The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Publishing by Terri Bruce Part 5


The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Publishing by Terri Bruce Part 5

 Here's the final installment of the 5 part series.  I hope you enjoyed our look into indie publishing and Eternal Press.  If you haven't already, make sure to stop by Dean C Rich's page The Write Time for the first half of the interview.  If you just started here, looking for the Blog Ring of Power interviews check back to the beginning of the week for more. 
To find each link and read the entire two pronged 5 part series start with Dean C. Rich's blog The Write Time
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Then head over to my blog and start with 
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
and lastly stop by here.  Thanks so much for reading this information packed series on Publishing.

We will start on a recap of what Terri had to say on Part 1. 

I am thrilled to be here today to talk about navigating the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of publishing. Many, many wonderful people helped me on my road to publication—sharing information, resources, and their experience—and I jumped at the chance to do the same when Emily and Dean offered me the opportunity.

With so many indie presses, conflicting information, and scam artists out there, Dean and Emily asked me to stop by and talk about what I learned while I was searching for a publisher and why I made the decision to work with a small press with a questionable (internet) reputation.

Part II: Publishers: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

When I was researching publishers and agents to submit to, I found a lot of confusing and often contradictory information online about different publishers. With legitimate scams out there, horror stories of publishing contracts with large, reputable publishers gone, and new indie presses springing up (and going out of business) overnight, how is an author to know that he/she isn’t make a big mistake?

You don’t.

That is to say, not always. Stuff happens. There are countless stories of authors dropped by agents, dropped by publishing houses, of publishing houses going out of business and the author not able to get his/her rights back to sell the book elsewhere. If you didn’t read the two horror stories included in Part I of this interview, I highly recommend you do that now. I’ll wait. ::hums jeopardy theme:: Now, repeat after me: bad stuff happens to the best of us. You can’t foresee—and you certainly can’t insulate yourself against—everything that might happen. That’s life. But, there are some obvious “red flags” you can look out for that will help you avoid the obvious scams.


10. Doesn't Eternal Press have ties to erotica? Doesn't that make them a questionable or fringe publisher? Why would you work with someone like that?
All publishers produce a wide variety of books and no matter what publisher you go with, you’ll probably be no more than arm’s length from material you might find distasteful. The same company (Viking) that published Catch-22 and The Night Circus also published Fifty Shades of Grey. Eternal Press started in romance novels and only recently has been expanding into contemporary and urban fantasy. Almost all romance imprints publish a spectrum of “heat levels” from sweet, “G” rated romance stories to those at the “flame” or explicit level; it’s the nature of the beast. Again, know your values and goals, and do your research. If you object to having your work in any way affiliated with a material you find distasteful, then be sure to research each company’s titles and imprints carefully, and look for companies that share your values. They’re out there.

If there’s anything that someone takes away from this interview, I would want it to be a: don’t believe everything you read on the internet (especially supposed factual or legal advice) and b: forewarned if forearmed.  Read, talk to people, read some more. Get educated, know what you want, make a well reasoned decision. Then pray really, really hard, because, at the end of the day, every decision we make in life is in some way a leap of faith. 

Thanks so much Terri, for giving us a lot to think about when we are ready to try publishing our books.  For any of my readers, have you decided what type of publishing you will be doing?  Have you already published? What choice did you make?  I'd love to hear from you.  Thanks for reading, to find out more about Terri Bruce and her journey with Eternal Press check out any of her links below. 


Biography:
Terri Bruce has been making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember and won her first writing award when she was twelve. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she lives with her husband and three cats. Her first novel, HEREAFTER—a contemporary fantasy about a woman’s search for redemption in the afterlife—will be released by Eternal Press later this year. Visit her on the web at www.terribruce.net.

Connect with Terri:
Website/Blog: http://www.terribruce.net
Goodreads Profile: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8244272-terri-bruce
Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100003716022408
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Terri-Bruce-Fan-Page/325830544139030
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@_TerriBruce
RSS Feed: http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/Terribrucenet


HEREAFTER
Coming August 1, 2012 from Eternal Press
Thirty-six year old Irene Dunphy didn't plan on dying any time soon, but that’s exactly what happens when she makes the mistake of getting behind the wheel after a night of bar-hopping with friends. She finds herself stranded on Earth as a ghost, where food has no taste, the alcohol doesn’t get you drunk, and the only person who can see her is a fourteen year old boy-genius who can see dead people, thanks to a book he found in his school library. This sounds suspiciously like hell to Irene, so she prepares to strike out for the Great Beyond. The problem is, while this side has exorcism, ghost repellents, and soul devouring demons, the other side has three-headed hell hounds, final judgment, and eternal torment. If only there was a third option…



Comments

  1. T.W. FendleyApril 27, 2012 at 2:28 PM

    Terri -- great series about publishing! I'll have to check out Dean's site, too, to see what you have to say there.

    It can be a very confusing process. I don't have an agent. My debut novel was published last year by a small press, L&L Dreamspell, which has done right by me and the many other authors I know who they publish. I'm very happy with them.

    They provided (at no charge to me) the cover art, professional editing, ISBNs, and distribution of print & ebooks to Amazon, B&N, and others via Ingram. They also offer Overdrive for libraries. Authors receive slightly better-than-average royalty rates. And everyone is very friendly. On the negative side, their advances are minimal and their marketing is primarily their website and some review copies.

    One of the publishers, Linda Houle, wrote a book called THE NAKED TRUTH ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING that discusses how to make a decision about which publishing route to take.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jean OramApril 27, 2012 at 9:40 PM

    I agree that more than ever writers need to do their research when it comes to publishers as there are so many springing up and changing as the publishing world shifts. Every day is a new day in the world of publishing right now!

    Way to make it happen! Your hard work will be sure to pay off for you. Best of luck with your debut, Terri. It sounds like a great story with some fun characters.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. E. M. LaBonteApril 29, 2012 at 10:05 AM

    Thanks T.W. and Jean for posting. It's a great idea to do as much research as possible for any type of publishing. We need to know the ins and outs if we want to find the perfect match up. I'm so glad Terri was willing to do this for Dean and me. THANKS TERRI. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Terri BruceApril 29, 2012 at 10:40 AM

    Thanks guys, and thanks T.W. for sharing your experience as wel. My stance has been and always will be that each person needs to do their own research and do what is right for him/her. There's a lot of fear out there, right now, and there are quite a few people who argue for one "model" over the other from a place of fear or self-interest. With the ability to create smear campaigns at the drop of a hat, the internet doesn't always help that process. Another reason I love conventions and writing conferences - a great place to meet agents, publishers, and published authors and get some first-hand information!

    ReplyDelete

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