If you’re dialed into the publishing world at all, chances are you’ve heard references to “the Big 5”. Many authors would give their left leg for a contract with “the Big 5”, but who are they? And are they always the best option for getting your book published?

Below, we dive into who the Big 5 are, as well as the benefits small publishers can bring to the table and how to decide which path is the right one for you.

Who Are the Big 5?

The Big 5 refers to the 5 largest publishers working in the English language book industry. These companies control the huge majority of the book manufacturing and sales industry. Some of them make billions of dollars in revenue every year.

The Big 5 publishers are Penguin Random House, Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, and Simon & Schuster.

Penguin Random House

Penguin Random House is the largest and most prestigious of the major publishers. They clear close to $5 billion in revenue each year and publish over 15,000 print books each year.

There are 300 imprints and publishing groups that fall under the umbrella of Penguin Random House. The company has been around for almost a century and has published such authors as Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, George Orwell, Zadie Smith, and Dan Brown.

Hachette Livre

Hachette Livre comes in behind Penguin Random House in the Big 5 rankings. The company makes a little more than $3 billion per year and publishes about 15,000 print books under 200 different imprints.

Hachette Livre is actually based in France, but their largest division, Hachette Book Group, is in the United States. The company is nearly 200 years old and publishes books in a wide variety of genres, including creative nonfiction, history, pop culture, humor, business, science, and more.

HarperCollins

HarperCollins is among the most prolific English-language publishers in the industry. 

The company was established more than 200 years ago and is now home to more than 120 different imprints. Perhaps most notable among these are Harlequin and Avon books, as well as their young adult divisions.

Among the notable titles HarperCollins has published are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. 

Macmillan Publishers

Macmillan Publishers is a British company first founded in 1843, and today they make over $1 billion each year. The company has more than two dozen imprints that publish books across a wide variety of genres.

Among Macmillan’s most prestigious authors are Nora Roberts, Henry Winkler, and Rebecca Ross. The company aims to keep some of the personal touch of the best independent publishers, while providing the distribution and marketing power of a larger publishing house.

Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster is the smallest of the Big 5 publishers and the one that was most recently in danger of being absorbed. In 2020, Penguin Random House was on the brink of buying Simon & Schuster before a federal judge blocked the sale, arguing that it would risk a monopoly.

Nonetheless, Simon & Schuster remains one of the top publishers in the industry. They publish more than 2,000 titles each year and have published the likes of Stephen King and Hillary Clinton.

Independent Publishers

There are about 3,000 independent publishers in operation in the United States. These publishing houses can range in size, with some only consisting of a few employees. Independent publishers may put out less than a dozen titles per year or dozens of books per month.

Many smaller publishers work within a specific region, genre, or special interest. This helps them to develop a deep expertise in that area, rather than trying to cast a wider net and compete against the Big 5. These areas of focus can include works about a certain geographic region, a particular genre such as fantasy or historical nonfiction, or a topic like racial or gender studies.

Pros of Working with the Big 5

Working with the Big 5 publishers can come with several upsides.

Bigger Sales

One of the biggest advantages of working with the Big 5 publishers is the improved chance of higher sales. 

These companies have enormous marketing operations and massive distribution networks. They can get your book in front of millions of potential readers

If you have aspirations of seeing your book sold all over the globe and making enough money to write full-time, the Big 5 can give you the best shot at that dream. 

Larger Advances

Because the Big 5 do have such large sales numbers, they can afford to give larger advances.

An advance is a pre-payment of royalties a publisher expects to earn on your book. If they feel confident that your book is going to sell well, they may go ahead and give you a chunk of your royalty earnings up-front to help cover the costs of marketing and so on.

If you’re looking for a six-figure advance, you’re much more likely to find that with the Big 5 than with smaller independent publishers. In fact, many small publishers are unlikely to offer an advance on royalties at all.

Wider Distribution

Part of why the Big 5 are so effective at selling millions of books is their wider distribution network. These publishers have standing relationships with major book distributors, including Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Amazon. They can also work with independent bookstores and local libraries to get your book into local channels.

This distribution network helps to get your book in front of thousands (if not millions) of potential readers. It helps to boost sales and can give your book a little more credibility in some circles.

Cons of Working with the Big 5

Of course, there are also downsides to working with the Big 5.

