In Defense of Hybrid Publishers

In my publishing journey, I've been pretty vocal on social media talking about Spellbound, my publisher that is taking my debut novel, Janis and the Reaper, across the finish line. As such, I've received several questions about Spellbound specifically and hybrid publishers in general. Let's talk about it (yes, I'm a millennial and I like that phrase).

You try finding a picture that encapsulates the meaning of the word defense.

What's all this about hybrids?

There are actually two different definitions here:

• Hybrid press: A publishing house which can be broadly defined by its source of revenue. The revenue source of a traditional publisher is through the sale of books (and other related materials) that they publish, while the revenue of hybrid publishers comes from both book sales and fees charged to the author for the execution of their publishing services.

• Hybrid publisher: This describes a type of publishing which occupies the middle ground between traditional and self-publishing. As the term is relatively new, different interpretations are used by different companies and bodies within the publishing industry, and the exact definition is still evolving.

Spellbound is a hybrid publisher, not press. And, contrary to some misinformation out there, they aren't a vanity press either. Which, for everyone who already knows, is very good news. You don't pay to publish with Spellbound. There are about three authors I know of right now who are still included in all the extra perks without having to fork over a single cent.

Vanity Publishing vs. Hybrid Publishing

This is hotly (and I do mean hotly) contested in the author/writer communities. The fact, plain and simple, is there are people out there who like taking money from other people without ethical standards. Sad, annoying, gross, but all true. As we know it now, vanity publishers are pretty much a scam 100% of the time.

A vanity press is where anyone can pay to have a book published. Being a "vanity author" or using a vanity publishing house is usually used in a negative, pejorative, and even condescending way. Which is kind of messed up because it's a snap judgment based on the assumed quality of someone's work. The self- and indie publishing industry already constantly fights against those presupposed notions, we don't need to perpetuate it elsewhere.

THAT BEING SAID, it isn't a perfect world and instead of just leaving people alone to use their money as they see fit and not judging them for paying to publish their books, the added layer here is that most vanity presses aren't nice businesses helping authors for a small fee. In fact, many writers are caught up in complex, predatory contracts that leave them shelling out tens of thousands of dollars in the long run to these less-than-wonderful companies and are left in the lurch with little to no support on marketing, inclusion in the process, and any communication whatsoever.

The main argument against this model uses the traditional publishing industry as a baseline. One could argue that this reasoning is a tad skewed, since "what is normal anyway?", but that's a whole other digression I don't want to get into. For now, we'll keep trad as the baseline example with which to compare all other modes of publishing.

So, yes, in comparison to traditional publishers, who shoulder the financial responsibilities for their authors, a vanity press, even without the evil sales tactics, is seen as deviant from the norm. And that norm is: you don't, or shouldn't, have to pay to publish. Ideally, vanity presses would just be another way to publish, but people have to go and be greedy so this is why we can't have nice things. But, let's hop back to traditional publishing for a second.

It's super duper extra hard to break into traditional publishing. I'm mostly talking about the "Big Five" (or whatever number you use to define it. Actually, while I have you, look at this infographic. It's bananas: https://almossawi.com/big-five-publishers/) because they require literary agent representation before they'll even deign to speak to you.

Oh, look! Another side note! Right now, the publishing industry is reacting to some significant modern changes. TikTok. This little app has changed a lot of industries and publishing is no exception. Some traditional publishers are reaching out to indie/self-published authors who have gained wild success and notoriety on social media apps (#BookTok anyone?) and are offering deals to re-publish their novels. It's a very interesting move on the part of the publishers and, of course, amazing for these authors. This makes it obvious that publishing a book is a gamble. For a small, self-published author, they are gambling their time and money. For the big guys it's the same except they have investors. Ensuring a business decision will be lucrative is logical, which is why traditional publishers are waiting to see what's popular before snatching up a book.

But, they've always been like this, even before TikTok. If you make it through the query trenches and acquire an agent and then make it through the gauntlet of submissions (to the publishing houses), there is no guarantee your book will get the same treatment as, let's just say it for the sake of saying it, Stephen King's next novel. If your work is not projected to do beyond amazing, these publishers will plan for a limited distribution strategy and budget less money for marketing. As it is now, traditional publishers are leaning heavily on their authors to shoulder the brunt of the marketing legwork to save on costs.

In response to the headaches of traditional publishing, many different modes of publishing a story have popped up over the years such as small presses, self-publishing, and now hybrids. It's wonderful that there are so many distinct and different avenues for an author to explore (barring the corrupt vanity publishers). Hybrids are just another in the vast sea of choices.

Spellbound Publishing House, LLC

Writing a book on your own can be expensive. It doesn't have to be. If you so desire, you can type up your manuscript, trade for edits or self-edit, put together a cover, and send it out into the world via free distribution channels like Amazon. On the other hand, you can pay for as many rounds of edits as you like, hire a cover artist, and pay for the production of an audiobook. It's all what you choose to do. Hybrids offer a great place in the middle as an alternative choice.

Like I mentioned before, the world can be a bummer place (ha), and yes, some hybrid publishers are deceptive and a little bit on the "evil capitalist" side. Do your research. Maybe this blog post will be part of that research. I don't know every hybrid publisher out there but I do know this one.

I love radical honesty, so I'm going to give some here. I chose to work with Spellbound because:

1. I wanted to publish on October 13th, 2023. I only queried some small presses, indie publishers, agents, and hybrids on a lark in February, so I knew I was already racing against the clock. Spellbound responded first, had other pros, and allowed me to enjoy having a publisher push my debut novel out by that date

2. They had editing services. Since I was planning on self-publishing Janis and the Reaper, I budgeted about 10k for edits (developmental and copy/line edits with revisions). Spellbound happened to have a service offering that I needed and was glad I could keep everything in one place, under one umbrella

3. They offered me a discount. Because I already had a website and several other things already in motion, I picked options "a la carte" from their "menu". Spellbound had other discounts available as well as a payment plan. All in, I'm paying 6k for five rounds of edits, marking support, merchandising support, and unrestricted access to them 24/7. I mean it. I bother them all the time and they answer me right back. It's nice to have someone like that in my corner

4. They offered me community and new friends. Who doesn't like a feel-good corny moment? Writing is a lonely process and I'm an introvert so I'm not doing myself any favors. They certainly didn't have to set up a whole Slack channel and Discord for their authors to chat and connect, but they did. I love it and consider it to be one of their main selling points

5. I'm not paying to publish. I knew going into my first meeting with them that authors shouldn't pay to publish. I was happy they stood by this same rule. Nothing about the publishing process they are doing for me is funded by my money. It made me feel comfortable and excited about going all-in with a new publisher to release my debut

And that's about it! Right now, you can contact Spellbound with your manuscript. If they like it, they will publish it for free. Royalties are 70% to the author, 30% to Spellbound. Eventually, they are planning to offer advances and have editing services in house. For now, they are a credit to the good name of hybrid publishers and I'm happy to be one of their first supporters.

As always, ask me any questions. Thanks for sticking with me through the whole post! I had a lot of fun writing it and let's pretend I didn't ramble on too much. Even though I totally did.

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JANIS AND THE REAPER releases October 13th, 2023 from Spellbound Publishing House.