Compare Kwill

Traditional Publishing

  1. Registered as a publishing house
  2. Will not accept unsolicited submissions, i.e. must be from an agent.
  3. Can take more than two years to publish
  4. Quality checks will not be finalized by the author but by the publisher – author has little to no say
  5. Publishing house pays the author around 15-20% of expected royalties as an advance, usually $1000 – $5000, returnable plus legal fees if you do not deliver as expected. An agent’s fee of around 15% will also be payable.
  6. Author’s ISBN will be registered as published under that company name
  7. Publishing house uses around 80% of expected royalties to pay for the book to be edited and published, but will not give authors a running total
  8. Author must give up all rights to the book for a number of years, and allow the publishing house to make all decisions
  9. You will have no control over your sales dashboard and may not get paid for months or years
  10. When the book is on sale, the author must recoup the advance at around 20% royalties until they make back the 80% and production costs to the publisher.
  11. Publishing house makes minimal to no marketing efforts on Amazon or online. Will use press releases and book signings. Some authors then have to turn to promotion services and pay even more to promote their book themselves.
 

Examples of traditional publishers are:

Penguin / Harper Collins / Thames Hudson
Royalty cost for 1 ebook at $2.99 @ $2.40
Profit = .59 cents or less
Timescale = Up to 2 years

Self-Publishing

  1. Registered as a self-published author
  2. No submission needed – but no quality checks
  3. Can publish immediately
  4. No quality checks so a risk of negative reviews
  5. Author pays 100% of production costs and has to find suppliers, never knowing how much this might escalate into
  6. Author produces the book and has to spend all their own time doing each part of the production
  7. Author’s ISBN will be registered as self-published – will need to buy one yourself for $125
  8. Author gives up no rights or royalties (except Amazon or Smashwords royalties), and has a say on each and every decision from editing to design to marketing
  9. You will have 100% control over your sales dashboard so you will get paid immediately
  10. When the book is on sale, the author keeps all the money made to recoup their production cost
  11. Author must do all marketing to inspire sales themselves, including attempting to get reviews and sales online, often resulting in needing to find promotion and marketing services to gain exposure.
 

Examples of self-publishing platforms are:

Amazon KDP / Smashwords (35 – 70% royalties plus postage costs)
Royalty cost for 1 ebook @ $2.99 = $1.05
Profit = $1.94
Timescale = Author decides

Assisted Publishing

  1. Registered as a book marketing service
  2. Can submit without an agent – although some companies have quality specifications
  3. Publishing will be within weeks or months of being ready to sell
  4. Author pays 100% of production costs, usually knowing how much it will cost
  5. Company produces the book using this money, but may suggest to charge supplements later
  6. Author’s ISBN will be registered as self-published, but will list the ISBN as purchased by that company
  7. Author gives up a percentage of royalties as well as Amazon royalties, and some rights, depending on the company, and has a say on only some decisions such as editing
  8. You may not have control over your sales dashboard so you will have to wait to get paid
  9. When the book is on sale, the author will usually give a royalty to that company as well as the fee paid
  10. The company may offer outsourced marketing services but otherwise no in-house marketing is generally offered inclusively.
 

Examples of trusted assisted publishing services are:

BookBaby (30% after outlet fees)
Royalty cost for 1 ebook@ $2.99 = $1.95
Profit = $1.04
Timescale = weeks/months

Kwill Publishing

  1. Registered as a publishing house
  2. Can submit without an agent – all books are considered
  3. Publish within weeks of the book being ready to sell
  4. Author pays 100% of production costs, knowing how much this is from the start
  5. Kwill produces the book within budget
  6. Author’s ISBN will be registered as published
  7. Author gives up no rights or royalties, and has a say on each and every decision from editing to design to marketing
  8. You will have 100% control over your sales dashboard and will get paid immediately
  9. When the book is on sale, the author keeps 100% of money made to recoup their production cost
  10. Kwill offers in-house, inclusive marketing such as the Amazon Bestseller Package with Top #25 ranking.
Kwill Books (All Amazon royalties are yours)
Royalty cost for to publish 1 ebook @ $2.99 = $1.05
Profit = $1.94
Timescale = weeks/months