The hybrid publishing model has grown and grown in popularity since its emergence. It is clearly a legitimate middle ground between entirely self publishing and the conventional method of making a submission to a publisher.
However, in such a competitive market, companies have to try and find a niche, an edge or a way to differentiate themselves from the competition or else be at risk of losing themselves amongst the crowd. As such, many of these companies make claims around their uniqueness or the fact they are a one of a kind business which should always create scepticism in the author considering utilising their services.
That does not mean however that companies worth consideration do not exist or that no key differences are not to be found, it just requires extra scrutiny.
One such company claiming to be ahead of the rest in their offering is Publishing Push.
They say that they have issues with both conventional submissions and the hybrid publishing model itself, so have sought to rectify that.
In this Publishing Push review, we will take a look at exactly what they say makes them different, a look at their backstory and indeed whether or not they are worth consideration for writers looking to gain an edge.
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What is Publishing Push?
Publishing Push is a London based company that self describes itself as breaking the mould when it comes to publishing methodology.
They say that they saw a problem in the publishing market, specifically that the conventional submissions process was long winded and largely unfruitful, and the hybrid publishing model was exploitative due to the requirement of authors paying a fee and handing over too higher a percentage of their royalties.
As such, the founder Patrick Walsh decided that there had to be a better way and in 2014 took matters into his own hands by founding Publishing Push.
They claim that they truly serve authors looking to self publish by providing them with the same distribution you would expect from a traditional big 5 publisher, whilst also allowing them to keep 100% of their net royalties.
They also provide a dashboard monitoring service to show authors clear visuals of their sales numbers.
As mentioned above, however, these offerings are not unique to Publishing Push, and indeed there are many other similar companies that provide similar or make comparable claims.
As per their website, their full list of services includes;
- Self-publishing Packages
- Proofreading
- Copy Editing
- Book Cover Design
- Illustrations
Which books does Publishing Push publish?
Unusually, there is no information to be found on their website regarding the types of books they publish or a link to books for sale which seems like a missed opportunity. It stands to reason then, that they are open to and will consider any genre of book for publishing.
They do however have a success stories tab on their site which showcases a variety of authors who have used their services in order to self publish their work. A list of these titles can be found below to provide some potential insight into the types of books they may be interested in publishing.
- Decomposed Woman by Hamide Mirzad
- The Matchstick That Kept Burning by Paulette Graham
- Low Cost/No Cost Tips for Sustainability in Cultural Heritage by Lorraine Finch
- Felicity Flipflops by Dawn M Gelston
- Vitiligo Man by Shankar Jalota
- Devonmere by Jacqui Armitage
- Kolo and the Mighty Mangoes by Dave Caswell
- Dreamers by Maynard Tait
- 10 10 10 by Laura Bird
From children’s books and self help to fantasy and mystery, it appears to be the case that any and every genre has a home at Publishing Push.
Can Authors submit to Publishing Push?
Yes, as you would expect, a hybrid publishing company not just allows submissions but, by their very nature, requires it for their business model to be a success.
It states that ideally, they would like for writers to submit their manuscript digitally in Word format via email, DropBox, WeTransfer.com, Google Drive, or similar. This will be the fastest way for Publishing Push to review and start work on the book.
Any digital submission made will not be charged a fee. Hardcopy manuscripts are accepted but will be charged a £50 administrative fee.
In the submissions form fill-out, there is a drop-down menu that allows for writers making a submission to categorize their work from one of the following;
- Memoir
- Children’s Book
- Non Fiction
- Fiction
- Poetry
- Other
Beyond this, disappointingly, it must be said that there is no other information regarding the process. It is fairly standard practice for companies to include an expected response time to submissions which are unfortunately not available.
There is, however, an FAQ tab on the website that goes into detail about various topics such as pricing, distribution, etc, but it is odd that this is not more prominent as it takes some finding and therefore adds an extra barrier to any writer potentially using their services.
The key takeaway from this section is that packages start at £1390, excluding VAT, and that if a submission is accepted, the average turnaround time for a book to be published is 12-14 weeks.
What are the alternatives to Publishing Push?
The two primary alternatives to using a company like Publishing Push would be to either submit to a traditional publisher or to fully self-publish without enlisting the services of a third-party company. Naturally, both of these come with their own various pros and cons.
Making a submission to a traditional publisher is potentially rewarding both from a financial perspective as well as the kudos and positive impact on a writer’s reputation.
However, the competition to be accepted is so fierce, and the length of time it takes to make a submission, combined with the uncertainty around whether or not a writer will even receive a reply, let alone have their work accepted, often results in other options being considered.
Which often is the route of self publishing.
Once considered the last chance saloon for writers, it is now often the first choice as the ease with which it is possible to complete the process, combined with the uptake of e-readers and ebooks, means that success is much more likely than in the past.
The lack of any fees plus the retainment of creative control is naturally very appealing to writers.
Publishing Push review – final thoughts
In summary, then, Publishing Push seems to have fallen into the trap that many companies succumb to. In attempting to differentiate themselves, they end up making spurious claims that those who take the time to analyze in depth will find them lacking in substance.
For instance, in their ‘about’ section on the website, they openly criticize the fees writers pay when using a hybrid publishing company’s services.
But their own fee, which is a starting point of well in excess of a thousand pounds, is a sizeable amount which may prove too high for many writers in this position. Not to mention the lack of clarity of what their other services cost and what is or is not included.
On top of this, they claim that their work will be indistinguishable from that of a Big 5 publisher like Harper Collins.
This is simply not possible for a company of their size, which is not to say a reflection on the quality of their work as it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise, but it is a grandiose claim that is unnecessary and results in cynicism about the business as a whole.
In short, we could label Publishing Push as a vanity publisher.
Publishing Push may well provide a great service to those who can afford it, but in truth, they are not able to sufficiently back up what they say, and writers may well find that self-publishing provides the path to success anyway.
1.5 Stars
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