In this solo video, Julie Broad (founder of Book Launchers) explains that traditional publishers don’t reject manuscripts because they lack merit; instead, editors make decisions based on business considerations: whether a book fits an existing market slot, aligns with internal publishing strategies, and can generate sufficient sales. She argues that authors often misunderstand rejections, assuming poor quality, when the real issue is mis‑fit with the publisher’s risk‑management model. Julie contrasts the goals of author‑entrepreneurs—control, speed, revenue, and long‑term intellectual‑property ownership—with the publisher’s focus on ease, profit potential, and proven systems. She illustrates her points with real examples: Jack Groppel, who chose self‑publishing to retain control and flexibility for his tennis‑related brand, and Judy Haller, who self‑published to capitalize on timely momentum and achieved a USA Today bestseller. Julie also shares her own experience of being rejected, then self‑publishing to become a #1 Amazon print bestseller, underscoring that rejection can be a catalyst for ownership and success. The video concludes with an invitation to join her free Skool community, the Author Lab, for help with audience positioning, system building, and monetization, encouraging authors to view their books as assets they own rather than waiting for publisher approval.
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If you think traditional publishing has rejected or will reject your book because it's not good enough, it's probably not what's gonna happen. Editors don't buy books based on merit, storyline, or quality most of the time. They buy books based on another thing. So if you're wondering what gets a book rejected or accepted by publisher, oh, good news, this video is for you. Hi, I'm Julie the Book Broad, founder of Book Launchers and your host here at BookLaunchers.tv. Book Launchers is your first choice for all things related to writing, publishing, and promoting a nonfiction book. My first book was rejected by a publisher. A publisher that approached me to write the book and gave me the idea that they wanted written. And after that, they still rejected me. Now you can't tell me they are rejecting me because the book idea wasn't good enough. Because it was their idea. They said it was because I wouldn't sell enough books to make it viable. Well, guess what? I self-published my own idea and took it to number 1 in print books on Amazon, outselling Game of Thrones and so many other books, and stayed in the top 100 books for almost 200 and some days. So publishers don't always know what's gonna sell, do they? So this is a topic I'm pretty passionate about, and when I recently read an article written by a publishing insider talking about editorial rejections, I thought this was a great thing to talk about. Editors are reading hundreds of submissions a year. They have stacks of manuscripts to go through. They're overwhelmed. So when they evaluate a book, the real questions aren't whether the book is good. It is, can we slot this into something we already know how to sell? Will this create any friction internally? And the big one, can the author sell a lot of books? That is just the operational reality. Now here's the mistake authors make. They might hear this and they go, okay, well, how do I make my book easier for the editors to say yes to? But only if your goals are in alignment with the publishing house that you're talking to. If your goal is to build an author empire, editor logic doesn't apply to you 'cause your goal is probably control, speed, revenue, influence, long-term intellectual property ownership. And the traditional publishing decision-making process is not relevant. Because it's designed to manage risk at scale. Editors are optimizing for ease, profit potential, proven systems over experimentation, and internal alignment over speed. Author entrepreneurs are gonna optimize for reader clarity, distribution, ownership, and momentum. Once you see the difference, you may find yourself stopping and not asking for an editor to say yes. I'll give you a real example. Jack Groppel, He could have traditionally published. He has traditionally published. He's credible. He has results. I mean, he's a Tennis Hall of Famer. He has a message publishers want. But Jack knew something. He knew he wanted control over this story. He wanted flexibility in how the book was used, and he wanted this work to be part of his larger ecosystem. Traditional publishing would have slowed that down, and he couldn't have told the story exactly like he wanted to tell it. Self-publishing let him design the book around his goals, not someone else's system. That was strategy. Judy Haller, Judy wanted speed. She wanted her brand front and center and she wanted to build momentum while her message was hot. Waiting 18 to 24 months for traditional publisher to release it made no sense. She didn't need a publisher's logo to validate her message. She needed reach, clarity, and alignment and she could do that very effectively, efficiently, and successfully. She made the USA Today bestsellers list. Self-publishing gave her all that. And myself, I am glad I was rejected because it opened up this world to me, and I discovered not only do I not need a publisher, I don't want one. I care deeply about owning my intellectual property. I love controlling my work. I want flexibility, and I want the ability to evolve my content as the market changes. I don't want my ideas locked into someone else's system. For me, self-publishing is the only plan that makes sense. So if you've been rejected or you're waiting for an answer, here's the truth: it doesn't mean your book failed or that it's not any good. It just means your book didn't fit someone else's model, and that is only a problem if you believe the machine is the only thing that gets to decide. The most successful authors I know, they didn't wait to be chosen. They built systems that made choosing them unnecessary. Make your book an asset you control. It's intellectual property. And if you want help building that kind of system, audience positioning, and monetization, join us inside our free community over on Skool, the Author Lab. That's where we help authors stop asking to be chosen and start building something they own. I'll see you there.
