What It’s Like to Publish Your Book With a Small Press

If you’re looking to publish your novel, the options can feel overwhelming. From the Big 5 to self-publishing, where to start? Today, author Victoria Sheridan is here to share some experiences with small press publishing, which is somewhere in the middle:

Your novel is written, edited, polished, and ready for publishing. But how to go about that crucial last step? Some authors choose to go traditional by querying agents and hopefully signing with a major publishing house with lots of marketing opportunities, while others choose to self publish, preferring to have personal control of every step of the process. There is, however, a middle ground: small presses.

Small presses are what they sound like—a publisher that offers all or almost all of what a traditional publisher offers, including editing, cover design, and marketing, but on a much smaller scale. This can make them much more nimble and willing to take chances, and oftentimes they interact directly with the author, no agent needed. Many small presses have a specific special interest, which is great news for people who write genre fiction.

I chose a small press almost accidentally. I had a new manuscript, but no real idea what to do with it. It was very niche—a historical mystery with LGTBQ characters—which would be an unusual choice for a traditional publisher. But I didn’t want to self-publish—I simply did not have the background or the time to teach myself all the complex aspects. However, I knew about small presses, particularly small presses that focused on queer characters like NineStar Press and Harmony Ink. So I posted in PitMad (a Twitter pitch event) and waited.

To my delight, both a large press and a small press made inquiries, so I sent over manuscripts. The small press got back to me within three weeks with a personal email from the person to become my editor, followed shortly by congratulations and next steps from the director herself.

“My personal favorite thing about working with a small press is the community with fellow authors.”

It’s the personal and close moments like that that make working with a small press so delightful. Everyone is passionate about books, especially their books—they only put out a few, so they treat every book as lovingly as its author. Someone is there to edit with you, sort through the legal bits, and start you on your marketing journey. Have a question about your process or your rights? The answer is just an email away. Not thrilled with the cover design? They’ll work with you until everyone is happy. But my personal favorite thing about working with a small press is the community with fellow authors. Writers, in case you didn’t notice by now, flock together, and with a small press there are enough that we can all support one another, but not so many that it feels overwhelming.

Small presses might not be for everyone, but they can be a great place to find the support you need, both for morale and the publishing process itself. They’re in your corner helping you make your book the best it can be with all the care of a friend. And they’re as excited as you are to make your publishing dream a reality.

Victoria is a terribly boring office worker from New Jersey. She studied archaeology, anthropology, history, architecture, and public policy, but none of those panned out, so she decided to go back to an early love—writing. She proudly publishes under Thea McAlistair with NineStar Press, a small press dedicated to LGTBQ+ works. The first draft of her debut novel No Good Men was a product of NaNoWriMo 2014 and comes out in May 2019.

Top photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash.