SHOULD YOU PAY TO GET PUBLISHED?!
“Isn’t it the standard process for a publishing company to pay me as an author, not the other way around? I’m not supposed to pay to get published, am I?”
The answer is “it depends.”
How much work do you want to do to get your book published? Or do you not have an interest in becoming a publishing expert and want to turn everything over to the professionals so you can spend your time doing what you love? And if you turn over everything, then how much control do you want to have over your finished book? And how important is it that you actually get published?
Once you become clear on your answers to these questions, the publishing route you should take will also become clear to you.
There are three major publishing routes: self-publishing; hybrid publishing, which is what we offer; and traditional publishing. When you expect a publishing company to pay you royalties, you have your sights set on traditional publishing and possibly hybrid publishing. Not sure of the difference? Here is a quick synopsis of the three publishing routes:
Self-publishing, also called independent publishing, is where an author shoulders the full cost and responsibilities associated with getting published. That means the author covers the costs of paying several different contractors to edit, typeset, proofread, design the cover, print, and distribute the book through bookstores and other retailers. That means the author has to research, locate, and vet professionals who specialize in each part of the publishing process, and this does not include the legwork that has to be done with getting an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), submitting a copyright application, and other publishing logistics. However, the upside is self-published authors receive 50% to 70% royalties, and you are guaranteed to get published.
Hybrid publishing is similar to self-publishing; you typically retain all the rights to your contents and have full creative control. However, instead of paying several different contractors to produce and publish your book, you pay a single entity to handle all aspects of the publishing process. (That’s what we do at Press 49.) Proofreading, typesetting, book cover design, etcetera, are typically all handled by the hybrid publisher. A hybrid publisher operates with a different revenue model than traditional publishing but keeps the rest of the practices of publishing the same. The revenue of hybrid publishers comes from both book sales and fees charged for the execution of their publishing services. Authors are guaranteed to get published and receive higher royalties when working with a hybrid publishing company than when working with a traditional publishing company.
Traditional publishing is where the publisher offers the author a contract; the publisher pays you a royalty (an advance against future sales), and in turn, the publisher edits, formats, designs, prints, and distributes your book through bookstores and other retailers. The publisher essentially buys the right to publish your book and pays you royalties from the sales, which is usually 10% to 12%. If you are getting a book published for the first time and want it published by a traditional publisher, you oftentimes need an agent, and to get one, you have to write an absolutely superb book. But bear in mind that the manuscripts an agent will take are few and far between—an agent will take approximately one manuscript for every 1,000 that come across his/her desk. In short, there is no guarantee you will get published.
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Content credit: B. McGowen-Hawkins and D. Hurley
Image credit: Stephen Phillips
