SMALL PUBLISHERS

A recent article by Vincent Zandri about how badly a Big Six publisher treated him, was followed by a comment from a writer saying the small publishers can hurt you too. Amen to that.

At the same time, browsing through the Passive Voice blog, I found an article on the same subject that writers should read. Titled “Why Small Publishers fail,“ it quotes an article on Writer Beware with scenarios about why that happens. It’s full of important information for anyone thinking of starting a new publishing company. And, if you think writers won’t do that, let me assure you many already have.

The number of small publishers has skyrocketed in recent years. The emergence of Print-on-Demand technology (POD), along with e-books, spurred more people than just writers to start such a business. Look at the advantages compared to traditional publishing: No expensive office space (you can work from your home with no more than a computer and website). No print runs, no warehouses, no shareholders to answer to, no advances to authors.

But authors need to be wary. For these very reasons, small publishers may be undercapitalized. Without publishing experience, they may not structure their business properly or know how to write suitable contracts with authors. They may not have links to distributors; their printers might not produce a quality product.

Why would writers go to them? There are many reasons that even good authors choose that path. They may have been turned down by traditional publishers for many reasons besides quality of their writing. Their books might fit a small niche of the reading public. They might have a backlist of books the original publisher won’t take. They might be getting on in age and don’t want to wait the years it often takes to get read, approved and published the old way.

But writers considering signing with a small publisher need to do their homework and ask the hard questions. A mere sampling of the things to examine are: the number of years they’ve been in business, any fees they require, the quality of their books and the prices, and the exact terms in contracts. There are sharks out there. There are vanity publishers masquerading as small presses. In a worst case scenario, small presses can go bankrupt and take the authors down with them. The authors’ work will be tied up, possibly for years.

Luckily none of the small presses I’ve worked with have caused me that kind of trouble, but I came close. The publisher of my very first romance novel--although they printed the book--went out of business before paying me. In fact, I had to pay them to get my leftover books, which were so poorly made I didn’t even try to sell them. Another small publisher never paid me any royalties before also going out of business, but at least the books I bought from them were adequately printed.

Do lots of small presses disappear? You betcha. I probably don’t know half of them, but here are twenty-two publishers I queried who are now gone. In no particular order: J.A. Rock, Loveland, Tiger, Triskelion, Sands, Port Town, Pegasus, Noble, Howard, By Grace, Cook, Lerner, Sierra, Muse, Ashgrove, Wings, Avocet, Dry Bones, Anchor, Quiet Storm, Intercontinental, and Rocky Mountain.

Another small press offered me a contract, but I refused. The publisher had only been in business--according to their own website--for six months. When there are so many options, I don’t need to risk taking a chance that something might happen to them and my book would be trapped in a bankruptcy court for years. By the wat, I soon sold that book to an “older” publisher.

What about you, fellow writers? Any horror stories out there?

Tags:
The Passive Voice
Writer Beware
Small presses

SELF-PUBLISHING, AGAIN

In Wednesday’s posts on one of my favorite blogs, The Passive Voice, are two “must-read” articles.

The first is an interview with multi-published author Jodi Picoult from The Daily Beast. Among other interesting items of advice--especially why she doesn’t believe in writer’s block--is her comment: AND NEVER SELF-PUBLISH. I put that in capitals because it’s printed like that in the article, so apparently Ms. Picoult was adamant about it. However, she never explained why and the interviewer never asked her.

Scroll down a little to the article, “Submit, Quit or Self-Publish it.” Here Randy Henderson points out that, while some advice to writers includes the option to self-publish, too many writers go straight to that instead of first submitting to agents and/or editors, get rejected a few times and learn how to improve. Only when you’re convinced it’s publishable but was rejected for other reasons than quality, should you self-publish.

It’s no secret that the ease and low cost of self-publishing has brought out thousands of people who get a big ego-boost telling friends and family they’re now a published author. And statistics show that the average SP author sells fewer than 100 books.

Another article you can also find on The Passive Voice is about how children are getting their “books” published, thanks to--of course--Mom and Dad who pay for it. “What’s next?” asked novelist Tom Robbins, “Kiddie architects, juvenile dentists, eleven-year-old rocket scientists? There are no prodigies in literature. Literature requires experience in a way that mathematics and music do not.”

