Tag: traditional publishing

Nonfiction: THE SUCCESSFUL HYBRID AUTHOR by Katlyn Duncan

January 19, 2023 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m always happy to have Katlyn Duncan guest post on the blog. Not only is she an award-winning fiction author, she is also a wealth of information when it comes to the topic of author careers. Her first nonfiction book is TAKE BACK YOUR BOOK: AN AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO RIGHTS REVERSION. Let’s give Katlyn a big welcome as she talks about her latest book THE SUCCESSFUL HYBRID AUTHOR: TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR TRADITIONAL AND INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING CAREER.

As an author who has been publishing for 10+ years, I’ve witnessed many different iterations of what a writing career can look like. More importantly, the joining of both types of publishing paths that many people tend to think of as separate. Today, I’d like to share my experience and knowledge about what it means to be a hybrid author, and how both traditional and self-published authors can become one.

A hybrid author is someone who has traditionally published books and also self-published books. The term “hybrid” is used to describe the combination of traditional and self-publishing methods. This allows authors to have the best of both worlds and to gain control over their publishing career.

Becoming a hybrid author is a practical decision that can be made by both traditional and self-published authors. For traditional authors, it can mean having rights to their books revert back to them, giving them the option to self-publish. For self-published authors, it can mean pursuing traditional publishing opportunities while continuing to self-publish.

One of the benefits of being a hybrid author is the ability to have control over your publishing career. Self-publishing allows authors to have more control over the creative process, including cover design and release dates. Traditional publishing, on the other hand, provides authors with a team of professionals to help with editing, marketing, and distribution. As a hybrid author, you have the opportunity to choose which route to take for each individual project, giving you the best of both worlds.

Another benefit of being a hybrid author is the potential for multiple income streams. Self-publishing allows authors to earn a higher royalty rate and to have control over pricing. Traditional publishing, on the other hand, provides authors with an advance and the potential for larger sales. As a hybrid author, you can earn money from both traditional and self-publishing, providing a more stable income stream.

However, becoming a hybrid author also comes with its own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is the amount of time and effort required to navigate both traditional and self-publishing. It can be time-consuming to query agents, submit to publishers, and to self-publish. It’s also important to have a clear understanding of the rights and contracts associated with both traditional and self-publishing.

Another challenge is the need to constantly adapt and evolve. The publishing industry is constantly changing, and as a hybrid author, it’s important to be open to new opportunities and to be willing to adapt and evolve.

To become a hybrid author, it’s important to research both traditional and self-publishing options. For traditional publishing, research literary agents and publishers that are a good fit for your genre and writing style. For self-publishing, research the best platforms and distribution channels. Building your author platform is also essential, by developing a following on social media and building a community of readers and reviewers.

It’s also important to have a clear understanding of the costs associated with self-publishing, such as editing, cover design, and formatting. It’s also important to have a clear plan in place for marketing and promotion, whether through traditional or self-publishing channels.

You can learn about all of this and more in ‘The Successful Hybrid Author’, a comprehensive guide on how you can take control of your writing career and start earning more income from your books. It’s available now in eBook, paperback, and hardcover.

THE SUCCESSFUL HYBRID AUTHOR blurb:

Are you ready to take control of your writing career and start earning more income from your books? If so, becoming a hybrid author may be the perfect solution for you.

With hybrid publishing, you can take advantage of the best of both publishing paths, such as greater creative control, higher royalty rates, and the ability to release your books on your own schedule.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll:

Discover the key differences between self-publishing, independent publishing, and traditional publishing.
Learn how to choose the right publishing options for your books to maximize your income.
Navigate the world of hybrid publishing and transition from traditional or independent publishing.
Get practical tips and advice for starting and growing your career as a hybrid author.

Whether you’re coming from traditional or independent publishing, this guide will give you the tools you need to become a successful hybrid author. It’s time to start your hybrid author journey today.

About the Author:

Katlyn Duncan is a multi-published author of adult and young adult fiction, and has ghostwritten over 40 novels for children and adults.

When she’s not writing, she’s obsessing over many (many) television series’, and hanging out on YouTube where she shares her writing process and all the bookish things.

Keep up with Katlyn on her newsletter at http://www.katlynduncan.com.

Interview with Katlyn Duncan Author of TAKE BACK YOUR BOOK

August 30, 2021 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m very excited to host my amazing critique partner Katlyn Duncan today to talk about her latest release TAKE BACK Y OUR BOOK: AN AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO RIGHTS REVERSION AND PUBLISHING ON YOUR TERMS. Katlyn is the author of many YA and adult works of fiction and this is her first work of non-fiction. It’s so full of relevant information about the business of publishing and rights reversion, and I think any author or aspiring author will feel empowered after reading it. Welcome, Katlyn!

