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[Author's Clinic] Writing Clinic: The Publishing Industry Is One Sick Puppy
December 4, 2007 |
welcome back to another writing clinic. Today I am addressing that sick, sick puppy known as the publishing industry. I love writing, but the publishing industry is definitely a sick system in need of revamping. It is a dinosaur, built on an old and ineffective business model. Traditional publishers have so many layers of people to pay off, that by the time you get “down” to the author, the pathetic royalties is nothing to get excited about. Most of the stories of 6 and 7 figure advances are over 30 years in the past, with only very few notable CURRENT exceptions.
.To make matters worse, publishers do not help market the books. Oh, the big kids have a catalogue and they all have websites with the books listed, but that is like putting up one sign and saying, “OK, here’s your promotion package.”
Vanity publishers hit the scene to allow people tofulfill their dreams of authoring a book–for a price. A great big price. Some people have paid as much as $25,000 to get their book in print. Eek! That’s a horror story in my book.
The traditional New York Houses are now all under media conglomerates. Small presses are struggling for market share and recognition. Print on Demand options have now come to be. There is one more option that most people do not know about, which I will discuss at length in another post.
For now, let me share the views of 2 authors: time travel romance Jean Hackensmith, co-author of Ultimate Passage, , who is currently taking a virtual book tour and today appears on Paperback Writer., then fantasy author Cat Muldoon, author of Rue the Day: The Undercover Heir Book 1, who is also touring the blogosphere this month. Although both are fiction authors (primarily), the frustrations they experience are shared by all book authors.
Paperback Writer to Jean: What struggles have you had on the road to being published?
Jean Hackensmith: Before I started my own company, I, like every author, was a struggling writer looking for a publisher. I literally papered my office walls with rejection slips (I’d read that Kathleen Woodiwiss—my idol—did the same and thought it was a cool idea. A way of kind of snubbing your nose at the all powerful New York publisher, I guess.) Anyway, by the end, I was getting personalized rejection letters, rather than form letters—a plus, believe me. The publishers were actually telling me that they liked my work, but I needed to change this, this, and this. Well, I did change this, this, and this and resubmitted to those who allowed it, and still got nowhere—except to be bombarded with more suggested changes. Then it got to the point where the big publishers wouldn’t look at unsolicited material.
Intrusion from Ronda: It really stinks to get form rejections. You never know if the publisher ever even opened the cover page to have a look. Sometimes I think they hold onto manuscripts for a few months, then just clear the decks. Now, 95% of books published by the Big Guys come through agents.
Jean: Okay, time to find an agent. I did so, rather easily—in fact too easily. This guy suggested that I have the book professionally edited, and he suggested an editor. Well, to make a long story short, the editor took $1500 from me and never did a thing. The agent was getting kickbacks for referring authors. It was a racket of the most painful kind. I finally got a letter from the attorney general in the state where the editor and agent lived, stating that both were being prosecuted for fraud. I never saw the manuscript again, or my $1500, but I learned a valuable lesson. I also got ticked off and decided to “do it myself.” Consequently, I self-published “Wagons To The Past,” my own book (not co-authored with Kathe). I spent countless hours researching book marketing, then went to work. “Wagons To The Past” sold just over 3000 copies in the first few months. Not a lot by big publisher standards, but I was ecstatic. In an author chatroom one night, I ran into a guy named Jonathan Briggs. He had written a science fiction novel called “S-4”. He asked if I would be willing to read it and, if I liked it, would I consider publishing it for him. I did, and Port Town Publishing was born.
Back to Ronda: If you have ever considered self publishing, I urge you to take the Self Publishing ScoreCard Survey: Take Action on these 10 questions and immediately get a Free In-depth Self-Publishing Business Evaluation™ to better understand the new era of authoring and publishing. You will compel your target market to buy from you and you alone over all of your competition with your book.
Here are some thoughts on publishing from fantasy author Cat Muldoon. I asked her what the worst part of publishing her novel was:
Cat: The worst part was sending it off to publishers, but not for the reason you would imagine. Most people complain about the rejection, and some give up writing altogether because of it. The rejection I expected, so it did not bother me. What I hated was sending my book off to a black hole for months and being, for the most part, unable to send it elsewhere, then getting a form letter that showed me the book had never been read. That depressed me. A small press published it but the distribution is challenging in terms of getting into bookstores. I am now focusing entirely on specialty shops for placing my books, plus marketing on the internet and of course selling at any events I attend.
Go ahead and take the Self Publishing ScoreCard Survey. You will receive a most enlightening personalized report (not a one-size fits all report).
Tomorrow, Cat Muldoon will be a guest blogger to talk about the power of legends and folklore in our modern world, and the next Writing Clinic will be about a fabulous option called Entrepreneuria authoring and l Publishing, which works especially well for nonfiction authors but I imagine it is something that could work for fiction as well under the right circumstances.
Tags: Ronda Del Boccio, entrepreneurial authoring, business development mentor, mentoring, storyation, storytelling
Article Series - Author's Clinic
- Captain Hook's Writing Clinic
- Writing Clinic: The Publishing Industry Is One Sick Puppy
- I'll Share the Secret to Writing Your Best Lead Generator FAST
- Mike Filsame Fled When I entered the Room
- Do You Have a Fiction Writing Addiction?
- Enter the Trump the Donald Contest to Author and Grow Rich?
- Glenn Dietzel made me keep this a secret from you!
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Ronda Del Boccio, The Story Lady of Storyation.com is an author, dynamic speaker, author coach, story coach.
She is the author of I'll Push, You Steer: The Definitive Guide to Stumbling Through Life with Blinders On
The Kama Sutra of Storytelling: Positioning, Power and Profit
and her upcoming book...
The Geometry of Success: 5 Simple Shapes that Shape Your Life
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Thank you for including this! I will go off on a rant about the publishing industry later this month during my blog tour
Cat Muldoon, author of the fantasy suspense novel Rue the Day, The Undercover Heir Book 1
Hi, Ronda:
A friend mentioned that you had quoted my Paperback Writer Interview. Thank you. This is, indeed, a tough business, and getting tougher by the day. I’m luckier than most, though, in that I own my own publishing company and am able to get my books out there. I’m taking a step “back” currently, as it were though, and am just now starting to run the large publisher gamut again. I just acquired an agent for my new romantic suspense manuscript, titled “Daddy’s Revenge.” I feel almost guilty for turning my back on my own company, since my own book sales are basically what keep it going, but I feel that, personally, I have to take the plunge again and try to advance to that next “level” — that of being picked up by a large house. At least this time my agent will get to read all the rejections instead of me!
Thanks again for quoting my interview. I hope it helped not only let would-be authors know how tough the business can be, but that there is also hope if they just keep plugging away.
Thanks!
Jean