Here at KREST PUBLISHERS we work across all 3 publishing models.
Sometimes we'll offer authors a deal based on the traditional
publishing model – which means we pay for all book production costs, and the
author gets good royalties.
In the cases where the author is profit-savvy, we self-publish them – the author bears all costs so therefore
keeps all of the money made from book sales.
Hybrid publishing is that playground in between – both
publisher and author share the costs, and therefore the income too.
All sound tempting in their own way, so how to choose?
Here’s an outline of each, to help you make
an informed decision on which publishing model to pursue.
Before starting, we'll note that the 3 models refer to who funds the books ONLY. The actual publishing process and quality is the same across all 3 when working with KREST.
TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING:
Let’s start with the familiars.
The premise is pretty simple. A traditional publisher will
pay for any costs in the production and admin processes of creating a book from
your manuscript, and give you royalties on every book they sell.
The traditional publisher pays editors, cover designers,
typesetters, and printers to create a finished book. They also pay for and
arrange things like legal deposits, ISBN numbers, and barcode generation. The
traditional publisher also takes on post-production costs, like the storage of
the books in a warehouse, and distribution to book stores, all of which consume
copious amounts of money.
The author has minimal cost responsibility, amounting to any
personal marketing strategies they choose to engage in. We’ll add in here that
with any publishing model the author needs to participate in personal marketing
of their books because it takes a lot of convincing for a reader to pick it up. And to be blunt, but authentically honest, if an author isn't prepared to put effort into marketing their own book, is there any reason somebody else should expend their time and resources into it?
Because traditional publishers end up funneling large
amounts of money into books, they are very selective about the type of work
they accept, and need to have assurance the author is fully committed to making the book as big a success as it can be.
If your contract requires you to pay over any money as a
condition of publication (whether it be for production or compulsory purchase of
your books) it is NOT based on a traditional model, but one of the others. If you're a curious, here's
what a traditional publishing contract should look like..
SELF-PUBLISHING:
On the opposite end of the financing scale, we have
self-publishing.
The author takes on every administrative and financial cost
the publisher would have done. Resultantly, they keep every cent made from the
book. Basically, the author is only paying the publisher to produce books out of the manuscript - the publisher has no rights to the book.
Naturally, it is entirely possible for a self-publishing author NOT to work with a publishing company at all
The author would find and pay an editor, cover designer,
typesetter, and printer.
They would also be solely responsible for all the legal processes
such as legal deposits and ISBN applications.
They would market and sell the books themselves.
Any money that comes in belongs to them, naturally.
However, this isn't always a pretty process for someone doing it for the first time - and the last thing you want to do is find yourself in breach of publishing laws because you weren't aware of them. A publishing company can help the author with the
above. So instead of hiring staff yourself or dealing with confusing publishing legalities yourself, you can pay a publishing company to do all of this for you and simply have your batch of printed books delivered to you when it's done. You will be involved at every step of the way in creating your book.
The only thing hiring a publishing company can't usually help with is post-publication marketing and sales. If you've paid them to simply 'manufacture' books from your manuscript, then their duty ends when they have delivered your books to you in good condition. However, because we already have existing sales and distribution channels from our traditional projects, we do extend these same benefits to our self-publishing authors. We've got it already; there's no reason not to share :)
HYBRID PUBLISHING:
This is a new model, offering the administrative perks of a
traditional publisher, and the financial ones of self-publishing.
Hybrid contracts are vastly varied, covering every space in
between traditional and self-publishing.
An example would be:
The publisher pays for editing through to typesetting, and
handles all the legal processes involved. The author pays for printing. The two
parties agree that they will each get 50% of the book sales.
Another example:
The author pays for everything. The publisher only handles
administrative processes like ISBNs, legal deposits, discussions with book
wholesalers and chain stores. They agree to split it 90% to the author and 10%
to the publisher.
The contract can say anything the parties agree to, really. It sounds simple, but there are a few legalities behind going hybrid. If this model is something that genuinely interests you, then we suggest reading about
how hybrid publishing works.
Being a local and approachable publisher, we are open to contract negotiations with our writers and enjoy the collaborative effort of a hybrid deal.
TABLE OF COMPARISON
|
|
TRADITIONAL
|
SELF-PUB
|
HYBRID
|
|
Who owns the book
publishing rights
|
the publisher
|
the author
|
the publisher
|
|
who owns the
sub-rights (movie deals, merchandise etc.)
|
the publisher
|
the author
|
the publisher
|
|
who owns the non-physical
aspects of the book (e.g. cover design, layout design)
|
the publisher
|
the author
|
the publisher
|
|
who owns the
physical copies of the book
|
the publisher
|
the author
|
the publisher
|
|
Who funds the
process
|
Publisher
funds entire process
|
Author funds
entire process
|
Both author
and publisher put funds forward (usually 50/50)
|
|
Who keeps the
sales money
|
Publisher
retains almost all sales money. Author gets a small 5-15% royalty
|
Author keeps
100% of sales money
|
Both
publisher and author get back a big percentage (usually 50/50 if this is how
they split the costs)
|
|
Who gets the
final say about how the book turns out
|
the publisher
|
the author
|
the publisher
|
|
Who is responsible
for marketing
|
both
publisher and author
|
author only
|
both
publisher and author
|
|
Who handles
sales process (e.g. delivering books to customers or getting into bookstores)
|
both publisher
and author
|
author only
|
both publisher
and author
|
|
Overview of
each
|
The publisher
funds everything, which can be a financial help. But in return the author
basically relinquishes all control and decisions over their book. They have
very little say and also only earn back a small amount from book sales.
|
The author
gets all the say in how their book turns out, they have all the creative and
decision-making power. Everything belongs entirely to the author and they
have complete control over their own book. But they have to fund the process.
|
A good
dynamic as both author and publisher are putting money forward – therefore both
sides take the process very seriously and work together very hard to make the
book a success. Both get to reap the financial rewards from it.
|
KREST PUBLISHERS’ ROLE
As before, we work across all 3 models. If you have a preference for any model, you can let us know when submitting your manuscript.
Contact us for anything you need more information on. As you can see, we love to spread information through the world - so just pop us an email with your question, and we'll answer in detail.
Our personal best,
KREST PUBLISHERS
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