Alternative Publishing
As I've said before, having an agent is almost a must if you want to be
accepted at a major publishing house as most only accept queries
from agents. If you've got a manuscript that you want published and don't
really care about the "big boy" publishers or for whatever reason you want
published right now, consider some of the other options available.
I often receive questions about self publishing, small press, e-press, and
subsidy presses. I'll try to give some information on all of these options. I
also receive a lot of questions about agents. Talk about scams, some of these
literary agents should be in jail. I'll talk about finding a good literary agent
next time or at least an honest one. For now, just a warning to all who've
emailed me about some of these agents. If they are charging you up front for
anything, back away or better yet run away. More on that later. Now about the
different publishing methods out there.
E-Press/Publishing...To be honest I never thought I'd ever
consider e-publishing, but I've changed my mind and I'm actually considering
submitting a couple of manuscripts to some of these companies. E-publishing
seems to be taking the world by storm and some of their authors have made very
lucrative careers from their e-books. Of course as with any other publisher, do
your homework. Research these companies and make sure you submit to the
reputable ones. As with anything else, there are the good and the not so good
and the truly bad ones. I can't repeat this warning enough, doing research will
save you a lot of heartache later. Some e-book publishers offer printed copies
of their books as well. I've seen a growing trend with these companies making
more of their books available through trade paperbacks and I've found
them on bookstore shelves. A couple to check: Ellora's Cave
for romantica (erotic romance) and their sister site Cerridwen
for more traditional fiction. These are just two that I'd recommend, there are
others. Just do some searching.
Small Press: Even though a small press will offer little or no advance, this is a great way to get published. Some have no marketing or
publicity departments and some have limited ones. That's the down side. You will
more than likely be doing most of your own marketing and publicity. Some of the
things to watch out for when researching a small press are: Do they charge any
up front fees? (you should pay nothing to see your book in print) Do they
provide editing for your book? (not just spell check) Do they provide a few free author copies and
offer good author discounts for buying your own book? Do they send out press
releases for your book? Do they put your book into global distribution channels?
Have you ever seen any of their books on the bookstore shelves? (even if you
haven't it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad) Do they send the
book out to reviewers? Do they offer your book at a reasonable retail? Do they offer good discounts to
book sellers? Do they have an author friendly contract? What are their terms for
cancellation of your contract with them? This last is a biggie. If you're
terribly dissatisfied with them as a publisher, are you going to be able to
attain the rights to your book back without a huge battle? How long is the
contract term? Again do your research.
Subsidy Publishers: As I'm sure you all know, a subsidy
publisher or vanity publisher, as they are sometimes called is a publisher that
you pay. These fees can run anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. You
pay them to publish your book for you. Are all subsidy publishers the same? No.
Just as with any other publisher, some are better and more reputable than
others. I've heard some small press companies referred to as vanity publishers
simply because the author may purchase copies of their book. This is just
ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. If you pay them to publish your book, it's a
subsidy publisher. If you don't, then they are not, unless they require you to
purchase copies of your book as part of the contract. If that's the case, then
I'd still classify them as a subsidy publisher. If you have the money and want
to go with a subsidy publisher, try to find the best one you can. One that
offers the most for the money you're going to pay.
Self Publishing: Okay, I'm new to this, but I've decided to
self-publish some of my poetry. Although I've never had a problem finding a
market for my poems, it's very hard to find a publisher for poetry books. They
do reprints or new editions for renowned poets, but most won't take poetry
submissions from anyone else. At least with self publishing I can have my poetry
in nice little books instead of piles of paper under my bed. And so far my self
published poetry books have sold very well. There's a lot more poetry lovers out
there than I imagined. One of the things I like best about self publishing is
control. I control my work, my royalty, everything. I decided to go with Lulu because I didn't have to pay any money up front to try it out. Now if
you get an ISBN and global distribution, you have to pay for it and it's around
$140. To tell you the truth I have no idea if this is good or bad, I don't use
it for poetry. Most of the self published writers I've talked to say they like
self publishing, but are looking for either an agent or publisher. I'm not
looking for an agent, but I'm always looking for good publishers. So far I've
been happy with my self publishing experience and will definitely stick with it
for my poetry.
No matter which direction you go in your quest for publication, remember to
always do your homework and enjoy the process. Check back for
agent information. I'll try to get together a small list of decent literary
agents for you to check out.
ŠElizabeth Melton Parsons