- Once upon a time,
traditional publishing deals
were the best way to publish a book.
Those days are long gone,
but how do you know if self-publishing,
hybrid publishing,
or pursuing a traditional book deal
is right for you?
If you're wondering what the best way
to get your book published is,
then this video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey there, I'm Julie the Book Broad,
founder of Book Launchers.
We're a professional self-publishing services team,
helping entrepreneurs and successful professionals
write, publish, and promote a non-fiction book
that will grow your brand and your business.
Now naturally, I am a huge fan of self-publishing.
Call me a control freak,
but I like to own what I create.
But that doesn't mean
it's the best way for you to publish.
So let's break down your options
with the opportunities and limitations of each.
First, a warning;
if you start doing research on publishing a book,
you'll probably find yourself
getting solicited by a bunch of publishing companies.
They'll chase you down,
asking for your manuscript submission,
and then they give you a contract.
Congratulations,
with a hard sell, in many cases.
These companies are straight up scammers
and I get emails like this one all the time
and it breaks my heart.
I don't want this to happen to you.
Here's what the email said.
"Hi, Julie, I had tried to get your company
involved in the publication of my book,
but I was unsuccessful.
Many other publishing companies were interested
and they all made attractive offers.
But unfortunately, I chose the wrong one
because this company, Excel Book Publishers,
took $8,000 of my money
and then suddenly stopped communicating with me.
Belatedly, I realized it was a scam.
I first paid down 5,000
and then within the last month an additional $3000.
I wanted this book published so badly
that I used up all our savings."
So when you find yourself being given a hard sell
or you find yourself
being flattered into signing a contract,
you are probably meeting what is called
a vanity publisher.
A vanity press, or a vanity publisher,
provides publishing services,
but engages in misleading
or even outright deceptive practices.
Books are usually not edited or not edited well;
the books are then sold to you, the author,
not to the readers.
The only one making money is the vanity press.
All vanity publishers are hybrids,
but not all hybrids are vanity publishers.
I know it's a little confusing,
so I'm gonna repeat that one more time
and then I'll keep explaining it
and hopefully it makes sense to you.
All vanity publishers are hybrids,
but not all hybrids are vanity publishers.
You want to avoid vanity publishers,
but that doesn't mean
you can't look at hybrid as an option.
So now you're probably wondering
what is a hybrid publisher?
Well, a hybrid publisher mixes the models
of traditional publishers with self-publishing.
So you'll pay upfront
for the company to produce and distribute your book,
like you do with self-publishing.
You keep your rights, like with self-publishing.
But the company will take a portion of royalties
or charge a print fee for every book sold
in exchange for giving you physical
and online distribution channels that they have,
which is like a traditional publisher.
There are some good hybrid companies
with the high-quality team,
thorough editorial practices,
and good physical bookstore distribution.
I'll link to a video on hybrids at the end.
To me, the only reason to go with a hybrid
is if you have a guarantee of great physical distribution
and that physical distribution is really important to you.
Otherwise, I personally self-publish on my own
or using a service like Book Launchers.
My recommendation is to vet any hybrid you're considering
through a list like
the Alliance of Independent Authors Watchdog Service
or check the blog "Writer Beware,"
to be certain you're getting value for your money.
A link to these sites is in the description below.
Now traditional book deals
are probably more familiar to you;
a publisher buys the rights to your book
in exchange for royalties,
which is money you make on every sale of the book.
And hopefully you're also getting paid in advance.
You're still responsible for writing and marketing the book,
but you have a lot of support in between that.
And sometimes they tell you what you're gonna do.
The publisher up-fronts a lot of the cost,
so you aren't risking that investment,
they are.
And great publishers also have
a longer reach than a typical author,
as far as getting into bookstores, landing major media.
And it's also, almost exclusively,
the only way to become a "New York Times" best seller.
Well, having a top-tier publisher
and selling like 10,000 books in a week,
that's the only way.
But you can make other lists self-published,
but the "New York Times" is an editorial list
that is curated and is only based partly on sales.
