Publishing & MarketingRealities
for the Emerging Author
A Guide to Help Authors Effectively Choose
a Publishing Path & Plan Marketing Strategies
by Christine Rose
Blue Moose Press ~ Austin, TX
pen. produce. publish.
thebluemoosepress.com
Discover other titles by the Blue Moose Press at Smashwords.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/rowanofthewood
Copyright 2011 by Christine Rose. All rights reserved.
Edited by TS Tate
ISBN-13: 978-0-9819949-7-0
Smashwords Edition.
ATTENTION ORGANIZATIONS AND SCHOOLS:
Quantity discounts are available on bulk purchases of this book for educational purposes or fund raising.
This book is available in print (ISBN-13: 978-0-9819949-4-9) at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the author’s website, and wherever else books are sold. Links at:
bluemoosepress.wordpress.com
christinerose.wordpress.com
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Dedicated to
Dr. Q, Hans, Adrienne, Nick, & Liz
And especially to Ethan
for your support and kindness
Introduction: An Open Letter to the Emerging Author
There are just under 800 books published every single day in the USA. That's nearly 300,000 books a year (Bowker)[1]. The average book sells fewer than 500 copies in its lifetime[2]. This average includes books that sell millions like Harry Potter or Twilight, so there are many books out there selling fewer than fifty copies. According to Book Expo America (BEA), 93% of novels sell less than 1,000 copies[3].
Decide now that yours won't be one of those.
Since mid-2008, my husband and I have been touring the country, promoting our books at bookstores, festivals, and conventions. At every event, I inevitably get asked the same question: "How did you go about getting published?" or some similar variation. However, in the middle of an event, I cannot really go into a lengthy discussion of the many avenues to publish one's book, nor can I delve into the details of our complicated publishing history. It seems that people want some nice, concise answer?some sort of formula they can follow?but there is no simple formula. What works for one writer might not work for the next. It depends on the writer's goals, their work, and the time they wish to devote to marketing and sales.
One day in Starbucks, because I just have to have my decaf nonfat no-whip mocha (with foam), the Barista asked what I did for a living. As I proceeded to tell her about our book and tour, she politely smiled, but her eyes glazed over in a matter of seconds. I wrapped it up quickly, not wanting to bore the poor woman. I recognized that she was just making conversation and not asking about my personal life history. After all, this has become my life. Day and night, so when I get going, it can be rather hard for me to stop.
However, as I went back to my comfy chair in the corner, a patron stopped me.
"Excuse me," she said, "But I couldn't help but overhear that you're an author. How did you go about getting published?"
That's when the proverbial light bulb went on inside my dark, twisted mind. Emerging authors want to know because they want to do the same thing. This is their dream, too. They want to hear the long, convoluted story. They want to be a successful author, and they see me as a successful author, if for no other reason than I'm a living, breathing, working, published author who has sold over 5,000 books. They want to know my secret.
Of course, one can't give a complete assessment on how to go about getting published in a Starbucks or at a Renaissance Festival or a Fantasy Convention.
Still, emerging authors want to know, and I discovered that I wanted to show them, not only how to get published, as there are many options, but also how to avoid some of the common pitfalls.
The greatest problem is that there are so many options, especially in today's fast-paced, ever-changing, electronic marketplace. There is not a single way that will work for all writers. In fact, each writer will need to thoroughly examine his/her goals, energy level, and budget to determine which path will best serve them and their book.
The information on these pages will help you make that decision. Throughout the book, I will lay out the pros and cons of the four basic publishing paths from which a writer must choose. I will delve into the all-consuming world of marketing, giving you my best practices and worst mistakes.
I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. Rather, I'm going to give it to you straight. And I mean straight. I will not seduce you with promises of the New York Times Best Seller list (NYTBSL) or gala parties celebrating your genius as the latest Great American Novelist. Some of the information will sound quite harsh. Some of it will be very discouraging. You might find yourself questioning whether or not it is all worth it.
And it is important to ask those kinds of questions.
But the information herein is not to burst your bubble. Rather, to give you a realistic snapshot of the options available to you and the benefits, or potential downfalls, of each. Everything in these pages I learned the hard way, so you don't have to.
Utilizing my experiences, both successes and failures, you can effectively and realistically prepare yourself for the very long road ahead. Let's stick with that metaphor for a moment. You're embarking on a long road trip, one that will last for years. It is essential to have a map so you don't take any major wrong turns, which will only serve to make your journey longer and all the more frustrating.
First. The life of a working author is literally non-stop.
Non-stop writing.
Non-stop editing.
Non-stop networking.
Non-stop promotion.
Non-stop work.
It becomes your life.
If you think you're going to be living in a penthouse suite surrounded by your bestsellers, then you have a better chance at winning the lottery. Seriously.
If this is your only goal, save yourself a lot of frustration and spend a dollar every week playing your state lottery.
It certainly can and does happen, and, of course, if you don't play, you can't win; but you need to fully understand what you're up against.
Quitting your day job and becoming a full-time author takes great courage because it's very, very risky. In fact, I would not recommend quitting your day job at this point. Even if you have a great book that is packaged professionally and has decent distribution, it generally takes years of marketing, and multiple titles, to actually make enough money to support yourself from book sales alone.
The very first thing you must do is ask yourself these questions. Get a pen and paper, and give each question and answer considerable thought before you continue reading. Your honest answers will help you decide which publishing path is best for you and your book.
• What do you want to accomplish with your book?
• When do you want this done?
