Amateur To Published: The Fiction Writer's Guide To Publishing

PART V: USING A TRADE/TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER

Trade publishers are companies that help you publish in return for a percentage of your royalties. Once you submit a book/query to them, they will decide whether they are interested in your book. If they are then they will edit your book (in conjunction with you), make your cover, decide your price, upload the e-book onto platforms like Amazon/Barnes & Nobles, produce paperbacks, put them in bookshops and then help you market your book.

All this they do without you paying them a single cent.

They get their money AFTER your book starts selling. In fact some trade publishers will offer you an advance (depends on the size of the publisher). Because they are doing the publishing, the money goes to them and they are the ones who pay you your royalties. Your royalty after they take their cut and pay the various platforms like Amazon can range anywhere from 4% - 40% of the gross sales. The more services they offer, the higher the royalty you'll need to give up.

Some trade companies may offer you a co-publishing deal instead of the all-package deal. This co-publish deal is where you take part in some of the publishingtasks. For instance they could ask you to do the editing yourself, or come up with the cover in exchange for a higher royalty share. Others mayask you to forfeit the advance and in return get a larger royalty share. This is an okay deal.

However, even in  a co-publishing type of deal, none of the legitimate trade companies will ask for money upfront. If they want covers, they'll ask you to designit yourself then give it to them. If it's editing, they'll ask you tocommission the editing yourself. If any of these companies (trade publisher orco-publisher) asks you for any money they are a Vanity publisher and you needto avoid them.

There is no particular type of publishing that is better. Just the one that's right for you. Writers are making good incomes (or alternatively failing) both by self-publishing and by using trade publishers. Some writers even use both methods. Use a trade publisher if:

1. You have no budget to invest in self-publishing.

2. You have no readership i.e. zero or very few readers/followers who'd be willing to purchase your books and are intimidated by the work required to build one on your own. Reputable publishers already have readership in place who will take a peek at your book just because of the publishers reputation. (Which is why it's important to check their social media accounts)

3. You cringe at the thought of having to market your work. These days all authors have to engage in some kind of marketing and branding, but people with traditional publishers have a helping hand in their publisher (Note that some publishers offer very little help and you might still have to do major footwork on your own).

4. You'd like to see your book in bookshops (in this case make sure the publisher is actually getting them to bookshops not just uploading them to KDP and claiming to be providing paperbacks)

5. You don't mind ceding control over things like covers or story direction. If you have a hard time accepting people critiquing your 'baby' here on Wattpad, traditional publishing will murder you.

6. You are a patient person and don't mind waiting months before you see your finished book on the shelf.

7. The prestige of having been selected over many is important to you. Not everyone who submits a manuscript gets chosen. If you're chosen (by a reputable publisher) then you're a cut above many and they believe you're good.

In this section, we will be discussing:

- What submission materials you need to have before you even consider workingwith a trade-publisher.

- How to write a query letter

- How to find an agent and how to decide if you really need one

- How to find a reputable publisher

- Dealing with contracts and negotiations

Note that trade-publishing takes longer than self-publishing because more people areinvolved in the process. Also, regardless of the publishing method you choose,you will still be required to participate in the promotion and marketing ofyour book. How much you participate may differ, but it's still necessary.

 Let's get to it, shall we?