"Traditional" Publishing and You – A New Way For Small Presses and Self-Published Authors to View
My name is V. Alexander and for years I’ve made money off corporate waste and destruction. My lifelong passion is writing. However, for over ten years, my real world occupation has been buying truckloads of merchandise from various organizations and selling them to a colorful assortment of individuals. My most recent conquest was a 400+ store retail dinosaur that had a date with total annihilation. I got to know this dinosaur well over the past decade, buying overstocks on a regular basis and help resolve a number of administrative issues. This is what qualifies me this article, this particular dinosaur was due not only.
Recently, a woman who two of my novels Trouble noir novel voltage-publishing is your business and Princess Black Market, and the result of many years of literary purgatory. For a brief moment fool, I have this incredible offer, which weighed established names they offered me a contract to six figures and I want to be when I bring them downchose the small press option. In making the decision whether to go with a small press, or my fictitious big name suitor, I put on my business hat and drew on my experiences as an entrepreneur, which brings us back to the topic of destruction.
As writers, many of us are temperamental, highly driven, and make ourselves crazy reworking scenes until they are perfect, only to rework them yet again. If we were normal, we wouldn’t be dedicating years of research and craftsmanship to some abstract endeavor without any tangible reward in sight. And yet, after investing so much of ourselves in our work, the representatives from the “traditional” publishing industry have no qualms about destroying any hope we have of launching a legitimate career. This, of course, stings. However, putting on my business hat, I’ve seen some things from the other side-factors that play into their decision-making process that have little to do with talent or even common sense.
Reasons Why Rejection May Be Inevitable, Regardless of Talent…
There are two main barriers that even the most talented writers face when approaching traditional publishing.
It’s Who You Know. How many times have you heard a publishing professional say you must know someone to break in? Isn’t this discrimination? A subtle method for filtering candidates by race, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, education, or social status? The answer is yes-and it makes little difference. This sort of thing happens in every business-especially where there are limited slots and lots of people who want those slots. Somewhere in the world, a fish is being pulverized. Lots of fish, in fact. The statistics on dying fish must be staggering. Fish get killed. Friends and relatives of industry gatekeepers get special treatment. Maybe they’re using the Friends of Friends Method, or consulting the Zodiac. Most have a system.
To look at it another way, when you have an oversupply of people who are seeking something that has little or no monetary cost-i.e. a representation agreement or publishing contract-black markets develop. It’s not evil; it’s just human nature. Personal biases play a very big role in pairing down tens of thousands of candidates. There’s no point in getting angry about it. It happens with rent control-it happens in publishing. No villains here.
But there is another way representatives of traditional publishing wield their power that is both destructive and without merit. From their Ivory tower, they shout to the masses of aspiring authors, “If you’re not in our circle, you just couldn’t cut it!”
This is like telling someone who doesn’t win the lottery they couldn’t cut it. Recently, Kirkus Reviews, one of the biggest names in book reviewing of all time, closed its doors. Does that mean they couldn’t cut it? What about Borders? As of this writing, their stock price was flirting with $1 a share-down from $23 three years ago. I love Borders, but it seems that is not cut. What about the tens of thousands of people who have recently established the publishing industry? Was it not enough talent to keep their jobs? Perhaps they are simply not enough goat.
What about libraries that should be doing good? This book on the shelves or are now specializing in bags, table games and action figures? Since you go to a library, a pair of cheap sunglasses for sale at a 600%formatting? Certainly, Mr. Mega Book Store, have engaged in price wars are not. Are not configured for it. The other big boxes will kill you!
Let's talk business. For each book sold, there is a 20-60% chance that the book be returned, and will probably be in excellent condition. Transaction costs and logistics mount publishers ship discounted books, distribution centers, where once again divided and sold to third parties. The third part, probably a "chain" used librarywith a huge warehouse, buys the books for pennies on the dollar and sells them at a tremendous profit. Meanwhile, traditional publishers and their authors eat the cost. I’d love to watch an author’s face as she tries to make sense of all the adjustments pertaining to her royalty. I’d love to take her to a “used” book operation’s distribution center and explain why they’re making so much money.
If traditional publishing were such a great business model, why is the industry begging for a bailout? Why are the writing advice and publishing insider magazines launching vigorous ad campaigns when advertising itself is in a dark pit? Are they embarking on a new multi-stage program designed to boost revenues 60% by next quarter? Or are they desperate?
Even a numerically challenged person like me, who has an MBA, can see there’s something wrong here. Traditional publishers, I’ve seen your story before and it doesn’t end well. The desperate dash to incorporate new processes and boost advertising budgets isn’t going to work. Your rigged reviews, your exclusive writers clubs, your phony awards ceremonies… Today’s readers are simply too busy doing their own thing to pay much attention.
My point, Ms. or Mr. Aspiring Writer, is this. If you’ve worked hard rewriting something a million times, and you’ve had it edited a million times… If you’ve found yourself a literary benchmark by which to gauge your work and your audience, and you know in your heart of hearts there are at least three people in the world who would really like to read your story… I say go for it. Publish it yourself or seek out a small press.
Of course, there’s no guarantee of success. When it comes to starting any entrepreneurial venture, there is a 96% failure rate. When and if you do start making money in this business, your margins will probably be so thin only your accountant will know they’re there. Reach this stage and you’ll be exactly where a lot of new authors who’ve been inducted into traditional publishing are-only you’ll keep more of the money and have more control over your literary destiny. With continued effort, you’ll probably get some results-my readers have been nice enough to pay my car insurance on my Honda S2000 and the management fees on all of my investment properties for the year. They’re nothing short of awesome.
If you decide to go for it, I wish you the best of luck with your new venture. Don’t let New York hold you back. As for what I’m doing, aside from chatting it up with an array of questionable persons at coffee shops, I’ll be waiting for a phone call. The speaker, excited over the prospect of a lucrative kickback, will tell me when the next round of traditional publishers’ assets will be ready to be liquidated.
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