How to Find a Good Hybrid Publisher that's Right for You

Welcome back! We’ve made it to Part 3 of my hybrid publishing series. Thanks for hanging in there! Today we’re talking about how to find a good hybrid publisher that’s right for you.

This post will give you guidelines about how to determine a reputable hybrid publisher from a “meh” one — and from a really bad one! I’ll also give you some tips about what you should look for in a hybrid publisher based on your preferences as a writer and author.

How to find a good hybrid publisher

The key to finding a good, reputable hybrid publisher is research. Do your research.

Aspiring authors spend lots of time researching literary agents in order to find 1) reputable literary agencies and 2) literary agents who align with your vision for your book. You should be following the same process if you’re considering hybrid publishing as an option for your manuscript.

Hybrid publishing is still a developing facet of the industry, which means there’s lot of room for imposters out there. You want to be sure that you’re approaching and considering reputable publishers who won’t take your story and run with it, or won’t just take your money and leave you in a lurch, like so-called vanity presses do.

Online articles about Hybrid Publishing

Thankfully, we live in the Golden Age of the Internet. All you have to do to find information about a publisher is Google them. Here are some great online articles about hybrid publishing to get you started.

Other great resources to help determine if a hybrid publisher is reputable:

Facebook and Instagram

Join writing communities on social media and regularly correspond with other writers exploring hybrid publishing. Most groups have chats where you can drop a question and everyone can provide feedback.
Talk with self-published, independently published, or hybrid-published authors. Mention the companies you’re considering by name and see what people have to say.
Do other writers have horror stories about these publishers? Or, is positive feedback provided?
Can you connect directly with some hybrid-published authors to ask them about their experiences with their publisher?

The Hybrid Publisher’s Web Site

Have any authors published more than one book with the publisher? Have the publisher’s books won any awards or made any bestseller lists?
Is the publisher currently producing books? Do they have a publication list for the current season and forthcoming season?
Has the publisher produced books in your genre? What about your subgenre? Can you see your book being a good fit for their current or recent list of publications?
Check the editorial credentials of the company staff. Are they mostly writers and bloggers acting as editors and production teams? Or, is the staff comprised of people who used to work at major and boutique publishers?

Goodreads and Amazon

Check out some of the Goodreads and Amazon reviews of the publisher’s books. Do people generally enjoy the books? Are readers complaining about formatting errors, editing issues, or worse – just badly told stories in general?
What are the Amazon rankings for some of the publisher’s books?

The books themselves

Purchase (or request ARCs of!) books published by the hybrid publisher. How easy was it to order the book from Barnes and Noble? From your local independent bookshop?
What’s the quality of the book covers? Do they look like traditionally published books – meaning, would their cover designs, font choices, color scheme, etc., look out of place on a shelf in Target or Barnes and Noble?
What’s the quality of the book’s interior? Start reading. Does the book seem properly edited, or are there lots of typos? Does the story make sense, or does it ramble? What’s the formatting look like? Again, is the quality similar to what you’d find in a traditionally published book?

What do you get with hybrid publishing?

Most companies have basic packages that include key components to publishing a book:

production of the book (editing, typesetting, printing)
marketing of the book (book reviews, ARCs, being featured on social media)
distribution and sales of the book (making the book available for purchase through Amazon, to brick and mortar bookstores through industry-recognized platforms, being orderable and easily discoverable by customers)

**What don’t you (usually) get with hybrid publishing?**

You may notice that the above package didn’t mention a key aspect of the publishing process: Publicity.

While some very basic publicity is offered in a hybrid publisher package, many hybrid publishers encourage you to add on publicity features for an additional price. As you probably guessed, this is where the expenses can really add up for the author. Meanwhile, other hybrid publishers don’t offer any kind of publicity services at all. Instead, they encourage the author to hire an outside publicity partner, like Kaye Publicity or Tandem Literary, to promote their book.

While this may seem like a sketchy move on the part of the publisher, it isn’t. Offering publicity services for an additional cost is one way a hybrid publisher can really save some bucks on the publication process — which means the author can usually be offered a cheaper contract package.

And, it’s not really odd for a hybrid publisher to encourage an author to hire an outside publicity partner because a lot of traditional publishers are telling their authors to do this, as well.

If you’ve listened to me and Kait on the podcast, you know how ticked we are that traditional publishers put 95% of their budget toward their A-list “big name” books – books by previously published authors with a track record of good sales, or debut authors predicted to do really well. The remaining 5% of the budget is divvied up between the remaining authors on the publication list. Traditional publishing publicity teams will do the bare minimum for these non-A-list titles, and the author is expected to do the rest.

How important is publicity?

Traditional authors are expected to do more than ever to promote their own books, but let’s be clear — an author needs to publicize their book.

Good publicity includes (but isn’t limited to!) Goodreads book pages/listings, Goodreads giveaways, garnering Amazon reviews, offering ARCs to book bloggers and TikTokers, creating an author/book website, planning book signings and author talks, attending writing conferences or author conferences, scheduling book festival appearances and author interviews, etc.

I’m not sure what the going rates are for freelance publicists or publicity companies, but I think they may be cheaper than the add-on publicity services offered by some hybrid publishers. Again, if you’re thinking about hybrid publishing, do the research and be sure to compare publicity costs to see what’s right for your budget.

How to determine the right kind of hybrid publishing package for you.

Each hybrid publisher will tailor their services a little differently. As I mentioned in my Conversations with Hybrid Publishers post, Publisher A was really focused on editorial development, while Publisher B’s focus on that was not as strong.

I’m a wordy writer. Just ask my critique partner Kait, my writing workshop group, and any literary agent that’s bypassed my query letter once they saw my word count. I know I need help trimming the fat from my stories. I also know that my writing is better when I’m working with an insightful editor.

Additionally, I hate, hate, hate seeing published books with typos in them. Having both a good copyeditor and a good proofreader are a necessity for me. However, some publishers skip these in order to save money and time.

I want a hybrid publisher that focuses on the editorial aspect of the publication process. A hybrid publishing package that offers developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading is a non-negotiable for me.

Meanwhile, some writers have really great editing abilities without much help. They might not need or want the same meticulous level of editing that I do. Rather, they may want to focus on marketing and publicity since they don’t have a social media or public platform, or they don’t understand how the book market works and don’t know where to begin promoting themselves or their books. This kind of author might want a hybrid publisher that offers a detailed, multi-faceted marketing plan and/or a dedicated publicity team.

That’s a wrap!

Well, Tartlets, I think I’ve said all I have to say on the topic of hybrid publishing. For now, anyway. I hope this blog post series has been helpful to writers reading this blog, and that it’s been at least mildly interesting to the non-writers out there.