The Traditional Publishing Process

A Very Simple Explanation

  1. Write manuscript. (For nonfiction, you will usually write a proposal and sample chapters instead.)

  2. Get agent (see “Working with Literary Agents”).

  3. Revise with agent (usually).

  4. Agent shops your book to editors (see “Submission Process”).

  5. Revise with editor.

  6. Physical production of book.

  7. Book sent to stores for sale. (Ideally some marketing also happens.)

More Detailed Explanations

The Process (For the Author)


The Process (For the Publisher)


Alternate Routes


Traditional Publishing Industry

Key Book Publishing Paths - Jane Friedman

A selection of publishers arranged by size
Big 5: Macmillan, Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin RandomHouse, Simon&Schuster
Major or Mid-tier: Chronicle, Scholastic, Sourcebooks, Amazon Publishing, Norton, Workman, Bloomsbury, Kensington, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Tyndale, WIley
Small or Indie: Quirk, Graywolf, TinHouse, Catapult, Lee & Low, Grove Atlantic
Micro: Et Alia, Yard Dog, Chicago Review, Sley House
Academic and tribal: Chickasaw Press, Universities of Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma

Big 5 Presses

Midsize Presses

Small & Micropress Indies

Please note: For clarity's sake, we're using "indie" to refer to small presses, and "self-publishing" to refer to authors who have published on their own. Midsize presses are also sometimes considered to be indies. Link titles have been altered to reflect our terminology.