Ricardo Cortes
Posted on December 7, 2021 | posted by: alira081To Self Publish Or To Find A Publisher?
After hearing Ricardo Cortes’ inspiring talk about his self-publishing journey, it leaves us thinking about the possibilities that social media has created for our generation of writers. As platforms like Instagram or Facebook were not around as his time, Ricardo still made it work and has great success today!
Although Ricardo Cortes’ book covered important and interesting topics, he had a hard time going the traditional publishing route as some of the subjects were considered too controversial for publishers to take on. The author uses the children’s book style, with drawings and simplified language to explain complex topics such as the usage of the plant, marijuana, the secret history of coffee and Coca Cola, as well as the subject of sleep (but only for adults as disclaimers are mentioned.)
For our aspiring authors, we have put together a shortlist of pros and cons to help you get thinking of what to do. Our generation can benefit so much from social media platforms from a marketing and advertising point of view, even if you publish the traditional way.
So when you Self-Publish you take on all of the responsibilities that would be taken on if you had a publisher. This includes cover design, the editing process, marketing, and printing. Financially, having a publisher means they own royalties as you are paying them for a service but when you self-publish you own all of the rights! However, you do have to put in more time, effort, and research a ton!
If you choose the self-publishing route you know your book will get published, you have creative control, you own a lot of the royalties when your book is sold in print and in e-versions, you also are on your own timing, and can decide when you want to get your work into the market.
If you choose the traditional publishing route you are backed up by a company name, and usually a team of experts for services such as design and marketing. Your work will get published in book stores and the publishing company will also cover the production (printing and distribution) costs rather than you as the author covering it.