Julie Broad (founder of Book Launchers) explains what hybrid publishers are, contrasts them with vanity and self-publishing, and gives guidance for authors choosing publishing services. She defines a vanity press as a company that charges authors and engages in deceptive practices (selling books to the author rather than to readers), and a hybrid publisher as a mix of traditional and assisted self-publishing: authors pay upfront, retain rights, and the publisher takes a royalty share for distribution. Julie warns that some vanity presses rebrand as hybrids to appear legitimate, that many hybrids may skimp on essential services (like editing), and that hybrids often profit primarily from upfront fees. Her practical advice: do due diligence, read contracts, consult watchdog lists (e.g., Alliance of Independent Authors), and ensure you get clear value for money. She positions Book Launchers as a high-quality self-publishing services team (not vanity or hybrid) offering collaborative, in-house editorial, design, and marketing services.
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Your book isn't just words on a page. It's a work of love, time, effort and money. So when you're placing your trust in a company to publish your book, you want to make sure that you're making the right decision. If you're curious about hybrid publishers and whether they're worth the price, then this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the Book Broad, founder of Book Launchers, your professional self publishing services team. Self publishing, a great book is a team effort no matter the genre. From story structure, writing and editing to design, promotion and marketing, every step along the self publishing journey requires various expertise and particular skill sets that, when combined, achieve the goal of a well written, marketable book with a solid hook. Matching jerseys aren't required, but definitely a sweet bonus. If you go on a search for your own self publishing team for help on your journey, you'll discover that there's a wide like really wide variety of companies offering a vast array of publishing services. It can be pretty overwhelming, especially when every company calls themselves a different kind of a publisher. Because publishing a book is a dream come true for most authors, it's easy for publishers to take advantage of that. During your search, you might stumble across a few scary warnings about vanity and hybrid publishers, but it's important to know what those terms mean and that they aren't always the same thing. Within the industry, the term vanity publisher comes with a negative connotation. Here's why. A vanity press provides publishing services, but engages in misleading or even outright deceptive practices with the goal of extorting as much money as possible from you, the author. Rather than producing a good book, they sell books to the author, not readers. Often this ends with an author getting boxes of their poorly done books to sell on their own and losing a lot of money in the process. For a while, it was vanity publishing companies that gave self publishing its bad rap due to their disreputable practices of publishing any book for any author that would pay, regardless of the quality of the book and its chances of success. And they had no intention of doing what they could to make it any better. Thankfully, self publishing is mainstream now, and for the majority of authors it's a great option. In fact, it's a better option than traditional publishing. Just because an author spends money on self publishing doesn't mean their book isn't good enough to be traditionally published. It's a choice to own your rights, keep your royalties, and have creative control. And I think it's a darn fine choice, my friend. In fact, now when an author invests in the right team to assist them and the book's done right, readers won't know or care that the book was self published. Take book launchers, for instance. Now, we're neither vanity nor hybrid. And I'll tell you more about hybrid in a second. We help our authors become the publishers, but we do it at such a high level, they don't need any outside publishers. Hybrid, vanity, or traditional. Our team is made up of experienced writers, editors, designers, and marketing professionals who, from day one, make sure that your nonfiction book isn't just simply well written and edited for mistakes. We also make sure that you're publishing a marketable book that benefits the reader and helps you build your brand or boost your business. For us, the self publishing journey is a holistic process. The writers brainstorm with the marketing team, and the marketing team gives insights to the design team. Everyone collaborates on every single book that we work on to give it the greatest chance of success. The end result? You get a fantastically crafted book that readers will love and that rivals books released by big, traditionally published authors. But just because self publishing is mainstream now and vanity publishers are more easily spotted, doesn't mean there aren't still companies attempting to hide unethical services and poor offerings under different names. Hybrid publishers, for instance, are one of those. Vanity publishers have gotten sneaky. They might call themselves a hybrid in an effort to camouflage what they really do, which is deceive and exploit authors. All vanity publishers are hybrid publishers, but not all hybrid publishers are vanity publishers. Confused yet? I know I'll say that one more time. All vanity publishers are hybrid publishers, but not all hybrid publishers are vanity publishers. And again, book launchers, my fabulous company is neither. All right, so what is a hybrid publisher? Well, a hybrid publisher mixes the models of traditional publishers who pay you through royalties for publishing rights, and assisted self publishing who offer publishing services for a fee. It's like if book launchers got together with Random House or Wiley and had a baby, it would create a hybrid. Okay, that was really weird. You won't forget it now, will you though? With a hybrid publisher, you'll pay upfront for the company to produce and distribute your book. You keep your rights, but the company will take a portion of royalties in exchange for physical and online distribution. A few hybrids are genuinely good companies, but I still question why an author needs to pay for services and give up royalties. Ultimately, it's your choice, but do your due diligence and check the watchdog listings, like the alliance of Independent Authors to be sure you're getting value for your money and royalties. If you do use a hybrid, I'll put their link down below so you've got access to their watchdog list. Investing in your book is essential when it comes to putting together a winning self publishing team. But hybrid publishers often don't offer the quality of service or the extent of service that you really need to produce an excellent book. Some don't even edit your book. The manuscript they receive is what they print, errors and all. And that's because editors are the most expensive service provider after a writer. We have three different editors touch our author's manuscripts, but many companies barely do this because that eats into their margin big time. When it comes down to it, if you're investing in self publishing but skipping these essential steps, you're putting out an unrefined product and jeopardizing your chance of success. And since most hybrid publishers don't offer offer this in house, you might find yourself having to hire your own writers or editors elsewhere to get the job done. It can be a big hassle and a lot of added stress, especially when you're already paying a company in the first place. Again, some hybrid publishers do do a good job. So do your research and read that contract carefully. But make sure you're getting massive clear value for the dollars spent to ensure it's worth it to pay for services and give up royalties. It's a lot. Which reminds me, the biggest downside to hybrid publishing? They've already made the profit by the time your book is. Even if they agree to distribute in exchange for a chunk of royalties, that's not how they make their money. They profit from the upfront costs of production. Their contracts may promise access to wider distribution into bookstores, but bookstore shelf space is impossible to guarantee you'll have the same online distribution you would otherwise, which is where you'll sell the majority of your books anyways. And it's entirely possible to get your book into bookstores as a self published author. This video right here shows you how. And if you want to hear five authors talk about their wins and see me tear up when they share because I was so moved by what they said, check out this rare release of one of our Deep Dive trainings. We normally don't post replays of the Deep Dives, but that one was so valuable and special I had to share it. Ultimately, self publishing companies don't always fit into one distinct category. Do your due diligence, research reviews and fully understand what they offer before making a decision. I'll see you on the next video.
