There are two kinds of publishing that I’m going to discuss in this article: traditional and self. Traditional publishing is where you query agents to take on your manuscript and they sell it to a publishing house. The publisher designs and sells your book for you and gives you a percentage of royalties. Self-publishing is where you write your manuscript, hire editors, cover-designers, and marketers to design and sell your manuscript, and you receive one hundred percent of the profits. I think both methods are legitimate ways to publish your story. Let’s talk about these avenues so you can know which path is better for you. 

Self-Publishing 

Self-publishing used to be considered akin to masturbation in the publishing industry. You can’t get laid, so you just do it yourself. But, despite KDP’s spam disaster, despite thousands of low-quality books being uploaded to Amazon’s platform for my books to compete with, I’m actually quite the advocate for self-publishing. Let me tell you why. 

I used to be one of those traditionally published or nothing snobs. One of my professors in my master’s program mentioned statistics about how more authors make a livable wage through self-publishing than traditional publishing, and I’d lift my nose in the air, absolutely disgusted by the idea of self-publishing one of my manuscripts. I’m a competitive soul. I want things done with excellence. Self-publishing only existed for people who couldn’t really make it in the publishing industry. 

To understand why I’ve changed my mind, we need to discuss the conglomeration of publishing houses in the last few decades. 

There used to be hundreds of legitimate, traditional publishing houses. If you had written a book, you could shop it around to dozens of publishers. J. K. Rowling famously submitted Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to twelve different publishing houses before it was picked up by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom. Stephen King submitted Carrie to thirty different publishers before someone bought and produced his manuscript. 

But, in the last few decades, the industry has changed. Large publishing houses bought out smaller publishing houses, and those smaller publishing houses became imprints of the big publishing houses. This trend continued for years. Currently, we only have five major publishing houses in the world. In the writing community, we refer to these firms as The Big Five. 

So, how has this conglomeration affected publishing a manuscript traditionally? 

1. Publishers will only pick up authors who have a platform. The industry standard is email marketing, and you need at least three thousand people subscribed to your newsletter before you even consider querying an agent. A part of my traditional publishing package provides access to my newsletter subscribers, so when I query agents on your behalf, I can promise to advertise your book to my readers. 

2. Publishers will only buy manuscripts that they think have bestseller potential. They take no risks. This means that when you sign with a traditional publisher, you lose all control of your manuscript. If your story doesn’t align with what the publishing house wants to say, they will not buy and produce your book. 

The breaking point for me was when I had a professor from my master’s program give me a call. He had asked to schedule a meeting with me to discuss my development as an author and moving forward in the publishing industry. Since he was an award-winning writer with several books traditionally published under his belt, I was excited to hear what tips he had for my career. 

“In your goals and timeline plan, I see you have this idea here: to traditionally publish a book in five years. I think that’s pessimistic. If you had a book ready, you could be traditionally published tomorrow. That’s how good your writing is.” 

I swallowed, glowing with this news. I could be a published author. I was good enough to be picked up by the Big 5.  

“But you need to drop this whole Jesus thing from your manuscripts. No one will take you seriously if you’re writing about your faith all the time.” 

I was stunned. “Oh.” 

I hung up the phone and texted my parents.  

This professor told me to drop the whole Christian schtick or I won’t be published… 

 I don’t care what this guy says. I’m gonna kick this industry’s ass. 

Of course, I could publish with a Christian imprint of one of the Big 5 Publishing houses, and I intend to. I think it will be excellent career capital to be traditionally published by one of the Big 5. But the book deals that I will land with traditional publishing houses will be written for market. Essentially, when I go to writing conferences, I set up meetings with different literary agents and ask them what kind of manuscripts they’ve been selling lately, and then I write that sort of book. I could never publish a book like Turtle Soup Is Enough, my debut memoir and an Amazon bestseller in three different categories, with a traditional publishing house. Why? Because my memoir explores themes of the Christian faith, and Christian imprints just aren’t buying memoirs at the moment. 

