Hybrid publishers

[Phyrebrat]

I’ve had a WhatsApp from a friend who has a friend who’s desperately trying to get published. She has had an offer from a hybrid publisher called Foreshore Publishing and has asked my opinion.

I have no experience of hybrid publishing and no interest in it either as I think it requires a lot of effort that I could be putting into my writing, however I said I would ask the gang here. What — if any — experience do you have of that publisher or hybrid publishing in general?

Thanks in advance.

ETA — they have asked for a payment of £2k

 

[HareBrain]

I just Googled the difference between hybrid and vanity publishing, and all I got was basically that HP has more of a quality review process and seeks to act as a partner, making more money from the sale of books. But that could just be fluff, because how, for an individual title, would you be able to tell this? Their covers look good, but £2k is a lot of money. What's it going to be spent on? How much marketing, etc? Have any of their other authors sold well? I think she should be suspicious, and at the very least do a lot of digging.

 

[The Judge]

I had a quick look at the sites for Writers Beware and the Alliance of Independent Authors and neither had posted any warnings about that particular company, so it would seem no one appears to have complained about them and how much work they do (or don't do).

If they contacted her out of the blue, then that points to them being no more than a vanity press and she should drop them immediately.

If they responded to her making a submission, she has to decide whether paying them £2k is better value than her spending her own time and effort trying to self-publish and perhaps producing something that doesn't look quite so professional.

But I agree with HB, she needs to spend time digging to get past all the PR blurb into figures -- how much support are other writers getting, how many novels do they get into eg Waterstones, how is that translating into sales, and how are they calculating "net profit" when deciding on her 60% share?

 

[HareBrain]

how are they calculating "net profit" when deciding on her 60% share?

If it's anything like Hollywood, the answer to that is "very creatively". I'd love to see the cost-accounting for their in-house cover designers, for example.

(BTW, where did you get 60%? Their website?)

I came back to say that I think this part of the industry has latched onto the term because people have heard that some successful authors have used "hybrid publishing" and this gives it some legitimacy. But the kind they usually hear about is where an author's titles are divided between trad-pub and self-pub; nothing to do with this.

 

[The Judge]

(BTW, where did you get 60%? Their website?)

Yep. (Just checked, in case my eyes were playing up!) Apparently a trad publisher would only give 12% of net revenues (no mention of an upfront payment, no matter how small), compared to their very generous 60%.

Their terms also refer to requiring £3k in payment, so Phyrebrat's friend-of-a-friend is either getting it cheap or there's a mistake somewhere down the line.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Okay first check - we can get you into UKbookstores - not through the main U.K. wholesale and who nearly all shops bring in these sort of titles from. They’re all not available. (The perks of being a bookseller…)

Chances of getting into Waterstones…. Zero. Chances of getting into any bookstore. Almost zero.

I haven’t delved into figures and required payments because her honour has done that above but there is nothing in this your friend couldn’t do herself for half the money (and just as professionally) , bookshops will consider this a vanity publisher, and I’d advise her to run, not walk

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Yep. (Just checked, in case my eyes were playing up!) Apparently a trad publisher would only give 12% of net revenues (no mention of an upfront payment, no matter how small), compared to their very generous 60%.

Their terms also refer to requiring £3k in payment, so Phyrebrat's friend-of-a-friend is either getting it cheap or there's a mistake somewhere down the line.

What these publishers often do is rely on the author to sell to friends and family - and that’s all the sales. Usually priced above market and production value so even 40% covers costs

 

[Brian G Turner]

I’ve had a WhatsApp from a friend who has a friend who’s desperately trying to get published.

If they're being asked to pay £2k to publish their book then it sounds like a vanity press. They could easily self-publish on Amazon for zero cost, if they're happy with the editing and can knock up a cover themselves. Paying for both will cost less than £2k.