:

• Traditional Publishers Don’t Market Your Book For You

• Traditional Publishers Only Pay You Once A Year. (Twice If You’re Lucky)

• The Standard Advance Is Around 10k For New Authors and…

• Most Authors NEVER Recoup Meaning After The Advance They Don’t See Another Dime.

• Also IF they Get You Into Book Stores And Your Books Don’t Sell YOU Have To Buy Them Back From The Book Store. (That’s coming out of your advance) And…

• Did I Mention That They Don’t Market Your Book?

So what’s the point. Seems like traditional publishers are great at one thing and that is marketing the idea that you need a traditional publisher. (Sooooo you can market I see. Just not for me. HA!🙂 )

The look of “We don’t know how we can help you but sign with us” is one that I’ve come to recognize on quite a few video calls lately. It’s an interesting look. If you’ve started your inquiry journey because you’ve had some success with your books you’ll see it soon.

That topped with former traditional published authors now joining the “I’m going to self publish my next book” fray leads an author to wonder… Can Traditional Publishing Be Saved? (and do we want to save it?)

Story Time!

Long long ago in a world far far away lived a woman named Chun. She owned her own printing press back in 1042 A.D. (Yes that’s 400 years before Gutenberg “invented” the already invented moveable type printing press that was actually created by Bi Sheng #feelsverycolumbus-ee)

Anyway…Chun loved the way that words danced on the page. She loved the journeys that the stories she read took led her on. She loved the knowledge that the non-fiction books that she read gently deposited in her mind. She loved the smell of the ink on the page and the feeling of the paper in her hand. Chun obsessed over the the power of words and the authors who wrote them.

Then along came this guy. We’ll call him Bo. Bo also loved the written word. It was a literal literary match made in heaven. Chun and Bo fell in love and vowed to spread their love of writing all around the world. The two started a publishing company and made their dreams come true. For years they published works of great minds and great creators. They paid them fairly and all was beautiful in authorlandia. That was until they reached the west.

May The Gutenberg Be With You… And Also With You

When their work arrived in Germany. That Johannes guy that we talked about earlier, reverse engineered what they were doing and said that he invented it. His marketing team took over the rest and the traditional publisher was born. He found that writers who loved the art of writing were a lot like Chun an Bo. They lived for seeing their words on the page. They lived for the impact their voice could make. They lived for the lives their words could change. Johannes being the business man that he is lived for the idea that there was money to be made, and so that’s what he did.

He undercut Bo and Chun and put their beautiful printing press out of business. Johannes created a world where the writer was told that they were the commodity despite being the jewel and the reader was told that the publisher was all powerful and the only way to get a properly written good book.

That went on for hundreds of years. Publishing houses fostered the narrative and because there weren’t any alternatives everyone went along. I mean what were their choices? There were none, until Chun and Bo’s great granddaughter Jennifer entered the story.

Jennifer was a second generation Chinese American. She also loved the printed word. Her writing was captivating and entranced everyone who read her books. The only issue was that she couldn’t get a publishing deal. The publishing house just couldn’t see a market for her work. So… Jennifer did what no other writer had done before. She self published.

The Return Of The Printi…

Jennifer knew that there was an audience for her writing. So she started a weekly newsletter, and friends and friends of friends subscribed to her weekly entries. After about a month or two people she’d never met were reading her writing. They fell in love with her characters and even gave thoughts about where the stories should go and what characters should and would do in certain situations. Her community of readers was hooked and so was Jennifer.

Jennifer gathered all her weekly writings and self published them in a book. To her surprise the demand was overwhelming. She couldn’t print her books fast enough. So she went online in search of a solution. There wasn’t one. However that didn’t stop her. Like her great great grandparents Jennifer had a bad case of the “I’ll figure it outs” She reached out to a printing house and created the first print on demand printing press known to woman and man.

With her success came other authors asking for help. They too had stories that they knew that readers wanted to hear. They too had been turned down by traditional publishers, and didn’t know how to get their books into reader’s hands. Jennifer’s on demand printing press was their solution. Hundreds and eventually millions of authors were lining up to get Jennifer’s help. Seeing her success with the traditional publishing house rejects made the traditional publishing houses very nervous.

And That’s When All Hell Broke Loose…

To Be Continued… (Part 2 Next Week!)

P.S. If you’d like to start your self publishing journey off on the right foot. Click here to join our 21 day first draft challenge.

or visit https://stan.store/BestServingAuthor/p/21-day-best-seller-publishing-challenge

In the challenge I’m going to teach you how to write the perfect opening, how to market your book, and how to reach your readers just like Jennifer did. Click here whenever you’re ready!