So, I’ll write Beauty: Lies and Liberation, a Christian Living title exploring how women are lied to in the church and methods to step out of those lies and into God’s truth. I’ll have a book deal with one of the Big 5 publishing houses by January 2026. I’m excited for the book, because I think being published by one of the Big 5 will be fabulous clout for my ghostwriting business. I’m less excited, because I know that this manuscript will have to bend to all the rules in traditional publishing, even though my brand tends to cater to Christians of impropriety. You don’t write a book called Fuck That and Forgive and expect your typical churchgoer to pick it up for a read. 

All in all, I like self-publishing because at the end of the day, I make more money and have more control over my own work. Truth is important to me, and while writing memoirs about my experience I can’t just leave out the truth of God’s fingerprints all over my life. So, I publish and sell my own books.  

Ain’t nothing wrong with that. 

Traditional Publishing 

Traditionally publishing is still a viable option for a lot of folks who seek my services. People who are famous, for example, already have a huge platform, and can land a book deal because their lives are impressive enough to sell their story. I do tend to think that if you’re only writing one book, then traditional publishing will likely be more money for you in the long-haul. If you’re looking to make profits with your story and you only intend to publish one title, then the cost of book creation just won’t exceed the money brought in from sales most of the time. The only exception, of course, is if you have a huge platform and can sell tons of books with that platform right off the bat. 

Traditional publishing is nice because you don’t have to design and market your own book. So, for most people, it’s a lot less work. There’s also more exposure involved with traditional publishing and more clout in the writer’s community.  

How These Options Shake Out in My Ghostwriting Packages 

I think what I’m doing in the ghostwriting space is rather unique, so I want to take a moment and discuss how these options show up in my different packages as a ghostwriter, and the pros and cons of each. Most ghostwriters exclusively provide manuscript services. They write the words and that’s it. I think there’s merit to this lifestyle. As an author, I understand the impulse to stick to the writing exclusively. Writing is, after all, what us writers love to do. 

But I’m a little alarmed at the state the publishing industry is in. Not everyone’s story can be traditionally published. Not every story is marketable; it’s true. But, I think if you write a story with excellence, if you pack sensory and suspense details in every chapter you produce, then there’s an audience for every story, even if it’s just a small one. 

Truth is the most valuable thing in this world. For me, stories written from experience capture slivers of truth, like colored glass in a breathtaking mosaic. Whether your story inspires thousands of readers or is simply cherished by your children and grandchildren, I believe it deserves to be written, designed, published, and marketed with absolute excellence. 

Sonorous Flames Publishing and Bestseller Package 

The closest thing in the industry to my Sonorous Flames Publishing and Bestseller Package are vanity presses. A vanity press is where an author pays a publishing house to publish and market their manuscript. A great example of a vanity publishing house would be Xulon Press, a Christian book service where authors pay a lot of money to have their books designed and marketed “professionally.” When I was in high school, my parents actually bought me a package with Xulon Press for my birthday, so that I could publish a manuscript that I had spent five years writing and rewriting.  

There are several differences between my publishing package and vanity presses. I’d like to discuss them here. 

Ghostwriting Services 

Vanity presses don’t offer ghostwriting services. They exclusively offer publication services. The only vanity press that I know of who offers ghostwriting services like I do is Classic Stories. While they offer both ghostwriting and book design services, they don’t publish any books, per se. Their books are created specifically for private ownership and use. Classic Stories charge enough to afford professional ghostwriters, so their services might be good, but their cover designs suggest that they don’t care to create books up to traditional publishing standards. I think that makes sense to some degree. If you’re not selling your book, it doesn’t need to look that nice.  

Quality 

I was sixteen years old, and my books from Xulon Press had finally come in. A cardboard box covered in “heavy” stickers sat in my living room. I was so excited. I could barely contain myself. My parents sat around and watched as I took scissors to the packing tape and brought out my first ever published manuscript. 

But, when I sat down to read the book, I was sorely disappointed. The format editing was done all wrong. There were spaces missing in the physical book that I knew had been there in the original manuscript. Some of tabs weren’t aligned well, and they threw off entire pages. It was clear that my book was put together by an amateur publishing house.  

Worse than that, my book sold no copies. Even though Xulon Press promised marketing services, it was clear that none of these services were executed or, if they were executed, effective. We had been scammed by a vanity publishing press. 

