YOUR THOUGHTS
We have collected data over on our Instagram account, so that we can hear your thoughts on the publishing industry.
​
By sharing polls and surveys, and receiving your questions, we have gained an insight into what you think are the good and bad bits of the industry.
​
Compare your thoughts to official facts and figures below.
We asked:
What do you think are the benefits of large commercial publishers?
You said:
-
More exposure
-
Better marketing / PR
-
More copies
-
Having an agent means advertisement is done professionally / for you
-
Wider influence / reaches more places
-
More sales and popularity
-
More likely to win literary prizes
-
More access to financial support
-
More contacts
-
Better promotional methods
We asked:
What do you think are the benefits of independent publishing?
You said:
-
Catering to interests perceived to be beyond the 'mainstream'
-
Greater input / freedom for the writer (cover/design/editing)
-
Dedicated audience readership
-
Can present experimental work with aesthetic value as opposed to safe, mainstream, saleable work
-
No need for expensive overheads and multiple employees
-
Higher profit margins
-
More personal experience
We say:
As we have seen, there are multiple advantages and disadvantages to both sectors of publishing. However, when deciding which is best to aspire for, in the end, it really depends on the individual. While our research has proved our theory that the independent publishing sector is far easier to infiltrate than the large commercial businesses as a novice, we have also learned that this is dependent on many other factors, too: the genre, the publisher's niche, the writer's niche, target audience and overall ambitions for the text (such as aspiring to win literary prizes, or simply selling more).
​
Therefore, our best advice is to do what feels right for you. Our aim was to provide useful information so you can make an educated decision and get started, so we truly hope that now you can with a little more confidence!
From polls conducted on our Instagram:
79%
Said they consider the publishing industry as exclusive
90%
Said they wouldn't feel confident getting a job/internship in the publishing industry.
62%
Said they wouldn't have a preference over reading a book published by a commercial or indie publisher.
70%
Think that a book published by an indie publisher would be less successful than one by a large commercial publisher.
67%
Said that if they were a first time writer, they would submit their work first to an indie publisher.
33%
Said they saw the industry as diverse.
78%
Said they felt it would be easy to progress within the publishing industry after landing their first job.