I guess, in this era of boosting children’s “self-esteem,” that was bound to happen. I hope they have fun, and perhaps some of them will eventually turn out to be the next Randy Henderson or Jodi Picoult. In the meantime, we mature, even “over-the-hill” authors, must keep writing and improving whether we’re self- or traditionally published. And I have no quarrel with those who, because of advancing age, can’t wait years to go through the submitting process and then, if accepted, wait some more before their book is actually published, when Amazon can do it in weeks.

I did the “submit and get rejected” thing for years, and I know that each rejection--and especially comments about why it was rejected--made me work harder to provide a quality product. As I’ve always said, “I don’t write: I rewrite.” Thirteen books accepted by editors and published by traditional publishers (although not the Big Six) tell me the extra work paid off. My fourteenth, a mystery by Mainly Murder Press, is due in July.

However, I’m not against self-publishing. I’ve done that too. Because I started so long ago, I was forced to “submit and get rejected.” There was no Amazon in those days and self-publishing meant doing all the work yourself, hiring a printer to print your books, and then--in order to keep the per-volume price reasonable--ordering 3000 copies (for roughly $10,000) which lived in your garage. I had a few friends who did that.

I’ve put my older books, which are now called “back-list,” on Amazon and Smashwords, and I’m about to try Amazon Singles for the many short stories I wrote before switching to novels. If the three books currently out to “big” publishers, get rejected again I might self-publish those too.

Are you trying both traditional and self-publishing? Tell me how that’s working for you.

Tags:
The Passive Voice
The Daily Beast
Jodi Picoult
Randy Henderson

ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA AND THE RITA

On Monday, March 26, RWA announced the finalists in the Rita (for books published in 2011) and the Golden Heart (for books by unpublished writers). This post is solely about the Rita--not the Golden Heart--and I am announcing at the outset that this is only my opinion and I may be prejudiced because, although several years ago a novel of mine was a finalist in the Golden Heart (Second Place they called it at that time), my published book wasn’t listed in the nominations for the Rita on Monday.

Considering what’s happening in publishing these days, it strikes me that other writers may have the same concerns as I do, and perhaps we need to bring the subject out into the open.

As has been the case for as many years as I’ve been a member of RWA, every book nominated in every category was a book which was published by the “Big 6 plus Harlequin” or a subsidiary. In fact, in two categories this year, every nominated book was a Harlequin release. No exceptions.

How could this still be true today when statistics show that as many independently published books are available (or may even outnumber) traditionally published books? Every week I read stories about authors whose novels were rejected by the big publishers, but, after they self-published them, they sold thousands, even millions, of copies. Why were they not nominated for the Rita?

Of course RWA has a criteria for when an Indie published book is eligible and perhaps none were even entered. There are probably an equal number of books published by small presses which also meet RWA guidelines. I know several authors besides me whose books were published by small houses and entered in the Rita but were not nominated. Yet, the guidelines for entering the Awards stated that members should enter long before the deadline because they expected an overwhelming number this year. Presumably books by new publishers. But none of them got nominated.

I was aware that in the past only novels published by big publishers ever gained these nominations, and hence the awards, but I hoped this year--thanks to all the new books by new publishers now available--it might be different. In addition, my book was a love story set on the Titanic, and this is the year of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship. James Cameron is re-releasing his film, Titanic, and many national magazines carry articles about the disaster. Plus, my novel received three Five-Star reviews. In addition, many of my readers, and at least one of the reviewers, admitted to weeping as she read the scenes of husbands watching their wives get into lifeboats and knew they would never see them again.

Really, I’m perfectly okay with the assumption that my book was simply not good enough to be nominated for a Rita, but no small press books were good enough? Did the judges actually read those books?



I know judges are busy (I’ve been a judge but not for the Rita) and must work toward a deadline which might cause some to skim a book, or not finish reading it. I’m also aware that judges of contests are sometimes prejudiced from the start when they encounter a book from a heretofore unknown publisher. They simply assume that if it wasn’t published by the Big Six, it can’t possibly be any good, so why bother reading it?

I hope I’m wrong about that, but we’ll never know, will we?

Dear fellow-writers, What do you think about this? Did you have a book published by a small press and enter it in the Rita?

