Typeset, Trades & Traditional Publishing: Key Terms Explained

📚 Typeset

Typesetting is the process of formatting a book for publication. Typesetting is more than just choosing a font. It’s also why I don’t recommend self-publishing if you value a quality product. Professional typesetting is its own section of the entire formatting process in book publishing. A typesetter arranges the text, chapters, headings, page numbers, and spacing so your book is both beautiful and readable. When I worked in magazines and print media, I learnt how the ‘layout’ of text makes such a difference to a reader’s experience there was an entire rule book for each publication which outlined sizes, margin rules, letter and line height, kerning… it’s an art in itself!
Whether you’re choosing traditional or self-publishing, good typesetting makes a HUGE difference in how your book is perceived. I recently bought a self-published book which has been so poorly typeset you cannot read the first word in every sentence because the text runs into the spine of the book!

📰 “Trades”

When people refer to the “trades” in publishing, they’re talking about industry-specific media that report on deals, acquisitions, and market trends. Think of them as the Variety or Hollywood Reporter for the book world. Popular publishing trades include Publisher’s Weekly and Publisher’s Lunch. In Australia, most Publishers and Literary professionals subscribe to Books+Publishing. If you’re looking for literary agents, book deals, or insights into what’s trending across genres, the trades are where you need to research what’s going on in the market, jobs vacancies, news and acquisitions, and whether or not your Literary Agent or Publisher is actually buying or selling books in your category right now.

🏛️ Traditional Publisher

A traditional publisher handles the entire book production process—from editing, typesetting and proofreading to marketing and distribution. They typically pay the author an advance and offer royalties from book sales. Some of the newer Publishers, like Author’s Equity, who are targeting mid-list authors (those who already have a ‘backlist’ of titles and a known name in the industry) are offering higher royalties and no advance.
Traditional publishers typically assume the entire financial risk of production costs, distribution, marketing and publicity, making it a tougher path to crack for first time authors but much more viable and beneficial in the long term if writing is your profession. To learn more about the money side: typical advances, what traditional publishers need to consider before they make you an ‘offer’, I have it all outlined in my Book Publishing Masterclass.

What I wish more first-time authors knew before they ‘give up’ and self-publish or pay a hybrid press:
Here’s the truth: The biggest benefit to being traditionally published is that you get the BRAND of the Publisher and/or its imprint on your work, your name and your reputation for the long term. It’s a decision about how you want to be perceived around your work in the long term. Is this a hobby for you or is this your profession? Are you an authority in the area you’re writing about or is a book just a ‘nice to have’ for you?
Traditional Publishing has benefits in the long term that include media, marketing and booksellers who all assume it is a quality product and are more likely to interview you and feature you in their stores.
This is not the case with self-published books. Case in point: You can self-publish a one page document on a foot, on Amazon (! and someone has) and get that to be a number one bestseller in its category.
There is absolutely no gatekeeping to the self-publishing world, which is why the millions of self-published books on the same topics that are traditionally published, are typically ignored by media and not stocked in major retailers. Bookshops will send you home with your box of books because they don’t typically stock books that don’t have a professional distributor (this is another aspect to traditional publishing you don’t need to think about when you sign a deal).

It’s about having the backing of a Traditional Publisher who are experts at what THEY do (books) that raises the value of an author’s work.

Yes, it takes a lot longer to get a publishing deal with a top tier Publisher like HarperCollins or Scribe or Hachette or PanMacmillan, but your book and your name as an author will be more rewarded with a longer-lasting product and reputation for the time invested.

So what can you do?
This is why I recommend to all first time authors: educate yourself on the business of traditional publishing BEFORE you start trying to write OR pitch a book. I share an enormous amount of information about the business of publishing in my free masterclass for first time authors trying to sell a nonfiction book.

The big myth
Most writers think success is luck or just writing a good manuscript, when that’s not even half of it. Authors who publish more than one book, or make it to the bestseller list, usually learn the hard way that publishing is a retail sales-based business.

You’ll save yourself decades of heartache and make far better long-term decisions around your writing, your books and your career.

Watch this video I shared on my You Tube channel if you’d like to learn about the marketing side of book publishing.

💰What is Hybrid Publishing? Is it just a new name for self-publishing?

Under a hybrid publishing model, the author shares in the cost of producing and distributing the book.
In return, the author often receives a higher royalty percentage (some Hybrid publishers ‘let’ the author keep all royalties, it totally depends on their stipulations).
💰BUT, unlike traditional publishing, hybrid models rarely (if ever) offer advances and don’t always guarantee widespread bookshop distribution.
Authors typically pay from $5000 – $15 000 for a book to be produced by a Hybrid publisher and this does not include bookshop distribution. 
Some of the hybrid publishers like She Writes Press and Hembury Books have distribution deals (meaning they DO get their authors stocked in bookstores), but this is the exception, rather than the rule. You still pay THEM to publish your book. It’s far more difficult to get media attention on a book that has not been traditionally published. And that’s often because traditional publishers send out press material a year ahead of publication, whereas self-publishing and Hybrid Publishers usually don’t have their own publicity teams.
If you choose a hybrid publisher (or a publisher you pay), PLEASE ask them about bookstore distribution before you sign anything. See where their previous authors have been stocked, and the kinds of publicity their books have garnered.

In Summary:
Book Publishing is a business, and a complex one, at that! Don’t take the first offer you’re given, and learn about the business before you give your work away. A book deal is a big deal, and once you’ve published something yourself, it’s very rarely picked up by a traditional publisher later on (not impossible, but very very rare).