The Business of Publishing: How Economics Influence What You Read
An article by Heba Hallak
Every time I enter a bookstore, pleasing myself with the sight of thousands of books lined up, stacked, displayed, and handled, this question comes to mind: what about the multitude of books that haven’t made it here—of stories written with passion, dedication, and sacrifice, only to be rejected, abandoned, and discarded?
A former acquisitions editor for one of the biggest publishing houses, Penguin Random House, has disclosed that publishers generally reject over 99% of submitted manuscripts. You read that right, and it’s quite disconcerting for both writers and readers; it not only points to the extreme competitiveness within the industry, but also that we might be missing out on some brilliant writing because of it.
But these odds haven’t stopped writers from doing what they love most. It is in fact estimated that around four million new book titles, both fiction and nonfiction, are released every year. Approximately one million of those are published the traditional way—through agents and publishing houses—whereas the rest make it either through self-publishing or a hybrid method.
And what determines whether a book is accepted, as well as the path it takes to its audience, is money.
The economic factors that influence decision-making in the industry are the writer’s budget and the market’s demands. This article presents a simplified understanding of the business, exploring how each of these factors contributes to a book’s fate—its format, reach, and success.
Writers, how much are you willing to spend?
In most of the conversations I have with other writers, we tend to cover various aspects of the writing experience but unsurprisingly avoid one topic: the cost of publishing. But avoid as we might, spending money is an inescapable part of the process. Of getting there. After all, no passion comes without a price.
And this price depends on which publishing method the writer pursues. Here is an overview of what to expect in each:
Traditional publishing
Because the majority of the expenses are covered by the publisher and not the writer, this path is considered the most affordable. When a publishing house accepts a book pitch, it takes over professional editing, design and formatting, printing, marketing, and distribution to bookstores.
So what does the writer pay for?
→ Literary agents: not all publishing houses require their writers to be represented by an agent. But if a book is accepted by one that does, the writer will need to pay their agent a commission. This is typically 15-20% of their earnings from advances (upfront payments) and royalties (a percentage of book sales specified by the publisher).
→ Submission fees: it isn’t typical nowadays for publishing houses to request investment prior to production, but some, especially smaller presses, may ask for physical submissions. They may demand query letters, synopses, sample chapters, and even full manuscripts—all edited and formatted in a particular way. Writers mailing their content may hire freelancers for professional editing and critique, then cover the printing and postage costs. However, most of today’s houses receive submissions electronically and without fees.
Though the most feasible money-wise, this method does have its downsides: writers earn lower royalties than in the other two paths and have little to no creative control over their work. This latter point means that publishers, not writers, have the final say on edits, title, cover design, genre classification, marketing strategies, release date, and distribution plan.
Still, traditional publishing is usually writers’ first choice. This is because it offers two benefits that may be harder to come by in other methods: professional expertise and a wider market reach. The editors, designers, and marketers in those houses tend to have years of experience in the industry, and thus have a deep understanding of its ins and outs. They know what sells and what doesn’t, and make their decisions accordingly. The loss of creative control may thus not be a negative thing when such capable hands are doing the work. Even the greats of literature have had their books modified in one way or another and, yes, for the better. Take, for example, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The author initially titled it Trimalchio in West Egg, referencing an ancient Roman character known for throwing extravagant parties. His publisher, however, believed the reference was obscure, something the general audience would not immediately understand, so they pushed for changing the title. The Great Gatsby became the new title and the novel an international, timeless success.
Yet there remains a disadvantage to traditional publishing that isn’t encountered as intensely elsewhere: competition. Rejection rates are high, the market restrictive, and the possibility of success rare. The section titled The influence of the market navigates this idea.
Self-publishing
Because they don’t rely on agents and publishers, writers who choose this path receive higher royalties (35-70% of book sales, depending on the platform they publish on) and have high to total creative control over their work.
But they also cover all upfront fees. The total cost of self-publishing depends on the length of the manuscript and the quality of the editing, formatting, cover design, marketing, and printing services employed. There isn’t a set value, as different freelancers demand different rates, but an estimate would be between 500 and 20,000$. The exact range of expenses depends on the writer’s available budget.
Today’s technology has made self-publishing a possibility, offering writers a variety of platforms to make their work public. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and IngramSpark are usual first choices due to their large audience and print-on-demand services. But an issue that makes writers hesitate is that it can be difficult to achieve good reach on these platforms. This is due to the fact that books published there are not usually distributed to brick-and-mortar bookstores and because, due to the ease of use of these platforms and the lack of competition at the level of publishing, they can become oversaturated with new releases. Unless writers have an efficient marketing strategy, their books may not stand out among millions of others. They have to be able to decide whether they’re willing to take a financial risk—in the case of poor exposure and few sales, would investing in this kind of publishing still be worth it?
