Equity and Ownership in Self Publishing

I once read a powerful quote that said, “empowerment is the greatest currency that we have as a people.” Ermias (Nipsey Hussle) Asghedom, better known as Nip, is someone who definitely understood that. In fact, that is one of the things that I admire and miss the most about him. His empowering and inspirational spirit that he embodied came through loud and clear in every song, every line, every interview, and most importantly in every business move that he made. He took full advantage of and relished every opportunity to show, prove, and inspire the world to boss up – especially those from Crenshaw, the South L.A. neighborhood that raised him. Nipsey explained the importance of an artist owning the content they create during a 2018 interview with Mass Appeal where he said,

“As an artist, there’s a business model that exists in the music industry to prevent you from having ownership, to prevent you from being a partner in the lion’s share of the profit.”

Equity and Ownership as it Relates to Self-Publishing

There is only ONE key difference between a traditionally published and self-published book when it comes to ownership. If the author owns the majority of their book rights and royalties, then the book is self-published. If the publishing company owns the majority of the book rights and royalties, then the book is considered traditionally published.

Additionally, there are NO upfront financial costs with traditional publishing. If you are asked for money, then it is NOT a traditional publishing deal.

A Deeper Dive into Traditional Publishing

Typically, a traditional book deal involves multiple submissions to multiple agents due to the large percentage of rejections. If your book is “lucky enough” and is selected to be represented, then the agent will submit your manuscript to publishers on your behalf, in exchange for a percentage of your royalties of course. That too typically comes with a large percentage of rejections before hopefully a deal is struck, and a contract is signed.

Then comes the hardest part for most creatives, and that’s handing over creative control of their book to their publisher. Your book will go through several rounds of edits to get it to what the publisher thinks is its best version. To be completely honest, that doesn’t sit well with me at all. If they know so much about what the public wants in a book like yours, then why didn’t they just right the book themselves?

Not to digress, but for me on the other hand the hardest part of accepting a traditional book deal is the low percentage of ownership the creator retains on their creation. Royalty rates in a traditional publishing deal will usually range between 7% and 25% for the author, with 25% being on the unusually generous side. All of the discounts, returns, marketing costs, and overheads are taken off the total before your percentage is calculated.

You envisioned your book, you stepped out on faith to materialize your vision, but then you have to sign over the lion’s share of your ownership to a publisher… approximately 75% to 93% to be exact?

Not I said the astute businessman!

I get it, there is certainly a level of comfort, ease, and notoriety that comes with being signed to a big-name traditional publisher. Like not having upfront financial costs, or being able to write your book, then kick back and let your team do everything else for you.

That may seem attractive at first glance, but let’s dive into it and dissect the numbers a little bit. I think you’ll be able to clearly see that the ease and comfort is not worth signing away 75% to 93% ownership of your intellectual property.

Dissecting the Numbers

Let’s say you sell 100,000 copies of your book with an above-average royalty agreement of 15%. If your book retails for $19.99, then selling 100,000 copies would net $1,999,000.

Let’s then say that overhead and expenses for the book will be approximately $800,000. Leaving roughly $1,199,000 in profit. That 15% royalty deal that you have would mean that the publisher would get a whopping 85% of your profit, equaling approximetley $1,019,150. Your 15% as the author would net you a mere $179,850; and let’s not forget that your agent would then get 15% or so of that.  When your royalty checks are sent to your agent,  she will take her approximate 15% off the top before giving you your cut.