Should Writers Still Chase Big 5 Traditional Publishing in 2026?

My thoughts after a year of studying debut deals

A Note From Me: I’m having a spring forward sale. Forty percent off a yearly subscription. That’s $21 a year, 40 cent an issue

This week a client and subscriber asked me questions I’d been thinking about for a long time: “Have we reached the watershed moment for authors when it comes to Big 5 trad publishing? Is it crazy to pursue it anymore?”

Optimist that I am, my mind immediately turned to the positives about trad publishing.

It’s hard to replace the thrill of having publishing team members take your ideas and fashion them into a novel. It’s also gratifying to feel chosen. Book people, god love them, pepper their correspondences with superlatives and exclamation marks. The gushing can make you feel like a literary genius.

Also, the rites of passage surrounding the process entice: posting a screenshot of the Publishers Marketplace deal on social media, making an unboxing video, spying your book on the new release table at your favorite indie.

But the big question is, are those rewards worth it? I’ve been involved in publishing in one way or another for twenty plus years, and I’m beginning to wonder.