Nevertheless, success through self-publishing is not an impossibility. A good example is Lisa Genova’s Still Alice; after being rejected by multiple traditional publishers, she self-published her debut novel and earned significant traction until earning the interest of Simon & Schuster and closing a deal with them. Not only did the book achieve further success, but it was also adapted to a movie that earned the lead actress an Academy Award.
With smart and careful planning, a self-published book can make it as big as any traditionally released bestseller.
Hybrid publishing
This method blends elements of the previous two, and its conditions vary from one publisher to another. Typically, though, the writer covers the expenses of some of the services, such as editing and cover design, while the publisher provides professional assistance in creating, producing, and distributing the book. Writers who take this path possess higher creative control of their work than in traditional publishing and earn higher royalties (usually 30-50% of sales).
While hybrid publishing isn’t always a guarantee for major success, it has led to some notable achievements. For example, Karen McCann’s memoir Dancing in the Fountain has found significant exposure and been praised by critics internationally. This method is also recommended to niche writers with an already established, dedicated audience as an affordable and profitable way to publish without sacrificing creative rights and control.
The influence of the market
Regardless of which publishing method is selected, a book’s success remains vastly dependent on the market. The following are three factors that contribute to the aforementioned competitiveness within the industry:
Trends
When publishers accept a pitch, they drop others. Because production resources—editing, printing, marketing—are limited, they need to make smart choices. And the smart choice is often the one that sells the most.
But what sells the most?
Follow this train of thought:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in the sales of books on wellness and health, like The Plague by Albert Camus.
During the rise of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, books like Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give became popular.
After the commercial and cultural success of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, there was a resurgence of the YA dystopian genre. The 2010s saw the publication of famous series such as Divergent and The Maze Runner.
Notice a pattern?
Quite simply, publishers know what sells by watching the world around them. Current events. Cultural or social changes and upheavals. Public interest. Pop culture trends. Social media engagement.
They look at what readers are consuming and demanding.
So if your book has been rejected, consider asking yourself whether it has perhaps strayed too much from current trends in the market.
Profitability
If it has strayed—say, if you’re writing in a genre that is not exactly trending right now—then it has to be good enough to stand out. Publishers want relevance, true, but they also seek novelty.
Publishing is an industry where much risk is taken. Resources are finite, time is valuable, and people (editors, designers, marketers) have mouths to feed. Accepting a book pitch for a genre that has been in a decline, for example, can be considered a major risk. Publishers have to be certain that if they embark on this task, the revenue it’ll generate exceeds the expenses, that it’ll be profitable.
A popular example that often demonstrates this point is the story of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Rowling’s debut novel was rejected 12 times because publishers didn’t believe it would be profitable.
Consider these facts:
→ A children’s fantasy book did not fit contemporary market trends.
→ The book, which contains 223 pages, was considered too long for children, the target audience.
→ JK Rowling was a new name in the market with no reputation as an author.
These combined reasons made the book commercially nonviable in the minds of those 12 publishers. That is until the chairman of Bloomsbury handed his eight-year-old daughter the manuscript. The girl, in love with the story, urged him to publish it. And the rest is history.
The morale of Rowling’s experience is that publishers can’t truly assess the profitability of a book until they accurately understand its intended audience—an idea relevant to my next point.
Identity
As a writer, who you are and whom you are writing to matters in the industry (when it really shouldn’t). There is often the assumption that the standard audience for every published book is the collective of white, able-bodied, middle-aged men and women. With this severely narrow conception of the “average reader”—accompanied by the clearly discriminative presumption that social minorities don’t read—publishers tend to make their decisions in such a way that caters to the interests of that demographic.
But with diversity being important and necessary in today’s culture, publishers nevertheless seek out profitable diverse voices. And in their minds, it is often the case that the only profitable, minority-told stories are those that retell discrimination trauma—stories that depict survival of some kind of racial, or religious, or gender-based, or some you-name-it violence—stories referred to as “overcoming”.
What these publishers lack is an understanding of the economic value of minority writing that does not tell an “overcoming” tale. In other words, they do not realize—or perhaps choose not to believe—that even their white average reader would be interested in, for example, thriller, romance, adventure, or mystery books written by a non-white author; a minority.
If you’re a minority writer, you will find that the odds may not always be in your favor. Unless publishers expand their idea of audience and come to accept minority writers as capable of creating engaging narratives of different genres, they will fail to recognize the industrial and financial value of investing in diverse voices, and publishing will remain an endeavor harder for some than for others.
Parting thoughts
This article has provided a general overview of some economic factors that influence publishing decisions and, ultimately, what you end up reading. And although it has become clear that money is at the center of much of this decision-making, I think it’s necessary to remind ourselves that the inherent value of any story told by anybody lies not in its performance in the market, but in what it makes us feel. The next time you visit a bookstore and think of all the beautiful books that could have been on the shelves but didn’t make it, allow yourself to ponder on this question: what would our literary world look like if profit weren’t the driving force behind publishing?
Sources
https://jerryjenkins.com/book-rejections/
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