Traditional Publishing

This article talks about the pros and cons of traditional publishing, how the process works (in general, specific chapters come later), and the role literary agents play in there.

How does it work?

Below are the steps for getting published traditionally.

1. You submit your work, including extra information (usually a query letter and synopsis)
2. A few months later, you get a response that they liked your book and want to publish it.
3. They’ll negotiate a contract with you. This usually includes an advance, which is like the price they pay for getting the rights to publish your book.
4. They will ask you to make changes, while also having their own editors take a look.
5. They will deal with everything else (cover, marketing, distribution, pre-orders, etcetera.)
6. Until, perhaps a year later, the book is officially published.

Of course, most people are rejected. It’s the cold, hard truth. Be ready for dozens of rejection letters. As many writers say: use them as fuel to grow and keep going. Use them as evidence of how much you already achieved. It is very, very rare that somebody is published traditionally without ever receiving a rejection (or twenty).

At first, the rejections will be boilerplate. The same standard email sent to everyone.

But as you improve, the rejections might become personal. They might include some more specific feedback or reasons for rejecting. That’s how you know you’re on the right path.

Keep going, keep being rejected, until the rejection turns into a book deal.

Watch out for vanity press

What’s the role of the publisher? It’s to take all non-writing duties out of your hands. It’s to take that Business Hat off of your head.

Any publisher who does not do this, isn’t an actual publisher and shouldn’t be trusted. At best, they’re incompetent. At worst, they’re a downright scam that borders on fraud and theft.

What do I mean with that?

• You should never pay to be published. The publisher shoulders the full monetary risk.
• You should never be forced to buy X copies yourself, or do your own marketing. The publisher might ask you to post on your blog or talk about the book, but they shoulder the actual heavy duties for marketing.
• You should build a relationship of trust and collaboration with your publisher. You focus on your books—they focus on editing and distributing. If you have to do all the business things yourself, if you have to pay, then you’re in the wrong place.

Such publishers are usually called “vanity press”. Though they will surely invent all sorts of excuses for why they are different or better than that.

Yes, you lose some ownership

Most contracts will sideline you during the business stuff. You might be allowed to “advise” on the cover, but they will have the final say. You might be allowed to proofread the marketing blurb, but they will write it and have final say.

Of course, they don’t want to annoy you! They want a cover that the author likes. They want the book to be presented in a way the author can live with. There should be a discussion and open communication.

Just know that you are giving away a lot of control and ownership. This is the major draw of publishers. Most authors don’t want to create their own cover. They don’t even want to have to think about it.

Others, like me, take issue with that. I like doing things myself and I like challenging myself with projects in different creative areas.

In the end, it’s up to you whether you sign that contract.

Right to Publish

Finally, publishers should merely receive the right to publish. The work is still yours. You are the author and you have ownership. If you change your mind, you can retract the contract and the right to publish your work. (Which obviously has consequences and means you lose the money, but that depends on the specific contract.)

This also means that there are sometimes different publishers for different versions of your work. (For example, one handles the paperback, another the ebook.) It’s not necessarily recommended, but it can happen. The publishing rights can also expire.

They should not receive full rights of ownership. The work remains yours, for now and always.

Advance

The “advance” is simply a sum of money paid in advance as income for the writer and a sign of trust. Because, as a writer, you only start earning once the book is published and brings in royalties. (And many books never sell enough for a proper income, but that’s another story.)

The more famous you are, the less risky, and thus the bigger this advance.

This is another sign of a proper traditional publisher. They might pay you 10,000 dollars in advance for the right to publish your book. Because they believe in it, they believe in you, and they believe they’ll get a return on investment.

Notice, though, that this is an advance. It’s not free money. The first 10,000 dollars you book earns in royalties go to the publisher. To “pay back” the advance.

Once you’ve exceeded that threshold, royalties are split between you and the publisher again.

Still, this is a very good system for the writer. You’ll have a certain income, even before the book is published, even if the book doesn’t sell well. If a publisher is willing to pay you a (considerable) advance, you know you’re in a good place.

Edits

In general, edits remain your territory. You are still the writer. You have your writing style and your vision for the book, so you are the best person to perform the edits.

Publishers will have editors look at your work and suggest edits. But they shouldn’t actually go through with them and change your book without your consent.

Usually, you get a long list of notes and proposed changes, and a deadline for the next version. If I’m honest, this is not so bad. Because the changes are proposed by others—expert editors, even—you can trust them to be valuable and worth your time. Even if you decide you don’t want to implement a certain change, this is a learning process that will improve your next book.

The deadlines will be tight, but nothing a professional writer can’t handle.

Pros & Cons

Below are the biggest advantages and disadvantages of traditional publishing. Of course, I am comparing it with the only alternative: Self-Publishing.

