How to Publish a Book: Every Path Compared
You finished writing a book. Now you want to publish a book and get it in front of readers. The problem is that publishing advice is fragmented and contradictory. Some people tell you to find an agent and go traditional. Others say self-publish on Amazon and keep control. A few say skip both and serialize online. Each path has a different timeline, a different cost, and a different economic model. Choosing the wrong one can cost you years or thousands of dollars.
There is no one best way to publish. The right path depends on what you wrote, how fast you want to reach readers, how much control you want, and how much money you are willing to spend upfront. What follows is a side-by-side comparison of all three paths, showing what each one costs and earns, to help you choose which one fits your situation.
This article covers traditional publishing, self-publishing through Amazon KDP and IngramSpark, and web fiction serialization. If you want a deeper look at the writing process before publishing, I wrote a complete guide to writing a novel and a specific guide to writing web fiction. This article assumes the manuscript is done and you are deciding what to do with it.
The Three Paths to Publish a Book
Before getting into the details, here is the 30-second overview. Traditional publishing means an agent sells your book to a publisher, who handles editing, cover design, distribution, and some marketing. You get an advance and royalties. Self-publishing means you publish the book yourself through Amazon KDP or IngramSpark. You pay for editing and cover design upfront, keep a larger share of each sale, and control everything. Web fiction means you publish the book chapter by chapter on a platform like Royal Road, WebNovel, or NovelDay. Readers follow the story as it updates, and you monetize through Patreon, platform contracts, or Kindle publication after the serial is complete.
Each path has a different timeline. Traditional publishing takes 2 to 4 years from finished manuscript to published book. Self-publishing takes a few weeks once editing and cover design are done. Web fiction can start the same day you finish your first chapter. Each path has different costs. Traditional publishing is free to the author. Self-publishing costs $500 to $3,000 for professional editing, cover design, and formatting. Web fiction is free to start but monetizes slowly.
Traditional Publishing
Traditional publishing is the path most people picture when they think of publishing a book. You write the manuscript, find a literary agent, the agent sells the book to a publisher, and the publisher produces and distributes the book. The publisher pays you an advance and royalties.
How Traditional Publishing Works
The process has several stages. First, you write and revise the manuscript to a publishable standard. Then you query literary agents. A query is a one-page letter describing your book and why you are the right person to write it. Agents receive hundreds of queries per week and request full manuscripts from a small fraction. If an agent offers representation, they revise the manuscript with you and submit it to editors at publishing houses. If an editor buys the book, the publisher pays an advance and schedules production.
The timeline is long. Finding an agent takes 3 to 12 months for most authors. Selling the book to a publisher takes another 3 to 18 months. From sale to publication takes 12 to 18 months. That means 2 to 4 years from finished manuscript to published book. Some books sell faster. Some take longer. Some never sell at all.
What Traditional Publishers Do
The publisher handles editing, copyediting, proofreading, cover design, interior design, typesetting, printing, distribution to bookstores and online retailers, and some marketing. They get the book into physical bookstores, which self-publishing cannot do easily. They have existing relationships with reviewers, media outlets, and booksellers.
What publishers do not do: they do not run your social media, build your mailing list, or guarantee sales. They do not continue marketing a book indefinitely. Most marketing happens in the first 6 to 8 weeks after publication. After that, the book is on its own unless it is selling well.
What Traditional Publishing Pays
The median debut advance is $25,000. Half of authors receive less. Big Five publishers (Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Hachette, Macmillan) typically pay $10,000 to $50,000 for a debut. Small presses may pay $500 to $5,000 or no advance at all. The advance is paid in installments: on signing, on delivery of revisions, and on publication.
Royalties are 10 percent of list price for hardcovers, 7.5 percent for paperbacks, and 25 percent of net for ebooks. You do not receive royalties until the book earns out the advance. Most books never earn out. I wrote a full breakdown of how much authors make with real data from Authors Guild surveys and advance data.
Your agent takes 15 percent of everything. That comes out of your advance and royalties. A $25,000 advance becomes $21,250 after the agent commission.
What Traditional Publishing Costs You
Traditional publishing is free to the author. The publisher covers all production costs. But the cost is in time and control. You spend years waiting. You do not choose the cover, the title, or the release date. The publisher can delay publication, change the title, or shelve the book entirely. If the book underperforms, the publisher may not promote it, and you have no recourse.
Self-Publishing
Self-publishing means you publish the book yourself. You are the publisher. You pay for editing, cover design, and formatting. You upload the book to Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, or both. You set the price, choose the categories, and handle marketing. You keep a larger share of each sale but take on all the work and cost.
