Q –

I have several books on the market. I keep getting emailed by companies calling themselves “hybrid publishers.” What does that mean?

J.C.

A –

A true Hybrid Publisher does NOT charge authors any up front fees, and their contracts are for a shorter period of time compared to traditional publishers. However, their royalties may be a bit lower. For authors on a budget, a real hybrid publisher can be a true blessing! But, they are very choosy about what they publish.

But, the term is now being used by scammers to try to defraud authors. The scam goes like this:

1. They find a new book on Amazon, Google the author’s name and book title, and find the author online. They will then either email or call the author (or both). Contrary to true hybrid publishers, these scam companies will publish anything and everything.

2. They also will run ads on social media using the term “hybrid publisher” to try to fool unwary authors.

3. They scammer will then claim that they’ll pay half of the author’s fees to get their new book published.

4. In reality, the scammer isn’t going to contribute one penny toward the publication costs for the book. Instead, they charge the author an outrageous price and they never contribute a dime to the publication costs of that book.

5. In some cases, the author pays (often thousands of dollars) and the book never gets published at all. Those are overseas scammers that know the author, if located in the U.S., has a zero percent chance of getting their money back.

One true hybrid publisher is Abuzz Press, which charges authors nothing up front. The contract is exclusive for three years and the royalties are higher than those paid by traditional publishers.

RULE OF THUMB: If any so-called publisher spams or calls you, CLICK DELETE or HANG UP! No real publisher uses spam or telemarketing to try to get new authors to sign up.

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