The journey from authorship to publishing

Vanessa Grossett provides some guidelines and advice for authors who want to make the transition into publishing other authors

With self-publishing now leading the way, especially within the Black community, more authors are now becoming publishers.

Not only are they are publishing their own books, but they are also publishing other writers and starting their own imprints.

I believe this will increase more in 2026, especially with Black authors now taking matters into their own hands.

You may be a self-published author, and now you know the publishing process you may be thinking of giving other writers a chance.

Before you do, here are three main things to consider before you set up your own publishing company.

What type of publisher do you want to be?  

You may just want to publish any writer’s book that comes to you, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, and also teach them about the publishing process. If that is the case, you could consider becoming a book coach, which requires far less operational processes.

If you really want to be like a traditional publishing house, catering for underrepresented authors, then you will need to come to the realisation that you won’t accept every author that approaches you.   

You’ll need to think about collaborating with distribution companies, making contact with bookstores, along with raising capital, finding investors, marketing, logistics, contracts, and staffing. You will be running a whole other business.

Are you going to co-publish? This means charging authors for some of the production costs, and you cover the rest. These things need to be well thought out, which is why you would need a business plan.

Priorities and genres: If you want to run a publishing company, you most likely won’t have the time to focus solely on your own manuscript, as you will need to focus on the other authors as well. This is where priorities come in, balancing your own work as well as others’.

If you have not got the capital yet for staff, you will mainly have to do most of the initial stages of reading manuscripts, editing, and even the cover design yourself.

Also, what genres are you going to publish? If you are going to co-publish, then you most likely will publish every genre. But if not, then you may want to consider establishing your publishing company for a specific genre and audience. It would be ideal if you are already writing for that genre and have your own experience.

Why do you want to venture into publishing?Yes, progress still needs to be made within the publishing industry in terms of representation and leadership – especially in the UK – but is that your reason to start a publishing company? As with all businesses, you need to think about your purpose and reason.

If it is just to give underrepresented authors a chance, that is a good reason, but you don’t have to set up a whole publishing company for that. As mentioned previously, you can actually be a book consultant/coach and show and tell them how to get published.

Final thoughts

As a literary manager, I am glad the Black community is taking matters into its own hands and starting to venture into owning publishing houses. If we want to see change, sometimes we need to be the change the world needs to see, in order for things to be accomplished.

I don’t just see this being in books, but in films as well. Nowadays, there are lots of opportunities out there for people to be independent and succeed.

Will it put literary managers out of business? No, in fact literary managers like me can still pitch to independent publishers. The change needs to happen.

With more underrepresented writers setting up their own companies, there will be a wider scope for ethnic minorities in leadership publishing roles, as board members or executive committees, which is basically non-existent within Britain’s traditional publishing houses.

To me, this is revolutionary for the Black community in the UK. We are finally following the example of our American counterparts and creating the opportunities that work for us, and we are united in doing this.

If you really want to set up a publishing company as an author, go for it, and don’t sell yourself short. Just remember that you will be running a whole other business.  

If you want to know the basics of being an author and of the publishing industry, I have written a book, An Author’s Quick Guide to Publishing, which is now available on Amazon.

Happy writing.