traditional publishing

Is Hybrid Publishing Best?

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

Hybrid Publishing combines elements of both traditional and self-publishing. The difference being that in hybrid publishing, authors pay or subsidize most or all of the costs of publishing and are NOT given an ADVANCE on royalties. The publisher takes care of the editorial, design, and marketing of the book. 

Hybrid publishing works well for authors who just want to write, write, write, without having to spend time in those others areas. Appealing. Yes?

Remember: Although with traditional publishers, authors may get less in the way of royalties, self-publishing lets you keep the most, with hybrid falling somewhere in between.

Unfortunately, some hybrid publishers are little more than vanity publishers, which try to scam authors and spend very little of YOUR marketing dollars toward marketing. 

Self-publishing, along with hiring a marketing person (or firm) seems to be the best way to go for the author who doesn’t want to spend their time doing their own marketing.

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Traditional Publishing

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

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Forty-five percent of book sales on Amazon last year were written by self-published authors.

That’s getting close to half—and predictions are for that number to keep going up. 

Still, there is an honor attached to being accepted by a traditional publishing house. These authors are viewed by some as being “real” authors—although that viewpoint is rapidly changing.

There are not as many big publishing houses as there used to be, making it even more difficult for a writer to get a book deal from a publisher. If they do, it makes it all the more prestigious. 

So, what is it that a publisher might do for an author that they cannot do for themselves?

Well, first of all there’s the imprint of the publishing house on the book cover that is akin to getting a gold star on a spelling test in elementary school (at least that’s how it was “way back when” at the school I attended).

Then, there is the fact that major publishers pull a lot of weight with the brick and mortar bookstores and are much more likely to get their authors actual shelf space.

Finally, traditional publishers may get some of their most popular authors cash advances in some cases and they often have in-house editors. 

In days-gone-by, traditional publishers did a lot of marketing for their authors, but don’t count on that in today’s world. These writers are finding the greatest responsibility for advertising their books is being placed on their very own shoulders.

So, I ask, again, what is it that a traditional publisher might do for an author that he/she cannot do for themselves?

In my humble opinion, not much.

However, if you are young and have time on your side so you can afford to wait for a traditional book deal and/or the points I’ve mentioned are important to you, then by all means polish up your query letter.

We’ve talked about the query letter before, but for those who haven’t been following this blog for a lengthy period of time, I will touch on the subject next week.

 

Happy Landing!

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

I’d like to tell you about Ben De Rienzo’s Booklaunch. This is especially good information for those of you who are nearing completion of your book or even those who have already completed your book and beginning your marketing. It just may be a game changer for all of us because we must be active in promoting our books if we are going to be successful in the marketplace. This is true for those who are self-publishing as well as those who are going the traditional publishing route.

In a nutshell, this is all about a landing page, which is a single, dedicated, permanent page on the internet used to promote your book. It is a template for a page which shows the book cover, has space for a great headline and welcome copy, a brightly-colored “Buy Now” button, purchase links to vendors, space for your bio and contact information, offers a “Sneak Peek”  (the first chapter or two), space for credible endorsements, responsive web design (for those who shop via their smart phones, etc.), capability of running your video book trailer, allows for page customization/optimization to support your overall brand, and….

I think you get the idea.

I watched his webinar, last Thursday, and the above information is taken from my notes. I am pretty certain that what I have said is accurate, but please check everything out on his website to verify. His website address is: www.booklaunch.io

If you are like me, I want to write—not necessarily spend all of my time on publicity and marketing—and so I appreciate any tools I can use to make this process easier for me. The fact that his company offers unlimited help via phone, chat, and so on makes me doubly interested in getting started. Did I mention you can use a plug-in to put this on your WordPress site?

So for those of you who have a passion for writing, but whose computer skills are minimal, or those who find yourselves in a time crunch, checking out Ben’s Booklaunch may be yet another tool to get your self-promotion off in the write direction.

By the way, I know Joel Friedlander also has a landing page out there. He is another amazing guy whose many products you may want to consider!