Now, before you get a book deal,
you'll usually need to write an extensive book proposal
covering your ideal reader, the book positioning,
an extensive marketing plan,
including your audience reach,
plans for marketing, book sale volume,
and sometimes you'll have to include a sample chapter.
With that proposal, you can begin shopping for an agent.
And if one says "yes" to you,
then that agent will shop you around
to different publishers
and you may or may not get a contract.
And then you may or may not wanna sign that contract.
The process is time-consuming
and can delay your book launch by years
while you wait for a great deal.
Most people think they get a publishing deal
based on the compelling nature of their book,
but that is not normally the case.
You will get a publishing deal
because of how many books
the publisher believes you'll be able to sell.
If the publisher sees you have a million viewers on YouTube,
or you speak in front of 1,000 people
in an audience many times a month,
or maybe you have an email newsletter list
of 100,000 people,
or a really, really robust and engaged blog following,
well that built-in audience is called a platform
and that's what usually lands you a book deal.
Not all publishers are equal,
so vet them like you would a company you're paying up-front.
Ask other authors how happy they are
with the service and support
they've received from that publisher.
Maybe you're not paying them up-front,
but you're giving up the rights to the content in your book
and they take a big chunk of the royalties,
so you want a rock-solid partner in this relationship.
My friend wrote a book on investing in US real estate.
This was when I lived in Canada.
And then he left the real estate business.
His publisher republished his book,
word-for-word, under someone else's name.
It's gross, but it's legal
because the rights to the book belong to the publisher,
not him.
So make sure you're getting a deal worth signing.
I have another friend that was in the process
of getting a show produced for HGTV based on his book,
but the publisher wouldn't negotiate.
And because he didn't have the rights,
he had to buy the rights back
in order to produce that show.
Also, this is especially important
for authors who want to use their book
as a tool to grow their business and brand.
With traditional deals,
you can't just print your book yourself
to give away for free,
nor can you give the ebook away for free
just to get leads.
You have to buy it from the publisher
to use for these purposes.
The publisher will let you know in your contract
what your author copy rates will be.
And it won't be their cost,
'cause they're going to make money on every copy sold,
even if it's sold to you.
So read that contract carefully
to understand your rights and royalties
in granular detail
because there are a lot of clauses
that will surprise you.
If widespread physical distribution
isn't your highest priority
and you're not trying to make
that "New York Times" best seller list,
if you prefer to be in control
and own your IP,
and speed to market is important,
self-publishing might be the absolute best route for you.
And with self-publishing, you can do it your way.
You are the CEO of your book project.
You can hire a full-service team
or you can do a lot of the process yourself,
becoming the project manager or general contractor,
hiring editors, designers.
You can use referrals or sites like Reedsy or Upwork.
Ultimately, I started Book Launchers
because there are plenty of busy people
who don't know what they don't know
and they wanna write a book
that is the same or better quality
than a traditionally published book
with major marketing support to go with it
and they don't wanna figure out all the pieces in between.
But that doesn't mean that's the only way to self-publish
or that you can't manage the entire process on your own.
I wrote "Self-publish & Succeed"
so you can do it without a service like ours
if you want to.
No matter what choice you make,
hybrid, traditional, or self-publishing,
you are in charge of marketing and sales.
Many authors think traditional book deals
get them out of marketing and sales,
but in fact, it's almost all on you
no matter which route you take.
Every choice has consequences,
but know that you aren't stuck in one way.
Gautum Baid self-published "The Joy of Compounding"
and then ended up landing his dream publishing deal
after it was out.
Carol Sanford self-publishes half of her books
and publishes the rest traditionally.
Other authors have done the traditional route before
and now decide they wanna be in control,
since they're doing their own marketing anyway,
and they switch over fully to self-publishing.
Consider what is most important to you in your journey,
speed, control, distribution,
and then choose the option
that is going to get you what you need.
Let me know in the comments below
what is most important to you in your author journey,
down below.
But do that right after hitting that subscribe button
and turning the notifications on
so we can hang out more real soon.
Oh, and speaking of hanging out,
this video right here
is the one that YouTube highly recommends you watch
and if you're looking for that video
I promised on hybrid publishers,
that's right here.
See you one over. Coffee's on.