The biggest difference between vanity presses and Sonorous Flames Publishing is quality. Vanity presses don’t set standards for the books they produce. Any old writer can buy their services, and they’ll throw together a cover design and format editing and call it a day. I require preliminary interviews before you buy one of my publishing packages. Why? Because if your story isn’t marketable, then I won’t let you purchase one of them. If I don’t think your manuscript can sell at least enough copies to become an Amazon bestseller, then I’ll tell you to buy the manuscript package instead. 

When I ghostwrite your story, I have the oppurtunity to make sure that the quality of writing is up to standard. I can listen to almost anyone’s experience and hear the suspense points, draw out the sensory details, and produce a manuscript that’s hard to put down.  

As for the folks I hire: my line, developmental, and copy editors, cover designers, marketers, and book designers, they’re all people I hire to work on my own books. I care about your manuscript because I wrote it. If I publish it as well, I want to see it perform well. It’s good for my brand. More importantly than that, I take pride in my own writing. 

It’d be a damn shame to put together a masterpiece only to have readers pass it over because of poor editing or a tacky cover. 

Marketing 

The second biggest difference between a vanity press and Sonorous Flames Publishing is the marketing piece. Because I write your books, I know how to market them. When I bring your manuscript to bookfairs, I can tell readers why they should buy and read your book.  

My marketing services involve click-testing ad creation, considered to be one of the most profitable ad strategies for authors. It involves Amazon category research, to help assign your book in low competition categories to make your story a bestseller. And, most importantly, it involves representation to bookstores, podcasts, and book blogs, where we send proposals to thousands of people to review your book online and sell your book in brick and mortar. Every tactic I have used to sell my books, I use for your books as well. 

Traditional Publishing House Book Deal Package 

My services are unique in this package because, again, I do a lot of the legwork. There are many steps to landing a traditional book deal. Here’s how I accomplish them for my clients. 

Build a Platform 

One of the most essential aspects of landing a traditional book deal is platform. Essentially, you need to show publishing houses that you have a lot of folks in your corner who would be interested in buying your book. The industry standard is email marketing, but platform can also be proven through social media followers, podcast listeners, blog readers and subscribers, etc. Essentially, wherever you interact with and sell to the general public is considered platform. 

When I pitch to different agents, I offer to advertise your book to my newsletter subscribers. My platform becomes your platform. That’s how we sell books. 

Create a Professional Book Proposal 

For the majority of nonfiction books, authors shop around a proposal instead of a full-length manuscript to publishing houses. So, the first step after I interview my client is to commission a professional book proposal for their manuscript. All of the proposals that I commission are written by retired acquiring editors for publishing houses. Acquiring editors are heavily involved in deciding whether or not a publishing house should buy a manuscript. They’re the ideal candidates to write book proposals that will sell to publishing houses. 

Query Agents 

There are two ways I query agents for my clients. The first is to pay for meetings with them at writer’s conferences. I’ve found this to be the most effective way to pitch manuscripts— in person. The second is to draft a query letter, and then send it electronically to hundreds of agents. 

Land a Book Deal 

Once an agent has picked up your book proposal, they shop it around to different publishing houses. Once we sign a book deal, we start writing your manuscript. 

What if We Don’t Land a Book Deal? 

I’m happy to shop around your book proposal for as long as we need to, but a lot of clients start to grow weary of the process within six months. There are many reasons we may not land a book deal: the market is saturated with stories from your field, your ideologies don’t conform to what publishing houses are looking for, publishers ask you to change too much of your story and you’d rather not. Luckily for you, I spend a lot of time researching the market by setting up meetings with literary agents and asking them what’s been selling lately. I’ll only sell you my traditional publishing package if I believe you can publish it with a traditional publishing house. Otherwise, I’d recommend to you my Sonorous Flames Publishing package.  

If, after a while, you decide you’d like to move forward with self-publishing so you can maintain more control over your manuscript, then we’ll move forward with our Sonorous Flames Publishing package. 

In Conclusion 

The publishing world is a crazy place to work in 2024. Lucky for you, you’re working with someone who has a lot of expertise, not just in writing, but publishing and marketing as well. My expertise comes from my lived experiences, and there’s nothing more valuable than lessons learned in real-life. 

That’s why I write Creative Nonfiction in the first place.