What Ember & Vine does:
In short, we provide services tailored to individual authors.
Ember & Vine is not a publisher. We believe in helping authors move from wherever they are to wherever they want to be—whether that’s creating a polished manuscript to pitch to agents, or preparing a polished book file to upload through distributors.
From time to time, we may host special projects (like the Ember & Vine Anthology Competition) that involve publication through Ember & Vine Press. These are curated opportunities separate from our service offerings. Our primary role remains that of mentors and service providers—not an acquiring publisher.
In Today’s Market, Authors Have Several Publishing Avenues:
1. Traditional Publishers
Investment: Authors do not pay for anything.
Royalties: Traditional publishers pay authors. Some trad publishers give an advance, and some do not. Publishers giving an advance typically have a 15-20% royalty rate on net revenue (after cost). Those who do not give advances typically have a higher royalty rate (20-50%).
Acquisitions: Most Trad Publishers follow a stiff acquisitions process that typically requires an agent. (Smaller Publishers and University Presses are the exception.)
Time/Marketing Investment: This option has the least monetary investment for authors, but it requires a significant time investment for editing and marketing. Marketing & sales efforts vary between houses and projects, and many authors are pressured to cover some editorial and marketing expenses, even with Trad Publishers.
Control: The author has less control over decisions but may be able to rely on the publisher’s expertise, distribution, and PR/marketing reach.
2. Hybrid Publishers
Investment: Authors pay a portion of the cost for producing/marketing their books. The split depends heavily on the publisher. Authors are expected to invest time into editing and marketing. Marketing & sales efforts from hybrid publishers vary between houses and projects.
Royalties: Because authors are investing financially too, publishers typically pay a higher royalty than traditional publishers, but the hybrid publisher will still take a cut of the proceeds.
Acquisitions: Hybrid publishers have a submissions/acquisitions process similar to traditional publishers, but they typically have a lower bar for the number of books they need to sell because they aren’t absorbing all the costs. Still, most follow a fairly robust acquisitions process and aim for specific genres, readership, etc.
Control: The author may have more control over cover and content than a traditional press, but typically, hybrid presses maintain final say. Authors have less access to sales data than an indie author, which can make marketing decisions a little more complex.
3. Indie Authors (self-published authors aka “author publishers”)
Investment: Indie authors bear the up front costs. Indie authors are often the general contractors for their projects—typically hiring out bits and pieces of the process, as needed.
Acquisitions: Authors are publishing their own work, so no acquisitions process is needed. IngramSpark, Amazon/KDP, Draft2 Digital, and other distributors can be paid directly by the author to publish a book.
Royalties: While there’s a larger initial investment financially, this option yields the highest percentage of royalties for the author. Indie authors keep any sales proceeds, which are usually direct deposited from the distribution companies into the author’s account, as requested.
Control: Indie authors have more control over design, content, and distribution, and more insight as to where marketing is (and isn’t working). Many Indie authors manage online ads through Amazon, BookBub, Meta, etc., while controlling ad spend and monitoring ROI, etc.
4. Self-Publishing Presses are publishers who ask authors to pay for each stage of the publishing process–editing, layout, design, proofing, cover design, publication/distribution, and sometimes marketing. The author is still considered self-published or Indie. These publishers are sometimes called vanity presses. These differ from service providers like Ember & Vine because, while authors pay for the entire process, the Vanity Press frequently takes the rights and/or some of the proceeds. At Ember & Vine, authors pay only for the services they need, while maintaining full rights and proceeds.