Publishing
Hey, all.
So, I've been thinking a lot about publishing lately, mainly because of the state of my manuscript. It's getting pretty close—I'm just going to put it through a couple of beta readers and start querying. But that got me thinking ... the process is complicated, and there are a lot of routes you can take. If you're new to writing, this will (hopefully) be helpful to you. If you're an old hat at this stuff, just skip over this. But stay tuned, because I might put pictures of kittens somewhere in my blog at some point.
Route 1: Traditional publishing
The most obvious route. Get an agent, agent uses connections to sell your book, and bang. You're a bajillionaire, right? Nah. I know several bestselling authors who still have a day job. Don't get me wrong, some don't have to. It is possible to earn a good living on advances and royalties, but advances only come when a publisher buys your book (sporadic income) and royalties from what I hear are a pittance. But when you get enough material out there, your ability to make a living with speaking engagements, book signings and other stuff will go up. All of this is complemented by the big publisher's ability to properly market your book.
Route 2: Self-publishing
Probably the most risky of all the routes, but possibly the most financially rewarding. It's extremely hard to get noticed if you self-publish, especially if your main outlet is Amazon, because you're competing with the tens of thousands of other people who are doing the same thing. Some writers are worse, some are better. But it's the issue of a small fish in a big pond. You might want it more than anyone else, but all the other fish have that mindset, as well. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from trying this, by any means. If you have the ability to put out a quality product that people want, can make a visually appealing cover (or digital cover, if you're only doing digital distribution), and a way to get it to people, go for it. Just know that I've spoken to a lot of authors who've tried this and never want to do it again because of the hassle. Sure, you get to keep an absurdly high amount of the proceeds. But I'd personally rather be writing another book instead of doing layout for the old project.
Route 3: Small press
Small presses are all over the place, but you probably don't know much about them. That's because they're small. I've spoken to a few authors who've published with local houses, and they've said it's really hard to manage, because some of the houses don't really know what they're doing, and make mistakes. But hey, everyone makes mistakes, so we can forgive them. The main thing a small, local press gets you is an ISBN, a place in Amazon, a marketing person, a layout person and a small distribution channel. You won't be in Barnes and Noble all over the country, but you'll be able to go to a writing conference and confidently sit down at a signing table and figure on selling a couple copies.
Route 4: "Vanity" presses
Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! Be careful about vanity presses. These are ones that will do things for you, but essentially make you pay them for it. So in the end, you get what you want: your name on the cover, and ISBN, a place on Amazon, and all that jazz. But you've had to shell out cash to get it. But to be fair, everything will be exactly the way you want it to be.
Route 5: Hybrid publishing
This route has gained some traction recently. Rather than committing yourself wholly to a traditional route or a self-publishing route, there are houses that allow for both, if that makes sense. Essentially, they allow you to take charge of a lot of the areas you want, and they pick up the slack. For example, if you know the publisher has a good distribution channel, you can let them use that, and lean on their layout people to make it look good, and you can focus on promoting it to people in person. There are a lot of different types of hybrid presses, so you can do your homework and see what one fits you best. Another benefit is that you keep a little more of the proceeds from each book, since you're doing some of the work to produce each copy.
So that's a general rundown of how the publishing landscape is now. I'm sure there are things I've missed and things that I've gotten wrong, so go ahead and let me know. Don't be shy on calling me out on stuff. I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, people!
Happy writing!
Jeff
So, I've been thinking a lot about publishing lately, mainly because of the state of my manuscript. It's getting pretty close—I'm just going to put it through a couple of beta readers and start querying. But that got me thinking ... the process is complicated, and there are a lot of routes you can take. If you're new to writing, this will (hopefully) be helpful to you. If you're an old hat at this stuff, just skip over this. But stay tuned, because I might put pictures of kittens somewhere in my blog at some point.
Route 1: Traditional publishing
The most obvious route. Get an agent, agent uses connections to sell your book, and bang. You're a bajillionaire, right? Nah. I know several bestselling authors who still have a day job. Don't get me wrong, some don't have to. It is possible to earn a good living on advances and royalties, but advances only come when a publisher buys your book (sporadic income) and royalties from what I hear are a pittance. But when you get enough material out there, your ability to make a living with speaking engagements, book signings and other stuff will go up. All of this is complemented by the big publisher's ability to properly market your book.
Route 2: Self-publishing
Probably the most risky of all the routes, but possibly the most financially rewarding. It's extremely hard to get noticed if you self-publish, especially if your main outlet is Amazon, because you're competing with the tens of thousands of other people who are doing the same thing. Some writers are worse, some are better. But it's the issue of a small fish in a big pond. You might want it more than anyone else, but all the other fish have that mindset, as well. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from trying this, by any means. If you have the ability to put out a quality product that people want, can make a visually appealing cover (or digital cover, if you're only doing digital distribution), and a way to get it to people, go for it. Just know that I've spoken to a lot of authors who've tried this and never want to do it again because of the hassle. Sure, you get to keep an absurdly high amount of the proceeds. But I'd personally rather be writing another book instead of doing layout for the old project.
Route 3: Small press
Small presses are all over the place, but you probably don't know much about them. That's because they're small. I've spoken to a few authors who've published with local houses, and they've said it's really hard to manage, because some of the houses don't really know what they're doing, and make mistakes. But hey, everyone makes mistakes, so we can forgive them. The main thing a small, local press gets you is an ISBN, a place in Amazon, a marketing person, a layout person and a small distribution channel. You won't be in Barnes and Noble all over the country, but you'll be able to go to a writing conference and confidently sit down at a signing table and figure on selling a couple copies.
Route 4: "Vanity" presses
Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! Be careful about vanity presses. These are ones that will do things for you, but essentially make you pay them for it. So in the end, you get what you want: your name on the cover, and ISBN, a place on Amazon, and all that jazz. But you've had to shell out cash to get it. But to be fair, everything will be exactly the way you want it to be.
Route 5: Hybrid publishing
This route has gained some traction recently. Rather than committing yourself wholly to a traditional route or a self-publishing route, there are houses that allow for both, if that makes sense. Essentially, they allow you to take charge of a lot of the areas you want, and they pick up the slack. For example, if you know the publisher has a good distribution channel, you can let them use that, and lean on their layout people to make it look good, and you can focus on promoting it to people in person. There are a lot of different types of hybrid presses, so you can do your homework and see what one fits you best. Another benefit is that you keep a little more of the proceeds from each book, since you're doing some of the work to produce each copy.
So that's a general rundown of how the publishing landscape is now. I'm sure there are things I've missed and things that I've gotten wrong, so go ahead and let me know. Don't be shy on calling me out on stuff. I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, people!
Happy writing!
Jeff
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