Tags:
Big Six
Harlequin
RWA
Rita
Golden Heart

REJECTION

vMost writers get rejected before they begin to sell. Even after you’ve published something, you can still get rejected. Every book must stand on its own. Only Stephen King, Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts can sell anything they write.

But don’t take rejection personally. It might have come from a female editor whose husband just dumped her. Or a male editor whose ex-wife has the same name as your heroine. Or they had a cold that day. Or the sun was shining. If your story is good, it will find a home eventually. My novel SOUTHERN STAR was rejected nineteen times before Avalon Books bought it two years ago.

AUNTIE MAME was rejected sixteen times. LUST FOR LIFE was rejected seventeen times. THE GINGER MAN was rejected thirty-six times. All of those books were published and are so well-known I didn’t even have to mention the authors’ names.

Pearl Buck’s novel, THE GOOD EARTH, was rejected thirty-one times before it sold, and then it won the Pulitzer Prize. One publisher said, “The American public is not interested in anything about China.”

Of Joseph Heller’s CATCH 22, a rejection letter said, “This is a continual and unmitigated bore.”

Tony Hillerman’s first book got this one. “If you insist on rewriting this, take out all that Indian stuff.”

Of John LeCarre’s novel, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, an editor wrote, ”You’re welcome to Le Carre. He hasn’t any future.”

And then Sol Stein received this rejection letter from an editor in China. “We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. Were we to publish your story, it would be impossible for us to publish in the future any work of a low standard. And, as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years, we shall see its equal, we are, to our great regret, compelled to return your divine composition and beg you, a thousand times. to overlook our shortsightedness, temerity and lack of imagination.”

Have you had any unusual rejection letters? Come and share.

Tags:
Pearl Buck, Tony Hillerman,
Joseph Heller, John LeCarre,
Stephen King, Danielle Steel,
Nora Roberts

BIG PUBLISHERS

Here’s my take on the current controversy over Amazon versus the Big 6 publishers. If the Justice Department prevails, proving five publishers and Apple “colluded” to raise e-book prices, some fear Amazon will go back to heavy discounting of important books, cutting into the profit for both publishers and bookstores. The “Amazon wins” scenario scares lots of readers who fear they’ll benefit in the short term, but lose in the future if Amazon becomes the only game in town and then raises prices. That’s what price-fixing laws are supposed to prevent.

Companies with plenty of cash, like Amazon, can sell books (or anything) at a loss until they’ve killed competition completely, which is what anti-monopoly laws are supposed to prevent. Where are they in this argument?

The final judgement has yet to occur. The publishers and Apple might settle the lawsuit with some kind of compromise that solves, or at least mitigates, the problem. Even if they don’t, at this point it’s hard to know what will happen down the road.

I like Amazon, and I also like Apple, Barnes & Noble and others in the book business. That includes some of the Big 6. I’m not published by them (I’ve been with smaller publishers) and would like to be if only for the prestige they currently enjoy.

Which is not to say those guys have been smart lately. They didn’t see the handwriting on the wall, and some are still not moving into the future. Read J.A. Konrath’s blog about those he calls “legacy” publishers to learn what mistakes many of them have made. Some authors praise Amazon if only because the Big 6 “got what was coming to them.”

But, that said, they’re hardly suffering no matter how often they bad-mouth Amazon. Sure, their sales of hardcover and trade paper books have fallen, but their balance sheets haven’t suffered much. And where is this extra income arriving from? E-books of course. They cost virtually nothing to produce and provide authors only piddling amounts in royalties.

Furthermore, at least two publishers I know of are moving into digital in a big way. Random House has a new division called “Romance at Random” for digital only books. Grand Central is doing the same with its “Forever Yours” division. And both have opened their submissions to unagented authors. Methinks I see a ploy to try to snag talented writers who might otherwise decide to self-publish with Amazon. Is this good or bad? If these new lines raise royalty rates on e-books to rival Amazon’s, it might be a good thing. But I don’t know.

What do you think? Are you still trying traditional publishing or have you already switched to Indie?

