On the Merits of Traditional Publishing

“Are you self publishing?”

“No, I’m pursuing traditional publishing.”

“Oh. How does that work? Do you just send your book to publishers?”

“There’s quite a bit to it…”

Publishers won’t even look at your book unless you have an agent. And to get an agent, you have to have a finished book. So the first step is to write the book.

Then you try to get an agent, which you do by researching reputable agents online, “cold emailing” a specifically formatted letter and writing sample to them, and then waiting to hear back. This process is called “querying.” If somebody offers to be your agent, you sign a contract and become partners. They work for free until you get paid, which means they’re just as invested in selling your book as you are.

After you have an agent, you work together to perfect your manuscript. And when you both think it’s ready, you “go on submission.” Submission is where your agent emails potential publishers that they think would be a good fit. (It’s kind of a similar process to querying for an agent, but this time the agent is doing it on your behalf.) Waiting to hear back from publishers can take a long time and just because you have an agent doesn’t guarantee you’ll get an offer from a publisher. But if a publisher is interested, they’ll set up an interview with you and potentially make an offer.

If you decide to accept, you sign the contract and… ta-da! You have a book deal!

“Wow, that’s a lot of waiting…”

“Yeah. You wait to hear back from an agent while querying. Then you wait to hear back from a publisher while on submission. Waiting is part of the traditional publishing process, but boy, it sure provides time to write.”

“That sounds like a lot of work. Why wouldn’t you just self publish instead?”

“Self publishing is a great option for a lot of authors, but it’s not for me right now. Although you can self publish on a shorter timeframe, to do it well takes just as much work— if not more— than traditional publishing.“

To self publish, you do everything by yourself, whereas in traditional publishing there’s a team of people with expertise in editing, marketing, design, and lots of other areas supporting the project. If I wanted more control over the specifics of the book, self publishing would be a good option, but I’d rather relinquish a bit of that control to a team of experts.

Another thing to note is that in self publishing, money flows away from the author. It costs money to design, print, and ship your book (among other things), and all that is out-of-pocket for the author until they start making royalties. But in traditional publishing, money flows to the author. You get an “advance” that’s paid to you before you even start getting royalties. Granted, the royalties themselves are smaller in traditional publishing than in self publishing, but typically the advance more than makes up for that difference.

“That’s wild! There’s so much about traditional book publishing I didn’t know. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“I’ve had to learn along the way… But there’s a lot of really great resources out there that have helped to guide my decisions.”

The single best resource I can recommend is Alexa Donne’s YouTube channel. She’s a traditionally published author of multiple books in various genres and provides a very balanced view of publishing. She shares knowledge, advice, and stories with a big sister vibe, which makes for a fun listening experience. Whether you’re in the midst of writing, querying, or your debut year as an author, Alexa’s channel is the place to start.

If you’re looking for a quick overview with little bite-sized nuggets of info, the one stop shop is Gardner Literary Agency’s blog, written by founder and super agent Rachelle Gardner. These brief posts are perfect for getting a general sense of what publishing is (and is not). If you’re unsure of your future as a writer, Rachelle’s blog will help you make the preliminary decisions and find your feet.

If you already have an agent or are early into your debut year, reading “Before and After the Book Deal” by Courtney Maum is a helpful step! This book is the most comprehensive overview of the publishing process I’ve yet found, as it covers all the big questions and nuanced little details that you might not find elsewhere. It’s an easy read, and it’ll help pass time while you wait on submission. It’ll also help to reframe your writerly expectations of how things work so that you can spend your publishing journey marveling at the scenery instead of stressing out about how much farther there is to go.

“Thanks for the recommendations! Best of luck to you on your writing journey.”

“Thanks, friend. You too!”