For many authors the publishing world is incredibly nebulous. To break this down into simplest terms, modern authors have three main choices when it comes to publishing. They can pursue independent or self-publishing options, hybrid, or traditional publishing. All "traditional" means is that an author goes to an existing company to sell their book and hand off much of the work to the business to produce and sell their book. It's important to note that no matter what route an author chooses to publication, they are still operating as a small business and must advocate for themselves. You're more like a subcontractor than an employee. That said, even in traditional publishing, there's a fair amount of legwork involved in promoting and marketing your book in order to get sales. No publisher, no matter how big, will do absolutely everything for you. Your book is your baby, fight for it! The benefits of traditional publishing are that they have a larger budget for many things; entire departments devoted to different aspects like graphic design, typesetting, art, editing, early production stages, printing, publicity, etc.; wider distribution; reputation and prestige; marketing; and general guidance and insights into the industry that comes from experience and being well connected. Within traditional publishing there are two main groups of publishers, assuming you, the author, have written a novel (fiction) or other trade publication like a memoir or book of poetry. There are the Big 5 publishers and small or independent presses. Note: This is an incomplete look at traditional publishing, keeping the scope narrowed to trade book publishing in the interest of keeping this as straightforward as I can. There are also University Presses and other academic presses like W.W. Norton for example. There are (at least) thousands of literary journals and literary magazines that publish short form work, chapbooks, and joint works like anthologies that can be pitched or contributed to. The possibilities really go on and on. The Big 5You might have heard of the "Big 5" publishers before. This is referring to a specific handful of publishers who own a crazy amount of imprints and smaller houses. (For a visual representation, check out this map of how the publishers relate to one another.) The Big 5 we're talking about are (I've linked each publisher's resource pages below): Being so large and diverse generally means that these publishing houses are where most of the money in the industry is. The Big 5 can afford to pay out larger author advances, have a bigger distribution network, and better funded marketing departments for your book. This can also mean that they're so big, authors might seem like an easily overlooked speck in the bigger system. These larger houses also wield more robust legal and design teams and oftentimes veto rights over book details like title and cover art. It's those legal teams that give pause to many approaching the industry and this is where an agent can be your best friend. Agents are advocates and advisors when it comes to negotiating contract specifics in the author's favor. (More on literary agents in a future dedicated post.) Small PressSmall or independent presses are pretty much what they sound like. They're smaller scale traditional publishers who have proportionally smaller budgets and resources (usually). That said, because of their limitations, small presses tend to share the work and instead of having a designated graphic designer, maybe they also do preproduction work. The publisher might also be an editor or publicist, etc. Small but mighty! Small presses tend to have a more human presence and are interested in publishing what they consider to be great literary work rather than what fits into the current marketing trends, so it's important to research what they value and what they're looking for in a book they publish. Because of their size they can afford to spend more time with their authors, sometimes coaching them or working with them for years to develop a single book. Many small presses will also publish books of poetry which are rarely accepted by Big 5 publishers, given their lackluster track record in sales. Small presses don't have as large a pool to draw from when it comes to paying authors advances, so understanding these two options and what you want out of a book deal is important. If you're after a bigger advance and are willing to be flexible to get your book to market to the widest audience, then looking more closely at the Big 5 might fit your career goals. If you don't mind a smaller advance (if an advance is even possible), you're confident in the quality of your book and aren't looking to compromise any artistic choices, then small press publishing might be a good choice. It's a myth that all small press or independent publishers are less successful establishments. Here are a few examples of wonderful independent publishers who've found national and global recognition. The Publishing ProcessSo what does any of this mean? Where do I start?
ResourcesThis article written by Sylvia Liu for Writer's Digest includes some great tips and insights about steps you can take leading up to your book launch to bring you success (regardless of publication method). It's a great look at what kind of work you can expect to do as the author during the publication process.
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