How Self-Publishing Works on Amazon KDP
Amazon KDP is the dominant self-publishing platform. You upload your manuscript as an EPUB or PDF, set the price, choose categories and keywords, and publish. The book appears on Amazon within 24 to 72 hours. Amazon pays 70 percent royalty on ebooks priced $2.99 to $9.99. Outside that range, the rate drops to 35 percent. A $4.99 ebook nets you $3.44 per sale.
Print-on-demand through KDP is also free to set up. Amazon prints copies when customers order them. You earn 60 percent of list price minus printing costs. A $14.99 paperback might net you $3 to $4 per copy after printing and distribution fees.
Kindle Unlimited is Amazon's subscription service. Readers pay a monthly fee and can read any enrolled ebook. Authors are paid per page read. The per-page rate in 2024 was approximately $0.0045. A 300-page novel earns roughly $1.35 per full read-through. Enrolling in KU requires the ebook to be exclusive to Amazon for 90-day periods. Series writers in romance, thriller, and LitRPG often earn the majority of their KDP income from KU page reads.
IngramSpark for Broader Distribution
IngramSpark is the other major self-publishing platform. It does not have Amazon's reach, but it offers distribution to bookstores, libraries, and other retailers that Amazon KDP cannot reach. If you want your book available in physical bookstores or on platforms other than Amazon, you need IngramSpark or a similar distributor. Many self-published authors use both: KDP for Amazon sales and IngramSpark for everything else.
What Self-Publishing Actually Earns
The 2024 Indie Author Survey found that 46 percent of authors earn $100 or less per month from their writing. The median KDP title earns $16 per month. Only 0.8 percent of KDP titles earn over $5,000 per month. The income follows a steep power law: a small number of titles capture most of the royalties, and a long tail earns almost nothing.
The authors who earn full-time incomes from self-publishing almost always have deep backlists. One book earning $200 per month is a hobby. Twenty books earning $200 each per month is a career. Self-publishing rewards consistent output and series writing more than single standalone titles.
What Self-Publishing Costs
Self-publishing is not free. Professional developmental editing costs $500 to $2,000 for a novel-length manuscript. Line editing costs $500 to $1,500. Copy editing costs $300 to $800. Cover design costs $100 to $500 for a premade cover, $500 to $2,000 for custom. Formatting costs $50 to $200 if you do not do it yourself. Marketing, including Amazon Ads and newsletter promotions, can run $100 to $1,000 per month.
A reasonable budget for a professionally self-published novel is $1,000 to $3,000. You can spend less by doing some work yourself, but the quality will show. A bad cover is the single fastest way to kill a self-published book, because readers judge books by their covers and Amazon's algorithm judges books by their click-through rates.
One cost that beginners often overlook is the cost of revisions. If your first draft needs significant structural work, a developmental editor may charge $1,000 or more for a single round of feedback. Some authors go through three or four rounds of revision before the manuscript is ready for copyediting. Each round adds cost and time. The authors who keep self-publishing costs low are the ones who learn to self-edit effectively before hiring a professional for the final pass.
Web Fiction and Serialization
Web fiction is the newest publishing path and the one most traditional publishing advice ignores. Instead of writing a complete book and then publishing it, you publish chapters online for free as you write them. Readers follow the story as it updates. You build an audience while the book is still being written.
How Web Fiction Publishing Works
You create an account on a web fiction platform, upload your first chapter, and publish. Readers discover the story through the platform's ranking and recommendation systems. You update on a schedule, usually daily or several times a week. The platform handles hosting, discovery, and reader tools like bookmarks and comments.
The key platforms for English-language web fiction are Royal Road, WebNovel, Wattpad, and newer platforms like NovelDay. Each has a different audience and monetization model. I wrote a full comparison of web fiction platforms and a guide to where to post based on genre.
How Web Fiction Monetizes
Web fiction does not monetize the way traditional or self-publishing does. You give the story away for free and earn money indirectly. The three main channels are:
- Patreon for advance chapters. Readers pay $3 to $10 per month to read 10 or 20 chapters ahead of the free public version. A Royal Road author with 2,000 followers might have 30 to 80 Patreon supporters earning $90 to $400 per month.
- Platform contracts. WebNovel compensates contracted authors by word count, with average earnings reported at $400 to $1,100 per month. Top earners make significantly more. The catch is that exclusive contracts take significant rights. I wrote a full breakdown of what WebNovel contracts cost you.
- Kindle publication after serialization. Once the serial is complete, you edit it into a book and publish on Amazon KDP. Several well-known Kindle authors first built their readership through free online serialization before packaging the completed story as a paid ebook.
