Hybrid, vanity, self: three words that get confused on purpose
How to tell a serious hybrid press from a vanity press in five minutes, and the eleven questions to ask before you pay anyone.
We are a hybrid press. That means an author pays us to publish their book. It also means we have spent a lot of time explaining why that is not the same thing as a vanity press, usually to someone who has already been burned by one. So let us set the three words straight, and then give you the questions that separate them.
The three models, honestly
Traditional publishing. The publisher pays you. An advance, then royalties of 8 to 15 percent. They choose the books, they take the risk, they own most of the rights for years. Fewer than one manuscript in a thousand gets in, and nonfiction by a first-time author without a large audience almost never does. It is a good deal if you can get it. Most people cannot, and that is not a judgement on the book.
Self-publishing. You pay everyone: editor, designer, ISBN, and you keep 100 percent of what is left after the printer and the shop. You also do everything: hire, brief, check, upload, price, launch. Done well, it is the best deal there is. Done badly, it is a book with a homemade cover and a typo on page one, and it will sell to your family.
Hybrid publishing. You pay a press to do the publishing part properly: edit, design, register, distribute, under its imprint and ISBNs. You keep the rights and most of the income. The press's reputation is on the spine, so it does not take every book. The honest version of this is a service with a curator. The dishonest version is a vanity press with a nicer website.
The difference is not the money changing hands. In both cases the author pays. The difference is what the press is selling. A hybrid press sells editorial work and its own name. A vanity press sells the feeling of being published, and it will sell it to anyone.
Five minutes: the tells
You can usually spot a vanity press before you finish reading its homepage.
- They accepted your manuscript before reading it. Or within 48 hours. Or with a "congratulations" email that does not mention anything specific about the book. Reading a 70,000-word manuscript takes a working week.
- The price is a package, not a quote. "Gold", "Platinum", "Bestseller". A real quote depends on word count, state of the manuscript and what it needs. A tier you choose from a menu depends on how much they think you will spend.
- They talk about marketing before they talk about editing. Press releases, "distribution to 40,000 retailers" (that is just Ingram, it costs nothing), book trailers, a Hollywood option. If the first conversation is about how famous you will be, leave.
- Their catalog has no shape. A memoir next to a children's book next to a crypto guide, all with the same cover template. A press with a mission says no to most books. A press that says yes to everything has no mission.
- The ISBN is yours "for a fee". Or theirs, and you can buy it back. An ISBN costs $125. If it is being sold to you as a feature, everything else is too.
- Royalty "up to 50 percent". Of what? Net of printing, net of the shop's discount, net of "administrative costs"? Up-to is a number that exists to be smaller.
The eleven questions
These follow the IBPA Hybrid Publisher Criteria, which are the industry's own standard. A serious press will answer all eleven without hesitating. We have put our own answers after each, because it would be strange to ask you to demand transparency and then not give it.
1. Do you reject manuscripts? How many, and why?
If the answer is "we accept most", they are not curating. Us: every manuscript gets a reading report. We decline the ones we cannot make better or would not put our name on. The report is yours either way.
2. Who, by name, will edit my book, and what have they edited?
"Our editorial team" is not a name. Us: the person who runs the press, a molecular biologist with a PhD who has published seven books. You will know their name because it is on the website.
3. What exactly does the price include, and what does it not?
Ask for it in writing, line by line. Us: the pricing page lists every line and every exclusion.
4. Whose ISBN goes on the book, and whose name is the publisher of record?
If it is theirs, that is normal for a hybrid. If you have to pay extra for it, it is not. Us: ours, included. You can also publish under your own if you prefer; then it is your imprint and we are the service.
5. Who owns the rights, and for how long?
You should own them. The press should have a licence to sell the book, cancellable by you with notice. Us: you keep all rights. We hold only a licence to distribute, and you can end it with notice; the period is written in the contract.
6. What royalty do I get, and on what base?
IBPA's standard is "higher than traditional", which means well above 15 percent. Make them define the base. Us: 100 percent of net receipts from retailers, minus nothing. We are paid for the work, not for the sales.
7. Can I see the contract before I pay anything?
If not, stop. Us: yes, before you pay for anything beyond the reading report.
8. Where will the book be available, and through which distributor?
"Worldwide distribution" means IngramSpark plus Amazon. That is fine; everyone uses them. It is not a feature. Us: the same two, under our account, with the metadata done properly, which is where most self-published books fail.
9. Show me three books you published last year and their sales rank today.
Any press will show you its best book. Ask for the last three. Us: our catalog is on the site, and the Amazon ranks are public.
10. What happens if I am not happy with the edit, the cover, or the final book?
There should be rounds of revision in the contract, with numbers. Us: the number of revision rounds for the edit and the cover is written into your quote, and typos are fixed without limit before release.
11. What do you need from me, and when?
A serious press will give you a calendar, with the dates where your approval is needed. If they cannot, they have not planned your book. Us: six steps, dated, before you pay for anything beyond the reading report.
One last test
Ask the press to tell you what is wrong with your manuscript. Not what is good about it. A vanity press cannot answer, because it has not read it, and does not want to risk the sale. An editor who has read it will have a list, and the list will sting a little, and that sting is what you are paying for.
From first line to published book
Whichever route you take, the manuscript has to hold up on its own. These three short guides cover what to decide before you write, how to write with rigor and how to get from manuscript to published book.