How to get published
In 2025, the publishing landscape offers authors multiple avenues to bring their work to readers, each with distinct processes, benefits, and challenges. Understanding the differences between traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing is crucial for authors aiming to make informed decisions about their publishing journey.
Test your market
In the UK e-books constitute approximately 35% of all book sales with Amazon fulfilling around 87% of that market. There is the option to test the market with an e-book or do both a printed and an e-book.
Traditional Publishing
How to get published by a traditional publisher is fairly straight forward. Authors submit their manuscripts to established publishing houses. If accepted, the publisher manages the editing, design, marketing, and distribution processes. Authors may receive an advance against royalties, although this is more rare these days. They also earn a small percentage of sales. This route often involves lengthy timelines; your book may not get to print for up to two years. Also limited creative control, and lower royalty rates. For instance, traditional publishing royalties are usually 5% for mass-market paperback sales, 25% for eBook sales, and 15% for hardback sales.
Your publisher may want you to change the title of your book, and may decide not to publish all of the books that you present to them. In recent years it has become more common to approach a publisher direct without going through an agent, although finding an agent to pitch your book is still the preferred option. They can also advise you on how to get published with specific publishers and the criteria these companies are looking for.
Self-Publishing
The book market has seen significant growth in self-publishing. In 2021, 2.3 million books were self-published in the U.S., marking the third consecutive year with over 2 million self-published titles. Despite the surge in published titles, the book marketplace has remained relatively stable, with industry revenues reaching $25.7 billion in the U.S. by 2020, comparable to figures from two decades earlier.
Self-publishing empowers authors to control every aspect of the publishing process, from writing and editing to design, marketing, and distribution. Platforms like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Lulu and Ingram Spark have made self-publishing more accessible. Authors can earn more royalties, up to 60% royalties on Amazon KDP. However, self-publishing requires authors to invest time and resources into production and marketing, and achieving widespread distribution can be challenging. Learning how the system and the software works can feel daunting and takes valuable time. Also finding the right people to proofread your book can be time consuming and tricky to co-ordinate It’s also a lonely place to be, particularly if your book isn’t selling or you are having difficulty uploading it.
Hybrid Publishing
Hybrid publishing combines elements of traditional and self-publishing. Authors typically invest financially in the publication process but benefit from the publisher’s professional services, such as editing, design, and marketing. It also saves time as the publisher has the experience and co-ordinates all the moving parts. This model offers more creative control and higher royalties than traditional publishing but involves upfront costs and requires careful evaluation of the publisher’s reputation and services.
Discover Your Bounce Publishing
We are a hybrid or boutique publishing house. We offer advice on all aspects of how to get published. We have published over 40 titles across business books, children books, inspirational books and novels. Many of them have become Amazon bestsellers in their first week of launch. We offer coaching, design and editing services to help you to plan, write, publish and promote your book. Our author community helps each other and we do what we can to find opportunities for you and your book to shine.
Social media is a great place for promoting your book, but you may have seen posts saying ‘never pay for publishing services’ or ‘real publishers don’t ask for payment’ or ‘it’s all a scam’. This is like slating every estate agent for the actions of one. We pay our team a living wage and they are all awesome at what they do, they really care about the books we produce and about supporting our authors. These books speak for themselves, as do the testimonials we have received about our services. We have designers, editors, copywriters and business planners to help your book to reach your audience.
We also produce dyslexia friendly books and advise on readability and flow.
This year we are running our first online Author Summit on 19th and 20th May 2025, for our published authors to answer questions to prospective authors about the writing and publishing process and to share their experience, whilst also promoting their books. This is just one of our ways for supporting authors. Take a look at the summit here. Take a look at out services here.
Conclusion
Around 180,000 new book titles hit the shelves in the UK every year from across all forms of publishing. So being an author in any format needs a plan for your book to be seen and bought. There are a lot of different strategies you can employ to attract attention to your book, if it is a business book there are even more ways that your book can reach your audience. Let us help you! From picking the right price to creating your book and creating a business plan, its all part of the service.
Want a no obligation chat to discuss you book idea? Contact nicky@discoveryourbounce.com
