Choosing the Best Publishing Path for You in 2024 Part II: Hybrid and Self-Publishing
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Last week I focused on traditional publishing with the “Big 5” or independent presses, as well as 10 questions to ask yourself when you’re considering what paths to take. If you missed it, you can find it here.
This week, I want to focus on the more “indie” side of the continuum: Hybrid, and Self-Publishing.
What is Hybrid Publishing?
It’s when you hire a company to do some of the work at a professional level (editing, designing, marketing and publicity). It differs from what has been known as “vanity publishing” in that you do have to apply. They don’t take just anyone who can pay the fees. The best hybrids have high standards, and they charge accordingly. It can be a great bridge between a traditional publisher and taking it all on yourself. It is, in short, a model that gives authors control, but with guidance from a pre-selected team of seasoned professionals.
However, there are still a lot of “vanity” presses out there, just waiting to take your money and give you little in return. This includes some that are sort-of publishing arms of traditional presses, which can be especially tricky to spot.
How do you judge a quality hybrid? They follow the Independent Book Publisher’s Association (IBPA) guidelines for hybrid publishers.
Note that in many cases, costs are similar to what it would cost to self-publish to a similar quality.
In addition to ensuring they meet IBPA criteria, you do need to still ask some questions of any publisher you research:
Do they publish your genre?
Is the cost/royalty share worth the services they are offering?
Is the quality of what they publish up to your standards?
Do they have a community where you can interact with other authors and the publishing team?
Are there authors who have published with them multiple times? (You may want to speak with them about their experience.)
What is their release schedule?
What support do they give post-publication?
What types of packages do they offer? Most offer a range, with different services. Think carefully before you choose.
Jane Friedman has an excellent article on what makes a quality hybrid press. And a guest writer on her blog, Barbara Linn Probst, wrote an in-depth exploration of the pros and cons of going hybrid that is essential for anyone thinking of that path.
If you’re looking for some possible options, Publisher’s Weekly has an article, “Hybrid Publishing Spreads Its Wings,” that discusses some of the more-respected hybrid publishers.
What about self-publishing?
Authors turn to self-publishing for a variety of reasons. They may want full creative control. They may want a faster production schedule. They may have a unique vision or message that would be hard to “sell” to a traditional publisher. They may want to “genre-hop” and don’t want to deal with finding a new agent and/or publisher every time.
There is still some stigma involved, because sadly, there are still plenty of authors who either don’t know or don’t care about quality. But there are enough well-written books out now that it’s no longer an option of last resort.
Things to keep in mind:
It can be as cheap or as expensive as you want. But the no-to-low cost options may not be the quality you’d like.
There is a learning curve. You have to be willing to do yourself, or farm out to someone you carefully vet, things like copyediting and proofreading, cover design, interior design, and marketing.
It may take several books before you start to earn any money (if you do find an audience). It takes work, but so does building an audience whichever way you publish.
There is an opportunity to earn more money over time since your books stay available as long as you want them to (and you may choose to go back and re-edit, or redesign, previous books once you have more knowledge and money to invest).
You have to be willing to run a business as well as write.
There are innumerable resources out there on self-publishing. Podcasts are a great way to learn more about this. Some of the best are The Self-Publishing Show, Go Publish Yourself, and The Creative Penn. You will find many more with a quick search. My advice is to not try to learn everything all at once, and get overwhelmed. Get an overview of the process, and then focus on just the step before you.
Another aspect of self-publishing to be aware of is that it is less conducive to literary fiction, and children’s books. You can publish anything you want, but if you want literary awards and accolades, you will have to go with traditional publishing. For children’s books, they are still being bought primarily in print form (unlike books for adults, where e-books outstrip print copies). How you get your indie-published books in actual bookstores is a whole other topic. However, as kids get older, they do have more access to e-readers and may get access to your book that way.
Whew! That’s a quick-and-dirty rundown of hybrid and self-publishing. The good news is, there are more options than ever before to get your writing out into the world. Think carefully about your goals, your budget, and what you are prepared to do in order to publish. There’s no right or wrong answer, just the right answer for you.
(If you’re interested in more info on the different ways to publish, Jane Friedman publishes an annual chart of all the different publishing paths (she breaks them up a little differently than I do) and what they entail: https://janefriedman.com/key-book-publishing-path/ )
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