The inspiration behind a book is frequently talked about when writing fiction, but there’s often an interesting inspiration story behind non-fiction. What gave you the idea for TAKE BACK YOUR BOOK: AN AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO RIGHTS REVERSION AND PUBLISHING ON YOUR TERMS?

When the book rights for my debut Young Adult paranormal series (The Life After series) reverted to me in 2019, I immediately looked online to see what I should do with the book. But there weren’t many recent articles about what to do after book rights reversion. I had to do a lot of research myself, which was mostly scouring writer groups and working my network to find other writers who had their book rights reverted. For those authors, all of their stories were different, which helped me understand that I had to make a lot of decisions on my own.

One day, you and I were discussing self-publishing, and the idea came so quickly to me. There weren’t any resources out there about the process of rights reversion all the way through re-publishing the book, so I wrote it myself hoping to help any authors who are or will be in the same position.

Let’s turn the inspiration to you! What made you want to become a writer?

Storytelling has always been a huge part of my life. As a kid, I loved drama class and acting in plays while devouring movies as much as I could. Eventually, that stemmed into penning my own plays and movie scripts (which will never see the light of day, by the way!). Then when I was in my early twenties, I started to write fiction novels and I haven’t stopped since.

What’s one book you wish you had written? And (of course) why?

Can I say ‘Twilight’? I wouldn’t mind living in Stephenie Meyer’s shoes right now with the ability to auto sell anything I write and take all those lofty advances to the bank.

I think we’d all say yes to Stephenie Meyer’s advances! You write both fiction and non-fiction. How was writing TAKE BACK YOUR BOOK different from writing your fiction projects?

There are a few ways it was different. First, I had to do a lot of research for this book, more than I have for any of my fiction novels. Previously, I had saved some articles from when I was going through the book rights reversion process, but there was so much more to outline for the reader. I had to make sure that I listed as many options for a reverted book as possible, which meant exploring as many publishing paths as I could, along with outlining the self-publishing process from start to finish, and beyond to marketing and future plans for the book.

Second, writing a non-fiction “arc” is much different than a fiction one. You have to structure the book in a way that is compelling and makes sense as its own type of story while allowing author voice to shine through instead of a character’s voice.

Obviously TAKE BACK YOUR BOOK is full of advice for authors, but what’s one important takeaway you’d like to leave readers with today?

Regarding book rights, make sure you understand what you are signing away and how long your rights will be in someone else’s hands. This is where community is very important. Ask fellow authors in both the “traditional” and self-publishing spheres and find where your book belongs before you put pen to paper and sign any contract.

It’s so important to understand what is in a publishing contract before you sign. One last thing, what is next for you in your writing career?

I’ve completely veered away from traditional publishing and diving head-first into self-publishing. I’m re-publishing my debut YA series under a new pen name (Katy Duncan), starting with ‘Soul Taken’ in September 2021, followed soon after by book 2 (‘Soul Possessed’) and book 3 (‘Soul Betrayed’) in 2022, in addition to publishing adult thrillers after that.

TAKE BACK YOUR BOOK blurb:

Revive your book from the bottom of the charts with rights reversion.

Have you sold your book to a publisher, but years later it’s not selling the way you want? Are you frustrated with their lack of marketing and little to no royalty payments?

It’s time to take back your book rights.

This guide will give you the knowledge and confidence to get your book rights reverted and how to place it in front of new readers, on your terms.

In this book you’ll find:

The basics of rights reversion
What to do with your book after reversion
How to re-publish your book
Long-term considerations for your author business and backlist
Stories from authors successfully reverting and republishing their books

You will always be your book’s biggest champion. Don’t condemn it to years of neglect at someone else’s hands. Take back your rights and make them work for you for years to come.

Buy the book on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and these other book retailers.

About the Author:

Katlyn Duncan is a multi-published hybrid author of adult and young adult fiction and has ghostwritten over forty novels for children and adults.

When she’s not writing, she’s obsessing over many (many) television series’, and hanging out on YouTube where she shares her writing process and all the bookish things.

Find her at katlynduncan.com, YouTube, and Instagram.

August #InkRipples: Options in Publishing – What’s Your Path?

August 7, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

When it comes to publishing a book, there are so many more options than there used to be. If you’re new to the business, it can be downright overwhelming and confusing to decide what publishing path is the right one for you. That is why we decided to tackle the topic in this month’s #InkRipples.