Pros

• You are paid an advance.
• The risk is on the publisher, not you.
• They take care of most business aspects for you. This usually means better marketing and more books sold. It also means a lower price per book (as they can print large offsets).
• The publisher helps to edit and polish the book. (A second set of professional eyes is invaluable on any creative project.)
• Being traditionally published is like a seal of excellence. Others will assume you’re a competent writer worth their time.
• You’ll meet powerful people within the publishing industry. Such connections will serve you well for a lifetime.

Yes, networking is still the magic word in the business world. (Unfortunately.) The more people you can meet, the more relationships you can foster with other writers and readers, the better you will fare. This is true, for everyone, for all situations. And getting published (by a major, traditional publisher) will automatically get you in touch with some of the biggest people in the business.

Cons

• Hard and time-consuming to be successful. It might take 6 months before they reach out. You need to put in a lot of work beforehand with a slim chance of getting a favorable response. (And even then, you might be rejected simply because you sent it at an infortune time.)
• You lose a lot of control.
• You might be required to do extra edits or put in some more work.
• You earn less per book, as the publisher takes a slice.

Literary Agents

Where do literary agents fit in all of this?

It used to be quite easy to send a manuscript to publishers directly. But since then, the size of the book industry—and the number of writers—has exploded. Overwhelmed by the ridiculous amount of manuscripts sent their way (the “slush pile”), most publishers have removed this possibility entirely.

Nowadays, literary agents are the middle man.

• You send your manuscript to literary agents first.
• If they accept you (which is a bit more likely), they will go to publishers to pitch your book

It’s a good system and one of which you should probably take advantage. It offloads even more of the business side to others, at the cost of losing even more control and royalties.

A good agent takes ~10% of each book sale. Yes, you also don’t need to pay them in advance. The risk is still on their shoulders, as they only get paid if you get paid. As such, they only accept manuscripts they truly believe they can sell.

They also usually negotiate contracts about film rights, translations, different versions, etcetera.

If you ask me, I’d go through a Literary Agent, always.

This doesn’t mean guaranteed success, though. Famously, J.K. Rowling already found her literary agent at the first try, but they had to visit thirteen publishers before they convinced one of them.

But it’s a step in the right direction, and a pretty big one.

How do I send my manuscript?

Different agents/publishers might have slightly different requirements. You’ll have to read about that on their website. (They might require a certain file format, or font, or layout.)

But below is the golden standard for every book.

• A query letter. (The pitch, metadata, about the author.)
• A synopsis. (Full plot in a single page.)
• The first 50 pages of your book.

Don’t send your whole book. It’s probably fine, but it’s unnecessary and risky. Given the number of manuscripts they have to read, there’s no sense sending your whole book.

Remember the “credits system” I explained before! You only get a few credits from the agent/publisher. If they don’t like your pitch, they’re not even reading your manuscript. If they don’t like your first page, they don’t give you enough credits for the second page.

The first 50 pages is enough for anybody to judge whether they want your book or not. They might ask the full manuscript in a response (without accepting you yet). Again, it’s probably fine, but make sure you trust the other side of this conversation before doing so.

That’s why the synopsis is so important. They use it to see if your story keeps the quality of the first fifty pages. To check if the plot has a satisfying ending, without actually reading the full book. (Another reason why a synopsis should be complete and full of spoilers.)

What if the manuscript isn’t finished yet?

In that case, you can send a “book proposal”. A detailed plan for the book you will write, if the publisher agrees to give you the money to do so (and obviously publish the book in the end).

This is obviously even more risky for the publisher, so it will be a tough sell. This is mostly done by names that are already famous or popular. Those might be writers, but might also be celebrities or people famous in their own fields (who want to write a non-fiction book about their knowledge).

Of course, I should mention that celebrities don’t actually write that book themselves. They pay a ghostwriter to do it, then plaster their name on the front for marketing purposes. Yeah, remember what I told you about putting on your “Business Hat” in this course? ;)

Conclusion

Initially, I wanted to include specific publishing houses, and reviews about how they work or how their submission process works. But this, obviously, differs depending on your country or language. I also certainly don’t have experience with all the big ones. A lot of my experience I do have, is from years ago when I just started writing.

So I’m afraid you’ll have to figure out that part on your own. Find the major publishers near you, visit their website, check their section about sending in manuscripts, and follow that. It’s usually a similar set of requirements.

Always remember: publishers are there to help you with the business side. It should be a collaboration, you should be colleagues. They shoulder the risk, you provide the goods. If you have to pay, if you have to do everything yourself, if they make unreasonable demands or try to take over the writing side … walk away.

Next chapters will talk about how to craft that Query Letter and Synopsis. The two things that must sell your book, before anybody even reads the actual book.