What Writers Need to Know About Publishing and Imprints

 As writers and poets, after writing a poem, a piece, blog article, or book, our goal is to publish. Today there are three main paths to do that: traditional, hybrid, or self-publishing. These are besides submitting short pieces or poems to literary magazines or blogs and usually means seeking to publish novella length or longer manuscripts. Going from manuscript to published is a journey more complex today because of the many options. The term “imprint” is synonymous with publisher. You or a company you form could also be the publisher.

 

Traditional

Traditional book publishing is when a publisher offers the author a contract and, in turn, prints, publishes, and sells your book through booksellers and other retailers. The publisher buys the right to publish your book and pays you royalties from sales, typically 8-10 percent.

If you want to publish a book traditionally, most writers need to find an agent. To find one, you must identify the right category for your writing. If you are or want to be a non-fiction writer, you will need to submit a book proposal with three sample chapters and a synopsis of each chapter. If you are writing fiction, you must have a completed manuscript.

Once these steps are accomplished, you’re ready to write a query letter to send to potential agents whose job it is to ‘sell’ your book to a publisher. There are no guarantees that an agent will take you on. Their domestic fee is usually 15% of your book royalties.

The five biggest publishers in 2021 are Simon and Schuster with 16 imprints, Penquin/Random House with 23 imprints, Hachette Book Group with 16 imprints, Harper Collins with 5 imprints, and Macmillan, a German company, with 7 imprints. These imprints are sub-companies that publish under unique names.

Hybrid Publishers

A hybrid press or hybrid publisher is a publishing house that operates with a different revenue model than traditional publishing while keeping the rest of the practices of publishing the same. The revenue of hybrid publishers comes from both book sales and fees charged for the execution of their publishing services, such as editing, design (the cover also), layout, proofing, production and printing, and marketing. Some of these hybrid publishers offer package deals at different tier levels and costs, usually starting at $500 and going as high as $10,000. Also, the length of the manuscript adds to the cost the longer it is.

Others do it all for 50% of royalties like TCK Publishing with no author fees. Each hybrid, including some vanity presses, have different terms, so you must do your due diligence and compare. A list of 42 others can be found at https://www.tckpublishing.com/list-of-hybrid-publishers/

Self-publishing 

This is the publication of media by its author without the involvement of an established publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (print on demand) technology, which prints each book as ordered. In self-publishing, the author bears all the costs and risks but earns a higher share of the profit per sale, which could be as high as 70% (Amazon KDP) after printing costs are subtracted.

Steps on how to self-publish a book, all done by the author:

1. Write the book
2. Self-edit the book
3. Professionally edit and format the book (hire an editor)
4. Get illustrations (if you’re writing a children’s book)
5. Get a book cover design (you do it or hire)
6. pre-Market the book
7. Publish (print/ebook/audio)
8. Market and promote including Book Launch
9. Keep up with book maintenance
10. Work with a self-publishing company, order copies

 

Some self-publishers or aggregators you should check out are: Amazon/KDP, Digital2Digital, IngramSpark, Bookbaby, Lulu, Blurb, StreetLib, Barnes & Noble Press, PublishDrive, and Diggypod. Some only produce ebooks, like Rakuten Kobo or Smashwords, many produce print copies and ebooks both. They have different terms and prices, and in many cases offer services like hybrid publishers do. Also, they have varying royalty rates and distribution channels. There are over 1,000 to choose from, so again, perform due diligence.

These companies have platforms where you can upload your manuscript and cover, preview it online, hit approve, and your print book or ebook is available within 24-72 hours either for next to nothing in cost or for agreed-upon fees. If choosing to self-publish, it’s best to produce both print and digital ebook versions. Audio is trickier, and recommended.

About publishers and imprints

Firstly, don’t get copyright and publisher mixed up. You as the author are the copyright holder, whether you register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office or not. The publisher is the publisher, with certain rights that you as the copyright holder have ceded to them, such as permission to use your work, a percentage of your royalties on book sales, or where your book will be distributed. Any services the publisher performs are in a contract, especially with traditional publishers. With hybrid and self-publishing, the terms are usually what’s contained in your selected platform as you use their services. Usually, this means you abide by their stated requirements and formats to publish your book and there isn’t a separate contract.

For example, on Amazon KDP I can utilize their Cover Creator software to make a front, back, and spine for my book, or I can upload one I might have created myself or hired a designer to do for me. I like Amazon KDP since they can produce a printed softcover, printed hardcover, and ebook version of my book.

Secondly, whoever assigns the ISBN number to your book is important. Every book and sometimes ebooks, needs its own ISBN. This number is available in the U.S. from Bowker for a fee of $125 for one or $295 for 10. My Company owns a block of ISBN’s and sells them at $60 apiece with the designation, like KDP, “independently published.” The publisher's name assigned to the ISBN is the imprint, or publisher. With many self-publishers like Amazon KDP, you can use their ISBN at no cost. However, as the registrant of the ISBN, they are the imprint unless specifically registered in your name as the author, i.e. independently published. Amazon also uses their own numbers called ASINs.

For example, below is how Amazon KDP treats ISBNs:

ISBN options	Cost	Publishing	Imprint	Publisher field in the Book’s detail page	Requirements
KDP Free ISBN	Free	Only with KDP	Automatically registered as “Independently published” in Bowker	It will show imprint name “Independently published”.	We’ll register your free ISBN, so no further requirements are needed from your end.
Your own ISBN	You cover the cost of the ISBN	You can publish outside of KDP	Register your own imprint with Bowker or local ISBN agency	It will show the imprint name you enter to publish your book.	When entering your book’s details ensure the information you are providing matches with the information you’ve registered in Bowker. You won’t be able to publish your book if there are any mismatches between this information.

 

Regarding the “Publishing” field: This is key. Many authors set up their own businesses just so they can be the publisher or imprint. In the chart above, although Amazon is the largest retailer for books (67% of ebooks), if you use their ISBN you are limited to them. If you have your own imprint or use ABLiA Media LLC, my company, you can publish on KDP and anywhere else you want.

It’s most advantageous, therefore, to have the ISBN under your control.

In a future post, I’ll describe how to set up your own “Publishing” company or imprint. It’s not that difficult nor expensive.