Publishers, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly... Part 2
This is part 2 of the 5 part series on this blog. To find out more about this go to Dean C. Rich's blog The Write Time for more Terri Bruce on Indie Publishing
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publisher is rated "not recommended" by Preditors and Editors—doesn't
that mean they are a vanity press?
The insinuation that vanity presses are somehow a scam is somewhat
old-fashioned and I’d like to see it go out of use all together. A vanity press
is one where the author pays to have his/her work produced. In essence,
self-publishing is vanity publishing. The term comes from the idea that these
types of publishers will take anyone who can pay the fee (which is true), and,
by extension, that authors published this way are of lesser quality (which is
not necessarily true). I’m going to keep my fingers and toes out of the debate
about whether or not self-publishing and “vanity pressed” pubbed authors are
“real” authors or not. But I will say this: “vanity publishing” can be a
perfectly reasonable way to meet a particular need. If someone has put together
a book of their family’s history for their children or grandchildren and lacks
the skills to have it produced through self-publishing, then by all means, he/she
should pay to have someone publish it.
As always, my advice remains the same: know what you are getting
yourself into. Be sure that there are no hidden fees, requirements to purchase
a certain minimum amount of books, and that you aren’t transferring copyright
to the publisher. Also, understand who the intended customer/book buyer is of
such set-ups: YOU, the author, are the customer of vanity presses and even some
self-publishing operations. They are, in essence, a glorified copy center. They
are designed to produce a physical book, not to sell books to the general
public. Do not expect publicity or marketing support or even that your book
will be commercially available through so much as an internet store front.
Now there are certainly a good many publishing scams out there,
including disreputable companies that masquerade as reputable traditional
(non-vanity) publishers. Websites, such as Predators & Editors, which is
the most comprehensive and the best known, can be helpful in determining if a
company is on the up and up. But here’s the thing: there are a lot of reasons
that a publisher can receive the "not recommended" label at P&E—here
is the list: http://pred-ed.com/perating.htm. In
fact, P&E makes a distinction between simply "not recommended",
"strongly not recommended" and outright labeling an entity as
predatory (in the latter they generally state outright what they feel is
squirrelly about a company such as "poor contract" or "charges a
reading fee"). A simple "not recommended" is not necessarily a
reason to run for the hills.
One indie publisher that I applied to has the "not
recommended label" because something went awry and authors didn't get
their royalty checks one cycle. The staff were working to track down the
problem but there was some miscommunication - unbeknowst to the authors, the
CEO had a health emergency and was hospitalized. The authors were sending him
frantic emails looking for their money and didn't get a response. So they
complained. P&E labeled the publisher as "not recommended" as per
the "Fails to answer or ignores legitimate questions from their contracted
writers." The problem was straightened out, straightened out fairly
quickly, and when the CEO returned from being hospitalized, he apologized
profusely to all of his authors. This is the kind of glitch that is not unusual
at a small company, but now that company is marked as “not recommended” and for
TWO YEARS the CEO has been trying to get the P&E rating removed to no avail
because of ONE incident. All of that press’s authors that I spoke with are
exceedingly happy with the publisher and he has attracted many talented
writers, including some that have been traditionally published and are
currently repped by big name agents. P&E also doesn't appear to have been
updated in some time (the last update on any of the pages is from 2010) and
many of the new publishers don't even appear on the site, so authors should be
aware that some of the ratings and information may be out of date. This isn’t
to rap P&E, which, again, is an incredibly useful site that I relied on
very heavily during my agent/publishing search, but, as always, I urge caution
in relying too heavily on one source of information and in doing your own,
first-hand homework.
Another major source of information on agents and publishers is
Absolute Write Water Cooler. But, remember the old adage about not believe
everything you read (especially, on the internet). It is incredibly easy for
one person to conduct a massive smear campaign against a company by using
multiple accounts or screen names to make it appear that many different people
are complaining. The other thing with Absolute Write is that this is a
community of advocates for writers, which means they look askance at
any aspect of a publishing contract that does not favor the writer 100%, which
is a good thing—writers too often get the short end of the stick—but a contract
that has elements that favor each party can still be a good deal. And the world
of publishing is changing. For instance, the AW folks will advise authors to
run far away from any publisher that doesn’t pay an advance. However, advances
are shrinking across the board, even from large publishers, and small presses
often can’t afford to pay advances. This doesn’t mean the company is predatory;
it’s just a business reality of working with a small press. The AW folks are
right to tell authors to question the long-term financial health of a company
that can’t afford to pay advances, and to point out that without an advance you
aren’t guaranteed to receive at least a token amount for your work, but there
are perfectly reputable small presses that don’t pay advances. The fact is,
places like AgentQueryConnect, P&E, and Absolute Write are all good places
to start
your research, but the only way to get the absolute facts is to do some
firsthand research by talking to both the publisher’s staff and a good number
of authors who have published with that company. And, again, if you still have
reservations about a company, then only negotiate the sale of only one book or
story with them and don’t give them so much as right of first refusal on any
future works until you are sure about the relationship.
Terri will be back tomorrow to give us more insights on why she decided to go Indie and other thoughts on Publishing. Don't forget to check out The Write Time for the first section of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Publishing, hosted by Dean C. Rich
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
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…
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