Ask who pays whom. A legitimate traditional publisher pays you, through an advance,
royalties or both, and never sends you an invoice for editing, design or printing. A
company that asks you for money is selling you a service, whatever it calls itself.
Some of those services are honest and some are not. Before you sign anything, check
the royalty clause, the rights you would give up, and whether the publisher's books
actually reach bookshops.
The longer version
The one test that sorts most offers
A publisher that pays you makes its money by selling your book to readers. If the book
doesn't sell, the publisher loses. That's why it is selective, edits seriously and has a
reason to market.
A publisher that charges you has already made its money when you pay. Whether the book
then sells matters much less to it. That is the vanity press model, and it often
presents itself as "hybrid", "partnership" or "co-publishing". The Scam Watch pattern on
pay-to-publish contracts sets out the warning
signs in full.
Five checks before you sign
- Who pays whom. If you pay and the publisher keeps most of the royalties, compare
that with publishing the book yourself, where you would pay similar costs and keep the
royalties.
- The royalty clause. A share of list price, or of what the publisher actually
receives, is a number you can check. A share of "net profit", with the publisher
deciding the costs, can be zero however well the book sells.
- The rights. All formats, all territories, for the life of copyright, with no way
to get them back if the book stops selling, is a warning sign. Look for a reversion
clause with clear terms.
- The track record. Ask for sales figures for three recent titles, then look those
books up in a bookshop's online catalogue. If the catalogue is mostly authors who
paid, that is the business.
- Outside opinion. Search the publisher's name with "Writer Beware", the watchdog
blog sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Have the
contract read by someone with no stake in the deal. If you are a member of the Society
of Authors or the Alliance of Independent Authors, ask them.
What a fair hybrid publisher looks like
Some publishers share costs with authors honestly. They are selective rather than
accepting everything. They say exactly what each fee buys, pay a substantially higher
royalty in exchange, and let you check their sales record. The label "hybrid" is
unregulated, so it tells you nothing on its own. The contract does.
Publishers that accept submissions without an agent
Most large trade publishers take submissions only through literary agents. Small and
independent presses often accept them directly, and some larger imprints open
submission windows from time to time.
- Use the publisher's own submissions page. It is the only reliable source for whether
they are open, what they want, and how to send it. Lists elsewhere go out of date fast.
- Submitting a book to a publisher should be free. A publisher or agent asking for a
reading fee, an evaluation fee or a required paid edit before they will consider the
book is following a known pattern. See
fake literary agent approaches and
advance payment before representation.
- If you want an agent first, the guide to
submitting to agents covers the query
package and the contract clauses to watch.
"Publishing companies" that are really service companies
Many companies that appear in a search for "book publishing companies" don't publish
books. They sell self-publishing help: editing, design, formatting and upload. That can be
a reasonable purchase. The honest ones charge flat, itemised fees, and leave you owning
the ISBN and collecting the royalties.
Two shortcuts help here:
- Amazon sells no publishing packages. KDP itself is free: Amazon says
it does not: KDP is free and offers no fee-based services such as editing or book design. A company selling a paid "Amazon publishing"
package is a third party; see
publishing packages sold under Amazon's name.
- ALLi rates self-publishing services. The Alliance of Independent Authors publishes
ratings for named service companies, from recommended through to a watchdog advisory.
Common exceptions
- Literary magazines and contests sometimes charge small submission or entry fees.
That is a different convention from book publishing; budget for it rather than treat it
as a scam. See submitting to literary magazines.
- Paying for editing or a cover yourself is normal when you self-publish. The problem is
paying a company that also takes your rights and royalties.
Sources
- AuthorAZ Scam Watch: pay-to-publish contracts, fake literary agent approaches, advance
payment before representation, and Amazon-branded publishing packages.
- Writer Beware, sponsored by SFWA.
- Alliance of Independent Authors,
service ratings.
- Amazon KDP's free-service statement, quoted from the AuthorAZ record for
Amazon KDP.
Verified 15 October 2026.