Traditional Publishing – For my intents and purposes, when I’m referring to traditional publishing, I mean a publishing house that offers advances to their authors and their books come out in print simultaneously with their ebooks (for the most part, though you may find imprints within the publishing house that deviates from this). Some publishers that don’t meet these criteria might call themselves “traditional publishers,” but I’m going to put those in another category.

Big 5 – Formerly the Big 6 publishing houses, when Penguin and Random House merged back in 2013, the largest 6 publishing houses became 5. So the big 5 are now Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Random House. These are the largest 5 publishing houses, the heavy hitters, what many authors consider the gold-standard of publishing. They each have many branches, called imprints, that specialize in certain areas of publishing. They have the ability to offer big advances for books they think will make them lots of money; they have big budgets to market and publicize those books; and they have large, influential distribution channels.
Medium to Small Traditional Publishers – These publishing houses are smaller than the Big 5, but they are well-known and well-respected in the industry and they have the ability to offer advances and print and ebooks release simultaneously. Sourcebooks and Charlesbridge are good examples of these smaller traditional publishers.

~Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishers – The big advantage to going with a traditional publisher is the influence they have. Your books will likely be in all the major bookstores and easily available. You’ll also have a full editorial staff to support you in making the book the best it can be and hopefully at least a small marketing push made by the publisher. There is a certain legitimacy that many still feel about traditional publishing that you won’t find with the other paths of publishing (not that this is my personal feeling, but I will admit that a stigma exists for those who chose a different publishing path). You as an author also have no monetary investment in the process of making the book when you traditionally publish.

A disadvantage is that you might end up being a small fish in a big pond. If your book isn’t of their heavy-hitters for that publishing season, it might get little attention or push from the publisher. The fact is, no matter what publishing path you chose, unless you’re a big-name author, you probably will have to do much of the marketing yourself. And if your book doesn’t sell well (the definition of a well-selling book will vary greatly depending on your situation), it might have a short self-life. It’s also really hard to break into traditional publishing, and you usually need an agent to submit to these publishers.

Hybrid Publishers – This is an emerging term in the publishing industry and may mean different things to different people. Basically what I mean by a hybrid publishers is a publisher that exists in the space between traditional and self-publishing. They may be a digital only publisher or a digital first one (where select titles come out in print only after the ebook is released), as is the case with the publisher of my YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND, MuseItUp Publishing. They usually offer royalty-only payments with no advances. Some of the Big 5 houses have imprints that operate this way.

~Pros and Cons of Hybrid Publishers – Hybrid publishers often have long backlists that don’t get pulled because of slow sales because there is less investment up front. Generally, like traditional publishing, you as an author don’t have to put your own money into anything (until it comes to any marketing you opt to invent in), as the editing, cover art, and production of the book is handled by the publisher.

Without an advance, though, the author has to rely on royalties for payment, which can be slow in coming. Sales may also be low because hybrid publishers don’t have the clout and distribution channels of of traditional publishers. If you do have a print book, it may or may not end up on the bookshelves at bookstores.

Self-publishers – When you decide to do it all yourself and skip working with a publishing house all together, that is self-publishing. You, the author, are your own publisher. You may decide to create your own publishing company so you have a publisher’s name associated with your book and for tax purposes (as I did with PIRATE ISLAND), but it’s still self-published.

~Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing – The main pro and con of self-publishing is pretty much the same thing: you have all the control! That’s a good thing in some ways because you make all the decisions for your book and you reap all the benefits (except for what your distributing partners take). But that also means you have to make a ton of decisions and you have to be informed about all the aspects of creating a book. It’s a big learning curve, but it’s also wonderfully freeing to self-publish. You also have to put up your own money for any services (editing, cover, formatting, etc…) that you don’t decide to do on your own. And you should definitely hire out for those areas you need help. Even a great self-editor should no solely rely on their own editing skills for editing a book your going to self-publish.

*Note on Vanity Publishers – Vanity presses are where authors pay to have their books published. These are not really publishing houses in a sense that they don’t have an acquisitions process. If they do offer any kind of editing or cover services, it’s usually for an additional fee. Honestly, most vanity presses are scams, overcharging authors and giving them very little in return. These should not be confused with reputable, professional editing or formatting services that charge a fee for help with editing or formatting for authors who are interested in self-publishing or going through a round of professional editing before submitting to agents or publishing houses.

What types of publishing have you tried? How has it worked out for you?

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (August is all about options in publishing), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs or on your social media page. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.