publishing has changed dramatically over the past decade, and most of the advice people give is dated and wrong. Furthermore, most of the guides to book publishing are geared toward professional writers, novelists, or hobbyists. Entrepreneurs, business owners, executives, and other professionals who are writing business and personal development books should look at book pub- lishing through a completely different lens than professional writers. This piece will examine the three book-publishing options com- monly available, explain the pros and cons of each, and help you understand exactly which one you should select. TRADITIONAL, SELF, AND HYBRID PUBLISHING The first thing you have to understand is that there are two major publishing models: traditional and self. I’ll dive deeper into each publishing option, what the basic facts are, and the questions you need to ask for each, so you can decide which one to use. There is also a third option, called hybrid publishing. In my opin- ion, hybrid is by far the worst of the three options, and I will briefly cover it at the end. TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING SUMMARY In traditional publishing, an author must find a book agent to rep- resent them to publishing companies. Then, along with the agent, pitch a book publishing company (which are almost all based in New York City, such as HarperCollins or Simon & Schuster) with their book idea. If the pitch is successful and the publishing com- pany offers the author a publishing deal, the publishing company purchases the ownership of the print license from the author in 314 · ThE SCriBE METhOD