The Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishing
There are different ways to get your book published - old school traditional at a Big 5 publisher is one option (Article and video)
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You’ve finished your book—congratulations! That’s a huge accomplishment, so I hope you’re proud of yourself. Now that you have an edited, polished, ready-to-go manuscript, what’s next? Publishing.
There are different ways to get your book out to the world, and one of them is traditional publishing, the way books were published twenty or more years ago and some still do today—though a lot has changed in the past few years.
In future articles, I’ll discuss other ways to publish, including indie publishing, small presses, hybrid, and more. There’s no one right way to publish—you need to decide what’s best for you.
Traditional Publishing
Traditional publishing is what most people think of when they think of book publishing. They dream of big publishing houses, book deals, agents, advances, and long lunches in New York City with the literary elite.
The traditional publishers left today are Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette Book Group. They’re what the publishing world refers to as the Big 5. Within them are a zillion smaller imprints, but these are the five major publishing houses.
In order to go Big 5, you must have a literary agent. The big companies won’t even glance in the direction of your manuscript without one. And the bad news is that these days, it’s just as hard to find an agent as it is to get a publisher. The corporate publishing industry has been downsizing, so a ton of editors and agents have lost their jobs.
I know some writers who’ve been trying to get an agent for literally years, so you need patience and a lot of time to go traditional. You also have to accept that your agent will most likely want you to make changes to your work.

When I wrote the first version of Rock Gods & Messy Monsters many years ago, I met with an agent to see if she’d represent my work. She didn’t ask why I wrote certain scenes, the meaning behind certain characters—frankly, I don’t think she read it—but she told me I’d have to make a lot of changes for her to consider me as a client.
I was like F that and didn’t go back. I know, that’s my issue, but I’m not going to produce a piece of art and have someone who doesn’t understand my writing tell me to change things, especially someone I don’t think even read it. Do art dealers tell painters to change their work once they’ve finished a painting?
But if you want to find an agent, check out Writers Market or Query Tracker. There are good ones out there. I’ve never used those services, but most writers I know seem to use Query Tracker.
Let’s say you sign with an agent and make all the changes she wants. The agent then shops your book to publishers. This process can literally take a year or even two. But let’s say a publisher is interested and offers you a deal. (If a publisher isn’t interested, the agent will most likely drop you.)
The harsh reality today is that if you’re offered an advance - and there’s no guarantee anymore - but if you are, it’ll be small, unless you’re famous. And you pay it back with the royalties you make.
I don’t know corporate publishing, but I worked in the corporate music industry in New York City, and I know that when an artist signs a deal, they’ll get something of an advance. That advance comes out of their royalties, as does the costs for making the album, promoting it, and even things like the limo rides to events and the such.
There’s a lot of creative accounting that goes on. And I’m sure publishing is the same. I used to tell people they shouldn’t expect any more money after the advance. On top of that, the royalty rate you’ll be offered for your book will be extremely small, like maybe 75% less than if you published on your own.
But let’s say your agent finds an interested publisher and you sign a deal. Publishing houses have in-house editors, which means you’ll probably have to make even more edits to your book. And that means less creative control for you and more time it’ll take to get the book out into the world.
I don’t know about you, but after sixteen edits of my latest book, The Light of Wounds, I was done. Like, done. I knew it was the best I could do, so I didn’t have the strength to do more edits—and I couldn’t imagine having to change a character or a scene because some executive says to.
You lose a lot of control when you go through a big house. You don’t have a say over your book cover and often book title—so it’s important you take that into consideration when you’re deciding how to publish your work. If you don’t like what your publisher does, there really isn’t anything you can do.