Longer Publishing Process

Perhaps one of the most discouraging aspects of working with the Big 5 publishers is how much longer the publishing process becomes.

Before you can submit to the Big 5, you have to find a literary agent to represent your book. That process can take months, if not years.

Even once you find an agent, it may be several more months before they can place your book with a publisher. And when your book is finally under contract with a publisher, you’re looking at another two years before you get a print book in hand.

If you’ve already spent years working on this book, the additional three to five years it can take to get it published can be disheartening, to say the least.

Less Control Over Your Book

When you sign on with the Big 5, you also sign away a significant amount of control over how your book looks at the end of the publishing process.

An editor at these larger publishing houses may want you to make significant changes to your book before it goes to print. And from there, you’ll have little to no say on the interior layout and cover design for your book.

If you have a specific vision for what you want your book to look like in print, the Big 5 may not be the best place to achieve that.

Lower Profits Per Sale

Although a contract with the Big 5 often means more sales, it can also mean lower profits per sale for you. The larger publishers tend to offer relatively low royalties – in some cases, as low as 5 percent for a paperback book. This means that on a $20 book, you’ll be making just $1 per sale.

Factor in that you have to earn back your entire advance in sales before you start getting new royalties and you could be looking at a long stretch of time before you start to see any more profits from your book.

Now, it is important to note that some independent publishers may use the same royalties model as the Big 5. But some may offer higher royalties or may be willing to negotiate with you.

For instance, some small publishers might offer you a 50/50 split on profits from the book after bookstore profits and printing costs have been deducted.

Pros of Working with an Independent Publisher

Depending on your book and your priorities as an author, working with an independent publisher might be the best choice for you.

More Tailored Expertise

One of the best things you get from working with an independent publisher is the opportunity to work with a firm that specializes in your particular area of interest.

Because the Big 5 are so large, they publish books in nearly every genre. They may have imprints and editors who specialize in more niche areas, but their machine is built for a one-size-fits-all model.

Independent publishers, on the other hand, often focus entirely on one genre or subgenre of literature. Many specialize in books about their particular geographic region, while some focus on special interest categories, such as LGBTQ+ topics or children’s books.

This limited focus allows this publisher to gain more expertise in how to publish that specific type of book. They build network connections within the community that buys those particular books, and they learn what marketing strategies are most effective.

Furthermore, this narrow focus eliminates the need for your book to have nationwide appeal. The Big 5 look for books that are going to appeal to a wide range of readers across the country. 

Smaller publishers are often more willing to take on manuscripts that only connect with a specific group of readers.

More Personal Working Relationship

Although landing a Big 5 contract can feel exciting at first, you may soon start to feel lost in the corporate machinery of these companies. Sure, you work closely with your agent and your editor, but you may feel that no one outside of your immediate team knows or cares about your book.

If you’re looking for a more personal working relationship with your publisher, independent publishing houses are the way to go. Because these companies are much smaller than the Big 5, you have a better shot at getting to know the people working on your book. 

When you have questions, you can directly contact the publisher to talk about them. When your book goes into the design stage, you may have meetings with the people working on your interior layout and cover designs. You may even attend sales events with this same team of people, all of whom are invested in seeing your book be the best it can be.

Of course, the relationship you have with your publisher will depend greatly on your particular situation, but independent publishers give you the best shot at a more personal working dynamic.

Shorter Publishing Process

Because smaller publishing houses don’t receive the overwhelming volume of submissions that the Big 5 do, they often don’t require authors to work through a literary agent. Most accept submissions directly and have one or more submission editors in charge of reviewing manuscripts that come in.

This streamlined submissions process can shave months off your publishing process, and that’s only the beginning. Because they’re smaller, these publishers are more agile and often don’t have as many projects going at the same time. They won’t make you sit around for months, waiting for your project to reach the top of the pile.

Often, the publishing process at a smaller publisher can be measured in weeks, not days. In one case at the small publishing house I worked for, we were able to take a book from final manuscript to printed book in three weeks. (It’s important to note that those were very special circumstances; our standard was much closer to two to six months.)

Depending on your particular project, you could be looking at a publishing process that’s well under a year, rather than a three-year ordeal.

Cons of Working with an Independent Publisher

 All that being said, independent publishers aren’t a good fit for every author or every book.

