Publishing Journeys Part 4: The Small Press

Welcome to the final installment of the Publishing Journeys series!To summarize what we talked about up to now, we learned to avoid vanity presses in part one.We learned that Traditional Publishing is great to add critical acclaim, and potentially less headaches, though it doesn't necessarily mean more money in part 2.And inpart 3 we learned that in order to successfully self-publish you must make an investment. That investment can be time or money, but a quality product needs to be the end result regardless. While this is more work, the upside to it is unbridled control, and much higher royalty shares than your traditionally published counterparts. Now we'll talk about a path that lies somewhere in between traditional and self-publishing. Publishing with a Small Press! Not that I'm biased.1. We briefly touched on the issue of marketability in Part Two.2. And the strengths and weaknesses of gatekeepers in Part Three Even if you've written an excellent book, traditional publishers may be hesitant to pursue a book deal if said book is in a niche genre. While self-publishing solves this problem, so do small presses.Small presses can provide an outlet for those types of niche books. Most of them exist to do just that. To publish with a small press, you are essentially striking a compromise between the traditional publishing world and the self-publishing world. Generally, you won't have to foot any of the bill in order to publish with a small press. This is the same arrangement as if it were a traditional book deal. You would be assigned a team (albeit probably a much smaller team than a traditional publisher...but still,) to work on each facet of your book. You may even have more of a say in the final product (stress on the word 'may). Not footing the bill is definitely a strength. That being said, most small presses won't be able to afford you an advance like a big traditional publisher would. However, that could be rectified with higher royalty share. Think in the 25% range. That's still significantly higher than traditional published authors, but quite a bit lower than most self-published. But hey, you didn't have to foot the bill to get your book to market either. Then there's the gatekeeper aspect of it. One of the benefits of having gatekeepers involved in the publishing industry is to keep literary garbage from clogging our communal retail space. When publishing with a small press you will have to be vetted by a gatekeeper. Now this gatekeeper may not be quite as picky as their traditional counterparts, but their livelihood depends on whether or not they think they can sell your book too. It can't be garbage. Even if your story is in the appropriate niche for that small press, it still has to live up to the same high standards that customers expect. Ultimately this can be seen as a strength. If accepted by a small press an author can again gain that sense of validation that all writers crave. Just because it may be 'easier' to get a book deal with a small press, doesn't mean it's 'easy'. There are a variety of factors that come into play here too, not just quality.For example. I have been approached by a handful of authors here at Dice Book Publishing seeking for me to publish them. I know all of them to be great writers. But their work isn't in line with the future of my small press. So despite their skill they'll need to find a press whose vision aligns with their own. And its not just the press itself that makes the decision, but ultimately you as the author have to decide if its a good fit for you as well.I read an article the other day written by a small press owner. He's run his press since the late 1990's. While this article was meant to be informative, it was rather disheartening. The author of the article treated his press more of a hobby than a business. It was something he did on the side. While there's absolutely nothing wrong with that as someone who owns a small press, as an author looking to publish, I would hope the person I'm partnering with had a little more skin in the game. Another thing I found disheartening was the owner's apathy towards quality. He believed that since he wasn't one of the Big 6 in the publishing world, that authors publishing under him would be okay with mediocre printings of their work. Think ring bindings from Kinko's or saddle stitches. He also paid his authors in copies of their books. He qualified this, with the fact that many of his authors would sell these 'payment copies' for a profit at conventions and book signings. Like we looked in part two, keeping the lion's share of the profit's can add up fast. But the presses's poor standards of production quality leads me to assume that of those copies his authors attempted to sell, I doubt many of them could. That's one end of a very diverse spectrum. In another article I found a woman who operated a press on the other end of the spectrum. She ran this press full time as her career. She had multiple authors, several of which boasted awards for books in which she had published. She made a living off of her 'partner' authors' successes. That was one key difference between this press and the former. She treated her authors like partners (to an extent). Another key difference was that she gave those authors what they needed to succeed. But what they needed isn't necessarily what they wanted. All of her authors boasted some level of success. The way I define success in this instance is monetarily. When they got paid the publisher got paid. Hard to argue with that logic. As an author, one of the greatest things you can have in your arsenal is someone with a vested interest in your success. Publishing with a professional small press is a great place to find such an ally. Now with that being said, you will give up some elements of control. Like we covered in Part 3, one strength of Self-Publishing is complete and total control over the entire process. When you publish with a small press it is essentially like publishing with a traditional press. You are signing away the rights to your book (most of the time). But that's okay as long as you've done your homework and chosen the right publisher. The only reasons they'll ultimately veer from your wishes is:1. Your end vision is terrible and won't make either of you money. or2. Your end vision won't make as much money. At the end of they day whatever they decide is in your best interest. You may not be counting on your book's commercial success, but they most certainly are. And once again, if you've done your homework and picked the right publishing partner...you know...they know what they're doing. So, how do you know if a Small Press is for you?Well, have you tried getting traditionally published? If you're able to gain a traditional publishing deal, then I don't see much value in going with a small press. You're obviously writing in a genre that the Big 6 is comfortable getting behind.But what if you've tried to get a traditional deal and they've come back with buzzword feedback like "too niche for us" or "not what we're looking for right now." Well a small press may be a good alternative. On the flip side does Self-Publishing interest you? Do you get overwhelmed when you discover how much goes into producing just one book? 1.Professional Cover Design for an E-book, another for a paperback.2.Professional interior formatting.3.At least 2 rounds of edits (Ideally four).4. Which distribution partners to work with.5.Whether you should go wide or exclusive (a subject for a future blog post).6.How to price?7.How to market?8.How to market without going broke?!9.You'll need a website. Who will be your host?10.Will you sell your books on your website or divert traffic to other retail partners? Believe me the list keeps going...and going...and going. If you look at any of that, and think, I'd rather someone else do that, then maybe a Small Press is for you! Except the marketing thing. Learn how to market. Everyone should learn how to market.Below is an affiliate link. Which means that at no cost to you if you click through and decide to make a purchase, then I will receive a commission. Some of my most effective marketing strategies I learned from this book. So regardless of your publishing path this is a resource I can personally vouch for. See if you can find my review! I'll give you a hint...it's in the 5 star portion!