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I finished my first sci-fi novel a few months ago and sent the manuscript out to several publishers. Two of them have replied within the last week and want to proceed with publishing my book.
However, both of these publishers want me to kick in some money. The first one wants me to purchase 200 copies of my book which will cost me about $5,000. They claim that they will pay for everything else and that after 500 copies of my book have sold will refund me the 5 grand. They have already drawn up a contract to that effect.
The second publisher also wants some upfront money but won't say for specifically what. They say that will be explained in the contract if I want to go ahead.
I believe that these contracts are called "hybrid" where the author and publisher both work and shell out money to edit, print, and market the book. But I am looking for a "traditional" publishing contract where the publisher will take my manuscript and absorb all costs and where I would get a small royalty amount for each book sold.
I have heard that the rationale offered for hybrid contracts is that they are mostly meant for unknown emerging authors since the publisher is taking a risk on an author with no name recognition and they want to share the losses in case the book does not sell well.
But I think that the contracts that I have been offered are scams. Once I pay the publisher the money, they may take it and run and just keep saying that they are "working on publishing my book". This could drag on for years. I did some research and have found a lot of people reporting that they basically don't hear from their publisher after they pay the money.
So I am passing on these "deals". I would like to know what others think about this. It would seem to me that a well written book with an unknown author would be better than a mediocre one from an already published author. Professional publishers should already know what ideas and plots sell well and what kinds of manuscripts that they are looking for.
I finished my first sci-fi novel a few months ago and sent the manuscript out to several publishers. Two of them have replied within the last week and want to proceed with publishing my book.
However, both of these publishers want me to kick in some money. The first one wants me to purchase 200 copies of my book which will cost me about $5,000. They claim that they will pay for everything else and that after 500 copies of my book have sold will refund me the 5 grand. They have already drawn up a contract to that effect.
The second publisher also wants some upfront money but won't say for specifically what. They say that will be explained in the contract if I want to go ahead.
I believe that these contracts are called "hybrid" where the author and publisher both work and shell out money to edit, print, and market the book. But I am looking for a "traditional" publishing contract where the publisher will take my manuscript and absorb all costs and where I would get a small royalty amount for each book sold.
I have heard that the rationale offered for hybrid contracts is that they are mostly meant for unknown emerging authors since the publisher is taking a risk on an author with no name recognition and they want to share the losses in case the book does not sell well.
But I think that the contracts that I have been offered are scams. Once I pay the publisher the money, they may take it and run and just keep saying that they are "working on publishing my book". This could drag on for years. I did some research and have found a lot of people reporting that they basically don't hear from their publisher after they pay the money.
So I am passing on these "deals". I would like to know what others think about this. It would seem to me that a well written book with an unknown author would be better than a mediocre one from an already published author. Professional publishers should already know what ideas and plots sell well and what kinds of manuscripts that they are looking for.
You are correct.
You are right to do so.
A legitimate publisher will issue your book because they see the potential to make money from its sales. These publishers you describe see only the potential to make money from you.
Remember, a legitimate publisher has a financial incentive to work with you to make your book the best possible work (editing, etc.) and then to promote it (marketing, etc.). In this manner, both publisher and author are served. A 'publisher' that is being paid to put out a book has no such incentives. And that's the problem with that sort of arrangement.
A reputable mainstream publisher will not ask you for money.
I wish you had told us where you found them, and how you chose them.
You are very lucky, in that there are science fiction publishers that do look at unsolicited manuscripts without an agent. You just have to do your research.
A reputable mainstream publisher will not ask you for money.
I wish you had told us where you found them, and how you chose them.
You are very lucky, in that there are science fiction publishers that do look at unsolicited manuscripts without an agent. You just have to do your research.
I have about 15 publishers that I have submitted my manuscript to that do not require an agent. I got most of them from an article in Authors Publish magazine that publish science fiction. They had been vetted by the researcher.
I did some research on my own where I added several more. The two culprits that offered me the "deals" were from my own research. The others I'm hoping are legit. At least I have quite a few irons in the fire so hopefully someone offers me a decent contract.
I have about 15 publishers that I have submitted my manuscript to that do not require an agent. I got most of them from an article in Authors Publish magazine that publish science fiction. They had been vetted by the researcher.
I did some research on my own where I added several more. The two culprits that offered me the "deals" were from my own research. The others I'm hoping are legit. At least I have quite a few irons in the fire so hopefully someone offers me a decent contract.
Legitimate vanity presses don't offer marketing as a part of their service.
They are print houses and nothing more. Offering to do all the pre-press work is common, and can be part of the services that are charged, but distribution and marketing is not. That's left up to their customers entirely.