Smaller Distribution Network

The downside of that more tailored expertise is that it comes with a smaller distribution network. Independent publishers may not have relationships with the larger bookstores and will often only have connections with a few local bookstores.

Depending on the size of the publisher you sign on with, you may be looking at a relatively small area of distribution – in some cases, just a small geographical region. If your book only has a regional audience, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But if you’re looking for nationwide sales, a small publisher may not have that kind of reach.

More Limited Design Resources

One of the perks of working with the Big 5 publishers is that they attract the best of the best in the publishing field. The people designing your book interior and cover are at the top of their field, and the products they create will be similarly premium.

However, when you sign on with a small publisher, the staff they have may be more variable in their skill level. To be sure, some independent publishers work with tremendously talented designers. 

But other houses may only have access to some more mediocre designers. If you land at one of those publishers, the limited design resources may hurt your book’s performance.

Less Prestige

Of course, the single biggest downside of working with a small publisher is that they don’t have the prestige of the Big 5. When you tell people you have a contract with Penguin Random House or Harper Collins, that turns heads. Your small local publisher may not have the same clout.

Every author dreams of lucrative contracts with the Big 5. Even if a smaller publisher may be a better fit, they don’t have the same level of prestige that comes with a contract with the larger houses.

Deciding on the Right Path for Your Book

When it comes right down to it, deciding on the right path for your book is a personal matter. It depends on your book, its audience, and your goals.

If you have a book that’s likely to appeal to a wide audience, you’re willing to hang on through a long publishing process, and your biggest priority is getting your book out to as many readers as possible, the Big 5 may be the best choice for you.

If your book has a more niche audience, you need to see your book in print sooner, or you want more control over the presentation of your book, a smaller publisher may offer the right home for your manuscript.

Get Expert Guidance

Deciding whether you want to pursue a contract with the Big 5 or a smaller publishing house is a serious matter. Each has its own advantages, and choosing the right one is a matter of evaluating your book and your priorities. 

Whether you’re trying to prepare your book for submission or decide on the right path to publication, Quickbeam Literary Consulting can help. I offer full copy editing services, as well as publishing guidance and help. Contact me today and start getting the expert guidance you need.

If you’re dialed into the publishing world at all, chances are you’ve heard references to “the Big 5”. Many authors would give their left leg for a contract with “the Big 5”, but who are they? And are they always the best option for getting your book published?

Below, we dive into who the Big 5 are, as well as the benefits small publishers can bring to the table and how to decide which path is the right one for you.

Who Are the Big 5?

The Big 5 refers to the 5 largest publishers working in the English language book industry. These companies control the huge majority of the book manufacturing and sales industry. Some of them make billions of dollars in revenue every year.

The Big 5 publishers are Penguin Random House, Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, and Simon & Schuster.

Penguin Random House

Penguin Random House is the largest and most prestigious of the major publishers. They clear close to $5 billion in revenue each year and publish over 15,000 print books each year.

There are 300 imprints and publishing groups that fall under the umbrella of Penguin Random House. The company has been around for almost a century and has published such authors as Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, George Orwell, Zadie Smith, and Dan Brown.

Hachette Livre

Hachette Livre comes in behind Penguin Random House in the Big 5 rankings. The company makes a little more than $3 billion per year and publishes about 15,000 print books under 200 different imprints.

Hachette Livre is actually based in France, but their largest division, Hachette Book Group, is in the United States. The company is nearly 200 years old and publishes books in a wide variety of genres, including creative nonfiction, history, pop culture, humor, business, science, and more.

HarperCollins

HarperCollins is among the most prolific English-language publishers in the industry. 

The company was established more than 200 years ago and is now home to more than 120 different imprints. Perhaps most notable among these are Harlequin and Avon books, as well as their young adult divisions.

Among the notable titles HarperCollins has published are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. 

Macmillan Publishers

Macmillan Publishers is a British company first founded in 1843, and today they make over $1 billion each year. The company has more than two dozen imprints that publish books across a wide variety of genres.

Among Macmillan’s most prestigious authors are Nora Roberts, Henry Winkler, and Rebecca Ross. The company aims to keep some of the personal touch of the best independent publishers, while providing the distribution and marketing power of a larger publishing house.

Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster is the smallest of the Big 5 publishers and the one that was most recently in danger of being absorbed. In 2020, Penguin Random House was on the brink of buying Simon & Schuster before a federal judge blocked the sale, arguing that it would risk a monopoly.

Nonetheless, Simon & Schuster remains one of the top publishers in the industry. They publish more than 2,000 titles each year and have published the likes of Stephen King and Hillary Clinton.

Independent Publishers

There are about 3,000 independent publishers in operation in the United States. These publishing houses can range in size, with some only consisting of a few employees. Independent publishers may put out less than a dozen titles per year or dozens of books per month.

Many smaller publishers work within a specific region, genre, or special interest. This helps them to develop a deep expertise in that area, rather than trying to cast a wider net and compete against the Big 5. These areas of focus can include works about a certain geographic region, a particular genre such as fantasy or historical nonfiction, or a topic like racial or gender studies.

Pros of Working with the Big 5

Working with the Big 5 publishers can come with several upsides.

Bigger Sales

One of the biggest advantages of working with the Big 5 publishers is the improved chance of higher sales. 

These companies have enormous marketing operations and massive distribution networks. They can get your book in front of millions of potential readers

If you have aspirations of seeing your book sold all over the globe and making enough money to write full-time, the Big 5 can give you the best shot at that dream. 

Larger Advances

Because the Big 5 do have such large sales numbers, they can afford to give larger advances.

An advance is a pre-payment of royalties a publisher expects to earn on your book. If they feel confident that your book is going to sell well, they may go ahead and give you a chunk of your royalty earnings up-front to help cover the costs of marketing and so on.

If you’re looking for a six-figure advance, you’re much more likely to find that with the Big 5 than with smaller independent publishers. In fact, many small publishers are unlikely to offer an advance on royalties at all.

Wider Distribution

Part of why the Big 5 are so effective at selling millions of books is their wider distribution network. These publishers have standing relationships with major book distributors, including Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Amazon. They can also work with independent bookstores and local libraries to get your book into local channels.

This distribution network helps to get your book in front of thousands (if not millions) of potential readers. It helps to boost sales and can give your book a little more credibility in some circles.

Cons of Working with the Big 5

Of course, there are also downsides to working with the Big 5.

Longer Publishing Process

Perhaps one of the most discouraging aspects of working with the Big 5 publishers is how much longer the publishing process becomes.

Before you can submit to the Big 5, you have to find a literary agent to represent your book. That process can take months, if not years.

Even once you find an agent, it may be several more months before they can place your book with a publisher. And when your book is finally under contract with a publisher, you’re looking at another two years before you get a print book in hand.

If you’ve already spent years working on this book, the additional three to five years it can take to get it published can be disheartening, to say the least.

Less Control Over Your Book

When you sign on with the Big 5, you also sign away a significant amount of control over how your book looks at the end of the publishing process.

An editor at these larger publishing houses may want you to make significant changes to your book before it goes to print. And from there, you’ll have little to no say on the interior layout and cover design for your book.

If you have a specific vision for what you want your book to look like in print, the Big 5 may not be the best place to achieve that.

Lower Profits Per Sale

Although a contract with the Big 5 often means more sales, it can also mean lower profits per sale for you. The larger publishers tend to offer relatively low royalties – in some cases, as low as 5 percent for a paperback book. This means that on a $20 book, you’ll be making just $1 per sale.

Factor in that you have to earn back your entire advance in sales before you start getting new royalties and you could be looking at a long stretch of time before you start to see any more profits from your book.

Now, it is important to note that some independent publishers may use the same royalties model as the Big 5. But some may offer higher royalties or may be willing to negotiate with you.

For instance, some small publishers might offer you a 50/50 split on profits from the book after bookstore profits and printing costs have been deducted.

Pros of Working with an Independent Publisher

Depending on your book and your priorities as an author, working with an independent publisher might be the best choice for you.

More Tailored Expertise

One of the best things you get from working with an independent publisher is the opportunity to work with a firm that specializes in your particular area of interest.

Because the Big 5 are so large, they publish books in nearly every genre. They may have imprints and editors who specialize in more niche areas, but their machine is built for a one-size-fits-all model.

Independent publishers, on the other hand, often focus entirely on one genre or subgenre of literature. Many specialize in books about their particular geographic region, while some focus on special interest categories, such as LGBTQ+ topics or children’s books.

