In the publishing business, knowledge is power. We highly recommend authors do their research before submitting books to or signing contracts with an agent or publisher. There are many articles on this subject. We have posted a few links below this article for your reference.

 

The term "Traditional Publisher" refers to large publishing houses, including university presses, and small presses. Traditional publishers reject most submissions (books) but they do not charge authors money to publish their books. 

 

On the other hand, "Hybrid Publishers" and "Vanity Presses" accept more books for publication but authors must pay them to publish their books.

 

If you want more information on the pros and cons of each publishing model, read on...

 

 

 

Large Publishing Houses

 

+ pay advances against royalties (may be as small as a couple thousand to upwards of five digits)

+ have an established distribution channel with a large marketing department

+ will have an easier time getting in-store placement of books

+ will produce high quality books

+ will pay careful attention to the editing and formatting of your book

+ will create a cover with a professional appearance

+ will price your book competitively

+ will be more likely to get professional reviews for their books

+ will likely convert books into eBook format for more sales opportunities

- require a polished manuscript free from errors that does not require extensive editing

- typically will not spend much money to promote unknown authors (this includes book tours)

- retain all control over book covers and decision-making (this may include book titles as well)

- will be hesitant to publish a book unless they anticipate selling thousands of copies

- want authors with a successful track record

- may not take on authors whose previous books did not sell well even if they published an author's previous book

- will only take agented submissions (and finding an agent is tough!) 

- can change their mind on publishing your book early in the process

- can take up to 2-3 years to bring a book to market

- will require authors to take an active role in the promotion of their books

 

 

 

Small Presses Like Adamo Press

 

+ allow author input on cover design and other book basics

+ have distribution agreements to get your books placed for sale through retailers

+ will produce high quality books

+ will pay careful attention to the editing and formatting of your book

+ will create a cover with a professional appearance

+ will price your book competitively

+ offer more personalized attention and more transparency during the entire publishing process

+ will accept unagented submissions

+ will be more likely to take a chance on an unknown author 

+ can bring a book to market more quickly

- typically do not pay advances

- have little advertising/ marketing budgets

- require a polished manuscript free from errors that does not require extensive editing

- may have a difficult time getting books placed in-store

- will be less likely to get many professional reviews

- will likely have you cover all costs of awards submissions or paid reviews

- will require authors to take an active role in the promotion of their books

 

 

 

What is a literary agent?

A literary agent is an intermediary, an individual who may operate independently or with an established literary agency. Authors typically email queries to agents and agents select which books they want to represent. They then prepare these books for submission to large publishing houses. There are many resources online to learn more about what literary agents do and how to get one, such as this Writers.com article. You can learn about terms like #MWL (Manuscript Wish List) and can track your queries to agents through querytracker.com. Don't say we didn't warn you before you go down that rabbit hole. 

 

According to Google, as of 2024, your odds of getting a literary agent are about 1 in 6,000. For comparison, according to Britanica, your odds of getting struck by lightning are 1 in 15,300. We are not saying it is impossible to get an agent, but authors should understand the odds in order to avoid unnecessary frustration and disappointment. 

 

 

 

Vanity Presses vs. Small Presses

 

Be careful! In a moment of desperation, many authors fall victim to unscrupulous companies out there who will take advantage of authors. These companies rely on making money from their authors, not from selling books. 

 

These vanity presses hide in disguise as small presses. They encourage writers to publish their own books but take advantage of unknowing authors by squeezing their pocketbooks with exhorbitant fees. Lawsuits are pending against many of these companies yet too many authors still fall victim because of desperation, thinking that this option is better than no option. 

 

How will you know the difference? They often will agree to publish any book, regardless of the quality or merit. Legitimate traditional publishing companies and literary agents will NEVER ask their authors to pay reading fees, retainer fees, require authors to buy a certain number of books, or force authors to pay to publish their books. Avoid vanity presses.

 

 

 

Self-Publishing and Hybrid Publishers

 

Self-publishing is exactly as it sounds. No one is helping the author to publish their books and the quality will vary widely. In some cases, publishers and agents have already rejected the book and do not consider it ready for publication. In other cases, authors choose not to go with a traditional publisher, even if they have done so in the past, to retain control of the process. Authors are still expected to self-produce a quality book, which requires time and investment.

 

It is recommended that authors who choose to self-publish take time to research the business aspects of publishing and hire professionals such as cover designers, interior designers, editors (content editors, line editors, proofreading editors, and/or possibly book coaches). Running a manuscript through spellcheck and online services, or MS Word, for grammatical errors is NOT a substitute for proper editing. 