What Web Fiction Costs
Web fiction is free to start. No agent, no editor, no upfront cost. You can publish your first chapter today. The cost is in time: building an audience takes months, and the income starts small. The advantage is that you get reader feedback while you write, and you know whether the story is working within weeks instead of after a year of writing in isolation.
How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Book?
The cost depends entirely on which path you choose. Here is the breakdown:
- Traditional publishing: Free to the author. The publisher covers all production costs. The cost is in time (2 to 4 years) and control (you do not choose the cover or title).
- Self-publishing: $1,000 to $3,000 for a professionally produced novel. Editing is the largest expense ($500 to $2,000). Cover design is the most important ($100 to $2,000). Formatting and marketing add $200 to $2,000.
- Web fiction: Free to start. No upfront cost. The cost is in time and delayed monetization. You may spend months building an audience before earning anything.
If you have no budget, web fiction is the only path that costs nothing. If you have $1,000 to $3,000 and want full control, self-publishing is the fastest route to a professional product. If you have patience and want editorial support and bookstore distribution, traditional publishing is the path, but it takes years.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I publish my first book?
The path depends on what you wrote and what you want. For traditional publishing, finish the manuscript, revise it, query literary agents, and wait for an offer. For self-publishing, hire an editor and cover designer, format the book, and upload to Amazon KDP. For web fiction, create an account on a platform like Royal Road or NovelDay and start publishing chapters.
For a first book, web fiction is the lowest-risk path. You can start immediately, for free, and get reader feedback before committing to a full publishing investment. Many authors serialize first, build an audience, and then publish the completed book on Amazon KDP with that audience already in place.
How many books do you need to sell to make $100,000?
It depends on your royalty per book. A self-published ebook at $4.99 with a 70 percent KDP royalty nets $3.44 per copy. You need to sell roughly 29,000 copies to earn $100,000. A traditionally published hardcover at $25 with a 10 percent royalty nets $2.50 per copy. You need to sell 40,000 copies, and that is after earning out your advance.
On Kindle Unlimited at $0.0045 per page, a 300-page novel earns $1.35 per read-through. You need roughly 74,000 full read-throughs. None of these numbers account for production costs or agent commissions. I wrote a full breakdown of author earnings by publishing path with real data.
How much does it cost to publish a book?
Traditional publishing is free to the author. Self-publishing costs $1,000 to $3,000 for a professionally produced novel, with editing and cover design as the largest expenses. Web fiction is free to start. You can publish your first chapter on a platform like NovelDay at no cost.
The hidden cost of self-publishing is marketing. Amazon Ads, BookBub promotions, and newsletter swaps can cost $100 to $1,000 per month. An author who earns $2,000 monthly from KDP might spend $500 of that on ads. The net income is always lower than the gross royalty number.
Can I publish a book for free?
Yes, through web fiction serialization. Platforms like Royal Road, WebNovel, Wattpad, and NovelDay let you publish chapters for free. You do not pay for hosting, distribution, or platform access. You can start publishing the same day you finish your first chapter.
Self-publishing on Amazon KDP is also free to upload, but producing a professional-quality book requires paying for editing and cover design. You can publish without those, but the result will look self-published, and readers will notice.
How long does it take to publish a book?
Traditional publishing takes 2 to 4 years from finished manuscript to published book: 3 to 12 months to find an agent, 3 to 18 months to sell the book, and 12 to 18 months from sale to publication. Self-publishing takes a few weeks once editing and cover design are complete. Web fiction can start the same day you finish your first chapter.
If speed matters, web fiction is the fastest path. If bookstore distribution matters, traditional publishing is the only option. If control and royalties matter, self-publishing is the middle ground.
Bottom Line
How to publish a book is not one question. It is three questions: how much time do you have, how much money can you spend upfront, and how much control do you want? Traditional publishing trades time and control for editorial support and bookstore distribution. Self-publishing trades money and effort for control and higher per-sale royalties. Web fiction trades immediate income for speed, reader feedback, and zero upfront cost.
None of these paths is inherently better than the others. They reward different skills and different temperaments. A literary fiction author who wants editorial support should pursue traditional publishing. A genre fiction author who writes fast and wants to build a backlist should self-publish. An author who wants reader feedback while writing and has no budget should serialize online.
If you want to start publishing today, without waiting for an agent or paying for production, you can start a novel on NovelDay and publish your first chapter immediately. If you want to read what other serialized authors are writing, browse the NovelDay library to see what is working on the platform right now.
