Publishers

Today’s post is a bit longer, but we’re covering the numerous types of publishers, and this needs more explanation than sound bites. There is no one-size-fits-all publisher: every publisher is different and focuses on the market that best suits them. Essentially there are major four types of publishers that can bring your book to market:

1. Large publishers, approached through a literary agent
2. University and independent (small) presses
3. Self-publishing
4. Subsidy publishing

Large Publishers

If your book has a national audience, and you want a publisher that will throw some marketing muscle behind it, you’ll need a large publisher – and a literary agent. The “Six Sisters” who dominate commercial publishing in the U.S. (Hachette, HarperCollins, Holtzbrinck, Penguin, Random House and Simon & Schuster – and their hundreds of imprints) only work with agents.

Even Amazon is getting in the game. Amazon Publishing now contracts directly with major writers, leaving out the middle man (note this isn’t the same as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, its self-publishing offering). It has landed some high profile contracts, such as actor James Franco.  

An advantage of large publishers is that they have large marketing departments and can provide assistance with your promotions plan. It’s still incumbent on writers to promote your own work – the publisher by and large won’t do this for you – but at least they’ll offer help and sometimes even financial assistance with setting up a book tour.

Of course, if you’re a public figure who won a multimillion dollar advance, the publisher has paid so much money in acquiring the book that they simply have to make the book work financially – hence they’ll throw even more dollars into promoting it. Thus, as they say, the rich get richer. But for most of us, it’s incumbent upon the author to take the initiative to promote the book. This applies to all publishers, regardless of size.

University and Independent Presses

If your book is a local or niche work rather than targeted at a national audience, you can go directly to an independent publisher or a university press, such as Harvard, Oxford, or Yale University Press. You don’t need an agent, and many universities have acquisitions departments for trade publications. Find the publisher’s website, look up Authors, Acquisitions, or the Contact Us feature, and there you’ll find instructions on how to submit your book proposal (usually called “Submission Guidelines”). Unlike large publishers, independents are very accessible to you and me. My first book, The Prohibition Hangover, was published by Rutgers University Press.

University presses fill a large niche in the publishing market: academically-oriented books that seek a wider audience. They’re aren’t exclusively academic – in fact, many of them have turned towards more lucrative trade publishing. This is a business-side of a university, and they need to sell books in order to keep publishing.

But remember that most university press-published books sell fewer than 1,000 copies. These presses still have a vital function: to help their professors reach tenure by publishing their books (even if those books don’t have a particularly large audience).

On the other hand, my favorite novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, is published by Louisiana State University Press. And I have often wondered, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s direct hit on New Orleans, why Hollywood hasn’t made this into a movie. (Wouldn’t Sarah Silverman, @SarahKSilverman on Twitter, make a fabulous Myrna Minkoff?) I asked the press’s director about this, and she told me that Paramount optioned the book the years ago, but still hasn’t turned it into a movie.

The downside of university presses is that they tend to be slow – you may wait two or three months to hear back from them. Many presses only publish a few dozen titles a year, so your book’s topic really has to fit in with their publishing program. Many university presses focus on particular areas, so be sure to research this carefully. Most don’t have deep pockets, so they will do little advertising and promotion for your book beyond getting it published and distributed. Count on paying, planning and publicizing any promotions yourself.

Independent Publishers

Indies can also be quite helpful and they are very approachable. There are thousands of these small presses across the country. Start by noting the names of publishers whenever you read a book review, and you’ll see a lot of them are small presses. Counterpoint is a good example of a nonfiction trade press. I’ve published two books through The History Press: Prohibition in Washington, D.C., and The Potomac River.

Independents and university presses tend to be skimpy on advances (four-figures if you’re lucky – and often nothing at all), but if you write a book that appeals to many readers, you can make up for this with royalties from book sales. The royalty rate is the same as for large publishers mentioned above, but in this case, you’ll probably have no agent, so be sure to negotiate it.

Small presses are more likely to give you attention throughout the publication process. They publish fewer books, and never bid on blockbusters, so they have more time to focus on your book. You’ll have an editor who will actually edit your work, a sales team that may spend more time getting your book onto shelves, and a publicity team that is actively involved in helping your promotional efforts. You don’t have to compete with the big blockbuster that commands much of a large publisher’s attention.

A fairly long list of small presses can be found on the AgentQuery website. Just remember that indie and university presses often specialize in particular subjects, so tailor your campaign to those that publish in your area.

Self-Publishing

Self–publishing is for books that fill a small niche and often aren’t commercially viable (like a collection of family photographs or poetry), yet the author has a passion and drive to produce something. Walt Whitman self-published the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855. The band Radiohead released its 2007 album In Rainbows independently, offering fans to pay-what-you-wish to download it. They bypassed the record labels, and in-effect, self–published. (They also didn’t try that experiment again, as many people downloaded the album without paying anything.)

The cost of self-published books has fallen dramatically thanks to the Internet: firms like AuthorHouse, Blurb, CreateSpace from Amazon.com, iUniverse and Lulu allow individual copies to be printed and shipped. This is called print-on-demand. Self-publishing can also be a steppingstone to finding a publisher – when they see your dedication and success, they’ll realize your book actually does have market value, and will be more willing to publish it. I used Lulu to test market The Prohibition Hangover among alcohol industry trade representatives, giving me valuable feedback about the book.

More recently, Amazon has launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for authors to self-publish electronic books, and Barnes & Noble offers PubIt!. This has enabled the number of self-published titles to explode, as publishing is now within reach of everyone.

But before you self-publish, enlist your friends to help design your book and edit the text. Think of a compelling title. Design a beautiful cover. No one wants to buy a “tombstone” (a blank white cover with just the title). You can download inexpensive images to use on your cover on Corbis Images, Getty Images, iStockPhoto.com and Shutterstock.com.

On the downside, self–published titles usually don’t make it into public libraries, and they’re never reviewed by newspapers or periodicals. Only publisher-published books make it into the New York Time’s book review section – and reviews are a significant way to raise awareness of your book. Because of the proliferation of print-on-demand books and lack of marketing, most of these books sell few copies – often just to the author’s familiy, friends and social network.

The New York Times provided a good overview about self-publishing. Note the eye-raising figure on the second page: most books sell fewer than 150 copies. Success is possible, as The Washington Post pointed out with Stephanie McAfee’s Diary of a Mad Fat Girl, which was such a successful self-published book that it attracted mainstream publishers.

Garrett’s Rule:

If you think you’ll sell fewer than 1,000 copies of a book, or only have a short essay you want to publish, then self-publishing is the way to go. But if you think you can sell more than 1,000 copies, by all means find a publisher. The end-product will be much better and professionally produced.

Subsidy Publishing

Also known as vanity or vantage publishing, think of this as a last resort (although in this era of self-publishing, I’d call it a no resort). You pay a fee or subsidy to the publisher, and they publish your book professionally. The advantage is that they can get your book into the distribution system; on the downside, you front the capital costs. This can be thousands of dollars, and you may have nothing left over to promote the book (some subsidy presses like BookPros offer a promotion plan, but most don’t). And forget about asking for an advance – you pay them, rather than they pay you.

If you’re a starving artist or a student, don’t even think about subsidy publishing. You need some serious coin to entertain this idea. At least with a traditional publisher, they share the risk with you by fronting the publishing costs, while you do the heavy lifting for the marketing and promotion. Subsidy publishing, on the other hand, puts the entire financial burden on you, the author.

So seriously think thrice before jumping in bed with a subsidy publisher. You could be putting your financial health at risk. You’re probably better off self-publishing, which costs a whole lot less.

Garrett Peck

www.garrettpeck.com