I’m proud to be a hybrid author, one who publishes her work both traditionally and independently, but I’ve recently opted to use assisted self-publishing for my indie books. And I still enjoy and choose traditional publishing when I have the option.
Is that odd in today’s publishing world? I don’t think so. Let me explain why.
Self-Publishing Takes Me Away from Writing
I have 13 self-published books to my name and under my own imprint. I’ve sold some on Amazon and Smashwords and others from pages on my websites or at the back of rooms where I’ve spoken. A few were meant to turn a profit or build author platform while others were published to give me expert status or to help me obtain speaking gigs.
I didn’t write even one of them with the intention of becoming or remaining only an indie author. I always considered myself a traditional publishing holdout. I wanted literary agency representation and a contract (or two or three or four) from a publishing house.
I began my indie career by producing printed booklets. I graduated from these to PDF-style ebooks. A few years ago I self-published several of my short books using Amazon’s CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program, as well as Smashwords. I also printed some of them using a digital printer.
Then I slacked off and stopped publishing indie books. It’s true that I began traditionally publishing books at about that time, but I also realized that I didn’t want to put the time and energy into self-publishing. Indeed, it is a very time consuming endeavor. It also requires me to be a project manager and to “run” a publishing company. These activities take me away from my writing.
My Choice
Recently I had the need to find a new literary agent. One of the reasons (there were many) why I chose to be represented by Foreword Literary was because the agency could help me self-publish—and the agents wanted me to self-publish. In fact, my literary agent, Gordon Warnock, sees publishing ebooks as a way to help me build my platform and to succeed as an author.
The more books you publish, the more books you sell. It behooves every nonfiction author (or novelist) to have a plan to write many books, and that’s what I have…a huge plan for about 14 more books. Many of them will be released as indie ebooks while others will be pitched to traditional publishers. In both cases, this will be accomplished with the help of my agent.
Some writers will cringe at my choice. They will say it’s a travesty for me to give up money to my agent for my self-publishing endeavors—or for agents to earn money by helping writers self-publish. Let me tell you how I see it.
Why I Chose Assisted Self-Publishing
I wanted help self-publishing my work anyway. I could have done it myself; I know how. But I gladly would have paid someone else to do it for me—and actually had planned to pay big bucks for this service. Now my literary agent handles all the details of those indie projects for me. I just write the ebooks and turn the work over to him. I don’t need to worry about editing, cover design, formatting, or metadata. To me, that’s worth a percentage of my royalties. (Plus, I get a bit of promotional help when the ebooks are released, which is a bonus.)
Now, I also have a business partner (my agent) to help me decide when and what projects to self-publish or to traditionally publish. Together we decide upon the most effective way to achieve my writing goals. To me, this is priceless.
As for whether agents should get paid for such a service, why not? They help their clients get published, build platform and succeed, and they render a valuable service. Besides, they only work on commission. (When a book sells to a publisher or to a reader, they get paid.) In this case, my agent still only gets paid on commission; when my ebooks sell to readers, we both get paid. I see no conflict of interest here at all.
Publish More, Make More
I enjoy the benefits of being a hybrid author. I now have two traditionally published books, but I continue to self-publish. (By the way, my publisher, Writer’s Digest Books, approved the ebooks I’m producing—one recently and three more to come in the next nine months or less.) I continue to focus, however, on producing more traditionally published books.
Some industry statistics show that hybrid authors with a number of books in the marketplace—more than 10—make a living as writers. That means they can pay their bills with the income from their books. Traditional publishing helps the sales of their indie books. Especially for nonfiction writers, the support of a publisher gives you a bit more credibility, which can boost your expert status. And that goes a long way toward selling more books—and getting more book deals. My latest ebook, The Nonfiction Book Proposal Demystified: An Easy-Schmeasy Guide to Writing a Business Plan for Your Book, gave both of my traditional books a noticeable boost in sales.
I find the combination works for me. (If you want to see some of my self-published books, go to www.booksbyninaamir.com. You can find others listed under the “books” tabs here).
What do you think about hybrid publishing and assisted self-publishing?
Copyright: dotshock / 123RF Stock Photo
Nina,
Thanks for another great post. I’d be interested in knowing two things as they relate to this: 1. A little more detail about your contractual relationship with your agent–particularly what would happen if or when you left the agency (e.g. how persistent would the agreement be and would it apply to as yet unpublished work? and how transferrable is it to others within or outside the firm?); and 2. With your agent representing you in what sounds like the project manager role when it comes to self-publishing tasks (and assuming the costs of third party contractors are your responsibility), how do you control your costs?
Thanks!
Ryan,
It’s not appropriate to broadcast specific terms of my contract, so I’m going to have to be sort of general in my reply.
In general (and I’m sure there are exceptions), if I dissolve my representation agreement, the agent continues to represent published works for which the agent is contracted as agent of record. However, they do not (or should not) make any claim to work they are not contracted for (regardless of whether or not it has been published yet). Sometimes an agent will actually tell you to find another agent for a particular work; I’ve had this happen. Nor is the agent obligated to perform any duties for those works. A good agent, however will promote the client’s former published works, even if they didn’t not represent them, as a way of promoting the client and helping that client succeed. My current agent, for example promotes The Author Training Manual even though he is not the agent of record for that book. When I want to know something about that book, I have to contact my former agent–the one who represented me for that deal. In much the same way, my former agent or agents have no claim or responsibility for any of my forthcoming books, unless they are the agents of record on that contract.
Also, it’s worth noting that agency contracts are usually with the agency, not the agent, and they are not transferable to other agencies. Terms vary quite a bit from agency to agency. Look for contracts that lean toward being author-centric rather than agent or agency-centric.
As for the assisted self-publishing, you assume wrong. The agency acts as publisher for my ebooks. Project manager is but one of the roles he agency fills, and I am not required to front any production costs. Therefore, I don’t have to worry about keeping costs down. I just write the books. They handle the rest, as I said, including all production costs.
I hope that answers all your questions.
Based on a lot of information out there you might (mistakenly) think it’s one or the other: traditional OR self-published. Hybrid is an option that also makes sense for many authors. Thanks for sharing your experience!
You are welcome. Hybrid is a great option.
Hi Nina,
Thank you for a wonderful post! About being a hybrid author, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t a hybrid author someone who owns the digital or ebook rights for a book, while a traditional publisher owns that same book’s print-only rights? Being a hybrid is something fairly new to publishing and only a handful of authors recently got such deals.
Like Hugh Howey, besting author of Wool. He has freedom to do whatever he likes with his the E-BOOK version of Wool; change prices, choose where to publish, etc., while Simon & Schuster publishes his PRINT version of Wool and has foreign rights. This way he keeps the ebook profit of Wool but splits his share of the print profit with his publisher. A hybrid author.
Here’s more about Howey’s unique publishing deal if interested: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hugh-howey/how-wool-got-a-unique-pub_b_2852547.html
Thanks. 🙂
A hybrid author is someone who both traditionally publishes and self-publishes. It’s really that simple. The deals could be very different, and there are many new types of hybrids showing up, Leslie. A hybrid author could also publish with a publisher that does the editing, design and distribution, but pays no advance; instead, the author pays an upfront fee for some of these costs. The royalty structure then might be different. I have a traditional publisher or publishers and I self-publish using assisted self-publishing, which means my books are an imprint within the imprint created by my literary agent’s publishing company.
Everyone has their own path. That’s what’s so great about publishing today- there are lots of options! If you prefer to spend your time writing and not worrying about the other details that self-publishing requires you’re absolutely right that it’s worth paying a fee for.