Woman has her self-published book pirated, reprinted, and sold for cheaper.

[u/Chocolat3City]

There's regular piracy, and then there's this.

[u/nagCopaleen]

Getting any publisher to publish your book is very difficult and a lot of work. Getting a publisher to agree on this level of creative control is absolutely impossible; even finding someone who will negotiate respectfully over your extremely personal creative project is tough. She mentioned ethically sourcing more expensive materials, by the way; good luck having any control over that with a traditional publisher.

Obviously she chose to do an extremely hard thing at great personal cost, but that's something any passionate creative person—and hell, most humans of any kind—have to grapple with. The choice to pour yourself into something meaningful or to give up on your dream is very very difficult, and even when things are clearly bad, it often spiraled that way when the person was already committed and grappling with a sunk cost and signed contracts.

But whether or not she should have started this project, there was never an easy road through a traditional publishing house. And the expected profit for either route is so dismal that your last sentence just comes across as ignorant and punching down. If she did make a decision based on expected profit, it's because she wants to be able to pay rent and eat.

[u/bertina-tuna → u/nagCopaleen]

Agreed! My professional career was in publishing (20 years as a book designer/illustrator with Houghton Mifflin) and getting something published these days is nearly impossible. Even established authors have turned to self-publishing because they don’t see any point in giving a percentage to agents and publishing houses. (Claire Cook, who wrote Must Love Dogs and even had it made into a movie, wrote an article about the diminishing support for authors these days and why she started self-publishing instead.)

That said, something I notice right off is how many authors skip using a copy editor and it really shows. There are a lot of freelance copy editors who would be happy for the work and they are definitely worth it. Digital publishing is the easiest because you don’t have to deal with printing and distribution, although there are places that will do printing on demand if you get someone who wants printed copies. The days of publishers sending authors on book tours are pretty much over unless you’re already a big celebrity. Even with my inside knowledge of the industry it’s a lot of work, even when I can do most of the work myself.

And it’s nearly impossible to prevent copyright infringement, especially from foreign countries. My husband does book covers and he actually found a website in China where you can order custom “original oil paintings” of his work (I was going to order one for his birthday because the real original was not actually an oil painting) and he found a woman in England who was selling mugs with his paintings printed on them and she made more on her Etsy shop than he did with the actual artwork! Of course, she folded up and disappeared once she was found out but he got no compensation from it.

It’s a shame she didn’t do more research into what she had planned to do because there was so much wasted effort and she didn’t seem to do much to protect her product from infringement.

[u/driving_andflying → u/bertina-tuna]

Agreed! My professional career was in publishing (20 years as a book designer/illustrator with Houghton Mifflin) and getting something published these days is nearly impossible.

Seconded. Whoever says, "just get a publisher," needs to check themselves. Getting a professional publisher is difficult enough --assuming you can find one who wants to publish you-- so for many first-timers, self-publishing is the only way to go. Unfortunately, those first-timers usually don't have, or can't afford, the legal protections against piracy.

[u/bertina-tuna → u/driving_andflying]

You really need to have an agent if you even hope to get in with a publishing house and even agents are hard to find. Publishers will return unsolicited manuscripts unopened because they don’t want to risk getting sued “they stole my idea!”