3 Clear Reasons it’s so Hard to Get Published

Too many people don’t realize how difficult the publishing game really is.

Recently, a woman in Alabama reached out to me because she wanted a book ghostwritten. If I could choose a title for her book, it would be All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Prison.

It sounded really fascinating. Then I asked her to imagine the manuscript is done and she’s holding it in her hands. “What does success look like?” I asked.

She responded, “I have enough money to have my own house and have my own time to write.”

Immediately, I knew she didn’t understand how the publishing game worked.

“I don’t mean to dissuade you,” I began, “but you need to understand that the odds of you being the one who reaches this goal of yours is very long. It’s like being a professional athlete: So many try, and so few succeed. It’s like winning an Oscar: Only a very small number of people do it. You might be the exception to the rule, and I hope you are. But you need to know reality.”

Why is this true? Why do I get calls from people who don’t understand how difficult it is to get published?

Here are three reasons:

Not a lot of traditional options

First and foremost, there aren’t a lot of traditional publishing companies. There used to be more; now there’s only five.

1. There’s Penguin Random House. That used to be two separate houses, and they have acquired Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday, Putnam, Viking Press, Price Stern Sloan, Bantam, Ballantine, and Golden Books, among many others. (A note here: I am listing imprints I’ve heard of.)
2. There’s Hachette, which ate up Little, Brown and Company and Warner Books, among others.
3. There’s HarperCollins, which used to be two separate entities. Later, it absorbed Harlequin, William Morrow, and Walden Pond Press, among others.
4. There’s Macmillan, which swallowed Henry Holt and Company, St. Martin’s Press, and Tor, among many others.
5. And there’s Simon & Schuster, which now owns Scribner.

I had an agent once tell me that unless you’re a celebrity or have a really, really, really original and unique and compelling story to tell, the Big Five won’t touch you.

Other options aren’t ideal, either

There are two other publishing options: hybrid and self-publishing.

Hybrid publishing is pay-to-play. If the publisher takes on your manuscript—again, that’s not a guarantee—you then pay for whatever services you want. Typically, hybrids offer marketing, distribution, editing, proofreading, branding, digital media outreach, ad campaigns, website design, cover design, page layout, formatting, etc. Some publishers offer packages, and they could run you between $20,000 and $70,000. You’re paying them to do the work you would have to do yourself if you self-publish.  

Self-publishing certainly is cheaper. If you do it through Amazon, you can expect to pay between $300 and $5,000, depending on your needs. Amazon offers editing, cover design, formatting, and marketing services. The cost to publish a physical book depends on if you choose hardback or paperback, as well as the number of pages. There is no printing cost for an ebook. Marketing services might or might not include publicizing your book, so that might be on you. And no marketing equals no sales.

The odds are stacked against you

Furthermore, had I found author Olivia Blacke’s website before the Alabama woman called, I could have given her the following stats:

• Only 3% of people who set out to write a novel actually finish it.
• Less than 0.1% of people ever write a book, meaning 7,992,000,000 people will never write one.
• The average traditionally published book sells around 3,000 copies over its lifetime, and less than 500 the first year.
• If a publisher gives an author a $10,000 advance, the publisher breaks even by selling about 1,000 copies. A publisher doesn’t make a profit until 5,000 copies are sold (Blacke says there are a lot of variables at play here, but this is in general). Less than 25% of books are profitable.
• It is estimated that a book has to sell 10,000 copies its first week to even have a shot at the New York Times Best Seller list. Something like 0.08% of the about 300,000 books published every year make the list. The odds of getting struck by lightning twice or winning the lottery are better.

I’m not writing this to dissuade anyone from wanting ghostwriting services. I’m simply ensuring everyone understands the challenges of publishing. Any client might be the exception to the rule.

But as I told that Alabama woman, you have to know what you’re getting into.

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