Tags:
Big 6
Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Random House
Grand Central
J.A. Konrath

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW - OR BORROW

In my last post, I mentioned the tsunami alert when I was in Hawaii and how it sparked the idea for my novel STRANGER IN PARADISE. And I could give other examples of how events in my life provided ideas for plots. But ideas come from everywhere.

Last week the post on Anne Allen’s blog (a “must read” for me) answered the frequently asked question, “How Do You Learn to be a Writer?” At the end she asked her readers to name their influences and “Read” was at the top of most lists, as it was on mine. In fact, reading good writing not only teaches you how to write effectively, but often what to write. Think of all the novels sparked by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jane Austen. I started a series about Sherlock Holmes myself--stay tuned.

And reading books is not the only way to get ideas for characters and plots. High on the list are movies, television and stage plays. Television is especially lucrative in terms of stories, because you can find them at almost every hour of the day, every day. Remember the old Alfred Hitchcock TV shows? Well, one short story writer would watch those programs, and halfway through he’d try to figure out “whodunit.” If he was wrong, he used his own version to write a short story and then sold it. Where? To Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if afternoon soap operas have been the inspiration for a whole shelf of romance and mystery novels.

Movies often get things wrong because the writers are focusing on the particular story they want to tell--and especially adding some violence and special effects to please the largest segment of Friday night filmgoers, teenagers. So their faux pas can spark ideas for a story of your own.

A stage play with only two characters inspired a book with an expanded cast by a friend of mine, and a well-known musical was responsible for a novel about a young woman with ambition who must fight against daunting odds. Mama Rose, maybe?

Keep a notebook handy when watching television or your latest Netflix movie, and--if an idea strikes--write it down quickly.

And, oh yes, did I mention that eavesdropping on conversations in theatres, restaurants, and elevators has been the beginning of many a well-told tale? I once heard of a couple who loved to get on a crowded elevator and start to tell an exciting story and then get off just before the climax. They did it for fun and really had no ending in mind, but did anyone who heard one of their “prank” stories turn it into a best-selling novel a few months later? We’ll never know.

Confession time: Did you ever use a book, movie or TV plot to prime your “idea-seeking” mind?

AMAZING TSUNAMI FACT

We’re all told to “write what you know,” and I do that a lot. Of course, I wasn’t actually on the Titanic, but I did a lot of research when writing COLD APRIL. Then some of the fascinating facts I learned went into the seven posts to this blog which I wrote starting last August 22nd. I’ll get to tell about them again when I give a talk at the Rancho Mirage library in April.


My latest e-book, STRANGER IN PARADISE, (Only 99 cents until March 15) also had its share of facts that didn’t get in the book, and I think you’ll find them interesting.

My hubby and I went to Hawaii on our honeymoon and stayed in a hotel on Waikiki beach with a splendid fourteenth floor view of the ocean. Then, one morning during our visit, we heard air raid sirens and found it was a tsunami alert because of an earthquake in Alaska. Police cars drove up and down Kalakaua Avenue with loudspeakers warning people to leave the beach and go to higher ground. We were in no danger in our high rise. In fact, people who lived in small houses behind the hotel came to our fourth floor roof--where there was an outdoor swimming pool--for safety.

The sight of a completely deserted beach and no surfers riding waves was as awesome to me as the number of ships that went out to sea to avoid being dashed against the piers if the tsunami should come. It didn’t.

However, when I returned home and resumed writing romance novels, I decided to write a book with a tsunami. It was a small one and no one got killed, but it became an important plot point which almost kept my lovers from their HEA ending.

So I did some research, and, since my hero knew about tsunamis-- having lived in Japan--I wanted him to speak about them knowledgeably. I contacted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the nice lady on the phone assured me she would send the information I wanted. However, she warned me that some of it would be in Japanese, so she wrote captions in English above the column of dates and numbers of people killed.

The material arrived in a fat manila envelope (our tax dollars at work) and I found a thick set of pages stapled together containing columns with hand-written English words above them.

“Date” marked one column. “Oh, no, that couldn’t be a date; she must have made a mistake.” I kept turning pages and the number grew larger and larger. Yes, that was indeed a date. The Japanese had been recording data about tsunamis since the year 684.

I didn’t put that remarkable fact in my novel. I don’t even get to use it in cocktail party conversation very often.
How about you? While researching for a book, did you learn something that readers would be amazed to know?