Those of you who aren’t writers might not be aware of the publishing news of the last few months. At least two Christian publishers, and one general market publisher, have announced that they’re starting self-publishing imprints. This has caused a lot of uproar in the industry, so I wanted to address it here. More and more in the last couple of years, I’ve realized that people are confused about publishing. Often, people ask me how much money I’ve had to spend to get my books published. “You must have invested a fortune in all these titles!” they’ll say. Some of them are shocked to learn that I’ve never paid a penny to have my books published, that for twenty-five years and over sixty-five books, my publishers have paid me.

The rise of self-published authors has given people the idea that the only thing you need to do to get published is spend a wad of money. That’s fine. I write because I love to write, and I’d be doing it for free if I didn’t get paid. I’m not trying to impress anybody, so I’m not offended when people ask me that. But what does offend me is the fact that so many people are lured into self-publishing with deceptive information, and they walk away financially wounded and woefully disappointed.

Before I go on, let me say that there is a place for self-publishing, and there are companies who do it well and are honest about what they can give their customers. (To find those companies, talk to lots of people who have self-published, and learn from their mistakes and successes.) The other day I was doing research for a book on a certain topic, and I did a search on Amazon and found a book on that topic. I bought it without looking at the publisher, and only later realized it had been self-published. That tells me that a nonfiction author has a chance of earning some money on a self-published book if it’s placed on Amazon and enough people are interested in that topic. As for fiction, we all know the story of The Shack, which was originally self-published and sold millions of copies. But that’s talked about so much because it’s so rare. The e-book phenomena has provided an opportunity for self-published books to be read on Kindles or other e-readers, without much additional investment, as long as you don’t expect to hold copies in your hand.

But the vast majority of self-published people will tell you they regret the expenditure, and they complain bitterly about the lack of marketing and distribution, the impossibility of getting those books into physical stores, and the thousands of books sitting in their garage with zero chance of being sold.

Here’s the way traditional publishing works. A writer will discover that they have a certain amount of talent and a love for writing, so they will focus their efforts in learning how to do it well. They might go to college and study literature, they might take creative writing classes, they might attend writers’ conferences and learn from professionals in the industry. They finish a book, then gather information about how to sell it to a publisher. They submit it to a publisher or agent, and often get rejected. But with each rejection they learn something. They rewrite that book, addressing the things that were weak. They get opinions from critiquing partners, then rewrite again. They submit it to another publisher. Get rejected again. But again they learn something.

Eventually, if they get published, it’s because they’ve invested years in honing their craft and making their book better. In fact, they may have to throw out their first book, or their first five books, before they hit on one that resonates with the gatekeepers. But once they make it to publication, they know how to tell a story well, and they can entertain readers enough to make them want another book by that author.

When that traditional, paying publisher decides to buy the book, they’ll negotiate an advance (up-front money that the publisher pays the author). The publisher will then assign an editor to edit the manuscript. This often takes many months, because the book goes through several stages of editing. First there’s the developmental edit, then the line-edit, then the copy-edit, then the proofing of galley pages. The book is polished to the point that the publisher feels comfortable having their imprint on it. They hope it will make them a profit so they can keep their jobs and stay in business. They have their art department create a cover. The marketing department will create a strategy for getting the book buyers’ attention. The book will be placed in that publisher’s catalog. The sales force at that publishing house will meet with buyers of stores and major chains, and will try to convince them to carry the book in their stores. The booksellers only have so much space, so they pick out the ones they think they can sell. If all goes well, a lot of bookstores will carry that new author’s book, and the company will make a profit, and the author will get royalties on the copies that are sold. But if the publisher’s risk doesn’t pay off, the publisher will lose a substantial amount of money. That’s a risk the publisher takes.

The book is then sent to a printer, which the publisher pays for. When the release date comes, the publisher will ship the books out to their distributors. The distributors will fill the orders to the bookstores. (All of this is at no cost to the author.) The publisher will send the book out to reviewers, and try to get publicity for the book. The marketing department will be given a marketing budget, and they’ll place ads in key places to raise awareness about the book. They’ll format it for e-books and sometimes record audio versions, and make sure it’s in online stores. When stores run out of the books, the publisher will print and ship more. This can go on for many years. It requires a substantial investment of time, resources and money by the publisher.