One of the upsides to a large publisher is that they’ll handle the editing, cover design, and distribution of your work, though you don’t have any say over what they do.
Another upside is that you’ll have a shot of getting your book into a brick and mortar bookstore. How long it’ll stay on the shelves is another thing. Most big publishers will launch your book and maybe market it for a month or so. If it doesn’t take off, that’s the end of the help you’ll get from them because they’ll be on to the next author on their roster. And you’ll be left to market your work—and pay for it—yourself.
You can also get your indie book sold in stores, but you’ll be in charge of approaching independent stores—and it’s a lot of work. But I recently saw photos in a Facebook group for indie writers of a couple women standing in front of their book in Barnes & Noble. Some of the stores are very open to stocking indie authors. The B&N in Santa Fe told me ‘no’, but these women inspired me so I’m going to go back and ask when my next book comes out.
Another upside I see to a traditional publisher is that they’ll launch your book and give you a month or two of attention, so you can get exposure when your book comes out. If it gains traction and you start selling, you might end up doing okay. If it doesn’t start selling, well, that could be the end of your big five publishing career. Most writers only get a one book deal—two if you’re lucky—meaning you’ll sign a contract for one or two books, but you might get dropped after that.
Another upside is that you can also see your work on a shelf in bookstores, which even I have to say, is cool. As an aside, when my first book Rock Gods & Messy Monsters came out, I put it on shelves at some bookstores and took photos of it. I also went into the Harry Potter store in New York City and placed it among JK Rowling’s books and took some photos. I know! But it’s the little things….
As I mentioned, I worked in a corporate record company in New York City a long time ago, and I know what goes on - and I know publishing is no different. One of my bosses in marketing spent over six months buying a condo, not marketing the artists on her roster. Another took up painting and would watercolor in his corner suite - and yell at me on a regular basis.
If the music industry in the 1990s interests you, and you like speculative, urban fantasy, social commentary type of fiction, you might want to check out my fiction book, Rock Gods & Messy Monsters. It’s fiction, but it’s my experience in corporate music—complete with aliens, body parts falling off, and assistants that have to remove their brains every morning before work (because support staff is not allowed to think).

Pros:
To sum up, the pros are:
Industry credibility—being traditionally published can open some doors that indie publishing can’t, though this is rapidly changing. For example, book awards. Almost all book awards now allow indie books to be submitted. And many independent or alternative stores are open to selling a local indie author.
No upfront costs—the publisher takes on the financial risk. And to be honest, it does cost a bit to publish your own work. You can do it if you have no money, but I always recommend an author save up something before going indie. A thousand dollars is realistic, though you could spend much more.
Professional editing, cover design, and distribution means less work for you.
Potential for wider bookstore placement.
Cons:
It’s really hard to get in—less than 1% of manuscripts submitted to agents are accepted by publishers. And just because you get accepted, it doesn’t mean your book is going to get the kind of attention it should. Depending on your contract, the publisher might also own the rights to your work - meaning you probably can’t get your book back if you’re dropped because the publisher owns your intellectual property (i.e., your book), unless you state in your contract that the rights revert back to you.
Long timelines—it can take literally years to land a deal, and then another year or two before your book hits the shelves.
Low royalties—authors typically earn a 5-18% royalty from a book. You can make a 70% royalty if you do it yourself.
Less creative control—publishers have the final say on the cover design, title, and sometimes even the content.
I also keep hearing about writers being unceremoniously dropped from big publishers, so there’s no guarantee that even if you get a publishing deal that the publisher will want another book from you, or that they’ll do anything beyond the launch.
Being published through a large publisher is a dream some people have had most of their lives. If that’s you, don’t listen to me—try it! Give yourself a timeframe, like six months (or whatever time works with you). Make an all-out effort to find an agent.
If you get one, congratulations! Then give yourself a timeframe (six months, a year, etc) for the agent to find a publisher. If nothing happens, then you can think about indie publishing.
Whatever you do, keep writing! I hope to see you work on bookshelves sometime soon.
Diane Hatz is an author, organizer, and inner activist. Join her email list to get personal newsletters and more. You can find info on her books and writing on her website and through her email list.
Thanks for writing this! I think it's good to be honest with ourselves about the pitfalls and joys of different kinds of publication. I think it always pays to be prepared for what could happen and any timelines that might affect your plans!