What should you know first?
Compare the written work, publishing standards, financial terms, rights, and release responsibilities. A package name or attractive cover does not explain the relationship. Ask each publisher to identify deliverables, exclusions, approval points, and the files and accounts you receive.
Start with the publishing model
Traditional publishing, hybrid publishing, and purchased publishing services involve different responsibilities and commercial arrangements. Ask the company to explain its own model before comparing prices. Author funding alone does not establish professional publishing standards.
IBPA publishes criteria for hybrid publishers, including selection, publishing quality, distribution, and contractual responsibilities. Use those criteria as a reference for your questions. Listing the reference does not establish IME membership, certification, or compliance with every criterion.
Compare the work at the same level of detail
One proposal might include structural editing while another starts with proofreading. Those services address different problems. A low total is difficult to evaluate without the manuscript length, editing level, design scope, and revision allowance.
Build a comparison with one row per deliverable. Record who performs the work, the input required from you, the approval point, and the final output. Ask how additional revisions or scope changes are authorized.
- Editorial assessment, editing level, word-count allowance, and revision rounds
- Cover concepts, interior formats, image permissions, and proofing
- Print and ebook files, ISBN arrangements, accounts, and source-file delivery
- Distribution setup, launch activity, and ongoing maintenance
Ask how money and control work
Separate the publishing investment from printing, shipping, advertising, review fees, and ongoing services. Ask what happens when you pause, miss an approval date, request a change, or end the relationship.
Rights and payment terms belong in the actual agreement. Ask who controls retailer accounts, receives sales reports, handles corrections, and approves new editions. Have your own qualified adviser review contractual questions. Do not substitute a sales-page explanation for the signed terms.
Bring a project brief to the conversation
Prepare your genre, intended reader, manuscript stage, preferred editions, release objectives, and working budget. Share enough material for a relevant assessment rather than asking every provider to price an undefined book.
For an illustrative comparison, a completed novel needing a copyedit is a different assignment from interview-based nonfiction needing a manuscript. Ask what your project needs first. Request a written scope after the assessment and retain a copy of the approved proposal.
Keep these decisions in your brief.
A proposal should help you assess the work and responsibilities. Request clear answers before authorizing the project.
- Editorial scope
- Which edit is included? What word count, revision rounds, and proof stages apply?
- Rights and control
- Who owns the copyright, ISBN, accounts, production files, and cover artwork?
- Investment
- Which fees are fixed? Which third-party costs, copies, shipping, and changes cost extra?
- Distribution
- Which channels receive the book? Who manages metadata, pricing, royalties, and updates?
- Delivery
- What do you supply? What approval deadlines apply? What happens if the project pauses?
Questions authors ask.
Is hybrid publishing the same as paying someone to upload a book?
No. A file-upload service describes a task. A hybrid publishing relationship should explain the company’s publishing standards, selection, editorial work, commercial terms, and responsibilities. Evaluate the actual arrangement rather than relying on the label.
Should I choose the cheapest publishing package?
Compare equivalent work and the full cost first. A lower price with missing editing, permissions, files, or distribution responsibilities is a different scope. Choose a proposal you understand and a working relationship suited to your project.
What should I ask IME before starting?
Ask for the services, formats, deliverables, revision limits, approvals, fees, rights provisions, schedule dependencies, and outside costs applicable to your project. The written agreement determines the engagement.
Sources and practical limits
Platform references were checked for this edition. Requirements change. General planning guidance does not replace your project agreement or professional advice on rights, contracts, or finance. No sales, placement, review, or production result is promised.