HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR NOVEL | TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING | SMALL PRESS | SELF-PUBLISHING

Small Press & Boutique Press Publishing

A broad definition of a small press is that it earns less than $50 million in revenue per year and publishes ten or fewer titles per year. Boutique Presses are small presses that focus on a specific niche. Some small presses still require your work to be submitted by an agent. Others allow or encourage authors to submit their work directly. This is wide and diverse category that includes publishers with bestsellers in their catalog as well as brand new publishers that are operating out of someone’s home office. May small presses have a full publishing staff (editors, proofreaders, designers, typesetters) but can offer more personalized service, greater author control and involvement, and faster turnaround times. They often have smaller budgets for acquisitions and marketing than larger publishers, meaning authors will need to fill in the gap with self-promotion. They also may or may not be selling their books into major accounts, which affects distribution. Simply put, you may not see your book shelved nationwide in bookstores. Small presses offer different levels of value and quality to their authors, so it is very important to do your research and evaluate each company you’re considering doing business with.

Hybrid Publishing falls into this category as well, and simply means that a small press is offering the services of a design, editing, and/or publicity team while giving the author creative control over their work. It’s a bridge between the author control of self-publishing and leveraging the experience and expertise of a publishing house. Authors may pay for these services in exchange for higher royalties. This is the gray area between Traditional Publishing (you get paid to publish) or self-publishing (you pay to get published).

Please note that this information is specific to novel-length fiction and that the publishing process has variations for short stories, non-fiction, or picture books.

The Process