A lot of people seem to think that traditional publishing is free. After all, the author doesn't have to pay anything, right?Wrong. Traditional publishing is not free. In fact, it can be quite expensive. The author has to pay for the editor, the cover artist, the printer, the ISBN, the shipping, and so on. And that's just for the physical book. If the author wants to publish electronically, there are even more costs.So, traditional publishing is not free. But it can be worth it if the author can find a good publisher who will help to promote and sell the book.