Finding the Right Epublisher

Picking an epublisher is a bit trickier than picking a traditional New York publisher because there are so many and their methods are so different. 

To start your search, first check out review sites and look for reviews of novels similar to yours and see which ones get the praise. If you can't tell an ebook publisher from one of the traditional publishers, use Google to check out the publisher. Soon, you'll recognize publisher names.

You can also ask about at various online writing groups and sites where writers hang out. Some clueless types hype their very poor publishers so don't take everything you hear as correct. 

When you find likely publishers, check out their site. Look at the kinds of books they sell. 

If your book is straight fantasy, you may regret a publisher which emphasizes romance on its home page or has a very small amount of fantasy because you'll have difficulty selling to the fantasy crowd even if your book is a perfect example of a great fantasy. The SF/fantasy crowd tends to be snobs and run in the opposite direction if they associate your publisher with romance.

Another way to check out epublishers is to see if the publisher's books are available in a wide range of formats and at other sites besides their website. Without exception, my ebooks sell worst at the publisher's site than anywhere else because readers prefer the one-stop shopping of places like Amazon Kindle. 

Go to the main venues like Amazon Kindle and see who is selling the most books in your genre. (The lists can be arranged in best-selling order.)

Go to publisher sites and read their guidelines and their posted contract. Compare the contract to EPIC's model contract. (http://www.epicauthors.com/) Also, look at EPIC's "Red Flags" article. Links to both can be found under "Helpful Items" on the left side of the site. 

Read a number of the publisher's books, or at least, the posted promotional chapters. Are there grammatical and spelling errors? Are the books bad? If so, find another publisher. 

Also, look at their covers. Would you want a cover like that? Do the covers fit the genre of the book? 

Once you get a few possibilities, ask about them on listservs where authors congregate. Most of us will warn you away from the crooked and inept publishers. Also, check them out at Preditors and Editors. http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors

You'll soon discover that the biggest epublishers with the best reputations are closed to submissions most all the time. Their stable of writers can produce more than enough books for them without dealing with the slush pile. 

But there are new publishers who are more than eager for good material. Unfortunately, they usually don't have a track record so you really don't know what you're getting in to.

All this research won't guarantee a safe passage through the stormy waters of publishing, I've had a few disastrous publishers who have lost distribution after I've signed with them or who have proven to be inept, but publishing is like life. Sh*t just happens despite whatever we do.

TOMORROW: I finish this series by talking about self-publishing resources.  Thursday, I will post my weekly "Links of Interest."

Choosing Your Publishing Route, Part 3 of 3

EPUBLISHERS

Epublishers release their books in digital format although some also offer print options mainly in the form of print-on-demand publishing. 

The advantage to epublishing is a wider range and number of publishers as well as less pigeonholing of book types. Since the costs of producing an ebook are much smaller than with paper-published books, the publisher can afford to publish books that don't fit tight market requirements. 

Most epublishers handle the cost of editing and cover design, but only a few offer a very small advance of royalties. 

You will usually have a great deal of impute into the cover art, editing, and the book blurb.

Distribution is nonexistent in bookstores, of course, but the books are available at the publisher's website and ebook distribution sites like Amazon Kindle where they will be sold with the ebook versions of books from traditional publishers and small press. 

One major disadvantage is less money. Your book will be one of many thousands in a market glutted by front and backlist of well-known authors as well as new books being published.

Even erotica, the growth market for ebooks, isn't offering much profit for most new authors because of the glutted market. 

Those most successful in ebooks are prolific writers who are able to produce three or more high quality books a year that are sold to the same audience. That audience buys all their books, and each new book draws in more readers who buy the backlist.  

Epublishing companies also have the same disadvantage as small press. They are run by individuals so an illness or family tragedy can put your book on hold, or the publisher can fail completely. 

SELF PUBLISHING IN EBOOK FORMATS 

You can format your book into an ebook then sell it from your website or through a few ebook distributor sites like Amazon Kindle and Smashwords.

The advantage is total control and a much cheaper setup cost than a paper book. The disadvantages are much the same as with any form of self-published book. 

A WEB NOVEL

The final market really isn't a market because no profit is made.

If you want to be read and money doesn't matter, putting your book on the web for free via a website, a blog, a free download site like Memoware, or a listserv like Yahoogroups may be the route to take. 

You will have to promote for readers, but you will get them, and a few will actually comment on your work.

Some writers do this as a learning experience. Others simply don't want to bother with the hassle of the publishing process. 

The disadvantages are no money and the possibility your book may end up elsewhere without your permission. 

The simplest way to gain popularity, readers, and comments is to write in a popular fan fiction universe like Harry Potter or the TWILIGHT series. A decent writer can become a big fish in a very small pool with lots of fans and none of the heartache of the professional markets.

FINAL COMMENTS

If you're still confused about which market you should try, think long and hard about what you really want from publishing and go from there.

And welcome to the wonderful world of publishing. Tighten your seatbelt because you're starting one heck of a bumpy but fascinating flight.

TOMORROW:  I'll be posting this week's "Links of Interest."

