Publishing

Oct. 25, 2024

*”You too can have your book out in the wild.”* Nathan Bransford

So how to publish? Get an agent and aim for the big five, Simon & Schuster and the likes? Keep full control over the process and self-publish? Pay money to a hybrid publisher to get your book out there?

Surprisingly publishing traditionally often means you won’t have to shell out as much money up front, according to former literary agent Nathan Branford. If you’re going to self-publish you’ll have to come up with a cover, have your work edited, copy-edited and formatted, and you’ll be responsible for marketing too. If that sounds easy, more power to you. But if you want a great product, you’ll likely end up paying professionals for many of these services.

Hybrid publishing, he says, is usually for authors willing to pay to have the process managed, though there are many different models, making it hard to generalize. Hybrid publishers may be able to get you better design, production, and print distribution than you could achieve on your own. You’ll likely get higher royalties than if you published traditionally, but lower than if you self-published, he says.

Choosing a publishing option can be overwhelming. So many variables. Balancing the pros and cons of each is a first step forward.