• Do you want to live solely off of writing, or do you just want to see your work in print? Or something in between?
• Do you want to be a New York Times Best Seller (who doesn't?)
• By when?
• Do you want to/can you travel extensively?
• How much time do you want to put into marketing your book? What is your initial marketing budget?
• Do you want to ultimately quit your day job? Why or why not?
• How much money are you willing to invest in this venture? How much time each day? Each week?
• What will you have to accomplish to feel like a "successful author"?
When is a big part of the equation here.
How much you want to work is also a big part of the equation.
Trust me. You will work way, way, way less at any other job, not to mention get a steady paycheck and benefits like health insurance, stock options, and a retirement plan, unless, of course, you're in business for yourself. If you own and run your own business, then you already know the meaning of work.
It can become your entire life. There is nothing else.
That is what it means to be a working author:
It becomes your entire life.
Every waking moment.
Every single day.
As an emerging author, your four basic publishing choices are:
1. New York "Big Boy" Publisher (this includes the top six publishing houses: Penguin, HarperCollins, Scholastic, St. Martin's, Harlequin, Simon & Schuster, etc.)
2. An Independent Publisher (aka Indie or Micro-Publisher)
3. "Self-Publishing" (or an Independent Publishing House that you happen to own)
4. Vanity/Subsidy Publishing (many people call this "Self-Publishing," but I make a distinction between the two in the following section.)
Part I: Publishing
Writing a book is very hard. I know. I've done it six times now. Seven, counting this one. However, as hard as it is, writing your book is the easiest part of this process. Getting published is infinitely more difficult, especially if you go with the first of the four basic choices: a New York "Big Boy" Publisher.
1. New York Big Boys (NYBB)
Random House. Scholastic. HarperCollins. Penguin. WW Norton. Simon & Schuster. Macmillan (including Tor and St. Martins). Harlequin. Little Brown, Orbit, and other imprints of the Hachette Book Group also belong in this non-comprehensive list.
These NYBB also have countless numbers of imprints that look "Indie" at first sight, but are actually a Big Boy. Do your research. And there is extensive research throughout the publishing and marketing process, so get used to doing research.
If you don't know your way around the Internet, learn.
Seriously.
Remember those questions I had you answer in the introduction? You're going to start to need your answers here:
If you want your book to rocket to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list (NYTBSL), a NYBB is your best shot, and even with a NYBB behind you, it's still a long shot. It happens every day, of course, but the ratio of authors on the NYTBSL to all authors published by NYBB is very low. Additionally, contrary to popular belief, being on the NYTBSL does not make a career. Sometimes it doesn't even make the author much money. And if it does help you earn out your advance, it is unlikely to provide residual income.
Google this: "Realities of a Best Seller Royalty Statement" and see what some best-selling authors have to say about it.
If you want a hefty five or six figure advance, a NYBB is your best shot. That said, such large advances have become the exception rather than the norm. With the recent changes seen in the industry since 2009, fewer and fewer new authors are being signed. Publishers aren't taking the risks they once were, and that means sticking with known authors who bring in the bucks. This is bad news for the new author and the little guy. Even if you are one of the fortunate ones taken under the large wing of a NYBB, advances are more in the $10,000 range, often for two books, paid out in installments over a year or longer.
This does not a living make.
If you want your book out within the next three-five years or you want more than 2-7% of the net (cover price minus printing & other costs), then you don't want a NY Big Boy.
NYBB publishing houses are working off of a century-old business model, and it's starting to affect them and their bottom line. In 2010, Dorchester Publishing went bankrupt. Others will no doubt be merging and/or following Dorchester soon. Publishers are struggling to balance their bottom lines, and part of this reason is their stance on eBooks and eBook over-pricing. More information is provided in the eBook section.
Reality Check: Let's say, just for kicks, that you query some agents and by some miracle you get an agent to represent you this week. Another miracle, that agent gets you a publisher next week. Both are highly unlikely, by the way. However, even if these two miracles happen for you, it will still be 18-24 months before you see your book in print. If nothing else, Big Boy publishing is a long, long, long, long, slow, steep uphill road.
That's how the Big Boys work.
Now think about a more likely scenario:
You spend the next six months researching the ins and outs of every agent, which you absolutely must do. You find your dream agent and zero in on him/her, learning everything you can about them.
• Find out what they like and what they don't like.
• Red their entire blog.
• Follow them on Twitter.
• Interact with their other clients.
• Review their clients' books.
• Research queries and learning what to do and what not to do.
Then you work on your query until it's perfect, and you send it off to your dream agent. Most agents have a response time that spans from a few weeks to six months or more, and many do not allow simultaneous submissions.
After all of that, one year has already passed.
Let's say your research and query and manuscript are so good, this agent offers you representation. (Otherwise you have to start the process over again with another agent.) Congrats! You are represented in New York and are one step closer to getting published by a Big Boy.
But wait, you're still not that close.
Your new agent loves your book, but it needs a little more work. After going through the edits your agent requested (another two weeks to several months), s/he starts shopping it out. The agent then queries the publishers, just as you queried the agent. This process also takes time. Sometimes you'll hit the lottery and they'll snatch it up, but usually it's several months. Before you know it, another year has passed. And this is all before a publisher says YES.
From the time you started this process, up to two years have passed. Then you finally get that YES, and it was all worth it...but you're still not done.
After a publisher says YES and you get your contract comes more rewriting, editing, and polishing. Like I said, another 18-24 months to publication from the YES. By the end of the process, two to four years have gone by for your first book. Hopefully in the meantime, you have been writing other books, so the subsequent books, if your first one sold well enough, will not take so long.
