Writers: Own Your Publishing Career
We all know it’s challenging to get a publishing deal and that some of those deals sour faster than organic milk left on the counter. The prevailing winds in the industry fill the sails of authors who master self-promotion and leave many talented writers behind.
Should marketing be the primary responsibility of the author? What is the publisher’s role, exactly? In my practice of working with authors, I’ve seen how confusing expectations can lead writers to many tiny disappointments. After the deal, publishers infrequently communicate with authors (intentionally or not), design inadequate covers for outstanding books, and blame authors when book sales don’t meet expectations. Promising writers never publish a second book.
Does this mean we’d all be better off self-publishing? If the primary question about publishing today is traditional or indie, we’re asking the wrong question. Publish well, and it doesn’t matter who publishes the book. The real problem is that publishers and writers blame each other for poor results. Neither writers nor publishers are paying enough attention to readers.
Writers Choose Traditional Publishing for the Wrong Reason
The idea that a publisher conveys prestige exists only among writers. An author can be a brand reader’s trust and support, while publishers are mainly invisible. Readers ignore the publishing company. Stephen King is a household name, but do you know who his publisher is?
The difficulty in getting a publishing deal makes it seem precious. Without an agent, writers can’t submit their work to the most prominent publishers. Even the best writers face rejections and are encouraged by the writing community to persist. Agents tell authors they need a platform. If a writer has at least 10,000 names (preferably 100,000) on an email list, it can presage a book deal. But not necessarily. With these high barriers, any deal feels like a big win. Even when advances barely cover the cost of the coffee that fueled the words.
Authors give away too much power. When they sign a deal, authors will accept that it’s their personal responsibility to “move the needle.” If they don’t already have followers, they bravely build an audience on Instagram or other social media platforms. If a publisher denies a second book deal, they accept poor sales were “their fault.” These beliefs are a by-product of publishers bullying authors for their own failures to adapt to a changing market. Large ones especially remain committed to a retail business model, even as readers and audiences discover books online instead of in a cozy nook in Shakespeare & Co. Online audiences are up for grabs. One author could build a large enough audience to support herself.
The real reason to go with a publisher is that they have far more control over sales than any single author. Despite the shifting landscape, publishing companies have access to national media and buyers for major retail chains. They have armies of sales representatives calling on independent bookstores and municipal libraries. They control warehouses and sophisticated logistics and shipping networks. Titans of publishing wield eight-figure advertising budgets.
Self-Publishing Lures Authors with a Promise of Independence and a Right to Keep all the Profits.
There is a growing belief that only a fool would hand over their work to a publisher. The walls protected by gatekeepers aren’t worth scaling. The great spoils seem to go only to the lucky few. They argue that to do so would be to sacrifice rights, profits, and freedom. This is partially true.
If an author is clear about what she wants to do with her book in the future, she can negotiate a rights deal in her favor. Unless they commissioned a book as a Work for Hire, the copyright remains with the author. Authors can negotiate to maintain specific rights like audio, foreign sales, serial, or film rights. They can also include a reversion clause if a publisher’s sales drop below a certain threshold. They can have their rights back and re-publish the book themselves. With ebooks and print-on-demand, publishers will default to a contract granting them rights indefinitely. Still, it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker to ask for a reversion clause.
Advocates of self-publishing cite earning 70% royalties versus 10%, even if publishers can price their books higher and move a much larger volume, resulting in more significant profits. Writers may self-publish for freedom, but they face strict price controls and mysterious algorithms. Most self-publishers are unwitting hostages to the Amazon machine, a platform increasingly becoming more pay-to-play. Authors will publish over a million books on the platform this year. The winners on Amazon are those who know how to play Amazon’s game.
To succeed and sell more than a handful of books, one must learn the skills of all the publishing professionals combined. Is that what independence looks like? Sure, anyone with a Word document can publish a book on Kindle in an afternoon for free. Still, a book published so casually would rarely be a delight to read. Readers rely on the less visible publishing skills: book/market development, design and production, publicity, sales, logistics, book financials, and digital marketing. These skills have little to do with being a talented writer, but they are essential in producing influential books for the marketplace.
The Bestseller Mentality Hurts All Authors
I once attended a meeting at a literary agency where agents discussed a presentation where the nation’s largest publisher hired the world’s most prestigious consulting firm to analyze the publisher’s business model. At the end of the study, the consultant invited the publishing management team into the auditorium.
“It’s simple,” said the consultant under the blue glow of PowerPoint. “Only publish bestsellers.”
The agents laughed. One snorted her macchiato. It was a punchline to a poor joke. While commercial publishers sign a few “sure things” every season, it’s accepted that most new books are a crapshoot. That’s why the best agents are fierce about getting as much money as possible for their clients as an advance. They know well that, according to insights from Michael Cader at Publishers Marketplace, 75% of books at larger publishing companies never earn out their advance, even with all those experts in the room. Publishers and agents know the odds, but they keep authors in the dark.
The bestseller model has worked for big publishers just as the blockbuster model has worked in the movie industry and unicorns buoy venture capitalists. It’s a model that sustains itself if only a tiny percentage of bets pay off. One Girl on the Train can pay for 1,000 okay or not-so-okay outcomes.
