Small…Independent…Mid-Level…Big Houses…

No, I’m not talking prison. I’m talking publishing.

Until recently it used to be that the only credible route to becoming published was with a major publisher. With the changing face of the industry and the increase of the electronic technology within it, both for production and as final product, this is no longer the case.

Good thing.

You’ve probably noticed that there are a lot of people out there who would like to be published.

Where this is relevant, though, is the fact that even if the major houses had the time, budget, and inclination to publish us all, they wouldn’t. First, some of us just aren’t ready for it. Second, major publishers are primarily guided by budget, profitability, and market trends. And third, there are only so many hours in the day (and staff to man those hours.) What this means is that the major publishers are going to be very selective.

So, what are you to do? You could self-publish. Many do. Unfortunately, most of them never achieve any level of success for several reasons. To successfully self-publish you need some knowledge of how to build a book…or at least how a book should be built, this way when you—or whoever you pay to do the work for you—are done you know if the job has been done well and can measure up to any of the titles offered by a major publisher. I’m not just talking about good editing, but also design, how to write good back cover copy, promoting, cover art…etc.

I don’t generally recommend self-publishing. For one thing it is a hellacious expense if you do it properly, and you don’t always get your money’s worth, but beyond that, at least with fiction, it generally reflects poorly on you regardless of the quality of your writing, just because there is such a stigma in the industry inspired by the glut of poorly done self-published books out there.

Don’t worry…there are other options!

It might sound stupid, but one way to move forward is to step back.

It used to be that all publishers were small press. There was no such thing as the mega-corporation. People published what interested them so you had a series of small niche publishers that were all eventually absorbed by what we recognize today as the major publishers. This is one of the origins of imprints. Larger publishers would buy smaller publishers mostly for their name and reputation, and then keep the name as an imprint specializing in a particular type of book.

So…history lesson over. Back to the substance of small press. I know, what you really want to know is what are you getting into if you opt for one of these niche markets instead of holding out for a major publisher. Let’s take a look at the differences. There aren’t as many as you might think now that the glamour days of publish have faded.

The Players

Big Houses – Have you seen those restaurants or clubs that have a name but mostly don’t bother to use it? They are so big and popular that *everyone* just knows them…The major publishers are like that. You can just see their logo without any words and you know who they are. That’s brand recognition. When a customer sees that they make assumptions that anything with that brand on it is going to be top quality. (This is an assumption. Remember that.) Just like the popular club or restaurant, everyone wants to be associated with them because the general public will make that assumption.

Small Press – These are the little guys, the diners and dives serving good old comfort food. They don’t always look so good and they don’t have the weight of a global identity behind them, but those who know about them are loyal and keep coming back for more. They might not have all the bells and whistles or fancy flourishes, but what they do, they do well. (I know, again, an assumption, but we are dealing with best-case here at the moment.)

Finding Your Niche

I know, I’ve mentioned this a couple times already, but now for the meat of it. What we as authors write appeals to us or we wouldn’t write it, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is going to get it or enjoy it. We can hope they will, but let’s be realistic.

Because so many small presses specialize in a particular type or genre of book, authors can increase their acceptance potential by seeking out those publishers with similar books in their lists. Not only are they more likely to appreciate the content of your work, but if they have done their job properly they have some amount of following among the readership. After all, if you know a particular publisher carries the type of books you like to read and you are familiar with the quality, you might be more likely to take a chance on something else they publish knowing you enjoyed other books you read from them.

Once you find a place that looks like it might be a good fit do two things:

1) Investigate. Do a web search on the company to see if they have a good reputation and an active presence in the market. Ask around, make sure they are reputable and have visibility as a publisher.

2) Confirm that they are accepting submissions and check their website for any guidelines they may have provided.

The Submissions Process

There are a lot of things involved with submitting to a large publisher. Generally an agent is foremost on the list. Most large publishers (with rare exceptions) do not accept un-agented manuscripts. First you query, then you physically mail a partial or full manuscript, depending on what is requested (let’s be positive, after all.) After that, you practice waiting. And waiting. And waiting. While you’re doing that, your manuscript is—if you are lucky—being read by an intern somewhere. If you’re not lucky, it’s sitting at the bottom of a rather large stack. We’ll assume the intern liked it. The manuscript then goes to an editor. You pray they like it. At some point along the process you either get a rejection or an offer. Depending on if you have a prior connection or some personal contact, this process can take from months to years. (The personal record I’m aware of is ten years of back and forth before an offer was made, even longer before the book saw print.)

Now let’s look at small press. Many of the smaller presses primarily, or even exclusively accept electronic submissions. An agent is almost never involved. You may or may not need to query. It depends on the publisher and how much staff they have beyond themselves. Virtually all communications are carried out via email. Your manuscript is read by a slush reader, an editor, or even the publisher themselves, and a determination is made. This process can take anywhere from a few months to a year, but generally not longer than that, on average.

Contracts

These are confusing, no matter who issues them. First and foremost I recommend no matter what size publisher you are aiming for check out acceptable sample contracts on line. Most writers’ organizations will have them on their website and may even explain the different terms for you.

Large publishers – I haven’t had experience with them personally, but from speaking to others who have I gather they generally require first time world or North American rights in English for a set time period (three years is pretty standard) and they try to claim as many subsidy rights as they can: ebook, audio, movie, foreign…etc. This is where your agent comes in. If you don’t have one before you get the offer, definitely try to engage one before you sign the contract (it is generally easier to get accepted by an agent once you have an offer already, then they negotiate the most advantageous deal they can for both of you, so don’t think because you have an offer you no longer need the agent.)

Some rights are reasonable, such as ebook and audio, but others are more about control than the publisher’s desire to explore any of those options. You don’t want to sign away any more rights than you have to because that prevents you from exploring any of those ways to profit from your work, and in the end the publisher might not seek out any opportunities and just sits on those rights.

Major publishers offer advances. If you don’t know precisely what that is, they offer you say $3000 to sign the book and they set a royalty rate. The $3000 is basically a loan against the royalties they anticipate you will earn from your book. Once the book accumulates $3000 in royalties, you then will receive additional money beyond that, payable annually or twice yearly based on the set royalty rate. If you don’t “earn out” the advance you aren’t likely to be offered another contact so a high advance isn’t always a good thing, particularly for a beginning author.

Small press – contracts are generally simpler, what is called boilerplate in the industry. Most agents won’t deal with small press contracts because there isn’t enough in them to make it profitable for the agency. Standard terms are generally three years, North American exclusive in English for print and/or ebook. Any other rights are at the author’s discretion. Mostly, there are no advances offered, just a straight royalty or a flat fee.

Both large and small press provide the author with a pre-determined quantity of author copies. Sometimes just one, sometimes more. Beyond that an author discount of between 40 to 50% off the cover price is standard. Some large publishers contractually forbid an author from personally selling copies of their book procured in this manner. Most small presses outright encouraged it as a key part of their distribution chain.

Summing Up (For Now)

No…that isn’t all there is, but before this article gets out of hand and all too book-like, I’m taking a breather. There is way too much to cover to do it in one go. Thus ends Part One. Come back next issue to learn more about Small Press.