Different publishing companies have approached me about the memoir that I recently completed. The question is, what is best for the author? A traditional or hybrid publisher?
On Writing : Traditional or Hybrid Publishing Companies? by John E. Bias
Traditional or Hybrid Publishing Companies?
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Ooo, I can't wait to hear people's thoughts on this! I don't even know what a hybrid publishing company is!
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Regardless of which path you choose, be prepared to do a lot of promotions. In traditional publishing & depending on which one it is, you may have little to no say about the cover and the title. With a smaller press, you could have more say. You receive a smaller bit of royalty than you would with a hybrid or going indie simply because they bear the burden of all costs for publishing the book: editing, cover designing, formatting, and so forth.
With the hybrid publisher, you could be expected to pay for an editor or a cover designer as services they offer, which then you have a say in the cover design, font choices, formatting, etc. Maybe. Depends on the publisher. In turn, you could earn a bigger percentage of the royalty. Ultimately, whichever way you go, you'd be signing a contract for fixed periods of time for rights; they would be the publisher.
It isn't about what's best for the author; it's about what's best for YOU and how involved you want to be. How much control you want over your rights, and so forth.
As an indie publisher, I still get editing help and cover design help, I control all decisions and upload myself, which means I'm the publisher and author, publishing under my LLC. It means I keep all rights and I get full royalty payments from the distributor.
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John E. Bias Hi John. Never, ever ever ever pay to have your work published. If someone says you haver to pay them to publish your work, run, run like the wind. No real, decent publisher will charge you a penny up front, and if they do, they are not genuine and should be avoided.
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Phil Bridge, I heard that as well and making sure I check websites for those "upfront" costs.
It can go either way. Good or bad either way you do it. It mostly has to do with marketing, participation, and the grind. If you're willing to put in work. Self-publish, if you want certain parts of the work done for you, pay for it. A hybrid is good for doing the stuff you don't want to but at the end of the day, if you're an unknown author, the majority of the grind will be on you.
I got caught out with a "publisher" who gave me the most incredible review, pity it wasn't as real as it was meant to sound. They wanted nearly £1,000 up front and promised cover design, hundreds of sales, guaranteed, all the frills and whistles, complete with incredible royalties. It was all a bit of a scam, and they sent the "contract" with the review, which I thought was odd. Always check and never pay upfront. A genuine publisher will never do this.