NEXT WEEK:  I’ll be talking about finding a publisher after you’ve decided if you want to go to traditional publishing, epublishing, etc.

Choosing Your Publishing Route, Part 2

SUBSIDY/VANITY IN PAPER

Many of the subsidy and vanity publishers have a system for publishing the book set up so all you have to do is plug in the various components of the book. 

You will design the cover or pay to have someone design the cover, you will write the book blurb, and you will edit or pay someone to edit your book. They will take all this and print the book for you. 

Unfortunately, they will expect you to pay all the expenses in this process and will still take a huge chunk of the profits for doing nothing. Most of the services cost considerably more than if you found someone else to do them.

Some of these presses also have contracts which control your book forever so that you can't sell it elsewhere.

Even those subsidy presses who claim they can get your books on those bookstore shelves rarely do.

Frankly, there is no pro in this kind of publisher, only cons.

SELF PUBLISHING IN PAPER

With self-publishing, you must find a printer to print your book for you, etc., but you will receive all the profits. Some printer services offer help with covers, etc., but it's added cost.

The major advantage to this method is you have most of the control for every element of your book.

A major disadvantage is that you have control over every element of your book. If you don't know what you are doing, you will spent a lot of money to make a fool of yourself.

Distribution is the biggest disadvantage of self-publishing. It is almost impossible to get your book onto the shelves of bookstores and in the catalogs of distributors. 

You will have to literally hand sell each book. To do this, you must have the soul and charm of a successful used car salesman and lots of time.

A self-published book, unless it achieves best-selling status, can also does more harm than good to a writer's reputation and future because most in the publishing world have a great deal of disdain for the self-published, particularly in fiction, so moving into another form of publishing later is much harder to do.

TOMORROW:  Epublishers, self-published ebooks, and web novels.

Choosing Your Publishing Route, Part 1

SCHEDULE NOTE:  I will be posting this article in three parts for the next three days.  On Thursday, I'll post my usual "Links of Interest."

You have your novel finished. Now what?

You have lots of options -- traditional publishers, small presses, ebook publishers, vanity/subsidy and self-publishing.

I'll talk about each form of publishing with some pros and cons to consider so you can decide which fits you better.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHERS

Traditional publishers are the publishers you find in bookstores. In US publishing, many are based in New York City. Some of these publishers of genre/popular fiction include Tor, Pocket, St. Martin, and Kensington.

The major advantage to these publishers is distribution. Their books are carried by all the major book chains and distributors so anyone can walk into the neighborhood bookstore and buy or order your book.

The better the distribution, the more books sold.

They will also give you an advance on your earnings and cover all the costs of creating the book itself including editing, the cover, and the printing.

Authors published this way are on the top of the author pecking order.

The major disadvantage is competition. You will have an uphill battle to gain a coveted slot in a publishing schedule and your competition will include many published authors.

In some markets, you'll need to get an agent even before you begin the fight for that slot, and this is an equally difficult and slow process.

Another disadvantage is lack of control. You will have almost no say in your book's title and cover. More often than not, you will also be required to change some of the book's content.

Pigeonholing is another problem. You must write to fit the current trends in popularity. It's a rare book that can be totally different.

SMALL PRESS

Small press is really a small version of the traditional publisher, but rather than being owned by a conglomerate, it is owned by individuals. Many are niche publishers specializing in a particular market like regional mystery or paranormal romance.

Some have the advantage of good distribution through book chains and distributors so they can be found in bookstores, but others do not. It will be much harder to find your book in a bookstore, but it should be available for ordering.

All the expenses of editing, cover art, and printing are covered by the small press, and some offer advances on earning which are usually much smaller than the traditional publisher.

The amount of author impute in the publishing process ranges from none to a great deal according to the individual press.

The disadvantages include poorer distribution, the vagaries of the how each runs its business, and the inherent risk of working with a small company where an owner's illness or family problems can stop the presses.

TOMORROW:

Subsidy/vanity presses and self publishing in paper.

Self-Publishing Resources

I have never been a fan of self-publishing, particularly for authors who have never sold a book to a publisher, be that an e-publisher or one of the more traditional publishers.  

First, there is a very great likelihood that no one wanted to publish that book for very good reasons.  A bad book will do nothing for your career; in fact,  it will hurt your career.  

Second, getting a book published and promoted is time and energy consuming so much less time will be available to write and improve your craft.  If your book is bad, any readers you get will be much less likely to buy your next book.

Third, only a very few authors make money at self-publishing, a much smaller percentage are very successful, and most lose money.

But, if you do decide that self-publishing may be for you, you must educate yourself.  Here is a good starting place to learn more.

First, the definitions--

SELF-PUBLISHING: The author must find a printer, editor, etc., and must pay for each service, then must find the distribution services, as well. All profit goes to the author. 

SELF-PUBLISHING THROUGH A ONE-STOP PRINTER OR E-PUBLISHING SERVICE: Some printers offer all the services necessary to publish a book. Each service is paid by the author. All profit goes to the author.