Additionally, Big Boy or not, it's up to the author to market him/herself and their book. Unless you win the lottery a third time (that's after getting an agent and a big publisher with a fat advance), you won't get any marketing budget from the publisher. If you're really lucky, you might get matching funds for your out-of-pocket marketing expenses.
And if you thought getting a publisher was hard, it's a huge piece of dark chocolate cake next to marketing your book, the second part of the equation. During this entire two-to-four-year process, you should be building your online networks, blogging, and making connections, online and off, that will help you once your books are on the shelves.
Congratulations! Your book is now on the shelves in every major bookstore across the nation!
Reality Check: With a Big Boy, your book has three months (90 days) to make its mark, or they go onto the next book. If it isn't selling well, your book is dropped, but the NYBB still has the rights, so you can't do anything else with it.
That said, with a Big Boy, you will have the benefit of their in-house publicist, their impressive name, their media and industry contacts, prolific distribution, and possibly excellent bookstore placement, which is how the majority of brick-and-mortar shoppers find their next book. Visibility is what it's all about. If you aggressively market on top of this, you have a good chance of earning back your advance, which in the eyes of the Big Boys, is a fine success. They will likely buy your next book, and so on.
However, again, it's extremely difficult (read: near impossible) to get a NYBB as your publisher, especially in since the huge industry shift that started in 2009. Big Boys are taking on fewer and fewer new authors every day. Money is too tight and the industry is changing too fast for them to take that risk.
It happens, of course, but the odds are akin to winning the lottery.
Seriously.
This is not to discourage you. If you write well and you have a lot of patience and can invest years into the process, Big Boys are the way to go. You'll have the validity and the prestige. You'll have fabulous distribution. Once in, you'll have the best shot at becoming that best-selling author. Once in, many publishers will treat you like family.
So, based on your answers to the questions from the introduction, you have decided that New York Big Boy is the best publishing path for you.
Now here is how to get one:
First, you absolutely must go through a literary agent. NYBBs, as a rule, do not take unsolicited submissions. Although author Dean Wesley Smith claims differently in Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing[4] (also linked directly from my blog[5]), and it is well worth the read. Getting a literary agent takes huge amounts of research, a query letter even more polished than your completed novel, a very high tolerance for rejection, unlimited patience, and an unwavering positive outlook.
Literary Agents
Literary agents are those elusive, magical creatures who will help you and your book rocket to the NY Times Best Seller list (NYTBSL). Without agents, you have virtually no chance in getting a NYBB publisher, which is your best (but certainly not your only) chance in becoming a best-selling author on a grand scale.
Before you ever contact even ONE literary agent, there are three things you absolutely must do:
1. Finish and polish your book. This means have more people than just your family members read it. Have beta reading groups, writing groups, online critique or writing critique groups give you their critiques as well. (Sometimes for non-fiction, an agent will only require a book proposal, but this book focuses mostly on fiction writers.)
2. Research. And I mean extensive research that will likely take three to six months of your time before you ever send your first query. More on this below.
3. Write and revise and revise and revise and revise and revise your query letter based on the information you found in the aforementioned research. Then get it critiqued and revise it again.
I'm not kidding.
Literary agents get between 75 and 500 queries every single day. Most of them are subpar queries from writers who didn't do the above three things. These are easily deleted by literary agents, but it also puts them in a mood to hit the delete button going forward. I can't begin to imagine how exhausting it must be wading through their slush[6] pile. Query after query, several of which brag about how wonderful their novel is and how it's going to make said agent rich, day after day after mind-numbingly boring day.
While preparing to search for an agent, I participated in Nathan Bransford's Agent for a Day[7] exercise in 2009, and I was shocked to realize what a literary agent goes through daily.
On a very, very light day.
Read this entire exercise from beginning to end[8]. This will put you in your prospective agent's position. From this perspective you will write a better query letter.
Then I suggest you read his entire blog[9] in full, as part of your research. I'll also list other blogs for you to research in the Appendix.
If you really want that NYBB, you will need to do all these things first.
There are no shortcuts.
Don't send a query they can easily delete.
Don't give them a reason to delete it.
They don't need a reason to delete it.
They need a reason not to delete it.
DO THE RESEARCH.
The Research
Before you ever submit a query to an agent, you have to get to know them. Each and every one of them.
Don't submit a Young Adult (YA) story to an agent who says they do not represent children's books, unless they specify that YA is okay. YA is a fuzzy area?some consider them children's, some don't. Know what they accept and what they don't.
Learn about who they are. Their choice in client leans heavily on those who make a personal connection with the agent in question. It has to do with what they like. What they need. What they choose to represent. What they can sell.
Agents don't care that "everybody" likes your book. Whether that "everybody" is friends and family or whether you've actually tested the market.
Agents don't want to hear how you are going to make them a lot of money, because they hear that countless times a day. Read the Query Shark blog[10] in full.In Full. And you'll see what I'm talking about.
Reality Check: Rachelle Gardner, of the WordServe Literary Agency, blogged about her slush pile for 2010. She received over 10,000 queries. How many clients did she find through those cold queries? ZERO. That's right. Not one query resulted in representation with this agent. She found new clients through conferences, referrals, and even blogging.
Seriously.[11]
Ms. Gardner has since deleted that post (how interesting!), but her client Judy Hedland's reference to it in her blog[12] still exists.
