r/publishing

Hello, I am getting ready to self publish my first book which has references to a famous dead person and a song. No lyrics. No defamation. An author friend has an LLC for legal protection of her assets. Anyone have advice on this concern? My husband is freaking out!

I spent two years creating my first book and self publishing it. overwhelmed and burnt out by trying different YouTube and marketing technique. I really would love to makes some steady income. Whats your best advice to start getting it seen? thanks!

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Hey everyone, I’ve been trying to understand how this works.

I recently self-published a Gnostic novel called Blasphemous: The Forbidden Gospel and I’m starting to wonder if I closed the door on traditional publishing by doing that first.

Has anyone here gone from self-pub to getting an agent? Is that even realistic, or do agents only look at unpublished manuscripts?

Would appreciate any insight or personal experiences.

Hey people, wanted to follow up on my post from last week with a couple more questions.

First, a summary: I applied for a line editing position with a small publisher based on the west coast. They're legitimate, but they asked me to edit a 450 page manuscript as the next step of the process. I was also frustrated because they hadn't confirmed a concrete deadline. The responses I got confirmed what I'd been thinking (that this isn't normal) and that disorganization and poor communication are, unfortunately, part of working with small presses. They did reply today and confirm a date, though I haven't responded.

Before I email them back, I was wondering:

1. What is the general process for hiring editors, whether at small or large publishers? There's no way they're asking them to edit entire manuscripts; do they just give them a few chapters instead? A bit of insight into this would be great.

2. u.Ornery-Ad2199 suggested I edit a couple of chapters, then send them back as an example and ask for a contract before I move forward with the rest if they're interested. I haven't decided yet if I want to go this route, but if I do, what should I be on the lookout for in any potential terms or contract? The biggest thing for me would be making sure that I still get credited for the work I do, even if I'm not hired by them.

3. Any other advice or insight that might help inform my decision would be appreciated.

I’ve been looking more into the audiobook side of publishing lately, and it feels like it’s still very platform controlled compared to ebooks.

Between exclusivity, revenue splits, and production costs, it seems like authors often have to trade control for reach.

At the same time, audio consumption is clearly growing, especially for people listening in the car, at work, or on walks.

For those who’ve published audiobooks or work in that space:

What has been the biggest friction point?

Is it production, distribution, or monetization?

Do you feel like current platforms actually serve authors well?

I’ve been exploring some ideas around making audio publishing more flexible, but I’m curious how others here see it.

We’re launching a new journal called SCILORA — focused on evaluating and publishing research ideas using AI support.

Some key things we’re trying to do differently:

allow early-stage / hypothesis-driven ideas, not just fully completed studies

use AI to check novelty, logic, and structure before review

introduce a clear scoring system (idea impact, originality)

combine AI + human review instead of traditional-only peer review

keep the process more transparent (AI usage, prompts, etc.)

We’re currently open for submissions.

If you’re working on something interesting—even if it’s still in early stages—you can check it out here:

Scilora.com

Would be great to get feedback from researchers here 👍

I desperately want to move out of my home and my goal is to live in New York and secure a publishing job. Easier said than done ofc. Ideally I would like to secure a job before relocating so I don’t go broke in such an expensive city. However, I have heard than publishers are unlikely to hire someone who isn’t in New York yet versus someone who already lives there. Which would make it even harder to get a job than it already is. On the other hand, if I moved there without a job yet, I’m not sure if any apartment would let me sign a lease without proof of income. I am currently doing my second publishing internship and plan to complete a third one over the summer before really committing to the move. Still, I know it’s a competitive field. Financially, I will have at least 25k in savings, maybe 30k, but I don’t want to blow it all in a few months. I would love to hear from anyone who has been in the situation and what worked for you. Thanks <3

I applied for a job at Simon & Schuster in March that was a little bit of a stretch for me. A recruiter did reach out to start the interview process, but I didn't get very far. Now I've just applied to another job there that is a pretty good fit, and I have quite a bit of experience in. Would it be bad form to email the recruiter who reached out about the other job? Or should I just leave things alone and see if someone reaches out to me?

I haven't had a job in a bit, and I'm starting to feel hopeless lol, so I'm just attempting to give myself a shot.

New here. I want some tips

In a forgotten fictional city where sirens sing louder than lullabies, 20-year-old Maariyah has already survived a mother lost to alcohol, years of rejection, and the constant ache of never being fully chosen. But when her boyfriend Zaahid is gunned down steps from their home, dying in the street with her name in his eyes, something inside her does not break.

It mutates.

What begins as grief becomes obsession. Pain becomes discipline. Love becomes a ghost with instructions. And the girl who once begged life to be kinder becomes a contract killer shaped by loss.

Told in raw first person, this is the story of how a wounded heart can become a weapon.

