Christine Rose

Thus far in the series, I’ve covered the Four Basic Publishing choices, the NY Big Boys, Literary Agents, and Independent Publishers. Before we go on to Basic Choice #3: “Self Publishing,” let’s recap with a Pro/Con list for the indie publishing avenue.

PROS

• Validity and prestige of being picked up by a publisher
• A team working with you that are usually very author-centered
• Possible marketing budget & in-house publicist, depending on size
• Possible Industry connections
• Possible Media connections
• Possibly good distribution and stocked in bookstores
  (sorry for all these possibles, but it’s just a wide variety, it really depends on the size publishing house, the relationships they’ve built in the industry, and what they offer)
• Possible advance
• With some indie publishers, you’ll be able to keep some of the publishing right, like merchandising, movie/TV, electronic, etc… not an option at all with NY Big Boys
• You get a larger percentage (10-20%) than a NY Big Boy
• Most indie publishers are actually in a better financial state in the current economy than the NY Big Boys are
• You can retain more control over your book and not have to deal with the publishing end of it (ISBN #s, Library of Congress, US Copyright, printing costs, etc.)

CONS

• It’s still up to you to market your book, and you have to share the returns
• It will take 1-3+ years to see your book in print after acquisition
• As with any publisher, if after you sign the papers they don’t treat you or your book well, you could’ve just lost the right to publish or find another publisher for years. Know what your signing. Talk to several of their other authors. Have an escape clause in the contract if they don’t hold up their end of the bargain (like paying you royalties on time, sending you accounting reports on time, and keeping the book in print [i.e. keeping up with the print demand])
• There are a gazillion indie publishers out there, and it’s up to you do research which are legit, which are mostly “self-publishers,” and which ones are crooks

On the next segment, I’ll start talking about Basic Choice #3 “Self-Publishing,” and I’ll explain why I always put that word in quotation marks. 😀 There is a lot of information for this choice, so I’ll break it up over several days.