should you hybrid publish your book?
I haven’t helped an author who has hybrid-published their book yet.
But I’ve talked to many disgruntled ones.
Frustrated author with poor book sales.
Embarrassment. Frustration. Shame.
These are some of the words actual authors have told me they have felt after their book was published with a hybrid publisher.
They spent months on their book, only for it to sit in cardboard boxes in their office.
They have a successful business on the outside, but they’re hiding a secret: they don’t think their book will ever find the same success.
Just last week a wonderful woman told me how she spent $30k with a hybrid publisher, only for the book to make a weak number of sales. She’s had to re-do a lot of their work.
Authors tell me about their frustration with the marketing their hybrid publisher did or didn’t do, the expectations that were improperly communicated, and the poor execution of the launch, and more.
I talked to a lady a few months ago who complained that her hybrid publisher did a poor job with her launch, and she missed her chance for #1 Amazon Bestseller during her launch window.
This shouldn’t be happening, because achieving #1 Amazon Bestseller is overall a straightforward & predictable process, like making your coffee every morning.
In fact, all of our done-for-you clients are guaranteed #1 Amazon Bestseller.
(And no, we don’t charge a bonus if you achieve it.)
(If any book marketer includes that as part of their deal, I wouldn’t go with them.
(It’s like paying your HVAC guy a bonus just for knowing what HVAC stands for.)
I understand why busy business owners and entrepreneurs choose hybrid publishers.
Reputation for creating high-quality books
Borrowing influence from being published by a publishing house
Saving you time because they help you manage the process of putting your book together
You keep your rights, unlike a traditional publisher
Help upload your book to Amazon & IngramSpark for you, deleting that overwhelm
And these are true.
But here’s what’s also true:
hybrid publishers do not market your book for you.
Publishing houses make money from making a business agreement with a creator, the author.
The author pays a fee, and the publishing house uses their resources to manage the project of turning the author’s Word doc into a physical book.
This includes activities such as editing the book, designing a cover, and uploading the book to distributors like Amazon & IngramSpark (depending on the publisher).
Publishing houses are busy running teams of editors, designers, and project managers.
They are NOT running a social media agency, a podcast agency, or any other kind of marketing agency, and they’re certainly not focused on helping you market your specific book.
In fact, I am looking to partner with more hybrid publishers so that they can offer marketing services like ours to their authors.
Marketing is an art, a skill, and a practice, and it requires time, attention, and updated knowledge, just like continuing education credits that doctors, nurses, and lawyers need.
Hybrid publishers specialize in packaging your book into a product.
But they do not specialize in marketing.
That’s why I talk to dozens of unhappy authors who went with a hybrid publisher who ask me if I can help them.
9 times out of 10, if their book is already out, I can’t.
One of the main reasons is because of mindset and belief differences.
In this day and age, the success of music artists, visual artists, and authors depends 99% on their skills, identity upgrades, and mindset shifts.
The success of an author depends 99% on the author’s willingness to learn, unlearn, and adapt their ideas to a world inundated with information but starving for wisdom.
The other 1% of success is the tools available to self-published authors only.
If you hybrid publish…
You don’t have access to Amazon ads.
You don’t have access to your back portal, so you cannot target certain keywords or optimize your ads over time.
You do not have pricing flexibility to conduct price promotions unless you ask permission (I’ve heard this can be a nightmare).
Because you cannot do price promotions, you can’t use price promotions sites.
Your book got uploaded to IngramSpark for “global distribution” but no one knows it exists.
(Because “global distribution” is NOT the same as global demand.)
Our authors know how to use their launch runway to generate demand for their book so it goes worldwide, like my client Ken, whose book is in the UK prison system now.
You cannot change the cover of your book without permission (which has a significant effect on your book sales).
Hybrid publishers will give you a date for when your book will be available on Amazon, but often will not give you a launch strategy
(Or, they flub the launch, like the first 2 ladies mentioned earlier).
12 months later, your book is gathering dust on Amazon, has 4 reviews, and you’re wondering what happened.
Self-publishers maintain total control, total flexibility, and total freedom with their book and rights forever, so that they can ultimately find the success they are looking for.
And author success is what you want, isn’t it?
If you’ve been burned by a hybrid publisher in the past, but you know that author success is available to you, chat with us here.
We’d love to help you make a decision that helps you reach your goals.
Best,
Renee