Traditional Publishing

Category 2 - Traditional Publishing

This is what you dreamed of, whether you wanted to or not, while fantasizing about the future success of your fledgling novel. A book deal. Publishers in a bidding war, each scrambling to get their hands on your work. A contract with a large advance, selling millions of copies, and retiring early on your vast royalties.

Unfortunately, that's just not how it works. In the traditional publishing world, there is what's commonly called the "Big Five:" Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan. These are the powerhouses that offer traditional book deals. We've all read a book from at least one of, if not all five, of these publishers. Their products are everywhere. They have the capacity for huge marketing campaigns and the influence to get their books into retail stores. Outside of them, few publishers have the resources to offer a traditional deal, and if they do, it's certainly going to be lackluster in comparison.

So, how do you land such a deal with one of the Big Five? Naturally, seeing as there are only five, these publishers are inundated with requests from authors to have their work published. So inundated, in fact, that you can't even contact them. If you want your work put in front of them for consideration, you'll have to have the backing of an agent. Which is an entire process in and of itself. They're not acquired at will.

First, you'll have to research agents extensively to find one suitable for your work. They often have "wish lists" of the types of novels they're looking to back. Once you have a short list of potentially viable options, then you'll have to send your work to them per their guidelines, which often include a synopsis, pitch, sample chapters, and author background. It's a lot of work. Then, it's a lot of waiting to hear back. Often, you don't hear back at all. If you do, it's likely to be a rejection. You have to keep trying until you find someone who wants to represent you and believes in your work, which will take several months at minimum.

Then it's another several months while your agent works on landing you a deal. If you do end up with one, great! It's certainly not a guarantee. And even those who do land deals are often surprised by what they've gotten themselves into. The Big Five makes most of its money off a very short list of popular authors. They're unlikely to invest a large amount of time and resources in someone unknown, which means even with a contract, you'll be stuck doing a lot of marketing and advocating for yourself.

Then, there's the issue of royalties. Once everyone has taken their cut, including the agent and publisher, you'll be left with 10% if you're lucky. This won't add up very quickly, unless your book becomes a huge success that sells millions of copies.

This isn't to say that traditional publishing doesn't work. There's a lot to like about it, and there's a good chance you might see your brainchild on a shelf. It's just not as easy or profitable as you may have built it up to be in your head.

Pros - An advance, provided with an editing and design team, capacity for large marketing campaigns and seeing your book in physical stores

Cons - difficult to accomplish, takes a long time, requires an agent, low royalties, not a guarantee of success