I have spent the past few years querying agents and submitting work to publishing companies. As most writers who attempt to take a chance on publishing their work know, sending out queries can be highly stressful for many reasons. First off, if the query letter isn’t up to par, it is likely that the agent or publisher won’t even look at it. Of course, doing some research and learning to write a proper pitch or query letter can go a long way here. It is also important to pay attention to what each agent or publisher expects. Although this can be tedious, the query letter is sometimes the least of your worries. Sometimes, the real stress starts when you get emails back. Agents are typically direct. They will either accept or deny your manuscript with a simple email. Sometimes, they explain their decision, and sometimes, they don’t. Then, there are times when they don’t respond at all. That being said, publishers are the ones you want to watch out for. There are several publishing houses out there that accept manuscripts that are both agented and un-agented. There are traditional publishers, indie publishers, and the dreaded vanity publishers. 

Recently, I have come into contact with independent publishers using a hybrid publishing model. This translates into an option for different kinds of contracts that may or may not require out-of-pocket payment from the author. Through research and personal experience, I have discovered that hybrid publishers are just as pointless as vanity publishers because they rarely, if ever, offer anyone an actual contract that doesn’t require payment of some kind. That, in itself, makes the hybrid model more like vanity publishing, regardless of what they call it. The typical hybrid publisher gets back to you in under two weeks with a very informative response. The email usually says something about your work being really good and how much they enjoyed the story, but they have to pass on offering a traditional contract. Usually, they claim that the reason is because the author doesn’t have a large enough following or because they are not well-known or previously published with that particular company. They go on to say that the manuscript needs to go through a round of editing by their department, and their publishing company doesn’t cover the cost of the editing process. Their ‘editing department’ will then charge the author thousands of dollars to edit the manuscript without really changing a thing. Then, they want the author to pay them hundreds to thousands of dollars for a book cover and even more money for formatting (even if the book is already perfectly formatted). They do this even if the author has already hired a professional editor before submitting their work to the publishing company. This, in itself, screams 'vanity publishing scam.' 

Even with all this money forked over to get your book published, these hybrid publishing companies claim to market the book, but it always seems to fall to the author to do it instead. That’s why they ask how many followers you have on your social media profiles. This ensures that the author is responsible for the book launch, the advertising, and creating the buzz about the book. The main point here is that with traditional publishing, the reading period is typically more than two weeks, especially if you are required to send them the entire manuscript rather than just a portion, a query, or a pitch. Then, if the publishing company is truly interested in your work, they are basically taking a chance on you as an author. This covers formatting, a final edit, and the book cover. They do like it when an author has a following, but it is usually not a requirement for a traditional publishing company, small publishing house, or most indie publishers. Therefore, it is important to do some research and pay attention to what the publisher’s website says about their process. If the publisher is all about traditional publishing, go for it. However, it is probably in the writer’s best interest to avoid hybrid publishers as they would vanity publishers.