Trad Pub: Traditional publishing is usually accomplished by an author securing an agent, shopping a book to a publisher, and working with that publisher to bring the book to fruition.
Self Pub: Self publishing is usually accomplished by an author finding a company (e.g. amazon) that will print their manuscript in book form. Authors take on the cost of hiring external helps such as editors, illustrators, book cover creators, and more.
Which one is best for you? Only you can decide. Both sides of publishing require the author to do a lot of marketing. On the financial side of things, self published authors pay for more things up front. Then, as books are sold and the money comes in, they are able to take that as a profit. Those who publish traditionally often receive an advance from the publisher but don’t receive any money from royalties until the royalties they make exceed that previous advance amount. So if the publisher gives an author $5,000 as an advance, that author doesn’t receive any additional money until the royalties exceed $5,000.
Both types of publishing have pros and cons. Some authors even start in one style and shift to another. Either way, in my humble opinion, it’s just super fun to say the industry slang terms trad pub and self pub.
Holly Hawk Editing 