New York Publishing is changing so fast at the moment that many agents are finding other jobs. Nathan Bransford, mentioned earlier, is no longer an agent. He is now an author. Colleen Lindsay, of #queryfail fame, left the FinePrint Literary Agency to take a job in business development at Penguin.
The system is in flux.
Do your research.
When you think you've done enough,
You haven't.
Do some more.
It is changing every day.
***My Personal Experience with Agents***
When we left our first publisher in April 2009, I briefly thought about looking for an agent. In fact, I even spoke directly with an agent, whose attention I had gained through my Twitter presence. When the fact that my marketing abilities helped sell nearly 2,000 copies of my book in the first four months didn't impress this agent, I decided against seeking representation. Here is why:
Selling 2,000 copies in four months is no small feat for a first-time author with a small indie publisher. In fact, our indie publisher couldn't financially keep up with the print demand. Remember, 2,000 copies is four times the amount the average book sells in its lifetime. The agent acknowledged that it was indeed impressive, but it wasn't enough. When I told the agent how people responded to the book, how I received countless emails about how they couldn't put it down, etc., this agent responded, "Now you have to get an editor to feel that way about it."
That's when I was done. I had thousands of readers who said they loved it, but I had to impress a single person. Not for this writer. For me at that point in our YARowan of the Wood series, it was too much work and risk to wait possibly years to get the sequel out. I didn't want our growing readership to have to wait that long, so I chose a different route.
Interestingly, nearly a year later, another agent found me via Twitter, or rather found my alter ego O. M. Grey (Twitter: @omgrey). As a marketing experiment, I created the persona O. M. Grey to author my steampunk[13] paranormal romance book Avalon Revisited. The entire Olivia experiment can be found in the Marketing section of this book. So, now both Christine & Ethan Rose and O. M. Grey are proud to be represented by Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Agency.
Still. This is the exception, not the rule. However, I do believe more and more agents will be finding clients this way. They want authors who know how to market themselves. Those are the authors that will survive the change, according to my agent.
What Agents Want
• A query letter that causes them to pause and take their finger off the delete key. Voice. Good writing.
• Something they can **sell** This is the key. Because if they can't sell it, they don't get paid, then they can't pay their own mortgage, bills, etc. Remember, an agent doesn't make a dime until you do. If they're asking for payment up front, they are not a reputable agent. Get familiar with the Predators & Editors website.[14] There is a depressing amount of people out there trying to make their living from preying on emerging authors' dreams and ignorance. Don't be one of their victims.
• Something agents can sell is often something that can be put into a pre-labeled box. The NY publishing industry really likes boxes with very clear labels. I was once told that I would have to rewrite my YA series in first person for it to sell as a YA book. Nonsense. There are countless YA books out there in complete omniscient POV[15]. I've just recently read two of them. But that's the box NY had currently chosen, so that's what they were looking for.
• Agents don't like crossovers or genre mashups. Again. The box. It doesn't matter that the best-selling series of the 21st century is a YA crossover. Agents want to put anything new in a box. It's easier to pitch to the publishers because that's what the publishers want.
• Many agents don't like prologues or series. Go figure.
I'm not saying that this makes any sense. This is just what I've learned being out in the publishing trenches since 2007.
What I do know is this: the better you know the agent you're querying, the better chance you have at standing out amongst their enormous slush pile. The better you know the agent, the better chance you have in writing a query letter that will result in a positive response.
Use something like QueryTracker[16] to help you keep track of the agents you research and ultimately query. Several agents will not allow simultaneous submissions. That means if you query them, you had better not query anyone else until you hear back from them. It's well-worth the $25/year for the premium account.
Find your top ten agents. Do even deeper research on them. Follow their blogs for a month or two before you query. Follow them on Twitter. Get to know them as people. Review the books of their other clients and post them on your blog, promote them on Twitter. This strategy worked very well for a colleague. This way, your dream agent sees you.
Then your query has to knock their socks off.
After those rejections, do the next group. It can take up to six months for an agent to respond to your query. If you're not getting a request for a partial for every third query (and you're submitting to the right agents in the right way, due to your research), then there is something wrong with your query. Revise it again.
Did I mention this was time consuming?
This is where the publishing route could take four years or more to see your book in print. If you don't want to wait, then this isn't the avenue for you. More than anything, you must have unlimited patience when dealing with New York.
Patience while researching.
Patience during the query process.
Patience after you find an agent.
Patience after you find a publisher.
So send that query out, set yourself a follow up reminder on your phone or calendar in six weeks, then forget about it. Go write your next short story or start on a new novel. Keep writing. When your reminder goes off, follow up and set a new reminder, et cetera. Then go back to writing. It is essential to keep writing and to continue sending your work out. Then, once it tips for you, you will have a pile of manuscripts ready to go.
Truly, there are so many DOs and DON'Ts for agents, I can't put them all here, and it would only be repeating what's elsewhere anyway. This is the part where you have to do your research.
Get well acquainted with Google.
TIPS:
• Don't think that you're the exception. You're not.
• Don't think that they'll love your pitch so much they'll represent something they don't normally represent. They won't.
• You are not the exception. I mean it.
• In their eyes, you are another wannabe author who needs them. If you give them any reason to pass you over, they will.
They don't need a reason to pass you over.
They need a reason not to.
Trust me. Finding an agent will be your full-time job for three months to a year, or more. It's a commitment. It's a lot of work and research, but it will be worth it when you hold that five-or-six-figure advance in your hands from HarperCollins.
The only way to win that lottery is to play their game.
It is a huge risk, but it all depends on what you want.
