The Realities of the Publishing World: Traditional, Subsidy, and Self-Publishing
September 6, 2007 by Lillie
Publishing is a tough business. I’ve heard numbers from less to 5% to about 10% of manuscripts submitted are accepted and published by traditional publishers. Several years ago a friend of mine researched all the books in the romance genre by first-time authors published by the major romance publishing houses in a given year. She found that, on average, an author had been writing for seven years and had seven completed manuscripts before making her first sale.
Nearly 300,000 books were published by traditional, vanity/subsidy, and self-publishers in 2006, and organizations such as the Book Industry Study Group and the Jenkins Group often report that the majority of all books published sell than one hundred copies. Nonfiction books typically stand a better chance of being published in the first place and, once published, usually sell more copies than fiction.
Obviously achieving success as a book author, especially as a novelist, presents a huge challenge. There is a lot of debate on the pros and cons of the various kinds of publishing: traditional, subsidy, and self-publishing. See my Self-Publishing Primer for a more in-depth review of these different kinds of publishing and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Patricia Fry has written an insightful article, Publishing—The Raw Truth, at Publishing Basics. She includes a series of questions to ask yourself to decide if your book project is really viable.
And if you’d like to hear a passionate debate about the pros and cons of self-publishing, listen to the Writing Show’s podcast Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing Smackdown with Jeff DeRego, Stacie Penney, and Matthew Wayne Selznick. They have an interesting discussion, though some of the participants seem to lump subsidy and self-publishing together, which isn’t a fair evaluation, in my opinion.
I’m a big advocate of self-publishing. Much of my work, and most of my favorite, involves helping writers polish their manuscripts and find their way through the self-publishing maze. Self-publishing authors can be very successful … but many aren’t, just as the majority of writers who strive for traditional publication fail to meet their goal of publication.
The two most important characteristics of successful authors – regardless of how they are published – are these: 1) dedication to improving their craft and learning the industry, and 2) persistence.
Please share your publishing experiences and questions. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll try to find out.
And I have a question for you: would anyone be interested in the Self-Publishing Primer as a free e-book? It’s all here on my blog in 14 separate posts. Would it be more convenient combined into a single PDF and/or HTML file?
[tags]publishing, self-publishing[/tags]
The biggest problem I see with self-publishing is really in a lack of editing. Many authors that decide on self-publishing do so because they have trouble placing their work through a traditional route – this is not always the case.
The traditional publishing route has an edge because there are so many industry professionals who have a hand in making the manuscript as polished as possible before publishing. I’ve read a number of self published books which have more than a little promise, but due to lack of editing fall flat.
Another thing with self-publishing, selling the book is completely reliant on the author. While any author today needs to learn and wield their own pr, the self-published author has to do so without any type of platform or aid that a traditional publishing house can give.
I think it’s fabulous that you’re performing services to help self-published authors succeed. Do you also give tips on getting their books out to reviewers and taking control of their marketing?
Lillie,
You’ve provided a great many excellent resources here, and your Self-Publishing Primer gives in-depth information that would be invaluable to any writer considering self-publication. Since this is an area that tends to be a mystery to most, this post is extremely helpful!
Thanks!
Jeanne
Merry,
Writers who self-publish because they don’t want their book edited and those who think the world will beat a path to their door to buy their masterpiece will not succeed … and will also tarnish the reputation of self-publishing in general.
I do work with authors to market their books, and I also help them decide in advance whether self-publishing is viable for them or not. None of the books I’ve worked on have sold millions of copies. But the authors went into self-publishing understanding that wasn’t likely to happen; frankly, it’s not likely to happen for traditionally published authors either. The authors I work with have done print runs ranging from 250 to 5000. None have done a second printing (though one with a print run of 1000 will be doing another print run soon). All have sold FAR more than the less-than-100 copies most books sell.
The authors have a platform. For example, the People of the Frozen Earth series is about pre-historic Indians. The author is quite successful selling her books at pow-wows, where she reaches an audience interested in Native American history. The Westward Sagas are fiction, but the stories are genealogically and historically accurate. The author targets a market that includes more than 10,000 descendants of the hero of the first book. He’s also doing well with descendants of other families mentioned in the book – he even has an index in the novel so people can find their ancestors easily. I’m currently working with a local TV personality on a book – he does a lot of public speaking and is popular in the community, so he has a built-in audience. A Christian living nonfiction book that is coming out in a few months will be sold by the authors in presentations at churches.
All the authors I work with promote their work both online and offline. And I always discuss target market and promotion when I start working with a writer. Self-publishing isn’t appropriate for everyone, and I don’t work with writers who aren’t willing to market their own work and who don’t have a realistic understanding of what is required.
I used to be listed as an editor on the Web site of one of the “self-publishing” (really vanity) companies. I didn’t get any business from that because the writers who contacted me thought their words were golden – they didn’t want me to edit their work; they wanted me to tell them it was perfect as it was.
Prospective clients can download an information package on the “about” page that describes the services I offer. Although I don’t require writers to use all my services, so far everyone who has contracted with me to edit their self-published books have also wanted additional help to ensure the quality of their book and the best possible chance for success.
Book marketing is an art, not a science. No one really understands why Harry Potter sells millions of copies and another similar book sells very few. But books that are well-written (and edited) and that are promoted effectively are more apt to be successful.
Jeanne,
Thanks. I hope people find the information useful.
Hi Lillie,
“the writers who contacted me thought their words were golden – they didn’t want me to edit their work; they wanted me to tell them it was perfect as it was. ” – this tends to be the problem I see most with writers who do not succeed. They get stubborn, believing they are the artist and if you don’t love their work it’s because you don’t understand, rather than looking to see if they need to rework.
Unfortunately, self-published still has a stigma because of the amount of writers who will pay to have their ms. printed but not bother with editing… and this isn’t just spelling errors, I’ve seen works with plotholes that are completely wrought in passive voice, cardboard characters… well, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about…
I’m still set on the traditional route. But if I ever decide to venture into the self-publishing waters, I would definitely use your service. I think every writer needs a great editor.
By the way, The Westward Sagas sound fabulous. I bet that was fun to work on.
Merry,
You’re right that writers won’t succeed in getting a traditional publishing contract or in making sales of a self-published book if they are prima donnas.
However, I think those writers are much more apt to choose subsidy/vanity publishing than true self-publishing. Self-publishing is a lot of work as well as expense, and generally I see writers who are really dedicated to writing as a business willing to self-publish. Vanity publishing, on the other hand, is easy – just give a “publisher” your manuscript and lots of money …
All of the projects I work on are fun – that’s why I love what I do so much. I won’t work with a writer unless I really believe in the project.
Count me in. Having all this valuable info collated makes for ease of reference and use.
Thanks, Yvonne. I’ll review the entries and be sure all the links still work before I compile it into an e-book. Do you have any preference for either PDF or HTML?
I don’t mind, but this article about PDF vs HTML has interesting advantages for both. This might help you decide.
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/pdf-vs-html.html
Thanks for the link, Yvonne. I’ve already written in previous posts that I’m not a big fan of PDF. My personal preference is to read HTML on the screen. However, I know a lot of people like to print out documents, and most people agree PDF is better for that. Maybe I’ll do a zip file with PDF, HTML, and RTF so readers can take their choice.
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