Why Big Authors (Usually) Don't Self Publish

“Keep all your rights” sounds like a winning promise — until you understand what those rights may be worth when a book has the distribution, sales, and industry support to make them valuable.

For entrepreneurs, experts, and creators, choosing how to publish is not just a decision about royalties, timelines, or creative control. It is also a decision about the future potential of your intellectual property. Your book could become an international edition, a magazine excerpt, a television show, a film, or another product built from the ideas you created.

Hosted by Meghan Stevenson, a traditional publishing expert and founder of Meghan Stevenson Books, this episode explains why distribution and subsidiary rights are two often-overlooked reasons to consider traditional publishing for a how-to nonfiction book.

It’s not that self, indie, or hybrid publishing makes it impossible to retain rights. It does not. Authors who choose those paths typically retain more direct control over their rights and profits.

The issue is that rights are only valuable when the underlying intellectual property has value in the marketplace.

If a self-published, indie-published, or hybrid-published book sells only a few hundred copies and has limited distribution, there may be little demand for international editions, serial excerpts, adaptation rights, or related opportunities. Traditional publishing can increase the potential value of those rights because the publisher invests in distributing, selling, and positioning the book more widely.

For authors who want to reach a large audience and create a significant impact, traditional publishing may provide stronger distribution and more opportunities to leverage the rights connected to a book.

A book is a form of intellectual property, or IP.

That means the value of your book is not limited to the physical, digital, or audio edition readers buy. Your original idea, method, story, and content can potentially be used in other formats and markets. The book can become the starting point for additional products, editions, or adaptations.

Vivian Tu’s RICH AF offers a useful illustration. RICH AF is a New York Times bestselling personal-finance how-to book designed to help readers understand personal finance and grow wealth. It is also the name of a scripted television project produced by Vivian Tu, known online as Your Rich BFF.

The projects are distinct: one is a nonfiction how-to book and the other is a fictional “riches to rags” television story about Lia, a billionaire’s daughter who must rebuild after exposing her father’s white-collar crimes. But the example demonstrates how an author’s intellectual property can create opportunities beyond a single book format.

A television adaptation is rare. Vivian is an outlier, just as high-profile fiction adaptation examples such as Colleen Hoover and J.K. Rowling are outliers. Still, the broader point applies to all authors: The rights associated with your book can have future value.

Why distribution matters

Distribution determines where readers can find and buy your book.

Self-published, indie-published, and hybrid-published books are generally limited to Amazon. Traditional publishing, by contrast, offers nationwide distribution to independent bookstores and major chains such as Barnes & Noble.

Not every traditionally published book appears in every bookstore. But a traditionally published author has a stronger chance of having a book available in an airport bookstore, a local independent bookstore, or a major national retailer.

This matters because broader distribution can help more readers discover the book. It also gives the intellectual property behind the book a greater opportunity to become valuable.

Traditional publishers have teams working behind the scenes to support sales and distribution. This can include sales representatives who speak to independent bookstores about the book and teams that help bring titles to different kinds of retail outlets.

What are subsidiary rights?

Subsidiary rights are rights connected to your book that can be sold or licensed separately from the original book edition.

A publisher may have departments dedicated to selling these rights, while literary agents may also retain or negotiate certain rights on an author’s behalf. The specifics depend on the book deal and the rights granted in the agreement.

The most common subsidiary rights discussed in this episode include:

• International rights

• First serial rights

• Second serial rights

• Television and film rights

The important point is that rights are not automatically valuable simply because you own them. The market value comes from the strength of the original intellectual property, the book’s sales, its visibility, and the demand for it.

International rights

International rights allow a book to be sold by another publisher in another country. That publisher may release the book in English or translate it into the local language, depending on the market and deal.

Publishers Marketplace lists book-rights deals in more than 70 countries, from Azerbaijan to Vietnam. International rights can be significant because they expand the reach of an author’s work beyond one domestic market.

A publisher may acquire “world” rights or “world English” rights, allowing it to sell international rights internally. In that arrangement, the author still receives a share of the proceeds. In other cases, a literary agent may retain international rights and negotiate foreign publishing deals separately. Either way, the author receives a cut of those deals.

Meghan shares the example of client Elaine Lin Hering, whose literary agent sold world rights when she received a deal with Penguin. Penguin was then able to sell the book’s international rights in eight countries based on the proposal.

That is the kind of opportunity that can be easier to create when a traditional publisher and agent have established rights infrastructure and relationships.

First and second serial rights

Serial rights allow a chapter or excerpt from a book to appear in a newspaper or magazine.

First serial rights apply when an excerpt appears before the book is published. Meghan’s client Aiko Bethea had a snippet of her book, ANCHORED ALIGNED ACCOUNTABLE, published in People three months before the book’s release. This is an example of first serial rights.

Second serial rights apply when an excerpt is published after the book is released — or after an earlier first-serial placement has run.

These rights are less common than they once were because newspapers and magazines are less central to the media landscape. Still, a serial-rights placement can create publicity for the book and author while also generating payment from the media outlet.

Television and film rights

Television and film rights allow a book to be adapted into a television series or movie.

These deals vary widely and usually happen only for major bestsellers. An adaptation is never something an author should assume will happen. But it represents one of the ways a successful book can become a larger intellectual-property asset.

The larger lesson is not to pursue traditional publishing because you expect a screen adaptation. It is to understand that a book can have value beyond its initial format, especially when it reaches a wide audience.

Do you keep your rights in a traditional book deal?

The answer depends on the terms negotiated in your publishing agreement.

Traditional publishing does not necessarily mean giving away every right connected to your book. Publishers may acquire certain rights, such as world or world-English rights, and sell them on the author’s behalf. Literary agents may retain other rights and negotiate deals separately. In both situations, the author receives a share of the proceeds.

This is why it is important to understand that a traditional book deal is not only about your advance or royalty rate. It also includes decisions about which rights are being sold, retained, licensed, or managed by your agent and publisher.

For entrepreneurs, experts, and creators, the choice should be informed by your goals. If maximum speed and control are most important, another publishing path may fit. If broad distribution, professional partnership, and the potential to build long-term value from your intellectual property are priorities, traditional publishing may be the better option.

Questions answered in this episode

• What do I give up when I self-publish, indie publish, or hybrid publish?

• What is intellectual property in book publishing?

• Why is distribution important for authors?

• Where are traditionally published books sold?

• Why are self-published books often limited in distribution?

• What are subsidiary rights?

• What are international rights for a book?

• What are world rights and world English rights?

• Do authors get paid when foreign rights are sold?

• What are first serial rights?

• What are second serial rights?

• Can a magazine publish an excerpt from my book before it comes out?

• Can a nonfiction book become a television show or movie?

• How do television and film rights work for books?

• Do authors retain their rights in a traditional publishing deal?

• Why can traditional publishing make book rights more valuable?

• Should entrepreneurs, experts, and creators self-publish or traditionally publish?