Publishers, agents, and authors often focus on the competitiveness of the publishing deal over the potential of a book in the marketplace. Advances have become inflated as one big publisher worries about losing a turn at the roulette wheel to another. Suppose you look at publishing through this lens. In that case, it’s not a business requirement for publishers to care for authors or to assure that any other than top titles get attention. From a profit perspective, the bottom 99% don’t matter. It’s only volume and scale. There is no incentive for big publishing to make the process any more pleasant for authors. Many good people in publishing would like it to be different and refuse to recognize this reality.
What if agents, publishers, and authors worked together to create and publish solid selling books in every niche?
With so Much Focus on Traditional vs. Self-Publishing, Authors Overlook the Solid Players in the Middle of the Field.
I admire outlier presses like Two Dollar Radio and Microcosm Publishing. Innovative presses like Sourcebooks are growing fast and showing signs of longevity. They have lucky authors and admiring fans. Unlike the big guys, these publishers are building reader-recognizable brands.
Instead of gambling on bestsellers, these presses employ the same fundamentals that Peter Workman, the founder of Workman Publishing , best known for What to Expect When You’re Expecting (one of the best-selling nonfiction books of all time) famously outlined. The three legs of the publishing stool are 1) development, 2) packaging, and 3) distribution. Is this a book people want to read, in the format they want it, in a place where they can buy it?
Follow these principles, and you can vastly improve the success rate of publishing efforts.
Book/Market Development
Data or market validation are tools many successful businesses consider essential. They aren’t popular in publishing. If data were king, publishers wouldn’t be accepting blind queries! They would bang the drums and call for submissions to fill the slots they identified as high in reader demand. Or they would commission them internally.
Engineering is the mindset of self-publishing authors who are expert digital marketers. These savvy authors use keywords and categories with tools like Publisher Rocket to mine data from Amazon to write to market demand.
I know firsthand that it can be done. In my first publishing adventure, I was the book editor for a magazine with access to reader data. Fine Homebuilding magazine conducted monthly reader surveys ranking articles and presented the findings to the editors. It made sense to turn the top topics into books, and that worked well in predicting demand.
So when the survey said people loved reading articles about small houses, I set out to commission a book on that topic. When Sarah Susanka presented her idea to our editorial team on a general book on home design, we suggested narrowing her focus to “small.” That’s how The Not So Big House was born-a book that sold half a million copies and had a raft of branded follow-on books.
Creative agents and editors possess palettes that taste great writing — it might be sweet, umami, spicy or sharp. Still, they know it’s a flavor they’ve never had before. They don’t require data. These agents and editors rely on their guts. They curate the original voice and deeply understand the particular reader who buys books they curate. Small mission-driven publishers like or who know their readers are excellent at this. At big houses, some publishers argue that bestsellers often surprise. I believe it’s worth taking these risks; doing so on the dime of a deep-pocketed publisher is ideal.
The Right Package for Every Book
The book package includes a book’s title, format (hardcover, softcover, ebook), the size or extent of pages (skinny or thuddy), paper, and printing quality (texture, color, gold foil, French flaps, interactive pop-up pages, etc.), and price. The Not-So-Big House was an oversized, square-formatted hardcover rich with color photographs and an easily surfable magazine-like layout. It was perfect for bookstore buyers who would browse before buying. It was priced and wholesale-discounted to compete with similar titles.
The easiest way to check is to look at the competitive books. Does this book belong here? Is it just different enough to stand out but not different enough to alienate buyers? You can quickly assess with a bit of market research.
Distribute to Readers Where They Shop
Distribution is the most significant difference between traditional and self-publishing. No individual has the retail power of a big publisher. But does your niche book need to be in bookstores? Sure, you can publish with IngramSpark and have access to bookstores or the readers of Amazon via KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), but is this the place where readers want to buy your book? Bookstores are great places to buy books but awful places to sell them. Would you rather sell your ice-cold lemonade at the only stand on a hot beach or in the refrigerated aisle of a superstore?
Distribution is a wide-open frontier for authors and publishers right now. Mass market books undeniably belong with big publishers who will get them in bookstores. Genre fiction and prescriptive (how-to) nonfiction work with Amazon and other online algorithms and advertising if you’re willing to learn how. But perhaps your gardening book is better off with a gardening supplier. Ask yourself where readers are buying books like yours and what might be the best path to reach them. Publish in unexpected places.
Writers, Take Responsibility for Your Publishing Journey.
Writers need to manage how, when, and with whom they publish. Based on the options available in the market, I believe authors should be fluid. Work with publishers and self-publish, and learn their games. The role of the publisher is to provide capital and infrastructure for selling books, but it’s up to the author to build her particular audience.
I don’t advocate that you blindly build a platform. Becoming a digital marketing expert should be a choice rather than a requirement. But you should invest time enough to know your competition and keep in touch with your readers. At the very least, publish and grow a regular newsletter or zine.
If you want to work with a publisher, understand you work for them, not the other way around. They owe you nothing other than royalties. Your writing is their raw material, like peanuts are to peanut butter. Think of yourself as a farmer. Learn as much as you can about their business. Be the link between your publisher and your readers. Leverage the resources you receive in the partnership: national presence, access to talented publishing folk, and marketing muscle to speed up the growth of your own audience.
If you plan to self-publish, get your package right. Know the rules of the publishing platform. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Improve your craft and meet your readers. Know that you are the publisher. That might mean hiring an editor, designer, and Amazon specialist. And if you get great at it, maybe consider bringing other authors along because you are the publishing professional who knows the readers best.
Originally published at https://www.82stories.com on June 25, 2021.