VANITY/SUBSIDY PRESS: They offer all the services necessary to publish a book like the one-stop printer. You can buy in for the basic service, then you can add on various services like editing, cover art, etc. The vanity/subsidy press, however, then takes a large cut of the profit with no risk or cost to itself.  Often, it will tie up your rights so you can never publish it elsewhere.

In other words, avoid vanity/subsidy services at all costs.

SELF-PUBLISHING RESOURCES: Links to some excellent books and websites on self-publishing.

http://self-publishingresources.com/

http://storyflip.blogspot.com/2010/07/re-write-wednesday-overcoming-adversity.html

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2011/indesign-to-ebook-resources/

EBOOK SERVICES DIRECTORY:  Go here and click on the eBook Service Directory icon on the right.

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

ARTICLES ON SPECIFICS OF SELF-PUBLISHING 

BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: Some of the dangers of self-publishing to an author’s career.

http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2009/09/self-publishing-ii-attack-of-pod-people.html

EBOOK FORMATS AND READERS: A primer on the ePub format standard and how to transfer an epub book into your ereader.

http://blog.laptopmag.com/epub-primer-everything-you-need-to-know-and-more

BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: How self-publishing a book can hurt you if it was given an ISBN.

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2010/04/isbn-that-hurts.html

WHY SELF-PUBLISHING BOOKS CAN BE A BAD THING FOR YOUR CAREER:

http://heydeadguy.typepad.com/heydeadguy/2011/01/girls-got-a-reputation.html

THE MIDLIST WRITER AND CHANGING TIMES:

http://kriswrites.com/2011/01/19/the-business-rusch-midlist-writers-big-publishing-changing-times-part-14/

FORMATTING EBOOKS IN VARIOUS FORMATS:

http://www.snowbooks.com/weblog/2010/12/how_to_create_ebooks.html

PUBLISHING: To self-publish or not.

http://behlerblog.com/2010/11/15/dear-publishers-do-we-even-need-you/

HYPE AND SELF-PUBLISHING:  Overview of some of the nonsense being written about the ebook self-publishing market.

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2011/01/importance-of-context-part-1.html?

SELF-PUBLISHING: Via the Kindle, an agent's POV.

Part 1

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2010/11/launching-your-career-via-kindle.html

Part 2

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2010/11/building-your-career-on-kindle.html

SELF-PUBLISHING OVERVIEW: Two well-thought-out overviews on self-publishing.

http://behlerblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/series-should-i-self-publish-know-what-awaits-you/

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2010/06/30/TheNo1MostImportantFactorForWritersConsideringTheSelfPubOption.aspx

Picking An Epublisher, MARKETS

If you've read my blogs on the pros and cons of different types of publishers, and you've decided on marketing your book to epublishers, here's how you find likely candidates.

Picking an epublisher is a bit trickier than picking a traditional New York publisher because there are so many and their methods are so different.

To start your search, first check out review sites and look for reviews of novels similar to yours and see which ones get the praise. If you can't tell an ebook publisher from one of the traditional publishers, use Google to check out the publisher. Soon, you'll recognize publisher names.

You can also ask about at various online writing groups and sites where writers hang out. Some clueless types hype their very poor publishers so don't take everything you hear as correct.

When you find likely publishers, check out their site. Look at the kinds of books they sell.

If your book is straight fantasy, you may regret a publisher which emphasizes romance on its home page or has a very small amount of fantasy because you'll have difficulty selling to the fantasy crowd even if your book is a perfect example of a great fantasy. The SF/fantasy crowd tend to be snobs and run in the opposite direction if they associate your publisher with romance.

Another way to check out epublishers is to see if the publisher's books are available in a wide range of formats and at other sites besides their website. Without exception, my ebooks sell worst at the publisher's site than anywhere else because readers prefer the one-stop shopping of places like Fictionwise.

Go to the main venues like Fictionwise and see who is selling the most books in your genre. (The lists can be arranged in best-selling order.)

Go to publisher sites and read their guidelines and their posted contract. Compare the contract to EPIC's model contract. (http://www.epicauthors.com/) Also, look at EPIC's "Red Flags" article. Links to both can be found under "Helpful Items" on the left side of the site.

Read a number of the publisher's books, or at least, the posted promotional chapters. Are there grammatical and spelling errors? Are the books bad? If so, find another publisher.

Also, look at their covers. Would you want a cover like that? Do the covers fit the genre of the book?

Once you get a few possibilities, ask about them on listservs where authors congregate. Most of us will warn you away from the crooked and inept publishers. Also, check them out at Preditors and Editors. http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors

You'll soon discover that the biggest epublishers with the best reputations are closed to submissions most all the time. Their stable of writers can produce more than enough books for them without dealing with the slush pile.

But there are new publishers who are more than eager for good material. Unfortunately, they usually don't have a track record so you really don't know what you're getting in to.

All this research won't guarantee a safe passage through the stormy waters of publishing, I've had a few disastrous publishers who have lost distribution after I've signed with them or who have proven to be inept, but publishing is like life. Sh*t just happens despite whatever we do.