There are some good hybrid publishers, but most of them are perilously close to the definition of a ‘vanity press’ where you are paying for the pleasure of seeing your name on a book without the publisher being worried about whether it will sell or not.

Not all publishers are created equal. There are the traditional publishers including the so-called ‘Big Five’, hybrid-model and digital first publishers and self-publishers, also known as indie-authors or indie-publishers.

I really wanted to be a published novelist. I wanted it more than I feared failure and humiliation.

Traditionally, an author needed an agent to get a publisher. This has changed with the rise of digital-only or digital-first publishers and imprints. An imprint is a division of publishing house, for example, Escape is Harlequin Australia’s digital-only imprint whereas titles published under their Mira imprint appear in both paperback and ebook. Many publishers now accept submissions direct from authors.