Lyn's Diary of an Awkward Klutz

Lyn's Diary of an Awkward Klutz

The Truth About Publishing

Spilling Some Tea...

Lyn Liao Butler's avatar
Lyn Liao Butler
May 26, 2026
∙ Paid

When I was just starting out in the publishing world, I had no idea what really happened after I signed with an agent and got a contract with a Big 5 Publisher. I thought my career was made, that my publisher would just keep buying books from me. Well, that’s not what happened and that’s not the reality of publishing these days. It used to be that a publisher would give an author 5 - 6 books to prove themselves, but now, if you don’t “break out” and become a NYT bestseller or sell millions of books for you first book (or sometimes two), they drop you.

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