By Doug Seibold

People today are doing a lot of writing. More people all the time, apparently. The quantity of new books grows dramatically each year; even discounting the massive influx of AI slop, the zeal for publishing remains tremendous. Of course, there are better tools available today to get work in front of others than ever before. These resources are helping writers get their work into publishable form and bring it to the greater reading public.

What is publishing?

This is the most basic way to understand publishing: it connects writers to readers.

Among these resources are self-publishing service providers, digital printers, online communities and networks on a variety of different platforms, and even just the very internet itself, which comprises the ultimate self-publishing platform. Meanwhile, traditional publishing is going strong. On the spectrum between self-publishing on the internet and signing a contract with a Big 5 conglomerate publisher, there are any number of hybrid entities at different points along the way offering different business models.

What does it mean to pursue any of the different options available to writers today?

What are the various pros and cons of these different options?

At this stage, many writers falter or reach an outright standstill. It can be hard to get good information about these matters. Traditional publishers have long obscured their own workings, not least because of the industry’s focus on promoting specific writers and books rather than the publishers themselves. Self-publishing service providers have a vested commercial interest in promoting a specific vision of their work’s value to writers. They make money by charging writers for services, so they promote their services to strengthen their business interests. That’s basic business—caveat emptor.

As a publisher, I always find it discouraging to encounter writers unwilling or unable to learn more about publishing. For some writers, this can be a key expression of their identities as creative artists. They don’t wish to sully or preoccupy themselves with business matters. But even the most self-proclaimed business-averse writers often hope for their work to reach the largest possible audience. And in doing so they hope to realize the greatest possible financial gain. (If you truly don’t care about these things, you can always just post your work for free on the web.)

How can learning help writers?

Writers share a lot of information and opinions among themselves. But it’s a rare writer that has a true 360-degree perspective on the industry in its manifold forms. In my experience, much of what writers share among themselves can be at best limited. At worst, it can be badly distorted misinformation. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, in this case.

I think every writer who wishes to participate in the publishing industry by getting their work published, however they wish to do it, would benefit by learning more about how publishing works, even if that just means learning what publishing is, at bottom, in its different forms. They otherwise risk being disappointed in the experience or worse. Many hope to build careers and livelihoods being paid for their writing. These writers, especially, need to discover everything they can about how publishing works. But even those writers who realize the value of learning more about this industry often struggle in the effort.

Here are a few basic reasons it’s important for writers to learn more about how publishing works:

1. There is an ever-widening range of different publishing options available to authors.
2. These options often entail business models that can be wildly disparate, if not completely in opposition to each other.
3. Even coming from my background as a traditional publisher, I’ve learned that certain of these very different options can work very well for some kinds of writers. But the same options can work really badly for other kinds of writers.
4. Learning more about publishing can and should help more writers understand not only how these different options work, but also more about what kind of writer they are themselves—and what that might mean in terms of which options they should try to pursue and which they might want to avoid.
5. These various options can represent very different investments upfront, whether of time or money or both.
6. These options can represent very different potential outcomes in terms of revenue from sales—whether traditional royalties or wholesale margins—and very different degrees of control.
7. These options can entail very different requirements, or obligations, for writers trying to maximize the number of copies sold of their books.
8. Last but not least, these options often entail very different connotations in terms of the validation they entail for writers, which for some writers is the most important outcome of all.

What are you looking for in publishing?

In my experience, not every writer is looking for the same thing when it comes to publishing a book. Some are looking for complete and total control over the book’s final form. Some are hoping for the greatest possible support, advice, and guidance at every stage of the publication effort. Others prioritize maximizing the financial return from their personal and commercial investment in creating their book. Some are most concerned about what publishing a book will do for their credibility or prestige in their field. Some are all about getting their book into the world as quickly as possible.

Reading this, I hope you understand that not all of these aims align in every particular. In fact, some might be entirely at odds with each other. But without learning more about why and how different kinds of publishing can and will result in certain outcomes being privileged over other outcomes, writers can be hard-pressed to make choices in their best interests.

And this can often, if not inevitably, result in writers being disappointed in some, if not all of the outcomes that result.

Whatever kind of writer you are, or whatever kind of writer you want to be, it’s worth it to learn what you can about the industry that gets writers’ work into the hands of readers.

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About Doug:

Doug Seibold founded Agate Publishing in 2002, after working as an editor and freelance writer for close to 20 years. Today Agate comprises four distinct trade imprints and two education and learning-related divisions, the newest of which, Agate Publishing Academy, provides focused, affordable, and accessible training and learning for people interested in publishing. He also writes the Substack newsletter “What Publishing Is,” which aims to provide writers and others with more information about the inner workings of the publishing industry.

Featured image via Depositphotos and Canva.