Pro/Con List for the NYBB Publishing Path
PROS
• Huge publishing name behind you
• Possible marketing budget and in-house publicist
• Industry connections
• Media connections
• Prestige
• Best shot at New York Times/USA Today Best Seller List
• Likely decent-to-good bookstore placement
• Wide distribution
• Possible hefty advance
CONS
• Landing an agent and NYBB publisher are about as likely as winning the lottery. Twice. Remember 75-500 queries every. single. day.
• You get a very, very small percentage (2-7%) with a NYBB.
• It's still up to you to market your book, and you see less return per book.
• It will take three to five-plus years to see your book in print.
• They give your book ninety days to make a splash, then they go onto the next one.
• The publishing industry is in a great state of flux at the moment. Things are changing, but the NYBB aren't changing with them. They're still working off a century-old business model.
• After all of the research and querying you may still not get an agent.
• After getting an agent, you may still not get a publisher. Now you're two to three years into this process, so what's next?
• It's, as you can see from the above two, very risky. However, the reward can be great. If you have the patience and the talent, not to mention a full-time day job to support you in the mean time, definitely go this route.
2. Independent Publisher
(aka Micro Press, Indie Press)
If you've decided that it's all just too much or will take too long or is too uncertain to try for a NYBB Publisher, your next choice is a smaller, independent publisher.
Now indie publishers can range from large companies with dozens of employees to a "mom & pop" publishing company run by just one or two people. Some may have an agreement with a distributor, some may not. Some give advances, and some do not. Some actually require submissions strictly through a literary agent, so you're back to trying to find one of those.
In this day and age, nearly every indie publisher will have a website which contains their submission guidelines. Follow them. Here again is where you have to do some research and follow simple directions, just like you would have to find an agent.
If they publish solely paranormal romance, don't submit general fiction.
Common sense, really.
You'll also want to follow the same instructions for writing a query letter, as if you were writing one for a literary agent. It's still a good idea to know something about the publisher, their acquisitions editor, and what they like. They probably have blogs. The Internet is an amazing resource. Use it. Not tech savvy? Learn.
When you leave the realm of literary agents and NYBB Publishers, you have to start watching out for total scams. There are many people out there who want to prey on your dreams.
Don't let them.
Things to watch out for: (Seriously, pay close attention to these. I have met author upon author with horror stories of indie publishing experiences. Everything from losing all their rights, even their own copyright, which should always be in the author's name, to losing tens of thousands of dollars.)
ANY PUBLISHER who asks for money up front is not a traditional publisher.
They are a vanity/subsidy press trying to masquerade as traditional publishers. A traditional publisher takes on a huge part of the financial risk, that's why they get such a big cut (at least 80%, usually more).
Traditional publishers pay for:
• the editor.
• the proofreader.
• the cover artist.
• the ISBN numbers.
• the print runs.
• They format and lay out the book.
• They deal with the Library of Congress and the US Copyright office.
• They send out review copies at their expense (both printing & shipping).
• They help you set up book signings and should have a nice release party for your book.
• They, hopefully, have distribution, or else your book won't be available in stores.
• You will get X# of copies of your book for free, but you will have to buy other copies from them for your own purposes/events. This should most definitely be at least for 50% of the cover price.
BUT BEWARE
If a publisher says something like:
"The more books you buy from us,
the more it will help us out."
RUN!
Very fast in the opposite direction.
This indicates that they do not have the working capital to invest in a proper print run without your (the author's) financial help. Unfortunately, going with an Independent Press can be the worst choice of your writing career. You will not only lose your publishing rights, but they will overprice your book and your eBook, neither of which you have any control over, leaving you with no option but to abandon that book. I've seen it happen, more than once, to talented authors with excellent books that have been lost to obscurity.
The fact is many Independent Publishers don't have the capital to effectively publish your book and justify their hefty percentage.
Here's how it works:
• Publishers get books printed for a fraction of the cover price. Take for example a paperback book of about 250 pages, 8.5x5.5 in size. It should cost between $1.50 and $3.50 per book to print, depending on the size of the print run. The more in a print run, the less the cost per book.
• For a small print run of 1,000 books, that's $3,000 at $3.00, a high estimated figure for 1,000 books. If they're charging you 50% of the cover price (say, $7.48 for a cover price of $14.95[17], because novels are always overpriced with a small, indie press), you're paying that $3,000 for 401 books.
• They just got 599 books without *any* financial risk of their own. For free because you just paid for the print run.
• Yet, they're taking at least 80% of the sale price from the print run you funded.
You might as well publish it yourself, if this is the case.
However, again, if you just want to see your book in print and not worry about any of the publishing aspect, if you don't plan on doing much promotion, or if it will just bean after-work hobby for you, this type of publisher can work for you.
Just know what you're getting into.
Same as with the Big Boys, and every other publishing option, promoting your book is up to you. With the independent publisher, they, too, might have an in-house publicist at your disposal. That's a good thing. It also means they make enough to have employees, another good sign that they are a viable business.
ADVICE: Unless a publisher gives you an advance, even if it's a small, token advance, they're not going to have the capital or the incentive to really push your book.
Don't sign away your rights for nothing.
Be sure to check out Predators & Editors[18] before signing anything. It's certainly not comprehensive, but it's a start.
The previous pages contain a brief overview of things to watch out for with an Independent Publisher. Actually, most of those things show you how to see through a scam. "Publishers" who do those things aren't traditional publishers. (By the way, if they go out of their way to assert they're a "traditional publisher," then they're probably not.)
