I have been covering the publishing industry for over a decade now, reviewing a minimum of fifty-two publishers a year. I visit approximately ten publishers websites for everyone one I will actually review. I can only review publishers that match Authors Publish’s Guiding Principles. I also keep a careful eye out for red flags, and research the publisher as much as possible.
More frequently during the last year I have encountered presses that don’t mention charging a fee in any way. They are also open to publishing previously self-published work and every genre of fiction imaginable, or close to it.
I know from the many emails I receive that this is what readers want more of. Presses open to previously self-published work, and also presses that are open to a wide range of genres, and not a niche.
These presses that are open to range of fiction genres and previously self-published, often use the word independent on their website, and some even use the word traditional. But these sites set my alarm bells off. Every single time I’ve reached out to an editor of one of these sites asking if they are traditional or not, or just requesting additional information, I have not heard back from them. Just to be clear, I ask politely and try to keep the tone as neutral as possible.
Even though they won’t answer the question, I have gotten answers. I have heard from authors and a number of these presses, that they had to pay for editing in order to be published by this press. More than that, they had to pay for editing by an editor directly approved by that press as part of their contract to be published.
You might be wondering if their manuscript was a mess and needed major editing, but the majority of the authors I spoke to all said that their work was previously edited by professional editors. Also, everyone who ended up signing the contract and paying for the edits by the approved editor ended up only receiving minor edits.
I have only a small sample size of authors as sources currently, but if you had this experience, please reach out to support@authorspublish.com. I will keep anything shared with me fully anonymous. If an editor of publisher I’ve reviewed tried to charge you, please email us also.
I have also encountered a press that called themselves traditional yet charged for editing. I talked with their editors about it and everyone ended up on the same page. All this to say I am OK with publishers charging for editing as long as 1) They know this makes them no longer a traditional press (and Authors Publish only reviews traditional presses), and 2) They are upfront about it and disclose it even before work has been submitted.
These presses that don’t disclose that they charge for editing, and are trying to pass themselves off as traditional presses, are doing real harm to authors. Not just in terms of the money they extract for the editing but in the “bait and switch” experience the author has. They think they are submitting to a traditional press and then only at the contract stage do they find out that they are supposed to pay.
It’s very hard to not sign a contract, I know this from exchanging many emails over the years with authors.
I do want to really encourage any author who is offered a contract that forces them to pay for editing to not sign it. It is not a traditional publishing contract, and the way the publisher makes their money is off the author payment, not on selling the book.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
