Publishing Pathways: Non-Traditional Publishing

The last two weeks I’ve talked about the two ways most people think of when they decide to publish a book. But there’s a third option, and it goes by a lot of different names—like hybrid publishing, collaborative publishing, full-service publishing, or assisted self-publishing. Some other models would technically fall into this category too, like vanity presses. And yes, this is the kind of publishing that many authors warn others to stay away from.

My hope is to demystify the process by discussing the pros and cons of it (when it’s working as it should) and pointing out some red flags (to avoid it working like it shouldn’t).

What is non-traditional publishing?

If we were to imagine that publishing is a spectrum, from traditional publishing to true self-publishing, non-traditional publishing exists somewhere in between (though likely closer to the self-publishing side of things). 

At its best, non-traditional publishing fills a niche and provides a useful set of services to aspiring authors. Rather than selling the rights to your work in order to have a professional team polish and distribute your work, with non-traditional publishing, you pay a fee to have a professional team polish and distribute your work in order to keep your rights. 

At its worst, however, non-traditional publishing is a “pay to play” nightmare of absurd fees and low effort grifting. So let’s look at the pros and cons.

Pros of Non-Traditional Publishing

As you might imagine, being a happy medium publishing pathway means that the pros of non-traditional publishing should sound familiar if you have read the first two articles in this series. The TLDR version of this is you’ll have a professional team supporting you, but you won’t give up your rights, artistic autonomy, or sales proceeds. 

Though it’s much less true today than it was 10 years ago, you can often tell the difference between a self-published book and a traditionally published book just by the quality of the cover, interior layout, and edit of a book. 

When you hire a non-traditional publishing company, you should be getting a team of professional editors, designers, and publicists to support you on your journey. This means that your book should be able to stand up next to any traditionally published work in terms of quality, and you don’t have to give up the rights to your work to get it.

That’s right: because you’re paying for the service, you shouldn’t have to give up your rights or your sales proceeds. That’s what makes non-traditional publishing similar to self-publishing.

It’s also generally considered a plus that non-traditional publishing can happen a lot faster than traditional publishing. This is because there are fewer hoops to jump through. With non-traditional publishing, you have no need for an agent or to spend months querying/on sub hoping the stars align. But you will need to take at least a little time to research who you work with. We’ll get to why that is soon. 

Cons of Non-Traditional Publishing

The biggest downside to non-traditional publishing is the upfront costs. Some companies will allow you to break up the fees into installments, but when you choose this route, you don’t have control over the budget like you would with true self-publishing. The company you hire almost certainly has quality control measures in place to ensure they don’t release books that look a mess, so they expect you to pony up the cash it requires for them to pay their team (and make a bit of profit too—it is a business after all). 

However, the other con that has to be addressed is the risk of getting conned. In the non-traditional space, there are bad actors who will try to give you the impression that they are something they are not. They may talk a lot about the pros of non-traditional publishing without actually offering any of them, eager to take your money, push your book out, and then shrug their shoulders when you feel underwhelmed and abandoned.

So let’s talk red flags. 

Non-Traditional Publisher “Red Flags”

These are, to some extent, just my opinions, but I’ve been working for a non-traditional publishing company since March, so these opinions aren’t uninformed. Here’s what to look out for if you’re considering a non-traditional publishing company.

• The fees they charge don’t add up: The professional skills needed to publish a book aren’t ubiquitous, and you can expect that hiring professional editors, cover designers, layout designers, proofreaders, and publicists to help you produce your book will get into the thousands of dollars. But if the company trying to get your business has fees over $8000, double check everything they claim to do for you. The ballpark number should probably be closer to $5000 unless they are providing a ton of marketing and publicity or full illustration for a kids book. And if they are charging under $1000, you can bet somewhere along the line there’s a person who doesn’t have the skills and experience to do the job they’re doing, or they are being way underpaid to do it. In the gig economy, it’s easy to seek profit by exploiting others. I for one don’t want to be a part of that.

• They want the rights to your work and to split proceeds with you, but they aren’t paying you anything upfront: Some companies will push themselves as a traditional publishing firm, but they are asking you to give them your work with nothing but a vague promise of potential table scraps if the book sells well. If they want your rights or a cut of your sales, they need to pay you for that.

• They use high pressure sales tactics: If the company expects you to sign a contract without having time to look it over and make sure you understand it, or they claim that they can only give you the price they quoted you if you act fast, do just that. Act fast and get out of there!

• They offer an official contract without having seen your work: It’s one thing to send a sample contract in the interest of keeping the process moving, but if a company is ready to sign you without having evaluated your work, you can bet they are just squeezing money from desperate authors with no intention of publishing a quality product.

• They aren’t upfront with how their model works, or bad mouth other pathways to publishing: This whole series has been about looking honestly at the options you have as an author. No one way is best, and all the options have great things and not-so-great things. If a company is trying to pull the wool over your eyes about how they work or the pros and cons of their model, how else might they be trying to deceive you?    

• They hesitate to share information about other authors they’ve worked with or how well the books they have published sell: As I mentioned above, being shifty or avoidant of some issues suggests the company will be shifty or avoidant of other issues as well. The company should be willing to give you a realistic idea of what you’re up against to make back your investment. 

Should You Publish Non-Traditionally?

If you find a company that isn’t throwing red-flags left and right, ask yourself these questions: Are you comfortable paying to get your work published? Does it feel overwhelming to imagine tackling the process on your own? Are you willing to pay more to avoid the stress and potential pitfalls of navigating the process on your own? If the answer to these questions is yes, non-traditional publishing may be a really great option for you.

Now that this series is concluded, I’d love to know if you have any thoughts about pros or cons I missed from this or another week. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my assessments of the different ways authors can pursue publishing.