When a press is legitimate, it will have fixed prices for the numbers of copies. There is one set of prices for hard-bound, another for soft bound, another for any color work that will be printed, and so on. Everything is pretty cut and dried and it's all up-front.
These publishers do fill a legitimate need; folks write books all the time that are never intended to be mass-marketed.
Churches and other organizations get small runs of books like cook books or histories printed for fundraisers or gifts, and authors, especially known ones, like to have small runs of their work printed for personal reasons.
I would suspect a scam if any publisher offers to edit, market, or distribute a book as part of their fee.
Those items are where a legitimate publishing company makes their money.
And because they're doing all that at their cost, the author's royalties should be less. The publisher takes the greater financial risk of the venture for an unknown author.
So if the royalty appears to be large, the deal is a scam.
Is a first novel by an unknown actually worth $25.00 a copy? Alarm bells... those 200 copies are all that will ever be printed. The work could be job-shopped for 1/3 of that price or less.
No, still waiting for a legitimate publisher to offer me a deal. Oh yeah, one publisher where the submissions guidelines called for only submitting three random chapters contacted me a couple of weeks ago and wanted to see my whole manuscript, which I sent.
These hybrid publishers might be your only option to publish your sci-fi novel, sorry to say, unless you choose self-publishing. In this day and age, getting published by a traditional house would depend on whether you have the dreaded "platform" -- how may followers you have on the social media. If you have thousands, you might have a chance, but most of us don't, so the traditional publishers and agents won't touch you.
My friend has gone through this a couple of years ago. Although the writing of his novel has been praised ("this is head and shoulders better than the submissions we typically receive," said one publisher), nobody wanted to take a chance on a debut author. And my friend is an established nonfiction writer!
So he ended up going with a hybrid publisher. The deal was better than you are describing, but the author still had to buy 100 copies of his book (at a discount to the selling price, though). The book was professionally published on excellent paper -- I have a copy -- but other than listing the book on the publisher's website, there was no other marketing help. Expect that from whoever publishes you manuscript, or you self-publish. The marketing is up to you!
These hybrid publishers might be your only option to publish your sci-fi novel, sorry to say, unless you choose self-publishing. In this day and age, getting published by a traditional house would depend on whether you have the dreaded "platform" -- how may followers you have on the social media. If you have thousands, you might have a chance, but most of us don't, so the traditional publishers and agents won't touch you.
My friend has gone through this a couple of years ago. Although the writing of his novel has been praised ("this is head and shoulders better than the submissions we typically receive," said one publisher), nobody wanted to take a chance on a debut author. And my friend is an established nonfiction writer!
So he ended up going with a hybrid publisher. The deal was better than you are describing, but the author still had to buy 100 copies of his book (at a discount to the selling price, though). The book was professionally published on excellent paper -- I have a copy -- but other than listing the book on the publisher's website, there was no other marketing help. Expect that from whoever publishes you manuscript, or you self-publish. The marketing is up to you!
If my traditional publishers don't come through, then I will self-publish on Amazon. My writing is a hobby and I don't need to make money from it. If only a small number of people read my books, that's fine.
I finished my first sci-fi novel a few months ago and sent the manuscript out to several publishers. Two of them have replied within the last week and want to proceed with publishing my book.
However, both of these publishers want me to kick in some money. The first one wants me to purchase 200 copies of my book which will cost me about $5,000. They claim that they will pay for everything else and that after 500 copies of my book have sold will refund me the 5 grand. They have already drawn up a contract to that effect.
The second publisher also wants some upfront money but won't say for specifically what. They say that will be explained in the contract if I want to go ahead.
I believe that these contracts are called "hybrid" where the author and publisher both work and shell out money to edit, print, and market the book. But I am looking for a "traditional" publishing contract where the publisher will take my manuscript and absorb all costs and where I would get a small royalty amount for each book sold.
I have heard that the rationale offered for hybrid contracts is that they are mostly meant for unknown emerging authors since the publisher is taking a risk on an author with no name recognition and they want to share the losses in case the book does not sell well.
But I think that the contracts that I have been offered are scams. Once I pay the publisher the money, they may take it and run and just keep saying that they are "working on publishing my book". This could drag on for years. I did some research and have found a lot of people reporting that they basically don't hear from their publisher after they pay the money.
So I am passing on these "deals". I would like to know what others think about this. It would seem to me that a well written book with an unknown author would be better than a mediocre one from an already published author. Professional publishers should already know what ideas and plots sell well and what kinds of manuscripts that they are looking for.
No legit publisher would ask this.
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