Re: future of publishing

Jon Jermey:

> But authors don't get these things from publishers for free.

In the "old model," they do. That's the point. A normal trade book  
requires at least $20,000 to publish. The author pays none of it.  
They do, however, only take home the portion of profit due to their  
work as a writer, leaving the publisher the portion due to the effort  
of publishing, and to the return on investment. Of course, most books  
don't do much more than break even, but on the average, a publisher  
with good odds-makers (aka Acquiring Editors), will make a profit  
over their whole list.

> If marketing, copyediting, cover images (and indexes) actually sell  
> more books then authors are at liberty to commission them from  
> specialists in their field. There's no reason why they should be  
> obliged to pay a publisher to do it for them.

They can always self-publish, and do the investment and publishing  
work themselves, and then take the writer's share and the publisher's  
share of the profits. If any.

> I recently co-authored a book which was put out by a major global  
> publisher. As far as I could tell the only thing they did which we  
> couldn't was to market it. As far as I can tell they are not doing  
> it very well -- at least, we have had several marketing ideas which  
> they don't seem to have followed up. Their communication with us  
> (after publication) has been minimal so I don't really know WHAT  
> they are doing, but they don't inspire confidence.

Authors rarely do see the work that goes on inside the hive. And  
publishers don't usually explain it. And that's really too bad.

> Next time I'll probably self-publish and pay a marketing company a  
> few grand instead. They would almost certainly do a better job.

That very  much depends upon you, and upon the company you hire. But  
if you do consider doing this, may I make some recommendations that  
may save you a TON of money?

1. Buy some books on the publishing process. (See the Reference Desk  
on my site for a list of my faves.)
2. Join the Yahoo Group on Self-Publishing.
3. Buy at least 2 books on general book publicty and another on web- 
based book publicity. Pushing books is a very specialized art.  
(Again, there are lists on my site of ones I've read and like.)
4. Buy Pete Masterson's _Book Design and Production_.
5. Download and read the scripts from some of my seminars (they're  
free -- find them through the Classes and Seminars page on my site).  
CRUNCH THOSE NUMBERS before you spend a dime.

With all good wishes.

Marion Gropen
Gropen Associates, Inc.
By-The-Question Consulting,  Tools for Publishers, & Classes
www.GropenAssoc.com
Her blog: www.GropenAssoc.com/blog




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