Bad Book Publishing Takes You Should Ignore
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Publishing a book can be incredibly confusing. In addition to writing the story and then revising it to be as strong as it can be, there's a steep learning curve of understanding your book publishing options. I've seen a lot of discussions in the writing community online regarding the traditional publishing industry, which is when you are looking to get your book published by one of the major publishing houses in the US, also known as the Big Five. This process also requires a literary agent's representation.
In these online discussions, there are a lot of aspiring authors making negative comments about the traditional publishing process, and it seems like some of the people making these comments don't fully understand how the industry works. So in this article, I want to talk through some of these bad takes about the publishing industry to give you the truth behind how traditional publishing operates.
Traditionally Published Authors Have No Control
I've seen comments from people who are doubtful about the traditional book publishing process because they think signing with a publishing house means relinquishing all control to the publishing house. They’re under the impression that they will have no input in how the book gets published or what it looks like.
It's important to know that when you sign with a traditional publisher, you are agreeing to a business deal in which they pay you a sum of money for the rights to publish your book. But this also means that you will have access to all of the resources available at the publishing house. This includes their editorial team, design team, marketing team, publicity team, sales team, etc. The publisher will usher you through each of the publishing steps using all the resources they have, but just because you are using the publishing house's resources and personnel doesn’t mean you are relinquishing all creative control to those people.
Authors who are new to publishing or who don't quite understand how the process works seem to be particularly concerned that editors at publishing houses are going to take the manuscript and make changes and revisions to your story without your consent. Now, as someone who worked in the editorial departments at two of these publishers, I can assure you that is absolutely not the case. Authors are always kept aware of all suggested edits that the editors are making, and in fact the author is the one receiving and implementing those edits to the manuscript. The only exception is when a typo or punctuation mistake is being fixed, which the editor might not necessarily run by you first.
But any content changes, and certainly any major changes to how the story unfolds, are absolutely going to be incorporated into the manuscript by you. And if your editor makes a suggestion you don't agree with, the two of you can talk it through and come up with a different solution that addresses both of your concerns. Editing is a collaboration–I believe that as an independent book editor, and I learned this from working with editors at publishing houses, so I want to assuage any concerns you have about editors sneakily changing your manuscript and then publishing it without your approval.
Similarly, authors seem very concerned about the publisher creating a cover they don't like. Again, you’re going to be a part of the conversation. While the publisher is going to take the lead on designing potential covers, your input on the cover will be considered.
Agents and Publishers Only Want Authors from Underrepresented Communities
The next bad take about the traditional publishing process is that agents and publishers are only looking for diverse authors at this time. There is quite a bit of anxiety from authors who are not a member of an underrepresented community. This includes BIPOC authors, LGBTQIA+ authors, and disabled authors.
This stems from an increased prevalence of literary agents and publishers announcing that they are seeking stories from members of these underrepresented communities. This, in turn, is because these voices and stories have historically been underrepresented or even suppressed in the book publishing industry and the commercial book world at large.
Just because literary agents and publishers are calling out that they are interested in stories from these communities doesn’t mean that someone who does not fall into one of those communities is out of luck and is never going to get published. The reality is that there are absolutely still successful authors getting book deals who do not fall into one of these underrepresented communities. If you need proof, just look at any bestseller list.
So remember that just because agents and publishers are interested in diverse voices and diverse stories, that doesn’t mean they’re not interested in a compelling and exciting intriguing story from anyone. There is room for everyone's stories.
All this means is that there may be a bit more competition among writers, because now room is finally being made for people who have never even had a seat at the table before. I don't see this as a zero-sum game where one group being lifted up and published means that other groups are being put down. That is both a fallacy and not what is happening in actual publishing news.
If this is a publishing industry take that concerns you, I would encourage you to instead sit down and focus on making your book the best it can be, on querying strategically, and on staying optimistic about your publishing path.
Lower Royalty Rates Are Always Bad
The next bad take about the traditional publishing process is that lower royalty rates are always bad for the author. In debates about traditional publishing versus self-publishing, I often see writers bring up the differential and royalty rates, and I completely understand why. It can be really shocking for a new author to see that, in a book deal with a traditional publishing house, your royalty rates are going to be significantly lower than if you self-published–where you would retain all royalties and rights.
But what you need to understand about a book deal is that in addition to earning royalties on each book's sale, which will be a percentage of the total cost of the book, the publisher is also going to pay you an advance. This is a lump sum that is not tied to the amount of book sales that you make. You are guaranteed your advance whether you sell one copy or a million, so depending on how many book sales you make, going the traditional route and having that guaranteed advance paid to you upfront can actually result in you making more than if you self-published and had a higher royalty rate with fewer sales.
Also remember that with self-publishing, you are going to be responsible for paying for the related services needed to publish your book upfront, including editing, cover designing, marketing, formatting, etc. These initial costs should be factored in, as they will cut into the profit you make on your book.
Of course, money is not the only or even necessarily the most important factor you should consider when thinking about which publishing path is right for you. But it is important for you to understand how it works. Keep in mind that just because you are making a lower royalty percentage does not necessarily mean you are making less money via a traditional publisher.
Canonical Authors Would Never Get Published in Today’s Market
The next bad take on book publishing is the idea that classic or canonical authors wouldn't get published today. Sometimes in response to tips on how to write more effectively or increase your chances of getting a literary agent, I'll see comments from writers saying that certain classic or canonical authors didn't follow that advice. The idea behind the statement is that the writing advice is somehow negated because this successful, canonical book that was published decades or even centuries ago didn't follow that same advice.
This especially comes up regarding length, as many works that we consider classic pieces of literature are either substantially shorter or longer than novels that would be published today, so people use this discrepancy as perceived evidence that publishing industry professionals don't have good taste or don't know what they're doing because they would theoretically reject this work of classical literature.
The main thing to consider here is that it’s completely okay for the literary geniuses of yesteryear to have operated and published under different circumstances and standards than we do in today's publishing world. We can still appreciate and admire the style, approach, and techniques of authors from the past while understanding that books that are commercially successful today operate differently and have their own unique style. Personally, I think we need to separate the idea that classical or canonical authors are better than authors who are bestselling and being published today, because who's to say that authors who published today aren't going to become part of the literary canon in the future?
We can appreciate both for their unique stylistic choices and approaches to storytelling, but while we can and should learn from previously published authors, we shouldn't put them on a pedestal and say that every author today needs to align with their specific standards. Those authors operated in completely different publishing landscapes.
Literary Agents Don’t Care About Querying Authors
If you are in the querying trenches currently, you're likely going through a rollercoaster of emotions. Maybe you're feeling disheartened and discouraged and even want to give up. I understand how tough it is to not hear back from literary agents or to only get a formulaic response that gives you no sense if the agent even read your work. Everyone prefers having a personal touch when they give their creative work to someone for feedback, and when it comes to querying, you often don't get that.
But the truth is that as much as this process sucks, and as unemotional and curt as literary agents might seem in their email responses, know that it is not because they don't care about their queries. Remember: the literary agent's job is to scout for talent and sign on clients whose books they love and want to sell to a publisher. They need authors to query them to do their job and make a living.
The reason they take so long is simply because they are extremely backlogged. In the current state of publishing, more writers than ever are seeking literary agents for representation, and there are more writers than there are agents. Plus, the agents take a long time to go through their queries because they do want to give each query its due consideration. These two factors combine to create an extremely long wait time for querying authors.
So as much as the process sucks, as flawed as the system may be, know that it is not because they don't care. They absolutely do care–otherwise they wouldn't be open to queries.
I hope this insight helped you better understand the truth behind some negative comments about the traditional publishing industry and helped you see how it actually works. If you’re in the process of figuring out if traditional publishing is for you, this knowledge will hopefully empower you in your decision.
Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!