 

Self-published authors control the entire process, but will have no help in navigating the system. Warning: While an author can instantly upload their unpolished manuscript through a service like Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, there are risks. It does not take long to damage your reputation and earn a lot of 1-star reviews for poorly formatted books that are loaded with typos and errors. It is hard to be taken seriously as a writer after the damage is done. Also, authors may discover that many reviewers and industry professionals still do not take self-published authors as seriously as traditionally published authors.

 

The choice to self-publish now could also negatively impact your future chances of publication. If a self-published author wants to submit a book to a traditional publisher or agent in the future, they may be disappointed to learn that those in the industry can research your previous sales history and, if it is not stellar, hold it against you.

 

More recently, another publishing model has emerged: Hybrid Publishing. Hybrid publishers are a blend between self-publishing, traditional publishing, and vanity presses. Like vanity presses, authors must pay to publish. Unlike vanity presses, some hybrid publishers claim to be selective about what they choose to publish. It may be more accurate to think of hybrid publishing as guided self-publishing.

 

Hybrid publishers require an author to pay what may amount to exhorbitant fees to publish their books. For example, according to this article, "On average, authors can expect to invest anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 in hybrid publishing services" such as editing, cover designs, interior designs, advertising, marketing, distribution, and printing. To be fair, many self-published authors may spend tens of thousands of dollars on as well, without the guidance of a hybrid publisher, on editing, marketing, advertising, book covers, etc. But hybrid publishers, despite all of the money paid by the author, do not guarantee a single sale nor do they guarantee your book will be placed into a single physical store. Although traditional publishers do not make any promises regarding sales or placement, they also do not charge authors money to publish books.

 

As a side note, it should be mentioned that many successful authors who go on to be represented by literary agents or traditionally published have paid professional editors to help them to polish their manuscript, to get it ready for submission. This, however, does not guarantee publication, but it does mean your book will be that much better even if you later decide to go with a hybrid publisher or to self-publish. 

 

Books published through hybrid publishers, self-published, as well as some smaller titles published traditionally, typically use Print-on-Demand (POD) services rather than the traditional book run of printing 10,000 or more books at a time. POD allows authors and publishers to print books only as they are sold, which reduces the cost to store inventories of books that may not sell 10,000 copies. Read the article "Realistic Author Expections" to better understand the harsh reality that many books may not even sell 100 copies.  

 

Also, be weary of services that promise to get your book made into a movie or TV series by charging you screenwriting fees. They cannot promise your screenplay will be purchased by a movie studio or streaming service and made into a film or TV series. In fact, this is highly unlikely to happen. Oftentimes, these individuals or companies unscrupulously prey on hopeful, but naive, authors. 

 

 

 

Why would an author choose a small press instead of a large press, a hybrid publisher, or self-publishing?

 

A small press is the right choice if authors have a well-written and carefully edited manuscript but are unable to get an agent to represent them, they had an agent or publisher drop them because of poor sales, their agented submission was rejected by traditional publishers and university presses, and/or they want to retain more control over the publishing process. Additionally, these authors are either unable or unwilling to pay the high prices charged by hybrid publishers and/or are unable or unwilling to devote the time and energy necessary to learn the business aspects of self-publishing. However, these authors must be still serious about producing a quality book.

 

For more information about the pros and cons of going with a small press, check out this article published on Literary Agent Jane Friedman's website. 

 

Despite which route they go, traditional, hybrid, or self-publishing, authors often find that the marketing and advertising aspect requires significant time, energy, and money in order to increase book sales or to further their writing career.

 

Unfortunately, for authors whose books have been rejected by agents and traditional publishers, both large publishing houses and small presses, their only remaining options are to either pay a hybrid publisher (but avoid vanity presses!) or to self-publish their books. The good news is that authors today do have self-publishing as a viable option.

 

 

 

Why is it so difficult to get books into physical bookstores?

 

Adamo Press has access to worldwide distribution channels through our wholesale distributor, Ingram. Unlike the bigger publishing houses who have more financial capital and resources, we, like many other small presses, choose not to place our books in physical bookstores. Instead, our books are widely available online through all major retailers.

 

But why would any publisher choose not to sell books inside brick-and-mortar stores? After all, isn't that every author's dream... to walk inside any bookstore and see their book glistening there on the center display?! So, why only sell books online?

 

It's because of retailer returns.

