The Four Types of Publishing

Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

If you’re a new writer or recently finished your first book, chances are you’re already dreaming of making it big like Stephen King or the author of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins.

But when you look into the publishing world, you’ll find that it is not as simple as you’d expect. In truth, there are four types of publishing, which we’ve laid out for you so you can make the best decision for your novel! 

Traditional Publishing 

This is the “old way” of doing things. You start by querying agents or publishing houses directly, much like applying for a job. Your goal is to convince them to buy into your idea and your writing. If they offer you a contract, they offer you a royalty deal and sometimes an advance on sales. They cover all the expenses of production, pair you with an editor, design the cover, and distribute it. Sometimes they do marketing, but today that’s usually up to you. 

While this is the dream scenario of most writers, the road to obtaining a publisher is sometimes a demoralizing experience; authors have reported rejection letters in the hundreds before they landed a contract or they decided on another option. 

The other option is Self Publishing. 

“DIY” Self-Publishing 

This is where you have complete control. You hire someone to design a cover, you hire an editor, you learn to format the book or hire someone to do it, you apply for ISBNs, and you upload the book to the various platforms. While it’s not free if you do it properly (which requires hiring an editor and cover designer), it’s far cheaper than some of the other options and you retain all the profits (up to 70% if you use KDP). 

The great thing about self-publishing is that you can decide when to do a sale, when to market, you can release it as soon as you want, and you have complete control over what you put out there. Yet, without a publishing firm behind you, it’s often hard to get traction with the public as you need to have a pretty robust marketing plan. 

Of course, we recommend hiring us, Rising Action, for all your self-publishing services (editing, formatting, cover design, and marketing!), but there are many options out there. 

Vanity Publishers 

These types of presses have a bad name in the industry. 

They often appear as traditional publishers, but when you submit to them and they accept you (which they always will), they require you to front the bill for most of the process, often adding hidden fees or cutting corners to save money (like using cheap printers). They are basically preying on people’s desire to publish and their lack of knowledge in the industry. 

When you query publishing houses, do a google search to see if the company is listed as a vanity press. If so, run! 

Hybrid Publishers

Hybrid publishers are like vanity presses in that you pay to have some or all of the work done, but that is the only thing they share. Unlike vanity presses, which will publish anything that comes across their desk, you still have to query hybrids for acceptance, as they are pickier about whom they agree to work with. Hybrid presses focus on quality and having relationships with their authors - they aren’t out to make a quick buck. Instead, they require you to front some of the bill in exchange for the guidance and connections of their company. 

The greatest benefit for an author to using a hybrid press is that they offer the use of their imprint (the name of their company, which can assist greatly in marketing) and a higher royalty than traditional publishers (50% or more).

Unlike twenty years ago, when self-publishing was very rare, authors today have multiple options for getting published. One caveat though: once your book is self-published, it’s even harder to have it traditionally published than before you did it yourself, so if your dream is to work with a publisher, try that first.