Hey all, I hope this is okay to post in this sub. I work in education as a para, and am looking for work to do on the side/ during school breaks. My mom suggested that I look into remote editing, proofreading, or ghostwriting work, she has a couple of friends who do it.

I’m skeptical because while I help middle school students in English classes daily and minored in creative writing in school, I don’t have any concrete experience editing other people’s work professionally. I’ve also seen many “remote editing jobs” that are obvious scams, or that want you to pay for their training courses and generally seem sketchy.

My questions are

1. which organizations or websites are legitimate for part-time, at your own pace writing or editing jobs, and

2. Is it possible to do something like that on the side, especially if you’re trying to break in randomly? My mom seems to think it’s something I can “just do” because I’d be good at it, but I’m a little lost on where to start. Thank you for any and all advice!

I'm a freelance book illustrator.

I have worked with major publishing companies, I have at least 5 years of experience illustrating for books, but I can't land an interview anywhere. Every single application I have sent out gets rejected and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong or why... I have been applying for at least 2 or 3 years...

I have a strong cover letter, a good resume, portfolio or so I thought. I'm still actively getting illustration work, but nowhere is interested in me as a designer.... Any tips?

So I do not identify as an “AI writer”. I wish to write a book and I understand that in order to do this correctly I myself need to be actively writing.

However as an engineer, I know AI tools are very useful and I do wish to use them. Specifically for brainstorming and editing.

Because of so much slop content, will any use of AI in my workflow basically give my work a black mark to publishers? Or should it not be an issue so long as the book itself is good? Would this degree of AI use even need to be disclosed?

Ultimately my goal is to create the best book I can, using any tools at my disposal, not to make slop factory content.

Hello! I’m already coming up on a year post-grad, and have been hitting a bit of a wall breaking into the industry. In the meantime I’ve been working as a barista to pay that NYC rent. I recently had to turn down a dream full-time bookseller position because I wouldn’t be able to live on it. I’m concerned about the gap that has formed in my resume as a result — I hesitate to list my barista job on applications, even with transferable skills and whatnot. Unfortunately it’s just been difficult to find literary experiences to supplement my resume while I’m in survival mode. How much is this hurting my chances?

If I were to venture out into trying to get published (no where near this step, just thinking ahead), and I want to use a pen name, what’s the best way to go about it? I would want to publish under a pseudonym, but I’m sure as most people are, I feel very…protective over my words and stories. I’d like to get some advise on the best way to ensure that works would be published under a pseudonym, but still definitively mine. If that even makes sense. I want a legal paper trail from Jane Smith is Sally Doe legally. Almost like a business DBA, I suppose. Any suggestions or tips?

I applied for an editing position with a small publisher at the end of January. It took them two months to respond, which I understand, as they're a small team of about ten and received hundreds of applications. They asked if I was still interested in the position, and if so, I'd be editing a full manuscript as a "work trial". They sent me the novel last Wednesday and asked if four weeks was a realistic timeline for me.

I responded that same day and asked whether they had a specific deadline in mind, or if it was simply four weeks from that exact day. I also asked how they want the final manuscript, i.e. do they just want a clean edit, do they want me to use track changes and leave comments, etc. (there wasn't any direction in the email other than asking if I can finish in four weeks). I didn't hear back for the rest of the week, and haven't heard back after following up with them again yesterday.

I've already started going through the novel, but I'm a little hesitant to get any further without hearing back from them first - I don't want to get too deep in and then find out they wanted "Track changes" on the whole time and have to start over. I also don't like working on something without a target deadline.

This is my first time branching out and applying to formal editing positions after spending some time freelancing, so I'd like for it to work out. Again, I respect the fact that they're a small team and have a lot on their plates, but I figure communicating with someone editing a manuscript for you, and who you're potentially hiring, should be a bit more of a priority. Is this normal among smaller presses? Any insight or advice is appreciated.

Edit: Just want to address it here rather than responding to comments, but yes, this is a legitimate small press. I don't want to name them, but they are genuine. You're welcome to DM me if you're curious who they are.

Second edit: I already mentioned this in a couple of my responses, but I decided I'm going to work at this slowly while I apply for other jobs. Reading, and responding to, your comments has made me realize that this may not be worth it, especially with the communication/disorganization issues. It'd be a good idea to at least email again and ask them what happens in the event that I'm not hired - do I still get credit/compensated for the work I did when the novel gets published?

Third (and probably final) edit: I appreciate your comments, even the blunter ones, for helping confirm that yes, this is indeed ridiculous, even if they're legitimate. Despite the job market being awful, I'm going to email them tomorrow and respectfully decline. I'd rather keep freelancing, to be honest.

Also a big thank you to the users who pointed out that you can "turn off" "Track Changes" while still using it, that makes a big difference for me.