To publish or find a publisher?

That is the question, but only when you’re ready.

There’s still a month left in spring. This is the time when young writers hastily type the last paragraph of their novel, add “The End,’ glance out the window at the young people in the park and their thoughts turn to publication. They embrace their novel like a child: It’s brilliant, beautiful and better than any other novelist’s first work. Of course, you have to show it off.

So they dress their novels up show it to some friends and (hopefully objective) readers.1 Their friends pat them on the back, and, if you’re like many young writers, you write off the concerns of objective readers. You know the world needs to see your child.

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This chart was intended to help writers decide between traditional and self publishing, but it doesn’t tell the complete picture.

Now for the big question: Do you seek the perceived legitimacy of a publisher or do you shortcut the process and publish your book on Amazon and other indie book sites?

A fellow blogger published the chart I included (if anyone knows the source I’ll be glad to credit them) showing the question as a set diagram. It’s one of the more useful charts I’ve seen, but it’s flawed in a few areas. Before you make the decision to go with a publisher or do it yourself, let me share a few topics I don’t often see discussed:

Promotion

No matter which route you choose, plan to promote yourself. I attended several writers’ conferences talked personally to agents and editors and sat through countless seminars on branding and platform (well before those buzzwords existed). They all delivered the same message: even if you sell your book to a publisher, you’ll end up in charge of marketing.

The only time book publishers seriously invest in marketing (end caps, advertising and advance word of mouth) is when they expect to sell thousands of copies in hardcover, trade paper and ePrint. Sadly, most publishers don’t recognize the J.K. Rowling until she’s sold her first thirty thousand copies. They’re too busy looking for the last J.K. Rowling.)

The best you can hope for is a small advance check, a contract for your next book and the promise that you don’t have to pay the advance back when your book hits the remaindering shelf.

The worst you can hope for is to never receive your royalties, never see a sales report and discover you sold your rights to the publisher because you didn’t hire a lawyer or agent to review the contract.

The realities of book production.

I worked with digital prepress and then eBook development since PageMaker 1. Photoshop was a NASA shareware program that I used for filters. I remember when people believed FreeHand would put Illustrator out of business and Quark XPress would kill PageMaker.2 I edited several journals and online publications and produced books for publishers such as The Texas Monthly Press. The decision to self-publish was a no-brainer. Traditional publishing wouldn’t improve my terrible marketing skills, so I might as well learn them for a book I published.

New writers should consider this step carefully. Too many indie books are poorly written. That’s not the problem. A good editor can turn a horribly written book with a great premise into a readable novel.

Too many indie novels are also horribly edited and released with terrible covers using typefaces that should never have been created. If I reviewed covers with my reviews of indie novels, they’d drop a notch or too in my recommendation.

You need to work with a real writing group (not an “attaboy, you did great” group), or take a college writing class (I recommend both). You need to pay for beta readers, an editor and maybe, when push comes to shove, a traditional publisher. Even if they don’t provide an advance, they do step up with professional editing and design.

Provided, as I mentioned earlier, you read the contract or, better yet, contracted with an agent. Many new writers think agents only sell their books to publishers and then buy them drinks and become personal assistants (I saw those movies too). Agents actually protect you from your publisher who will be trying to eke every penny they can from your contract.

Of course, you want to be as selective with your agent as with a publisher.

So think carefully and do your research. Prepare to spend time and money, even when publishing yourself.

Find beta readers and writing groups that cut your prose to shreds. Then hire an editor (check for samples of their work too, and then listen to them, which many writers refuse to do). Only then will you be ready to make a real decision about publishing.

Notice that I said friends, not family. Many families will respond like friends, but if your family is like my family (and you’ll know from long history if they are) they’ll tell you why should give up this stupid idea and beg your boss to keep you in the job you hate because you’re a writer. ↩︎
It did, but only because Adobe re-released PageMaker as a massive upgrade called InDesign, which sealed Quark’s fate. ↩︎


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