An actual Independent Publisher might be perfect for your book because you get the benefit of traditional publishing:
• Someone sharing the risk and the reward
• Distribution in all major retail outlets
• A team behind you in your journey
• The validation and prestige of being a published author, which means someone other than you believed enough in you/your book to invest in it
• You don't have the stigma of being "self-published." Granted, this stigma is lessening, but it is still there.
An independent publisher should be your partner in this journey. One of the greatest reasons to go Indie is the close relationship one can have with their publisher and editor.
Indie publishers aren't running a multi-billion dollar corporation. They're generally more about the author.
For example:
• You, as an author, might get more say in your cover art (something that almost never happens with a NYBB).
• You will likely get a higher percentage than with a NYBB. With an Independent Publisher, your percentage will be between 10%-20%.
• Before signing with any publisher, ask around. Ask their other authors (note: plural) what doing business with them is like. Because, bottom line, this is a business.
◦ Do they pay royalties on time? If there are no royalties to pay out, do they at least send your reports on time?
◦ Do they keep the author in the loop?
◦ Do they assist in any marketing efforts?
◦ Are they reasonable to work with or is it one drama after another?
◦ Do they support the author's marketing efforts?
◦ Do they send out review copies? To whom? How many? Is there a cap?
◦ Have they ever fallen behind in keeping up with the demand of a book?
• Don't be so over-the-moon about someone wanting to publish your work that you don't protect yourself legally and financially. This is still YOUR work. Your baby. Your book. And you should benefit from it at least as much as the other "middle men;" i.e., publisher, distributor, wholesaler, etc.
Again, if they're giving you at least a few thousand dollar advance, they'll be more committed to your success than if they give you nothing.
Don't kid yourself. It's all about the money to any business, and the publishing business is certainly not an exception.
If they invest in your book with an advance, you better believe they're going to work very hard to get a return on that investment.
ADVICE: Don't sign with any publisher unless they are giving you some kind of advance. Don't sign away your rights for nothing.
Many Independent Publishers are also authors who publish their own books as well as others'. This is totally fine! Some Indie Publishers started publishing companies so they could publish their own books, but you must ensure that your book's success is more important to them than their own book's success.
As a publisher, if they have more than three different authors, they've gained a level of validity in the industry. The Library of Congress won't allow a publisher to get In-Publication-Data unless they've published at least three different authors and are "most likely to be widely acquired by U.S. libraries."[19]
Ten different authors under one publishing house gives them a higher level of validity. Ingrams, the largest book wholesaler in the US, won't even look at a publisher until they've published ten different authors. (There is a way to go through Ingrams without this, but I'll save this for the next section about "self-publishing.")
Just ensure this Independent Publisher is not using your book to validate their publishing business, so they can publish more of their own books.
Basically, are they an author-first or a publisher-first house?
**My Personal Experience with an Independent Publisher**
Our original publisher, to whom I will refer as merely The Publisher Who Shall Not Be Named (PWSNBN), took us for a bumpy ride; however, after talking with other of their authors, we got off easy.
After trying for an agent for about six months (I now know that is nowhere near long enough to search) with no luck, Ethan and I decided that we would just publish our novel ourselves back in 2007. As a last ditch effort, I read an article written by a local publisher, and I sent a query. They were interested in our novel and decided to publish it. Our book was scheduled for release in eight months, very fast compared to NYBB, no doubt. I made it very clear that we were going to aggressively market our book and travel the country doing so. I started making plans for the release of our book, which was supposed to be August 2, 2008. We scheduled several events, and it wasn't until late July that we were told our official release would be pushed back until October. All those pre-paid conventions and festivals were now pointless, as we would not have a book in-hand to promote until October. These things happen, we told ourselves, as there are always delays in publishing. We did some local events in late 2008, and I went all out with costume contests and spooky treats, all under a Halloween theme. As I told the PWSNBN, we were going to be aggressive.
By early 2009, we were on the road, promoting our book as aggressively as I knew how. We ended up traveling 19,000 miles throughout 2009 in our Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan[20] promoting the book and preparing for the sequel. In the midst of blogging daily, making two video blogs (vlogs) a week for YouTube (TheTuberRose), hosting a BlogTalkRadio show once a week, and visiting between two and three bookstores a week, I also started researching agents and how to query properly. I was determined to find an agent and a new publisher for our sequel, as the PWSNBN proved to be quite difficult to work with. (Side note: no publisher will pick up a series in mid-series. Just FYI)
However, just after we returned home from the second leg of the tour in early April 2009, I started getting calls and emails from several Barnes & Nobles about our upcoming third (and longest) leg of our nationwide tour. This time we would be gone for five months straight, traveling from Texas up through Minnesota, the Dakotas, Utah, Colorado, over to Washington State and back across the continent to New York before settling in Kansas and finally coming back to Texas at the end of October. This entire tour had been planned and mostly paid for. These calls and emails from Barnes & Nobles all said the same thing: "We can't get your book."
Really?
I was about to embark on a two-week blog tour in which I was going to give away a $360 Kindle 2, among other contest giveaways, on top of my normal marketing efforts. I frantically called the PWSNBN and asked her why the bookstores couldn't get our books. She said that we would have to buy more books from her so she could afford another print run.
Again. Really?
At this time in our business relationship, we had already sold over 1,000 books (first five months of release) through their distributor, and Ethan and I had sold another 2,000 on the road. We were by far the best-selling book of the PWSNBN, but it became very obvious that did not matter to this publisher. If we canceled this tour because the publisher couldn't afford to print the books, we would lose thousands of dollars. At the same time, it was not our responsibility to fund the print run.