All the while, the writer is able to keep writing. They don’t have to worry about the million details that go into getting the books in the stores. They don’t have to hand-sell one copy. They might do a book tour or have a web site or Facebook to promote their books, and they can do all the book-signings they want. But their main job is to write, because that’s what they love. And they want to sell another one, and another one.

With self-publishing, things aren’t like that. Though publishers will lure writers with the promise of getting the books in Barnes & Noble and other bookstore chains, the truth is that they won’t get one copy in the actual, physical store. They will get it in the online stores, but it won’t sell many copies, because no one will know it’s there unless the author tells them. If the author has a prolific speaking career and can sell the books at speaking engagements, this might work well. But if you’re an unknown writer, and you’re out there on your own, you’re lucky to sell 100 copies. In fact, most of the best-selling self-published books sell 500 copies or less, and most of those are nonfiction.

Yes, there’s instant gratification in self-publishing. You will see your name on a book, guaranteed. But a writer who skips the steps of learning their craft, particularly in fiction, isn’t doing themselves any favors. Self-publishers may want you to think that they’re discriminating about what they publish, and that they picked you because you were great. But the truth is, they’re in it to make money, and they don’t often turn people away. I challenge you to find someone who was rejected by one of these companies.

The better self-publishers will offer editorial services, but you’ll have to pay extra for them. (And if you’re going to self-publish, please invest in those services, for your own sake!) Anything that’s done for the book has to be done by the writer. If the book fails, and it often does, the publisher still has their money. In the self-publishing model, the author is the one who loses.

The print-on-demand self-publishers are the best bet if you’re going to go that route. That way, you only print books as they’re ordered, and you don’t wind up with a house-full of books that no one wants. But don’t expect marketing, sales, publicity, or distribution, unless you’re willing to invest even more money. The question to ask yourself is this. What do you want to get out of it? If you’re willing to pay ten thousand dollars so you can convince people you’re a published author, then it might be for you. But if you’re hoping to make enough money to put your kids through college, and you’re dreaming of seeing it on the shelves in Barnes & Nobles across the country, think again. Go into any bookstore and ask them how many self-published novels they have on their shelves.

And if you’re expecting to use it as a launching point for a career, give it some more thought. Some of these traditional publishers who are now opening self-publishing imprints, are luring writers with words like this: While there is no guarantee that if you publish with [our self-publishing line] you will be picked up for traditional publishing, we will monitor sales of books published through it for possible pick-up by our traditional imprints. What they hope you’ll hear is that they might pick your book up for their traditional lines. But the joke’s on the writer who reads that into those words. When the book goes nowhere and the writer has no way of recouping his investment, the publisher can say, “We told you we couldn’t promise anything.” Of course they can’t promise it, because they have no intentions of doing it! Think about it. They’re inundated with quality manuscripts every day from people who have worked for years at their craft, who’ve learned the business and gotten well-known agents to represent them, and often from people who are multi-published and have name recognition. They reject many of those manuscripts. Why would you think they’d have to look for books among those who took shortcuts to publication? Especially when they’re guaranteed to make money on that book if it’s self-published. There’s no risk for them at all.

I have no problem with self-publishers who are honest about what they do, and don’t have code words in their pitches that are meant to deceive aspiring writers into parting with their money. I have no problem with writers who understand what they’re getting, and after due diligence, make a business decision to self-publish. But I don’t like seeing my friends taken advantage of, and I hate seeing their heartbreak. It makes me sick when people who don’t have the money to waste lose hard-earned savings because they’re deceived. I’ve heard countless horror stories from self-published writers. I can honestly say I’ve never heard one success story, except for those who have prolific speaking careers. The Shack is the only exception.

If you seriously want a career as a writer, then learn the craft. Take college classes, join writers’ groups, attend writers’ conferences, write, write, write, and then rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. You learn by doing it, and every failure is a step to success. Develop enough patience to wait until some publisher deems your work worthy of their investment. Then you’ll really have a shot at a career.

For more info on self-publishing, read Brandilyn Collins’ blog called Five Top Reasons Why Aspiring Novelists Should Not Self-Publish.