If you are a writer, then you will be overwhelmed by querying so that you can attract both a traditional publisher and a literary agent. Worse still, you may not have the right expertise to completely self-publish.
The good news is that you can opt for hybrid publishing. Remember that hybrid publishing tends to blend together self-publishing and traditional publishing. This is the best way you can get your book on the market. This page discusses hybrid publishing.
Types of publishers
To get a traditional publishing contract, it means you need to query several literary agents to find someone who thinks that your work can be accepted by traditional publishing houses. Many traditional publishing houses can only negotiate with agented writers.
The agent can try on your behalf to sell your work to a traditional publisher, and get a book contract for you. When a deal is in place, you can sign a contract with the publisher. This is a huge investment and risk for a traditional publisher.
A traditional publisher covers the whole publication expenses and assumes the key responsibility to sell and market your book. They can offer you an advance payment for your intellectual property before the publication. The only catch is that this advance payment is not regarded as earned until your book sells adequate copies to match the advance.
You should note that the advance payment can vary depending on your book writing experience. But once they sell a lot of copies, you can start to receive extra cash. The publishers can pay you in the form of royalties, which is a percentage of the overall book sales. Both the traditional publisher and literary agent also take a part of these royalties.
This means that a traditional publisher usually owns the rights of your work, and exercises a huge control over what and how you write. This is because a traditional publisher focuses mainly on what can sell based on their experience and knowledge in the publishing industry.
Also, they value their expertise on how to refine, package, market, and distribute these raw ideas. They can do all these to make sure that your book sells so that they can recover their investment.
When you have a traditional published contract, it makes things a bit easier. You cannot pay any money to publish your book. Instead, you can receive cash from the traditional publisher, and this amount of cash can sometimes be substantial.
You can forget about editing, producing, printing costs, distributing, and other complex publishing elements. You can leave this to your publisher while focusing on your efforts of writing a good book. You can avoid some risks with the traditional publishing model, though few writers manage to get book deals. As a result, most authors prefer using the self-publishing model.
With self-publishing, most of the services that you can get for free from a traditional publisher are covered by you. You need to write the book and also prepare it for publication when it comes to editing, layout, cover design, pricing, and many more.
The only alternative is by subcontracting all or part of the process unless you have the capabilities to handle it yourself. And, when your book is published, you are responsible for promoting your work. If you don’t have a lot of influence and a good advertising budget, it can be hard to sell your book.
The good thing about self-publishing is that it offers a quick turnaround when it comes to completing your book and publishing it. Publication times are quite quick, meaning your book can be on the market quicker than a traditional publisher who can take at least two years after signing a book to release.
Besides, if you become a high-volume seller, you can go ahead compared to the ones that are traditionally published. Also, there are no upfront advances that you receive, but you don’t need to secure the services of a literary agent through long querying. There are also no contracts that you need to negotiate, and no publishers or literary agents taking a significant percentage of your profits.
A self-published author tends to have full creative freedom to write what they want and know. There is no interference from a traditional publisher, so you can focus on book sales, meaning you can focus on what you want.
Understanding hybrid publishers
A hybrid publisher usually provides the best of both worlds. In most cases, they may not accept just any book, so they often have quality control. The good thing is that the gatekeeping can be flexible because you don’t need literary agents. After all, they also desire to represent quality writing. This improves their reputation and share of profits.
Keep in mind that not every work that you submit can be accepted by a hybrid publisher. They first evaluate your book to find out if it meets their standards and business lines. And, there is no cost that you can incur with this evaluation process. The fees for hybrid publishers can vary depending on the company you decide to work with.
You usually pay a hybrid publisher what you can do yourself, but they put their names behind your book as well as their expertise. Some writers prefer to use this method, but others get exploited. Therefore, you need to research so that you can know the person you are working with before you decide to sign anything.
Once the potential hybrid publisher accepts your script, they can edit, print, and do other stages of publication just like a traditional publisher. This leaves you free to focus on your writing. And, depending on the hybrid model, most hybrid publishers can also offer some marketing services and distribution.
Unlike complete self-publishing, a hybrid publisher provides most of the services. This means you don’t need to work hard to find a book editor, cover designer, and promote your book. A hybrid publisher can also get your book published quicker than a traditional publisher, which is usually within six months. Royalties for you are also higher than for the traditional publisher.
