How does traditional publishing work, anyway?

This month, I’m giving some focused attention to the publishing industry. But unlike the last few times when I’ve talked about these things, this time, all I’m talking about is the good stuff. I’ll tell you exactly why traditional publishing is awesome, and I’ll tell you why self/vanity publishing is equally as awesome.

Today, let’s take a look at traditional (mostly because that’s where it all started)

How it Works

I’m sure most of you know this, but even so, it’s best to start at the beginning, wouldn’t you say?

Essentially, traditional publishing is where writers send their manuscripts to publishers, and those publishers read the manuscripts and decide if they’re worth publishing (for the sake of ease, we'll pretend agents aren't a part of this mess). If the manuscript is deemed worthy of publication, then voila! The writer receives a contract, they get paid an advance, and the publisher publishes the book. But I want to look a little bit deeper into the process, since I’ve noticed a large number of people out there who really don’t know what happens when a manuscript is sent to a publisher.

So. Here’s how it works. 

When you send in your manuscript, it goes to an editor. That editor is really the person who decides whether or not the book ought to be published (they’ll even go so far as to research and determine whether or not it’s marketable).

If the editor likes the manuscript though, that’s really only the first step in the process. If they like it, it’ll then go before what some publishers call the “pub board” (generally consisting of a marketing specialist, a senior editor or partner, and the editor who chose the manuscript, among others). That board is the group who will really decide whether the book will be published or not. The editor will be the main spokesperson for the book, while everyone else starts out against and must be persuaded. They’ll discuss marketing opportunities, potential sales numbers, and the required advance royalty rates for the author in question (if the author is new, the royalty is more likely to be low, but that’s not necessarily how it’ll be).

If, at that point, everyone on the board agrees to move forward with the book, the author will be signed to a contract on the terms that were determined by that board. Negotiations aren’t generally allowed, but there may be some wiggle room involved. As far as I’ve seen, the bigger the publishing house, the less likely they are to wiggle on things in the contract.

Once the contract is signed, the manuscript now belongs to the publisher. Oh, it’ll be copyrighted in the author’s name, but the publisher is the one who will hold the most control in the whole process. They’ll determine cover design, any edits that need doing, pretty much everything along the line. The author is the one who wrote the book, but the publisher is the one who finished it.

They’ll then go through everything to release the book, and they’ll market it to the best of their ability to make the most money they can off the deal. Of course, as authors, we have to keep in mind that publishers are businesses. They’re trying to make money for themselves, first and foremost, and then make money for the author so the author will want to keep writing (assuming the first book sold well).

For some of you, this doesn’t sound appealing at all. It’s too hands-off, too out of your control—and there’s nothing wrong with that, at all. Some people don’t need a traditional publisher, it’s true. But traditional publishers are more capable of wider marketing that will reach more people all across the world, which makes them an ideal choice for a great deal of authors.

Next time, we’ll take a look at self/vanity publishing, and see how it filled a void that traditional publishing didn’t even realize was there.

[love]

{Rani D.}