{"podcast":{"title":"The Difficulty","slug":"the-difficulty-1194248","podcast_index_feed_id":1194248,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/leading-human/","website_url":"https://chadprevost.substack.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/7987388/484968f857d3780a5b1b04e704c35b33.jpg","author":"Dr. Chad Prevost","episode_count":275,"summary":"Exploring descent and return through psychology, literature, and lived experience. Essays, poetry, stories for those navigating transformation.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-13T16:17:58.066153+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-difficulty-1194248"},"episode":{"title":"Hybrid Publishing Is Having a Moment","slug":"hybrid-publishing-is-having-a-moment","published_at":"2026-06-04T10:55:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-difficulty-1194248/hybrid-publishing-is-having-a-moment","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-difficulty-1194248","url":"https://chadprevost.substack.com/p/hybrid-publishing-is-having-a-moment","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/199887144/65da350058b91a6f4f47c1cb4d0576fa.mp3","summary":"Topics covered: A field report from week one of Crossroads Publishing Group—what’s coming in the door, what’s surprising, what’s confirming. What a hybrid press actually is. A working definition: a publisher where the author shares the financial risk via a fee (broadly $5K to $45K, depending on the engagement), in exchange for real editorial work, professional production, distribution under the press’s imprint, and a higher royalty share than traditional contracts. Why the vanity-press confusion exists, and why it’s no longer accurate to the category as it stands in 2026. The IBPA Hybrid Publisher Pledge—the trade-association standard the legitimate hybrid presses meet (and the vanity operations don’t). Three case studies of serious hybrid presses: S he Writes Press (founded by Brooke Warner, 2012; 500+ titles; Industry Innovator Award from the Book Industry Study Group in 2017; Warner is chair of the IBPA) Greenleaf Book Group (Austin; operating since 2003; 1,500+ titles; multiple New York Times bestsellers) Lucid Books (Texas Christian hybrid; 5,000 authors in 20 years of operation) Three structural reasons the hybrid category is growing while the Big Five contracts: * The agent and Big Five pipeline is capped (≈1,000 active US agents, 3-5 new clients each per year) * Platform requirements at traditional imprints have become unworkable for serious working writers * The math of a hybrid contract is often better for the author: The traditional advance reality in 2026: $5K-$25K for non-celebrity nonfiction, declining year over year, with the author doing the marketing anyway, on a 10-15% royalty, with the publisher owning the ISBN. Why this matters for The Difficulty ‘s actual listeners — coaches, therapists, consultants, pastors, mission-driven leaders, retired executi…","meta_description":"Topics covered: A field report from week one of Crossroads Publishing Group—what’s coming in the door, what’s surprising, what’s confirming. What a hybrid…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1774,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-difficulty-1194248/episodes/hybrid-publishing-is-having-a-moment/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-difficulty-1194248/hybrid-publishing-is-having-a-moment.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}