Guide
You have a finished manuscript. Now what?
There are four honest answers and one of them is "put it away". Knowing which you are choosing, and why, is worth more than any amount of work on the query letter.
Short answer
Traditional publishing takes one to three years, pays an advance most writers never earn out, and rejects the overwhelming majority of submissions. Self-publishing takes a weekend, costs a few hundred at most, and leaves discovery entirely to you. Hybrid presses charging thousands are almost always a bad deal. Choose by what you want the book to do, not by prestige.
The four routes
| Route | Time | You pay | Odds | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional | 1–3 years | Nothing | Very low | You want bookshops and the credential |
| Small press | 6–18 months | Nothing | Low | Literary or niche, and you want an editor |
| Self-publish | Days | $0–500 | Certain | You want it out, and control |
| Put it away | — | Nothing | — | It taught you something; write the next one |
The fifth option, a hybrid press charging you thousands, is not on this list because it is almost never the right answer. See below.
Traditional publishing, honestly
You query literary agents with a letter, a synopsis and usually the first three chapters. Most people send fifty to a hundred queries. Rejection rates at each stage are severe, and "no response" is itself a response.
If an agent signs you, they submit to editors at publishers, which takes months more. If a publisher buys it, an advance for a debut is usually modest and is paid in instalments across signing, delivery and publication. You will not see royalties until the advance has earned out, which most books never do.
What you get is real and is not money: professional editing, cover design, bookshop distribution, publicity attempts, and a credential that opens other doors. If those are what you want, the wait is the price.
What it costs beyond time: the rights, for a long period, and control over the cover and title.
Self-publishing, honestly
You can be published this week. Amazon takes a PDF or EPUB, pays 70% on ebooks priced $2.99 to $9.99 and 60% minus printing on paperbacks, and you keep every right.
The trade is that everything an imprint would do is now yours: editing, cover, description, categories, pricing, and — the hard one — finding readers. Nobody is going to do the last of those for you, and it is the part that decides whether the book is read.
What to actually spend money on, in order:
- A cover. A few hundred, and worth every penny. Readers browse thumbnails and a homemade cover is visible at a glance.
- A copy edit. A few hundred. Typos in the sample are the fastest way to lose a sale.
- A proof copy before you publish the paperback. Things look different on paper.
- Nothing else, at first. Not advertising, not a publicist, not a website.
Hybrid presses: read this before you pay anyone
A press that asks the author for money sits somewhere between a service provider and a vanity publisher. Some are legitimate businesses that are upfront about being paid for work. Many are not.
The test is simple. Price the services separately: a cover, a copy edit, a formatter, an ISBN. If the package costs several times the sum of its parts and the distribution is the same Amazon listing you could make yourself in an afternoon, you are paying a markup for the word "publisher" on the spine.
Two rules that will keep you out of trouble: a real publisher pays you, and anyone who approaches you unsolicited after you posted about finishing a manuscript is selling something.
Putting it away is a real answer
Plenty of working writers have a first manuscript in a drawer. It is not a failure; it is the thing that taught them structure, voice and how long a chapter takes.
The honest question is not "is this good enough" but "is this the book I want to spend the next year of my life selling". If the answer is no, the next book is a better use of that year, and it will be better because of this one.
A decision in four questions
- Do you need it in bookshops? If yes, traditional, and accept the odds and the wait.
- Do you need it out within a year? If yes, self-publish; the timelines do not overlap.
- Is the book for a specific group you can reach yourself? If yes, self-publish; you are better placed than a publisher.
- Would you write the next one anyway? If yes, publish this one somehow and start. A back catalogue is worth more than a perfect first book.
And whichever you choose, if the book was written with AI assistance, declare it when you publish. It is one question at upload, it is not shown to readers, and not declaring it is the one thing that can cost you the account.
If the manuscript is not written yet, the studio writes the whole book free and charges once for the files — so the decision above can be made with a finished draft in front of you rather than in the abstract.
Write a book, freeSources
- Amazon KDP royalty rates
- KDP paperback submission guidelines
- KDP content guidelines on AI-generated content
- Literary agents, and what they do
- Vanity press
- Advance against royalties
Common questions
Should I self-publish or try traditional publishing?
Traditional if you want bookshop distribution, a professional edit paid for by someone else and the credential, and can wait one to three years with a strong chance of nothing. Self-publish if you want it out this month, full rights, and the higher royalty, and accept that finding readers is entirely your job.
How long does traditional publishing take?
Querying agents takes three to twelve months. Submission to publishers takes another few months. From signed contract to published book is typically twelve to eighteen months. Two years from finished manuscript to bookshop is normal and fast.
Are hybrid publishers worth it?
Almost never. A press that asks you for money and offers less distribution than you can arrange yourself is selling services at a markup. If someone asks for thousands of pounds to publish your book, you are the customer, not the author, and you should price the services separately.
Do I need an editor if I self-publish?
You need a reader, and ideally a paid one. A copy edit costs a few hundred for a typical book and is the single highest-value thing you can buy. A developmental edit costs more and matters more for fiction.
What if the book is not good enough?
That is a real answer and it is fine. Putting a manuscript away and writing the next one is what most working writers have done at least once. The first book is often the one that teaches you to write the second.