Welcome back...

 It's been a little over 12 years since anything new was posted on this blog. And I seriously thought about deleting the whole thing and starting over, but even without promotion of any sort, it's still getting a nice number of visitors. 

So, since the publishing world has changed so much in the last few years, I thought it's the perfect time to take a new look at the industry and see just what's going on.

When I first started writing, self-publishing was something only those who couldn't get a real publisher did. I found this quote from one of the traditional publishers dated 2018."In the publishing industry, a self-published author is generally not considered a published author, anymore than someone who starred in their own home movie is considered a movie star." 

A real writer wrote, did the agent search thing, submitted query letters to those agents, did a lot of waiting, and hopefully ended up with a publishing contract. And then, in about two years, you had a book out. It was a long and difficult process and not everyone made it. We were told to grow thick skin to deal with all the rejection. 

My goal was a book published by one of the "Big Six" publishers. I stalked agents on their blogs, Twitter, and Facebook. I went to writer's conferences to meet agents and editors from those big publishers. I even spent a week in New Orleans studying with best selling authors, learning how to properly pitch a novel, and then had two days of meeting with top agents and editors. It was an awesome week, I learned so much, even though I didn't get a publisher out of it. 

Eventually, several years later, I decided to publish with a small press. She was still a "legit" publisher so there was none of the self-published tarnish, though things had gotten better for those who took the self-pub route.

Now, with more freelance editors, cover artists, and affordable software, self-publishing is a normal thing and most of the time, there is no difference in quality when compared to a traditionally published book. And that's a good thing. Sure, you still have some folks who rush the publishing process and don't edit as they should using homemade looking covers. But it's a much better product these days.

So, since there are several paths to choose, let's take a quick look at them.

First, traditional or commercial publishers. This used to be the "Big Six" but now, as of 2020, is the "Big Four." Here is where the author must query agents. This could take a while but if/once you get an agent, they help get your manuscript polished and then shop it around to different publishing houses. Again, this takes a while. Normally, the publisher buys all rights to your work. The author gets a royalty payment against future sales. Meaning, you get paid but won't get anything else until you earn out that royalty. 

Next, Subsidy publishers. Here, the author makes a commitment to subsidize part of the cost of publication. Rights purchased vary with the contract. I've seen it described as a partnership between the author and publisher. They aren't as selective in what they publish as the traditional publisher are but there is still a selection process.

Vanity presses, on the other hand, will publish anything submitted to them. The author pays all the costs including editing, design, marketing, and promotion, along with all sorts of other services. They tend to have different "packages" that vary in price and what services are provided. And, where other publishers make their money from the sale of books, vanity publishers make most of their money from the authors. Again, rights purchased vary with the contract.

And now, self-publishing. The author handles everything. Many times, the author will "sub-contract" work such as editing, formatting, and cover design. They still pay but remain in control of their book publishing process. 

One thing all these options have in common is the author is still responsible for promotion and marketing. Sure, the traditional publisher helps, to some degree, but the author still has to be active and involved. We'll talk about marketing and promotion in another post.

So, are you a published author? Which option did you choose and why? Would you do it differently?