Publishing Support

What Is Hybrid Publishing?

The Quick Answer

Hybrid publishing is a publishing model that combines the editorial quality and industry credibility of traditional publishing with the creative control and higher royalties of self-publishing. Authors invest financially in their book’s production, keep full creative control over content and design, and earn royalties in the 50 to 100 percent range, compared to the 4 to 10 percent typical of a traditional deal.

At Publish Your Purpose, that means our authors keep 100 percent of their royalties.

Traditional vs. Self-Publishing vs. Hybrid

Most authors land on hybrid publishing after realizing the other two options don’t fit what they actually need.

Traditional publishing gets you an agent, an advance, and a publisher’s name on the spine. It also means giving up creative control, waiting two to three years to see your book in print, and earning 4 to 10 percent in royalties, split with your agent. Most submissions are rejected, and acceptance often depends on market size projections more than manuscript quality.

Self-publishing gets you speed and full control. It also means you’re the publisher, editor, designer, marketer, and distributor, whether or not you have that expertise. Quality control is entirely on you.

Hybrid publishing sits between the two. You get professional editorial, design, and production standards, plus distribution, without giving up creative control or accepting traditional royalty rates. You invest in the process. In exchange, you keep the rights, the control, and the majority of the money your book makes.

The IBPA’s 9 Criteria for Professional Hybrid Publishers

Not every publisher calling itself “hybrid” actually meets the bar. The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) set nine criteria to define what a legitimate hybrid publisher does. Publish Your Purpose meets all nine.

Defines a mission and vision for its publishing program
Vets submissions rather than accepting everyone who pays
Publishes under its own imprint(s) and ISBNs
Publishes to industry standards
Ensures editorial, design, and production quality
Pursues and manages a range of publishing rights
Provides distribution services
Demonstrates respectable sales
Pays authors a higher-than-standard royalty

Our Track Record

Publish Your Purpose has published 300 books for nonfiction and memoir authors, with a 70 percent bestseller rate. We’re a certified B Corp, and woman- and LGBTQ+-owned. Our founder, Jenn T. Grace, is an eight-time author, and our team and authors have been featured in Forbes, HuffPost, The Wall Street Journal, and CNBC, just to name a few.

We’re also one of a small number of publishers that meets the Independent Book Publishers Association’s (IBPA) full criteria for professional hybrid publishing, listed below.

Hybrid Publishing

The PYP Hybrid Publishing Model

We take your manuscript from first draft to published book, with you involved at every stage: cover design, editing, formatting, marketing strategy, and project management.

High-Quality Books

We only publish books that meet or exceed industry standards. Our books are eligible for review by traditional outlets and are respected in the market. Explore our best sellers.

Full Creative Control

You keep 100 percent creative control of your book. Traditional publishing houses can and do change a manuscript to fit their commercial interests. With us, your voice stays yours.

Higher Royalties

Our authors keep 100 percent of their royalties. Traditional publishing typically pays authors less than $1 per book sold. Ours allows for upwards of $10 per book sold.

Professional Editing and Design

We have a selective manuscript review process and a team with the expertise to design successful books, so you’re only paying for what your book actually needs.

Leverage Your Platform

If you already have an audience, hybrid publishing lets your book sell to it directly, and you keep what it earns. Traditional publishing wants your platform too. It just pays you less for using it.

Representation That Isn’t an Afterthought

As an LGBTQ+ and woman-owned B Corp, we seek out authors and stories that traditional publishing has historically excluded. A 2019 industry survey found publishing is 76 percent white and 81 percent straight among the people who decide which stories get told. Representation doesn’t happen by accident. We built Publish Your Purpose because it should.

How Publish Your Purpose Compares

Hybrid publishing isn’t one-size-fits-all, and neither are hybrid publishers. Here’s how we differ from other well-known, well-respected names in the space:

Greenleaf Book Group has built one of the strongest reputations in hybrid publishing, and their selectivity is part of why. They reject roughly 90 percent of submissions, largely on projected market scale rather than manuscript quality. If you’ve been turned away by Greenleaf for reasons that had nothing to do with your writing, Publish Your Purpose is often the next legitimate step.

Amplify Publishing has earned a similar reputation for quality, operating at a larger scale with broader acceptance criteria than we do. Both Greenleaf and Amplify were acquired by Civica Media, a private equity-backed firm, in late 2025.

Page Two is another well-regarded name in the hybrid space, known for a curated author list and strong production values. Publish Your Purpose differentiates through founder-led involvement in every book we publish, from an eight-time author who understands the process from the author’s seat, not just the publisher’s.

If you want the highest-touch, most involved publishing relationship available in the hybrid space, from a certified B Corp built specifically to publish underrepresented voices without diluting quality, that’s where we fit.

Get instant access to The 9 Questions You Should Ask Your Prospective Publisher Blueprint

Every Kind of Story Has a Home Here

Hybrid publishing breaks the traditional model by handing creative control and ownership back to the author. At Publish Your Purpose, we use that model to get ideas into the world that matter to the people writing them, whether that’s a cause traditional publishing has historically passed over, a business or leadership book built on hard-won expertise, or a memoir that needed to be written. Some of what our authors have written about:

Causes and advocacy:

Alzheimer’s research
Domestic violence
Shelter animals
LGBTQ+ healthcare equity
Food security
Caregiver fatigue
Climate crisis and advocacy

Expertise, leadership, and memoir:

Business leadership and entrepreneurship
Healthy eating and nutrition
Retirement planning
Holistic and soul-centered work
Personal memoir and life transition

Common Questions

What is hybrid publishing?

Hybrid publishing lets you keep creative control over your book and earn a majority of the royalties, while still getting the editorial quality and credibility of a traditional publishing house. You invest financially in the process. In exchange, you keep your rights and keep more of what your book earns.

How is hybrid publishing different from traditional publishing?

Traditional publishers cover all costs and pay authors 4 to 10 percent in royalties, often split with an agent. In exchange, they typically hold creative control over the final manuscript and can take one to three years to bring a book to market. Hybrid publishers let authors keep creative control and earn significantly higher royalties in exchange for the author covering production costs.

How is hybrid publishing different from self-publishing?

Self-publishing gives an author full control and speed, but the author is also the editor, designer, marketer, and distributor, or has to hire and manage all of that separately. A legitimate hybrid publisher provides professional editorial, design, and distribution services under one roof, while the author still keeps creative control and a higher royalty share than a traditional deal offers.

How do you know if a hybrid publisher is legitimate, not a vanity press?

A legitimate hybrid publisher meets the Independent Book Publishers Association’s nine criteria, including vetting submissions rather than accepting everyone who pays, publishing to industry standards, and paying authors a higher-than-standard royalty. If a publisher accepts every manuscript regardless of quality, that’s a vanity press, not a hybrid publisher.

What royalties do hybrid publishing authors earn?

Royalties for hybrid publishing authors generally range from 50 to 85 percent of book sales, though this varies by publisher. At Publish Your Purpose, authors keep 100 percent of their royalties.

Become a Published Author With Publish Your Purpose

Whether you have an idea or a finished manuscript, we want to work with you.

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