Traditional publishing
PublishingThe classic model: the publisher bears all costs and risks and pays the author royalties — money flows toward the author, never the reverse.
Example
Signed contract: advance, percentage on every sale, zero euros out of the author's pocket.
Traditional publishing is the classic model: the publisher selects the text, bears all costs (editing, design, printing, distribution, promotion) and pays the author royalties proportional to sales, often preceded by an advance. The contract organizes a rights license in exchange for that risk-taking.
The golden rule that follows protects against the sector's every scam: in traditional publishing, money always flows from publisher to author. A "house" asking for cost-sharing, a copy purchase or any payment is practicing paid publishing — whatever vocabulary it dresses it in.
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