Today finds the world in a bit of uproar over two impending storms — the first, of course, being Hurricane Sandy. The second, smaller and less life-threatening, being the publishing merger between Penguin and Random House. The merger is likely due to the pressures of the changing book market, compounded by the effect of Amazon and its enormous reach into all parts of the publishing world.
In truth, I don’t blame the big guys for scrambling into bed with each other — the publishing floor is mighty cold and lonely these days, and I imagine that snuggling with your competitor under the covers is far nicer than dying a slow, gasping death under the bed.
That being said, all of these changes up top mean big changes for those of us down below (namely: the authors). We’ve seen this storm coming — it’s not new, and it’s not news. But it is important. Authors (inadvertently or not) are going to get crunched in the middle, and it’s probably going to hurt.
I was on a panel recently at Woodstock Literary Festival and there was a brief conversation about publishers. All of the other panelists were published with small publishers, and they raved about the attention given to them by companies who cared, who took time to support their authors and make beautiful books. When asked how authors could survive this storm, they all recommended going with small publishers.
I wholeheartedly agreed. And then I added, “AND you need to go with the big publishers. AND you need to self-publish.”
There was only a little bit of silence after that. Which was good, because it allowed me to continue my point, which was, “because, truly, the only way that I see us authors surviving this is by knowing all of our options, and using every one of them to the fullest.”
Of course, I don’t believe in “rules” when it comes to writing or publishing, so this isn’t a rule. It’s just my own point of view, and it’s one that consistently seems to work for me.
The majority of my work (80%) has been published by medium and large publishers.
Some of my work (10%) has been published by very small presses.
Some of my work (10%, mostly reprints) has been self-published.
The income numbers break down very differently:
45% of income from medium and large publishers.
10% of income from small presses
45% of income from self-publishing.
Recently, I started a publishing company (Stone Box Press) with writer and game designer Monte Cook. I said that I’d never start a publishing company. Too much work. Too little reward. No chance of success. And did I mention too much work?
So why start one now? Because I did my research, and I understand some of the ways in which the publishing world is changing. Because I have a big enough name that my books will sell without the “big name” of a publisher behind them. Because I’m willing to do the work. And mostly because I believe in taking control of my future as best I can, and in supplying opportunities for myself.
Do I see these mergers and Amazon’s attempt to take over the world as having an impact on me as an author? Yes. Do I see them destroying me? No. Because I’m taking matters into my own hands in a way that was never an option to me in the past.
Am I leaving the large publishers? No. They’ve been good to me, and good to the industry for a long time. They helped make my career, and I want to continue to support them. Ditto with the small presses — they do great work for talented writers who don’t fit the mass audience, and they’re wonderful to work with. But I do see myself increasing the amount of self-published work that I’m going to offer, and that number will probably continue to rise in the future.
Do all authors need to go this route? Of course not. But they should be aware of their options.
Winter is always coming for authors. Prepare yourselves.
Kiss kiss bang bang, s.
Yes, yes, yes. There’s no reason for an author to choose just one route, not anymore. In the “old days” (which may or may not ever have existed, honestly), an author would be long to one publishing house, or even to one editor, because that establishment would take care of him/her. Financially and emotionally.
The big publishers who handle my work now are still nice to me, it’s not that, but I don’t feel any huge investment by them in my career, or in me personally. I hand material over, and they try to make money off it, and they give me a bit of it. (A rather small bit, actually.) And that’s in non-fiction, where at least my small niche still has active marketing and global sales forces out selling my books.
For fiction, it seems to me that even the biggies want authors to do their own promoting–just as they would with smaller presses or on their own. So a ‘celebrity’ actress or singer becomes easier to sell than a creative, engaging novelist who hasn’t done anything wacky in public. So, um, what’s the incentive to go with the big publishers again? Vastly lower royalties in exchange for a shot at 6 months in a brick-and-mortar store before being remaindered? While still maintaining your own Twitter account and all? Hmmm.
I would still advise new authors, if possible, to get published by someone else first, just to learn the process. What does it mean to be edited? What goes into selecting a cover? and so on. I see too many self-pubbers who think they can just skip those steps–so that it’s more like self-printing than self-publishing. And then their books don’t sell at least partly because they’re not as good as they could be. But once you know the process, and you know what you can handle on your own and how to choose good help for those parts you outsource, then the amount of control you get when you self-publish is enormously gratifying (if sometimes unnerving!).