Are you ready to get published?  

Hybrid publishers, like Dudley Court Press, have emerged in the new world of publishing to bridge the gap for authors who are not likely to land a traditional publishing deal, or who don’t want that kind of arrangement, and who don’t want to go the amateur self-publishing route.

Good hybrid publishers operate with various business models, but most are concerned with these three aspects of book publishing:

1. Publishing quality books. Hybrid publishers have some kind of selection process. They don’t publish everything that comes in the door. They are concerned about the writing and production quality because they are invested in the book’s long-term potential for sales. Hybrid publishers can produce hardcover books, paperbacks, ebooks and audio books. They know how to include your book in industry databases and how to correctly format the book and its meta-data.
2. Publisher-author relationship: Hybrid publishers partner with authors throughout the process. Usually, authors retain a say in design, for example. Hybrid publishers work closely with their authors on marketing. Authors retain the copyright to their work.
3. Book sales: Hybrid publishers, unlike many publishing service companies that service the self-publishing market, do NOT require the author to purchase copies of the book or to pay near-retail prices for their book. Hybrid publishers work hard on behalf of the author to sell the book into the trade (bookstores), to libraries, museums, and in special markets.

Generally, in hybrid publishing models, authors pay fees for services and receive royalties on book sales.  The long-term success of a hybrid publisher is dependent on book sales, not just on pumping lots of authors through their system.

Hybrid publishers are publishing professionals with the experience and knowledge that ensures a successful journey through the challenging world of publishing today. They have created these new business models to take advantage of modern technologies and to help bring more high-quality books to the marketplace.

Amateur publishing is any form of self-publishing by someone not well versed in the publishing business. Whether you use CreateSpace or Lulu.com or Blurb.com, or one of the online, mega ‘self-publishing’ corporations* that invite unsuspecting authors into their high pressure, low-quality publishing machines, if you have not educated yourself about the book publishing business, you should consider yourself an amateur. You are wise to recognize the deficiencies in your knowledge. Amateurs often don’t know what they don’t know and that lack of expertise often leads to disappointment and wasted time and money.

*ADVISORY: The giant online ‘self-publishing’ companies generally don’t care much about the quality of the book you write, whether there is a market for
it, or how many books you might sell. If you give them your valid credit card, they will publish your book. They hard-sell marketing services at inflated prices and push authors to purchase large quantities of their own books at high prices. Please see this blog post for more information: Blog Post About Author Solutions

Most authors going the amateur route do so for financial reasons, but often spend as much as or more than they would spend with a good hybrid publisher (see below) yet end up with an amateur product because they buy the wrong services, often at inflated prices.

A small percentage of self-published authors do the necessary, intense work to become successful publishers. They are the only successful self-published authors. It is definitely possible, but you have to dedicate lots of time and energy to becoming a publishing expert to do it right. Successful self-published authors would fall into the professional publishing category because they have become publishing professionals.

Traditional publishers generally require that you work with a literary agent, submit a book proposal and have an established marketing platform (a ready-made customer base) to attract their interest.  Traditional publishers will pay an advance against royalties for the rights to publish your book.  You as the author have little to say about the manner of publishing, the timing of the release of your book, or much else for the time that the traditional publisher has the rights to publish your book. You pay no fees upfront but you do participate in, and often contribute to the costs of, marketing your book.  

Get Started with Dudley Court Press today. Or check out our newest online programs: Writer’s Sprint, Memoir Writing Made Easy and Aspiring Author to Published Pro.