Self Publishing
topic on 2 shows · 8 statements across 4 episodes
the Knowledge Project
Top Founders
8 statements about Self Publishing, every show
James Clear Lost Roughly 3x Per Copy Traditionally Publishing 'Atomic Habits'
“I remember talking to James Clear and we were talking about how much he would have made had he gone the self-publishing route with Atomic Habits, and I did the math, and it was like, ah, it's about three X more per copy.”
Hoehn: Inexperienced first-time authors face higher risks self-publishing
“If it's your first go-round as an author and you don't know what you're doing, the likelihood that you'll step on a landmine that hurts your book during the self-publishing process is even higher than if you're working with a traditional publisher.”
Howey: Traditional publishers collect ongoing revenue cuts for one-time upfront costs
“Most of these services are one-time costs like editorial cover art, the pagination, the layout of the words on the page. They do that once. And then they keep more for every sale than I get as the writer.”
Howey: Freedom of choice in book production beats publishers' economies of scale
“I would much rather choose my own editor than sign with a publisher and just get stuck with whatever editor they assigned to me. And I think freedom of choice is better than economies of scale.”
Howey: Authors should stop obsessively tracking real-time sales dashboards
“The, it's a trap you fall into early on self-publishing, like watching every sale and tracking your weekly and daily and monthly streams. But then I found if the stream goes up a little bit, You feel it puts you in a good mood, but it doesn't last. If the sale…”
Howey: Traditional Publishing Contracts Are Now the Last Resort for Authors
“Self-publishing used to be thought of as the last resort for writers. Now publishing contracts are the last resort, because as long as you own the rights, you have the freedom to make any decision you want down the road.”