So I fought to get our rights back.
The PWSNBN had been hounding me to sign an updated contract during the early months of 2009, but I had yet to sign as it took more rights and higher percentages. It even took the rights to our characters. By this time, the PWSNBN had already been several weeks late with the accounting report and failed to pay us our royalties, so we were able to get out of our original contract on a technicality and move forward on our own, salvaging most of our summer tour. Lucky for us, as other authors under the PWSNBN did not get out so easily. They had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which likely tells you all you need to know about their experience with the PWSNBN.
So, yes. Be very careful.
Pro/Con List for the Indie Publishing Path
PROS
• Validity and prestige of being picked up by a publisher
• A team working with you that is usually very author-centered
• Possible marketing budget & in-house publicist, depending on size
• Possible industry connections
• Possible media connections
• Possible[21] good distribution and stocked in bookstores
• Possible advance
• With some indie publishers, you'll be able to keep some of the publishing rights, like merchandising, movie/TV, electronic, etc... not an option at all with NYBB.
• You get a larger percentage (10-20%) than a NYBB (2-7%).
• Many indie publishers are actually in a better financial state in the current economy than the NYBB are at the moment.
• You can retain more control over your book and not have to deal with the publishing end of it (ISBN #s, Library of Congress, US Copyright, printing costs, etc.)
CONS
• It's still up to you to market your book, and you have to share the returns
• It will take one to three-plus years to see your book in print after acquisition
• As with any publisher, if after you sign the papers they don't treat you or your book well, you could have just lost the right to publish or find another publisher for years. Know what you're signing. Talk to several of their other authors. Have an escape clause in the contract if they don't hold up their end of the bargain (like paying you royalties on time, sending you accounting reports on time, and keeping the book in print; i.e., keeping up with the print demand).
• There are a gazillion indie publishers out there, and it's up to you to research which are legit, which are mostly "self-publishers," or worse, thinly veiled Vanity Publishers, and which ones are crooks.
3. "Self-Publishing"
The term "self-publishing" is quite fuzzy. The boundaries of this choice bleed into both Independent Publishers on one end and Vanity Publishing on the other, thus the quotation marks. For the purposes of this book, I'm defining "self-publishing" as a writer who publishes their own book through a publishing company they own, as opposed to publishing through a Vanity or Subsidy Press. If you're paying a POD[22] publishing service like iUniverse, Xlibris, or AuthorHouse, you are using a Vanity press, and they will be covered in the next section. Basically, if the logo on the spine is your company, you are a "Self-Publisher."
Unfortunately for those authors who produce quality work, self-publishing carries a nasty stigma. Many readers, upon hearing the words "self-published," conjure up images of badly Photoshopped covers, poor layout, and shoddy writing. And for good reason. This describes many (really, far too many) self-published books. In fact, I've seen simply atrocious book covers from an Independent Press that houses over sixty authors! On the other hand, I've seen gorgeous covers from both Indie Presses and "Self-Publishers," alike.
In short, there is no quality control in self-publishing unless the author takes it upon him/herself to ensure said quality. More often than not, this means a considerable investment in professional editors and proofreaders, graphic artists, and desktop publishers.
However, many "self-published" books are excellent. They contain fresh, new ideas that don't fit into the NYBB box. They are genre mashups. They are unique and witty and fun. They are dark and edgy. Many readers seek out self-published works because they enjoy something other than the same-ol', same-ol'. With the growing popularity of eBooks, readers can try out new authors for less of a financial risk. This benefits the author, who gets a larger readership, as well as the reader, who finds something fresh for just a few dollars.
As for the stigma that all "self-published" books are of low quality, I say, balderdash. Some are great. Some suck. Truly, the same can be said about books published through the Big Boys. Some are great. Some suck. But those from the NYBBs are all professionally edited, laid out, and designed.
This is what the "self-published" author must take on him/herself, and it's no small feat. We've paid professional editors to edit and proof our novels, and they still come back with too many errors. It requires several passes from more than just two or three sets of eyes. And please remember, you cannot edit your own work. You will not see what another set of eyes will see. You know what you're trying to say. You know what you mean. You must ensure that what you mean is actually what you wrote. This requires more eyes than just your own.
Invest in the quality of your book.
Once it's out there, it's out there for good.
It has never been a better time to "self-publish" your work. There have never been so many avenues and affordable options to get your book published, and there have never been so many outlets through which to sell your book.
I will walk you through exactly how to have a quality book that is available in bookstores and maybe even finds some shelf space of its own.
As an author, the greatest thing about owning your own publishing house is that you can do things your way. You don't have to worry about being taken advantage of by those preying on your dreams.
Your destiny is in your hands...and yours alone.
If you succeed or if you fail, it's all up to you.
Rather terrifying, isn't it? Also, quite exciting.
Your destiny is in your hands.
Take a deep breath and dive in.
The worst thing about owning your own publishing house is the amount of work and money involved. It is, by far, the most expensive way to get your book published. No doubt.
However, it also has the greatest potential for reward. And, as in everything, the higher the risk, the greater the reward.
Sure, you can sit back and write all day, every day; but not if you want your books to sell. Not until you're at the level of James Patterson or Sue Grafton or, to cite a self-published author, J. A. Konrath can you do nothing but write every day. There is marketing to do, and it is all up to you. Remember, this is true for whichever of the Four Basic Choices you choose.
