Choosing the Right Path to Publication

In today’s publishing world, there are more options than ever, and honestly, navigating them has proven challenging. As I’ve been mulling over my next step with my current WIP (which is finished…so is it just a W now?), I’ve finally decided there are, essentially, three paths. Here, primarily for the purpose of organizing my thoughts, though it’d also be great to hear input (and if I goofed something up, corrections!) is what I’ve found about those various routes.

The Traditional Route

In the traditional route, step one is to sign with an agent. This involves query letters, synopses, and sometimes much more involved proposals wherein you do a competitive analysis and generate all kinds of other information. You send this out to as many agents as you can find who represent your particular genre (limiting the pool considerably if you’re also a Christian writer) and then you wait. From what I’ve seen, the norm now is not even boilerplate “No Thank You” letters. The norm now appears to be silence. As you peruse the agent websites you’ll see the small print: If you haven’t heard back from us in x weeks, we are not interested in your work at this time.

Should you manage to intrigue an agent, they may ask you for your full manuscript. If that goes well, then they take you on as a client. At this point, your agent attempts to sell your book to editors with whom they have a working relationship. If all goes well, you get a contract and your book continues on into the marketplace (with various hoops like edits etc. that have to take place.) And, when all is said and done, you get your royalty (from what I’ve been able to divine, that’s typically between 8-10% of retail, 15% of which you give to your agent.) You get a certain number of copies in your initial print run and, thereafter, your book is out of print (though if you also contracted your electronic rights, it may live on as an ebook.) Some publishers adjust their royalties for ebooks to take into account the lower cost of producing an electronic product. Others don’t.

Self Publishing

In self publishing, you pretty much are in control of everything. Amazon makes things relatively easy for people deciding to self publish. You write your book, create your account at Amazon, set up the book, and boom. You’re set. Of course, in this method any editing/cover prep/what have you is all resting solely on your shoulders. You do keep the bulk of the profit (Amazon keeps their share for providing the service). You also have to do all the work. (Whereas in traditional publishing you might get a little bit of marketing help, you don’t get any if you self publish because, hey, that’s what the self stands for, Little Red Hen.)

Indie / Small Press Publishing

This is kind of the middle of the road. Independent/small presses are actual publishing companies. They often take advantage of Amazon’s Print on Demand (POD) for physical book fulfillment (because they don’t have the warehouse space or money for up front print runs) as well as doing ebook sales. Where you get a benefit here (over self publishing) is that there is editing and cover design provided, and possibly a little help with marketing. You do have to keep in mind that these folks run on a much leaner budget overall.

Some indie/small presses can still get your books into brick and mortar bookstores, others don’t/can’t. It’s something to keep in mind. (Though one could also ask how important the physical bookstore is these days – perhaps that’s a post for another time though.) You also aren’t likely to get an advance with a small press – just strictly royalty. (With some, the royalty structure is better/higher than traditional publishers.) I believe that smaller presses will still work with agented authors, but they also are more likely to be willing to work directly with the author, cutting out that 15% you would otherwise have to pass along out of your pay.

Right now, I have to say I’m leaning toward the indie/small press route for my W. Lots of reasons for that…maybe I’ll go into that another day. That aside, did I leave anything out? (Make mistakes? Etc.)