How Book Publishing Works: A Beginner's Guide for UK Authors

If you've finished a manuscript, or you're close to it, the next question is usually the same one: how does a book actually get published? The honest answer is that there isn't a single process — there are two broad routes, and understanding the difference matters more than knowing the fine detail of either one at this stage.

The two routes, in short

Traditional publishing means a publisher acquires the rights to your book, usually through a literary agent, and takes on the cost and risk of editing, designing, printing, distributing and marketing it. In exchange, the publisher keeps a majority share of the revenue and you typically receive a royalty, sometimes alongside an advance paid before publication.

Self-publishing means you retain all rights and make every production decision yourself — hiring an editor, commissioning a cover, formatting the file, and publishing directly through platforms like Amazon KDP, IngramSpark or Apple Books. You keep a much larger share of each sale, but you also take on every cost and every task a publisher would otherwise handle.

Neither route is a lesser option. They suit different books, different authors and different goals.

What traditional publishing actually involves

Traditional publishing for most trade fiction and narrative non-fiction runs through a literary agent, not directly to a publisher. An agent reads submissions, offers representation to manuscripts they believe they can sell, and then pitches those manuscripts to editors at publishing houses. If an editor wants to acquire the book, the agent negotiates the contract — advance, royalty rate, rights retained, and territory.

This process is slow by design. Finding an agent can take months of submissions; selling a book to a publisher can take longer still; and the gap between signing a contract and the book appearing in shops is often twelve to eighteen months, sometimes more. Authors considering the traditional route should also learn what agents expect in a submission.

What you gain in exchange for that timeline and the lower royalty share is significant: professional editing, a designed cover, a copyeditor and proofreader, a print run, warehousing, and — crucially — distribution relationships with bookshops and wholesalers that are very difficult for an individual author to replicate.

What self-publishing actually involves

Self-publishing removes the gatekeeping and the waiting, but it replaces a publisher's team with you. At minimum, a self-published book that reads as professionally produced as a traditionally published one needs:

• A developmental or line edit, and a separate copy edit
• A final proofread, ideally by someone other than the editor
• A cover designed to genre conventions, not just something that looks nice to you
• Correct formatting for both print and ebook files
• A plan for where the book will be sold and how readers will find it

None of this is optional if the goal is a book that competes credibly with traditionally published titles in the same category. Our self-publishing overview walks through each of these in more detail.

How to decide which route fits your book

A few honest questions help more than a list of pros and cons:

1. Does your book fit a traditional publisher's list? Some genres and formats — literary fiction, certain non-fiction categories — have stronger traditional markets. Others, like many romance and fantasy subgenres, have thriving self-publishing ecosystems.
2. How much control do you want over the final product? Traditional publishers make the final call on covers, titles and often release timing. Self-publishing keeps every decision with you.
3. What's your timeline? If you want the book available within months, not years, self-publishing is the only realistic option.
4. Can you fund the production costs upfront? Self-publishing well means paying for editing and design before you've sold a single copy.

Some authors pursue both routes at different points in their career, or for different books. Neither choice is permanent, and plenty of successfully self-published authors have gone on to sign traditional deals, and vice versa.

What stays the same either way

Whichever route you take, the manuscript itself has to be ready. A publisher won't acquire — and readers won't finish — a book that hasn't been properly developed, edited and proofread. Before worrying about which publishing route to pursue, it's worth making sure the writing and editing stages, covered in our book writing and book editing sections, are genuinely complete.