Although, as I type these words, this model is changing. The entire industry is changing so fast; it's rather difficult to keep up. Several self-published authors are now finding that they can market less and write more thanks to Amazon's Kindle sales. More about this in the eBook section.
Ultimately, however, some promotion will be needed no matter what. Even those self-published authors who are selling well in eBooks and on the Kindle are at least blogging, tweeting, and participating in other social media on a daily basis.
If you want your book to sell, it's up to you to promote it.
Additionally, however, as the publisher, it is also your responsibility to get the book professionally edited, laid out, and printed. You must also take care of things like Copyright and LCCN numbers...not to mention the all-too-important ISBN number.
These things and more are now your responsibility as the publisher.
First, you must establish a company and, preferably, make it an LLC[23], as it gives you another level of legal protection. Depending on the state in which you incorporate, and if you do it yourself or hire a lawyer, this can run from hundreds of dollars to thousands.
With a publishing company comes other responsibilities that I won't go into here, as a book called Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual covers this comprehensively. It will take you through everything in setting up your own publishing house, step-by-step. There is now also a second volume that talks you through the latest technologies.
ISBNs
After you have your business entity set up, you have to get an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) for your book. Currently, there are some who say the ISBN is dead[24]. It might be the case in the near future, but for now it is still the norm and rather essential if you want your books to be available in bookstores, on Amazon, in libraries, and in the iBookstore for the iPad. Please DO NOT buy a single ISBN number, especially from LuLu, but not even from Bowker[25]. I know it's less money in the short run, but you will not own that ISBN, another company will. Plus, you will use at least two ISBNs per title, maybe more if you go into audiobooks, hardbacks, and the like. In the long run, you will save money by buying a block of ISBNs from Bowker IdentifierServices (TM)[26]. Plan to buy a block of at least ten ISBNs for around $250. If you will be participating in an author co-op, explained shortly, consider pooling some money and buying 100 ISBNs for just $525. Ten or 100 may seem like a lot of ISBN numbers, but it's really not. You need a unique ISBN for every version of the book. (e.g., hardback, paperback [trade], paperback [mass market], audio book, eBook [Kindle], etc.). They add up fast.
TIP: If you take my forthcoming advice and go with Lightning Source as a distributor/printer, do not buy a UPC symbol along with your ISBNs from Bowker, because you get one for free with your book setup at Lightning Source.
Interior and Exterior Professionalism
PAY A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR. I mean it. Don't scrimp here. This can cost from $150?$5,000 or more, depending on the editor you choose and their rates. Some editors charge by the word, and others charge by the manuscript. We had a freelance editor contact us who charges $0.06 per word. For a short 65,000 word YA novel, that's nearly $4,000, a little too rich for most small publishers. The most we ever paid for editing services resulted in the worst editing job I have ever seen before or since. Ask around. Get references. Look in the Appendix of this book for suggested freelance editors. They do good work for reasonable rates.
Pay a professional proofreader. This is not always the same person as the editor. $15/hr to $150/hr. Some charge per word. Ask your editor if they also provide proofreading services.
If you do not know how to layout a book in InDesign, QuarkXpress, or a similar program...
PAY SOMEONE TO DO IT
Trust me. I know all this is adding up to a lot of money, but once your book is out...it's out there. For good.
Layout artist: $25/hr?$150/hr.
Unless you are a graphic artist by trade, hire someone to do your cover. $300-$2,500. The old cliche is a cliche for a reason. People DO judge a book by its cover.
Don't kid yourself.
Research your genre and see what other covers look like. (Side note: as much as ILOVE the covers of our YA books, and they are works of art, they turn off many teen readers. Some teens say the covers look too "young" for them. Avoid the pitfall that we fell into. Do your research.)
You own a professional publishing house now, so your books must look professional, inside and out.
Tips for Saving $$ on Professional Services
I know a lot of these figures can be scary, but remember that it doesn't all have to be done at once. Don't look at this and say "AHHHHH! This is going to cost me $50,000!"
This might be over a year's time. And, with a little bit of creativity, bartering, and possibly trade, you can get professional quality work for less. For example, college students learning their trade might do it for $15/hr rather than $100/hr. You get the quality. They get something for their resume. It's a win-win.
The Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan (GGC)
Many artists/freelance professionals will do work in trade or partial trade. Be creative. We got our GGC, the Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan, (normally a $6,000 job) designed and decorated for about $2,000 out-of-pocket.
The rest was in trade.
Craigslist is a great place to find freelance artists and editors. It's where we found two of our cover artists Ia Esterna and James Koenig, and you see how gorgeous our covers are. Just post an ad for an artist or cover artist. Be up front about how much you can pay. Then they can decide whether or not they can work within your budget before they even reply.
Do not offer a percentage of your sales. First of all it is an accounting nightmare, and you want to spend your time writing, not accounting. Secondly, as Dean Wesley Smith puts it, "Like giving the gardener a percentage of your house for trimming a hedge."[27] He is very outspoken on not paying day labor a percentage of your intellectual property. Their contribution is very important, and the analogy to the gardener isn't great, as having your book professionally edited and getting a professional book cover is far more important than having your hedges trimmed; but I see his point.
Hire an artist, editor, proofreader, and pay them what you can. Be up front about how much you can pay and that this is a work-for-hire situation, meaning they have no claim over the work afterwards. You own it. The contract must be a work-for-hire contract. Alternatively, for a piece of artwork, you can license the use of that art for use on your book cover and the artist can still do whatever he/she wants with it. Make sure that the licensing term is "in perpetuity."