This limited focus allows this publisher to gain more expertise in how to publish that specific type of book. They build network connections within the community that buys those particular books, and they learn what marketing strategies are most effective.

Furthermore, this narrow focus eliminates the need for your book to have nationwide appeal. The Big 5 look for books that are going to appeal to a wide range of readers across the country. 

Smaller publishers are often more willing to take on manuscripts that only connect with a specific group of readers.

More Personal Working Relationship

Although landing a Big 5 contract can feel exciting at first, you may soon start to feel lost in the corporate machinery of these companies. Sure, you work closely with your agent and your editor, but you may feel that no one outside of your immediate team knows or cares about your book.

If you’re looking for a more personal working relationship with your publisher, independent publishing houses are the way to go. Because these companies are much smaller than the Big 5, you have a better shot at getting to know the people working on your book. 

When you have questions, you can directly contact the publisher to talk about them. When your book goes into the design stage, you may have meetings with the people working on your interior layout and cover designs. You may even attend sales events with this same team of people, all of whom are invested in seeing your book be the best it can be.

Of course, the relationship you have with your publisher will depend greatly on your particular situation, but independent publishers give you the best shot at a more personal working dynamic.

Shorter Publishing Process

Because smaller publishing houses don’t receive the overwhelming volume of submissions that the Big 5 do, they often don’t require authors to work through a literary agent. Most accept submissions directly and have one or more submission editors in charge of reviewing manuscripts that come in.

This streamlined submissions process can shave months off your publishing process, and that’s only the beginning. Because they’re smaller, these publishers are more agile and often don’t have as many projects going at the same time. They won’t make you sit around for months, waiting for your project to reach the top of the pile.

Often, the publishing process at a smaller publisher can be measured in weeks, not days. In one case at the small publishing house I worked for, we were able to take a book from final manuscript to printed book in three weeks. (It’s important to note that those were very special circumstances; our standard was much closer to two to six months.)

Depending on your particular project, you could be looking at a publishing process that’s well under a year, rather than a three-year ordeal.

Cons of Working with an Independent Publisher

 All that being said, independent publishers aren’t a good fit for every author or every book.

Smaller Distribution Network

The downside of that more tailored expertise is that it comes with a smaller distribution network. Independent publishers may not have relationships with the larger bookstores and will often only have connections with a few local bookstores.

Depending on the size of the publisher you sign on with, you may be looking at a relatively small area of distribution – in some cases, just a small geographical region. If your book only has a regional audience, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But if you’re looking for nationwide sales, a small publisher may not have that kind of reach.

More Limited Design Resources

One of the perks of working with the Big 5 publishers is that they attract the best of the best in the publishing field. The people designing your book interior and cover are at the top of their field, and the products they create will be similarly premium.

However, when you sign on with a small publisher, the staff they have may be more variable in their skill level. To be sure, some independent publishers work with tremendously talented designers. 

But other houses may only have access to some more mediocre designers. If you land at one of those publishers, the limited design resources may hurt your book’s performance.

Less Prestige

Of course, the single biggest downside of working with a small publisher is that they don’t have the prestige of the Big 5. When you tell people you have a contract with Penguin Random House or Harper Collins, that turns heads. Your small local publisher may not have the same clout.

Every author dreams of lucrative contracts with the Big 5. Even if a smaller publisher may be a better fit, they don’t have the same level of prestige that comes with a contract with the larger houses.

Deciding on the Right Path for Your Book

When it comes right down to it, deciding on the right path for your book is a personal matter. It depends on your book, its audience, and your goals.

If you have a book that’s likely to appeal to a wide audience, you’re willing to hang on through a long publishing process, and your biggest priority is getting your book out to as many readers as possible, the Big 5 may be the best choice for you.

If your book has a more niche audience, you need to see your book in print sooner, or you want more control over the presentation of your book, a smaller publisher may offer the right home for your manuscript.

Get Expert Guidance

Deciding whether you want to pursue a contract with the Big 5 or a smaller publishing house is a serious matter. Each has its own advantages, and choosing the right one is a matter of evaluating your book and your priorities. 

Whether you’re trying to prepare your book for submission or decide on the right path to publication, Quickbeam Literary Consulting can help. I offer full copy editing services, as well as publishing guidance and help. Contact me today and start getting the expert guidance you need.