The first thing to understand about publishing houses is that we pay you for the rights of your book, ideas, and whatever else is in the contract. This means that the publishing house “owns” your book and you simply get a cut of the earnings (a small, 5%-10% cut).
The way this typically works is that you, the author, finds an agent. This agent then pitches your manuscript to publishing houses.
If the house likes the concept or even the full manuscript, we’ll purchase the rights to your book with a contract that typically includes an advance and royalty rate—occasionally with a multi-book deal if we see the potential.
From here, the publishing house pairs you with an editor, where you work to write the book, edit it, and get it publish-ready. Meanwhile, other individuals in the publishing house work on the book cover, title, and other tasks the writer doesn’t need to worry about when going through traditional publishing.