As an aspiring author, it can be helpful to consider the different routes to publication, since the one that’s right for you will be unique to your project.
In this article, we’ll explore a high-level explanation of traditional publishing, self-publishing, and hybrid publishing, along with offering some examples of resources you may find useful…
What is traditional publishing?
Traditional publishing usually requires an author to be represented by a literary agency, since it’s a literary agent who must submit your work to an editor at a traditional publishing company. Most larger publishing companies won’t accept unsolicited manuscripts (i.e. directly from authors), though some smaller publishing companies do allow authors to send in their own submissions.
Since a literary agent works on an author’s behalf, they won’t receive any payment directly from the author. Instead, a literary agent earns their living by receiving a share of any monetary advance and/or royalties from the book they’ve sold to a traditional publisher. Although the standard amount a literary agent expects to be paid is around 15%, each publishing partnership between a literary agent and their author will be unique to them, which means this percentage may differ.
Once a traditional publisher has chosen to publish your book, they’ll let you know whether or not you should expect to be paid an advance, and when you’ll receive it – for example, some advances are paid in partial amounts upon providing the initial manuscript, completing the editorial phase, and successfully publishing the book. In most cases, if an author does receive an advance, they won’t get paid royalties until they’ve earned out their advance (i.e. they’ve earned enough royalties to cover the amount they were paid as an advance). An experienced literary agent can help to negotiate a better deal for you.
After contracts have been signed, you’re likely to work with several editors who’ll support you to carve your manuscript into a masterpiece for readers to enjoy!
Your publisher will handle every aspect of the production of your book, from editorial work and formatting to cover design and marketing. However, expect the amount of time and money a publishing company invests in your book to align with their anticipation of its success. For this reason, the way a publishing company works with you is likely to depend on their level of investment in your book.
Throughout the publishing process, and following the publication of your book, you may have to get involved in marketing efforts to promote your work. Some of these promotional activities might include creating social media posts, providing podcast interviews, and attending book signing events.
Remember: At no point on your traditional publishing journey should you expect to pay anything upfront, whether to the literary agent/agency or publishing company.
What is self-publishing?
‘Self-publishing’ means exactly that – publishing a book yourself!
The popularity of self-publishing could be related to several factors, including the:
- Improved accessibility of self-publishing tools, as technology continues to evolve.
- Speed of the process, in comparison to traditional publishing.
- Complete creative control over the finished product, e.g. writing style and cover design.
Many authors have enjoyed success through the self-publishing process, inspiring thousands of others to try to follow in their footsteps. However, the desire to share their story – and excitement of getting their book published quickly – has led some authors to fail to invest enough time and energy into researching the process properly, which tends to result in a lesser quality book (compared to a traditionally published novel that has benefitted from a whole team of publishing professionals and sizeable marketing budget). It is these lower quality books that sometimes put readers off purchasing a self-published novel, even though the majority of self-published authors have dedicated themselves to learning about the process and ensuring their book is the best it can possibly be.
Here at Horseshoe Books, we love self-published novels! Therefore, we want to support authors to produce their books to the highest possible standards, in order to reach the right readers. Through connecting with reputable, trustworthy, professional publishing services, you should be able to build your very own publishing team to support you throughout your journey to publication!
A small selection of the types of professionals you may want to hire include a:
- Developmental editor – who provides a thorough written analysis of the storyline(s), style, structure, pacing, and general character development of your work, along with the overall strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript.
- Copy editor – who checks that your work is suitable for your intended audience, assesses its overall readability (e.g. in terms of style, story, character development, etc.), uses a style guide to ensure that your manuscript is consistent throughout, as well as correcting any spelling mistakes, typos, and grammatical errors they may find.
- Proofreader – who checks your edited manuscript for inconsistencies or errors that have been missed during the copy-editing process.
- Beta reader – who reads your proofread manuscript and offers feedback on aspects of the work that stand out to them, from characters and settings to writing style and typos.
- Cover designer – who can work with you to craft a book cover design that’ll grab a reader’s attention, while conveying the essence of your story and showcasing its ‘hook’ (i.e. the aspects of your story that inspire a reader to pick up the book!).
Top tip: In addition to the above, your project could also benefit from being professionally formatted prior to publication in eBook, paperback, and/or hardcover format.
While you maintain full control over every step of the self-publishing journey, it’s essential to make sure that any professionals you intend to work with are trustworthy. To help you find reputable publishing professionals, you could start by visiting the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and reading through advice available via the Writers & Artists website.
When you’re happy that your manuscript is polished and ready to shine, you’re then responsible for publishing it as an eBook, paperback book, and/or hardcover book. There’s a wide array of companies with which you could publish your book, each with their own terms and conditions. Some companies may charge a small fee to upload your title and publish it, others offer their services for free but receive a larger percentage of your royalties instead.
Please note: The royalties you’ll receive from the sales of your novel will vary greatly, depending on the company you choose to publish with and the format within which you want to publish (for example, eBooks often provide a higher royalty rate for authors due to the lower costs involved in producing them).
Just a few of the well-known self-publishing companies you might want to consider include:
Ideally, you’ll have started to market your book before its publication date – though as soon as it’s published, the hard work of marketing it begins! Getting your awesome, new book into the hands of readers is your next big task. The options available to you for marketing your book are endless, but it’s always worth doing your research and seeking advice from experienced marketers to discover the marketing methods that work best for you, your budget, and your book (for instance, the strategy for marketing a romance novel will look very different to the marketing strategy for a horror story!).
Some marketing methods won’t cost anything, whereas others could become quite expensive. So, make sure you’ve decided upon your marketing budget before publishing your novel. Here’s a small selection of marketing strategies you could apply to your own self-published book:
- Social media advertising, e.g. Instagram posts and Facebook ads.
- Reaching out to book reviewers (via TikTok, for instance).
- Hosting an event, like a book signing at your local bookshop, to promote your novel.
What is hybrid publishing?
For authors who haven’t yet gained the experience to self-publish and haven’t had any luck querying literary agents, hybrid publishing can seem like the ideal alternative. Although hybrid publishing models may look slightly different for each partnership, ultimately, they tend to combine some elements of traditional publishing with aspects of self-publishing.
Reputable hybrid publishers won’t just accept any old manuscript – they’ll have a submission process in place to determine whether a manuscript offers high-quality writing that’s likely to appeal to a large number of readers.
Should the hybrid publisher accept your manuscript, you’ll then come to an agreement as to the production costs they’re willing to cover (e.g. cover design and formatting) and the fees you’re able to afford (e.g. editorial work and printing costs).
It’s likely that the timeline from submission to publication will be far shorter with a hybrid publisher than a traditional publishing company, since you’ll be heavily involved in the production of your book. However, it often takes longer to get your book published through a hybrid publishing company than it would if you were self-publishing.
Important: Take great care when deciding upon a hybrid publisher, because there are lots of companies out there that are considered to be ‘vanity publishers’ or ‘vanity presses’ who claim to offer hybrid publishing contracts, yet leave authors significantly out of pocket and offer absolutely no publishing support whatsoever.
Have you found this article helpful? Would you like to share your publishing story with us, and have it featured on our website? If so, please feel free to reach out to us via email or leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!
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