How to Publish Book in Pakistan in 2022 ? Book Publishing Types

Long time ago i.e. in the 4^th Millennium BC the spreading of information was only through the word of mouth and writing was only used for fixing religious formulations.

Fast forward to today publishing has become commercialized and you will find books from almost every genre.

But this is not where it all ends. There are now various types of publishing the most common and the oldest being traditional publishing. Self-publishing has also been closer to traditional publishing in terms of its history whereas print on demand publishing has been around the corner since a few years.

Traditional Publishing

The largest industry of publishing is the traditional publishing. To be traditionally published it is considered the biggest achievement because the writer has to go through vigorous checking and numerous rejections from agents and publishers until they are finally accepted by one. The process is extremely stressful and can take up years. Also, once the publisher accepts the manuscript, the writer has to make several changes according to the requirements of the publisher and most of the time the writer has little say in the publication process. But that can sometimes be a benefit for the writer since everything is being taken care of by the publisher and the writer gets paid upfront. However, the writer will still have to pay for getting the manuscript edited in the initial phase so that their manuscript gets polished enough to be accepted by agents and publishers.

In order to get your book traditionally published you first need to have your manuscript ready or at least the outline of the manuscript ready since some publishers do accept the idea by the writer (proposal) even before the whole manuscript is ready. Once your manuscript is ready, get it edited by a good editor who can provide you with the right kind of constructive criticism that will help to make your manuscript stand out from the rest of the manuscripts written in the same genre.

The next phase is to look for an agent. An agent works as an intermediate between the writer and the publisher. Do you really need an agent? Well, many traditional publishers are conveniently reachable through these agents as they are well versed in their approach. Agents are basically going to market your manuscript to the publishers and they know exactly how to get their attention. But just in case you are not aware agents do charge a fee or take some percentage from the money you get from the publishers.

In case you don’t want to get an agent involved you can always approach the publishers on your own. For this you will first need to research to find out which traditional publishers publish books of your genre and then individually check their website or contact them to find out their manuscript requirements and then edit your manuscript accordingly and send it ahead.

Self Publishing

The term self publishing speaks for itself. The writer is the one who owns all rights to the manuscripts and the publisher except for providing suggestions lets the writer decide what needs to be edited and what needs to be deleted in the manuscript. There are various self publishing companies who will help you with all the publishing process and will also provide you with services such as editing, formatting and book cover designing.

While you will have full control over your manuscript with it will also come certain responsibilities. For instance, you will have to market the book by yourself, contact book shops and most importantly invest a huge amount of money in editing, cover design and then in publishing. The self publishing companies may share a bit about your book on their website and their social network accounts but the major efforts in marketing the book will have to be done by you only.

The biggest risk of self publishing is that you will have to purchase a huge number of copies of your book without the guarantee of how many of it will get sold, especially if you are publishing your book for the first time. The advantage of purchasing bulk copies of your book will be that the printing cost will be low hence you will be able to make more profit per copy.

Print on Demand (POD)

The print on demand method has recently being introduced and has been the most convenient form of publishing for many writers, especially those publishing their books for the first time. The purpose of POD is to print a book when its demand arises. It was initially started by Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and Createspace (a sister company of Amazon).

The biggest benefit of POD is that it doesn’t involve a lengthy process and you have full control over the book and its pricing. Along with that you don’t have to purchase the copies beforehand. When the customer places an order that is the time the book gets printed and delivered and you earn your royalties.

Despite all these benefits its drawback is that it will take time for you to earn a decent amount of money. The book printing costs will also be slightly higher in compared to bulk printing which means you will either have to keep a higher price or make less profit per copy. But if your goal is to get your book out there and not really bothered about making a lot of money out of your book, then this method will suit you.

Even though KDP and Createspace are offering POD services, it is not suitable for writers residing in Pakistan because of the expensive shipment charges from US to Pakistan and then the duty charges once the shipment arrives in Pakistan increases the cost price of the book to the extent that readers may not want to get their hands on it. Hence it is better for Pakistani writers to get their books printed by POD companies based in Pakistan.

What Auraq Offers ?

Auraq Publications is a POD and a self publishing company based in Pakistan. Several writers based in Pakistan and outside Pakistan have published their books with Auraq Publications and so far it is the leading POD and self publishing company in Pakistan. So after reading all about different publishing methods if you have decided to go for self publishing or POD then get in touch with us at draft.auraq@gmail.com