 

Book-and-mortar stores essentially operate on a consignment basis. Stores will typically only order books that are marked as returnable to the publisher (this is not the same thing as a customer returning a book to a store, which is another topic for another day). Retailers order books from publishers to stock their shelves and, when books don't sell, they return the books to the publisher. This can result in huge losses to publishers.

 

This is why self-published authors who go through distributors such as Ingram may find themselves in a predicament if they choose to accept returns in the hope of getting their books inside a physical store. Most of the time, because of the stiff competition for very limited shelf space, the majority of authors who choose to accept retailer returns will still not see their books stocked on the shelves. For those who do get stores to stock their physical books, what could happen is that these authors get charged for every retailer return. After all, who is going to pay the print cost for the books returned? Books aren't free to print.

 

So, instead of earning royalties for books sold, these self-published authors may end up owing money to their distributor. This may not be the case for authors who choose to publish through Amazon, but then again, when have you seen Amazon books stocked in physical bookstores or sold on a competitor's website? 

 

This why many small presses, inluding Adamo Press, choose not to physically stock books on retailer shelves. Instead we offer our books for sale through those same retailers' websites. This include all of your favorite retailers, but through their websites. 

 

For more information on retailer returns and an especially hideaous new scam plaguing authors, check out this article on the Writer Beware Blog. 

 

 

 

What makes Adamo Press the best option?

 

Adamo Press is a traditional small press. We accept manuscipts from authors who do not have literary agents. We will never charge authors to read manuscripts or to publish their books. Just because we do not accept money to publish an author's book does not mean that publishing is free. It is expensive to produce a quality product and as such, we are highly selective in which books we choose to publish. Our reputation is on the line with every book we print, so we invest in making sure that every book looks professional before sending it out into the world.

 

We do not pay author advances. This means an author earns royalties only when readers buy their books. We make money only when our authors make money. On the flip side, most of our authors maintain many rights such as film and merchandising, so that they can continue to make money off of their hardwork. We work closely with our authors and are as excited as they are to share in the journey of their book's publication.

 

 

 

Ultimately, why wouldn't an author just self-publish?

 

Okay, let's say an author doesn't care about getting their books on the shelves of every bookstore in every city. They understand the competition. They aren't going to pay someone else (i.e. vanity presses or hybrid publishers) to publish their books. They know they can do it themselves easily and keep all of the profit, no matter how little or how much that may be. They are even willing to pay an editor to fix any issues with the book. Everyone they know says the revised book is great!

 

Before authors go ahead and upload their manuscript (which may have taken years to write) to self-publish, authors should ask themselves if they know how to do all of the following:

 

* design a marketable book cover

* create publication-in-cataloguing data to allow libraries to stock the books

* properly apply for copyright protection

* participate in the Library of Congress LCCN program

* format a book using advanced MS Word style guides to give the interior a professional appearance

* access separate ISBNs for hardcover, paperback, and eBook versions

* register as a publisher with Bowker to maintain control over ISBNs and book data transmitted to retailers

* access worldwide distribution channels so that your book is readily available to all big online retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all others)

* convert a book into a professional EPUB file for distribution across mutliple eBook platforms (not just Kindle)

* offer electronic ARCs to potential reviewers prior to publication

* set up a professional website to display information about both the author and book

* access multiple sources to track both print and eBook sales (Kindle can do this, but only for Amazon data)

* stay up-to-date with current publishing trends

* handle the financial aspects of professional publishing which can entail accounting software, royalty tracking, business banking accounts, and more

* market and advertise books (no matter what, authors do need to learn this one)

 

To many people, the list above is exhausting (just when you thought you figured everything else out!). If an author knows how to do all of the above and has the time and energy to do so (or doesn't care about any of the above), then, yes, self-publishing may be the way to go. If not, authors should consider another publishing route. 

 

 

DISCLAIMER

If an author's goal is not to sell books, or to make money, or to establish a writing career, or to be taken seriously as a writer, then none of the above matters. Pay Amazon Kindle to print and ship the books to you, but don't allow them to post your books online for sale or distribution. 

 

 

 

 

Referenced Sources

 

http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/small/

 

http://janefriedman.com/2013/07/30/better-than-fall-back-the-small-press-option/

 

https://atmospherepress.com/how-much-does-hybrid-publishing-cost/

 

https://writers.com/literary-agents

 

https://janefriedman.com/should-you-publish-your-book-with-a-small-press-two-literary-agents-advise/

 

https://writerbeware.blog/2024/02/16/the-scam-of-book-returns-insurance/

 

https://querytracker.net/

 

https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/

 

 

article updated December 31, 2024

Read another article...

 

Realistic Author Expectations