From the Editor’s Desk: In Praise of . . . Hybrid Publishing?

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on the three types of publishing: traditional trade presses (both the big five as well as small independent presses), hybrid publishing, and self-publishing. I want to offer some further thoughts on the hybrid model.
 
If you had asked me even three or four years ago what I thought about hybrid publishing, I would have scoffed. Hybrid publishing, where an author pays a professional press to have one’s book published, would have struck me as a gussied-up version of the old vanity press approach: pay to play. The hallmarks of respectable publishing, I would have insisted, are precisely what makes it difficult to accomplish: gatekeeping, exclusivity, and prestige. In a model where anyone with a few bucks can get his or her book published, it would seem to devalue the worthiness of the ensuing book.
 
Well, dear reader, my mind has been changed. To be sure, hybrid publishing is not for every author or every book. But it definitely has its uses.

​Late last week I had the opportunity to tour a notable hybrid publisher in Texas. This is a highly reputable company in business for over thirty years. They have an extensive back catalog and their books sell well both online and in bookstores. But it is pricey to get in their catalog. At this particular firm, a contract to publish will likely run an author upwards of $20,000 or more, depending on additional services required. Seems like a lot, doesn’t it?
 
Let’s reflect on what you get for your money. First, not all manuscripts are accepted for publication. This is a boutique outfit publishing around two dozen titles per year. Every submission is screened and a report generated for the author.
 
For those that are accepted, an extensive editorial process commences. Because many of the authors served by this firm are novice or first-time authors, two full rounds of developmental editing commence the process. Then a full round of line edits, followed by a final copy-edit. Suffice it to say that the editorial process itself is more stringent—likely much more stringent—than in most university presses, certainly more extensive than for my book.
 
Then you will enjoy the services of a dedicated, in-house design team to design not only the book’s cover, but the interior layout and typographical design. Remember you will have to learn how to do this yourself or pay a free-lancer if you self-publish, but here it is included in the contract price. For picture-heavy books, competence at this stage is essential.
 
For anyone who may have struggled with self-publishing, the editorial and design services alone may be worth the price of admission. But for my money, even more value comes later. First, a contract with this firm gets you access to its extensive distribution system. The warehouse in Minnesota is connected to distribution agents who operate throughout the country, ensuring that books get placed in Barnes & Nobel, Books-a-Million, and other bookstores.
 
The access to distribution may be worth the price of the contract, but there’s more. This firm, somewhat uniquely, also offers in-house publicity services. That means they can help an author set up a website, book a speaking tour, learn how to access podcasts and TV interviews, offer presentation coaching, and more. This is treatment that only the most prestigious authors at the big 5 normally enjoy.
 
And here’s the kicker: because you are paying to publish, the contracts stipulate that authors will recoup 80–90% on the back end as royalties. That’s right: where the traditional publishers pay a miniscule 5–7% royalty, after advances are covered, hybrid authors at this firm receive nearly all the ensuing sales of their book. Unlike the traditional presses which retain the rights, authors also keep all rights to their work under this model.
 
I asked one official of this company what percentage of authors make money on a $25,000 contract and was informed that about one-third of authors do not recoup their full investment, but one-third do, and another one-third actually see a profit on their books. This is an eye-popping ROI in this industry.
 
It’s all the more remarkable when one considers who constitutes the likely market for this kind of service. If you are working on a memoir, or a novel, or a standard piece of narrative non-fiction, this model may not be for you. But if you are a business leader, have aspirations of becoming a thought leader or an influencer, then an investment in having a book to your name may be immeasurable. A book as a marketing tool may seem objectionable to the purists, but even in the academic world a book is often seen as a box to tick on the way to tenure. For many authors in this market, the thinking is similar: write a book to position yourself in your industry, to attract new customers, or to announce yourself in some broader arena. And $25,000 to make that investment the highest quality it can be, and to give it access to all the markets that traditionally published books enjoy, backed by a team of coaches to help you design a bespoke marketing campaign, and even a book that does not return its full investment in sales may still be exceptionally profitable to the author.
 
Think of it this way: Every author pays to publish his or her book. Traditional authors pay on the back end when the publisher recoups the lion’s share of the royalties. Hybrid authors pay on the front end. So the questions then becomes: Do you have the tolerance for risk? Or, put another way, are you willing to bet on yourself?
 
There are, of course, scammers out there, so prospective authors are encouraged to research hybrid companies before signing on the dotted line. Many companies do not offer the full range of these services.  As always, caveat emptor. But if you find yourself in the position that authoring a book is important for your career prospects, or you have an idea and don’t want to endure the interminable delays and inevitable rejections associated with traditional publishing, then the hybrid approach may just be a fit for you.
 
—David J. Snyder