Have you ever thought about the process of creating a book or a magazine? What does it look like step by step? What path does the publication go through from being the new idea to becoming the complete issue? The goal is always the same – to win readers’ hearts, yet to get a publisher is a way to achieve it. At least, that’s how it’s been so far. Publishing’s changed and today, no matter what kind of publication you want to publish – book or magazine – you have two options to do it successfully. What are they?
Well, we put them into the title of this article instead of keeping you on tenterhooks.
The first one – “get a publisher” – is as old as books, so let’s call it more traditional. It’s descending from paper and print publishing practice, based on giving the power to others which is engaging an external subject to publish a book with sharing profits policy. In return, the author has one duty which is to provide written content on time.
The second one – “publish yourself” – is relatively new, mostly related to the digital world, and the possibilities of widespread export without any boundaries. Self-publishing is based on giving many roles and deciding power to one man, what’s equal to freedom of decision-making, and what’s related to this, lack of sharing costs.
At first glance they are totally different, aren’t they?
The biggest differences between traditional publishing and self-publishing apply to the length and costs of the whole process, as well as the way of distribution, the range of creative control man has, and profits.
But they also have something in common – the goal, which is reaching readers interested in having or buying the publication.
In the following article, we’ll take a closer look at both ways, analyze how they evolved, (what’s closely related to changing magazines’ roles), point out the pros and cons, and finally, we’ll help you answer the question – which way is better for me?
