The Four Types of Publishing

Traditional Publishing

Traditional publishers take on all responsibilities. They find illustrators, and editors, design the book cover and market the finished product. Your book will have the highest quality cover, a lovely author website, and a plan to market and get your book and name out there. However, most traditional publishers require the author to have an agent and will only accept manuscripts if you have an agent. Many authors query publishers who do accept manuscripts without a representative. Finding an agent requires attending author retreats and events, schmoozing, and paying for the hotel and costs. Paying for a fifteen-minute chance to give your spill, may land you an agent if they like you and your plot. Writing a book is an honor. It is a big deal, but often traditional publishers receive thousands of manuscripts that are read or skimmed. Still, the slush piles stack up due to the number of queries, time constraints, and unprofessional cover letters and synopsis.

There are five big publishers. Penguin Random House, Hachette Livre, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan Publishers. These are the Big Dogs. Finding a publisher willing to publish your work requires time and an error-free manuscript. Not only that, but most traditional publishers want to know how you plan to market your work. Do you have a large following? Do you have speaking engagements lined up? Are people waiting for your book's release? Do you have a popular podcast or radio show? Do you have kindergarten teachers interested in promoting your children's books? Do you have libraries that will allow your book for story reading hour? How will you market, and who is your audience?

Most authors feel proud when a traditional publisher publishes them because it is a huge accomplishment. This means advances, bookstore signings, displays, marketing, and PR. In saying that, traditional publishers anticipate that your book sales will cover all their costs and turn a profit. Often you will see a royalty check once you pay back the advance monies via book sales, and they will hold the rights to your material. Additionally, Traditional publishers might ask you to change your story or title, remove portions, etc.

Traditionally published authors make between 5% and 15% royalties per copy sold. The royalty percentage will rely on the publisher, the contract, and the type of book produced. Today the publishing industry is over-saturated. Even if your book makes it into the bookstore, remember it's competing with all the best-selling authors who get the main eye-catching displays. Being a successful author is more challenging than it seems. Of course, there are perks to Traditional, and it does get your foot in the door to be heard and seen, but competition and lack of audience could mean low sales. They will promote you and send you on book signings, podcasts, and radio events, but it still requires a lot of work and often takes more work than the author surmised. Traditional may be your dream and the right fit for you. Manning the Gate is not a traditional publisher.

Hybrid Publishing

Hybrid Publishing is lesser known. Hybrid Publishing is best described as a combination between traditional and self-publishing, as most hybrid publishers assist you throughout the publishing process for a fee. Each hybrid publisher is different. Most offer editing services, book design, cover design, Amazon set-up, and possibly Ingram Sparks. Some Hybrid publishers provide professional mentorship. Please research before hiring because it is not always as it seems.

Pick a trustworthy publisher with a legitimate interest in you and your story. Hybrid publishers operate much like traditional publishers. They offer editorial, design, and marketing professionals on board, but they charge a fee upfront. Hybrid publishers have a higher standard than vanity presses and have a standard for selecting and representing your book. They handle all the details of your book process while giving the author freedom to convey which cover design they favor or help with the title and illustration. A vanity press is not selective in the book projects they produce. The hybrid publisher collects anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000 from the author at the outset, which covers the book's costs. They provide editing and design services and are responsible for the book's distribution. Some hybrid publishers may also offer marketing services. Royalties paid are about 25% for each print book sold, so you earn a higher royalty. The author retains their rights. Hybrid publishers mostly do not offer promotion or marketing. Manning the Gate is not a Hybrid publisher but may be some day.

VANITY PUBLISHING

Most Vanity publishers are wolves in sheep's clothing. This type of publisher will produce a book, usually low quality, and authors are charged incredibly high prices, as high as 15 000 to 25,000 or even over 150,000 for a ghostwriter. Authors overpay and get taken advantage of due to needing to learn the business and be more aware. Vanity publishers often take 50% of your royalties. These publishing companies are not well respected in the industry. They offer package deals and make them sound like professionals, but mostly what they are doing, any author could do for themselves if they had the knowledge and did some research. Vanity presses do not do quality editing or cover designs. They often throw the person's manuscript into an editing software program or Grammarly and spit it out filled with errors. The vanity presses are there to get your book in your hand and your money in their pocket.

The first consult may go well, but this is not a place of intimacy, integrity, or building a relationship, and after your book is completed, you'll get 10% of sales. It will be copyrighted in your name. However, the fine print explains that they will hold the intellectual rights to your material. If they publish your book on their distribution platform, they are more than likely holding your rights. Unless you pay more for a marketing package, you'll be on your own, and they may even price your book so high that it does not sell. Trying to get someone on the phone after you've paid and sealed the deal is almost impossible, and if you do get them on the line, they will offer more ways to take your money. My advice is to stay away. Beware when you hear big publishing names in the business offering self-publishing divisions of more prominent trade publishers. It is easy to be taken advantage of today. And do not get sucked into the vocabulary. They say things like, "Own your ISBN and copyrights. Have you always wanted to have your book in Barnes and Nobel?" This is not hard to do, but this is the bait they use on their fishing lines. Manning the Gate is not a Vanity publisher. We do not have package deals but make decisions on each authors personal needs.

Self-Publishing

Self-publishing gives you control, but you do all the work. You choose the editor or edit yourself. You do the illustration or search for one. You do the book designing and printer. You learn how to upload your work on kindle and in paperback. You pay costs but get to keep 100% of the rights and profits.

Many people today are self-publishing, but that does not mean they need to be. We learned the hard way. You can have a remarkable story with an unprofessional cover and many comma splices and errors. This takes away from your work and causes people to second guess that your work is that well done and your story has value. All authors need another set of eyes. All authors need help. Many authors write the book, edit it, have a cover designer help them, or use one available on amazon, then upload their book. They wait patiently to hold their book in their hands and share it with friends and family, but after the initial excitement, their book sits lonely on a shelf and sells little to no copies. Even the best books can end up forgotten. 

So what do we do? Manning the Gate publishing offers a personal guide and a listening ear. We want you to have a professional book cover and a professional edit. We want to give you the tools you need to get your book into the hands of many, and the best part, we don't take any royalty. You keep 100%. We help you open your own accounts and maneuver them. Although we do not do extensive marketing, we offer a workshop to help you be sufficient on your amazon and Ingram accounts. We will walk you through the steps of Author Central and show you how to offer your book for free, run an ad, change the pricing, and ensure your book is in the proper categories with the right keywords. We will assist you with launch ideas and prepare you to showcase your new book. 

Are you ready? Check out our submission Pages. Not ready to submit? No worries. Set up a consult with us, and we will get the ball rolling or direct you on how to finish your book so you can be proud. 

Please see our submissions page for more information.