I will preface this post with I am not an industry professional. The information I’ve gathered is simply that, information I’ve gathered. Hopefully you’ll find this…Helpful? Enlightening?
There are 3 major pathways to publishing: 1) self-publishing (indie), 2) small press (traditional), and 3) big press (traditional). None of them are perfect. Each option exists for a reason, and they all play a role in the publishing world.
Let’s begin with self-publishing.
- full control and all the work
It’s up to the author to hire their editor and cover artist and handle all marketing. The author ensures the correct format and does all quality control. Most indie authors publish through KDP which is known for doing some wonky things like messing up release dates. Once it’s all together you upload it, hit publish, and you’re done! In terms of numbers, e-books will bring in the highest percentage of revenue around 70%, while print brings in about 35% after amazon takes an additional cut.
Moving on to small press.
- mid-control and mid-work
A small press provides at least one form of editing (copy writing, line editing, developmental), and the cover art. They have their own avenues to assist the author with promoting their book and can potentially help set up signing events, etc. The author will need to put together a query package (query letter, synopsis, and polished manuscript), and submit to multiple publishing companies. The time it takes from acceptance to a published book is growing, but depending on the company it take anywhere from 6 months to 1.5 years. A small press generally doesn’t offer an advance, and the author’s share lands around 40-50%. It’s common for the author to royalties until the book has sold enough to pay back the cost of publication.
That leaves us with big press.
- no control and mid-work
Big press comes with detailed editing and cover art. There should be more help with marketing than small press, but authors can’t hide from promoting their own work. Instead of sending the query package to small publishers, it needs to go to literary agents. Once an agent is landed, they submit it to editors/big publishers to land a book deal. Big press is the slowest route to publishing. Not including the time it takes to find an agent AND land the book deal, it will take around 2 years for that book to hit shelves. The author will receive an advance, and while everyone’s dream is for a six-figure book deal or more, it may very well land in the low 5-digit range. The royalty rate is significantly less; about 5% after the advance is repaid.
Both traditional publishing routes involve rejection on the road to acceptance. Dozens—hundreds even—of passes are normal. It’s not for the weary of heart.
I hope this information is useful. Feel free to reach out with any comments or questions!
~JDizzle
