I’m absolutely proud to be able to introduce this latest in my series of guest blogs, and, back by popular demand, we’ve got Kay Green. And I have to say, I’m feeling Kay’s passion, and frustration here. Passion. Rage. Changing things. It’s what writing’s all about. Or should be.
Andy
Kay Green is editor at www.circaidygregory.co.uk You can order Circaidy Gregory paperbacks and ebooks from Hive Network stores. Find a store near you: http://www.hive.co.uk/store-locator/
That phrase, ‘Vanity Publishing’…
Every time I hear that phrase, ‘vanity publishing’ I get into an argument. Is it vanity that makes an author want their work to be read? If it is, every single one of us is vanity published. The original meaning of the phrase is nothing to do with casting aspersions on authors’ motives. It means publishing ‘in vain’ – in a manner that can’t possibly work.
I also regularly get into arguments when someone says their book is ‘self-published’ and five minutes later says ‘my publisher charges £250 for…’ If you are ‘self-published’, how come you have a publisher? Do you see all those commercial sites out there that offer ‘self-publishing services’ at a price, then contract their clients and charge them every time they lift a finger on behalf of the book in question?
If your book has a press or company’s name written on the front or on the copyright page, or if they have put their own ISBN on it, they are the publisher. When they say ‘self-publishing service’ they mean ‘we publish, you pay.’ That means, they earn their money by charging the authors; and that means they are not particularly motivated to make the book sell. Their wages are already paid even if it never sells a copy.
So if your publisher is a commercial concern and they have no need to market your book in order to survive, I suggest your book is not going to sell unless you personally have a serious marketing plan. If you have not, then not much will happen – worse yet, if the book’s contracted to them, you may not be allowed to sell it yourself. Or if you are, you may be obliged to give them a chunk of the proceeds – you’ve published in vain.
There is an infuriating vocabulary problem here. How do I describe a publisher who is making their money out of authors rather than selling books? A commercial publisher? But the big corporate houses are commercial, and they are the ones everyone craves contracts with in order to be taken seriously. Should I call them ‘trade’ publishers? No, because in the USA, that means mainstream contract publishing. No wonder everyone’s confused!
Let’s start at the other end. A self-published author is one who writes a book and arranges to have it edited and proof read, either by agreement with friends and colleagues or by hiring a freelance editor. They then buy an ISBN, create or commission cover art and design, compile the book into print-ready files or hire a graphic designer to do so, then go to a printer for a quote and get their book produced. The resulting boxes of books belong to the author – and probably arrive in a pile on the author’s doorstep, to be stored in the back bedroom.
There are lots of modern ways of getting round that last bit. You can use POD (print-on-demand) printers to keep your spare bedroom clear, or publish in ebook form with a company like Smashwords. It’s not entirely clear who is the publisher when you do this – a lot of ebook creators put their own ISBNs on books and sell them direct through their own stores, paying the author a royalty. So as with many other areas of modern life, technology is blurring boundaries. Confusion over who is ‘self-published’ is understandable but ‘vanity’ is still clear, isn’t it?
Imagine a person who’s been turned down by a dozen publishers and got fed up of trying. They then go to a few freelance proof-editors for quotes and balk at their prices, because they don’t realise what an editor does and how long it takes. They don’t have the time or the business acumen to handle printers, designers and distributors themselves, so they buy a ‘self-publishing package’ from a company. If they choose a responsible company, oversee all those jobs and make a comprehensive marketing plan for themselves, they may sell enough to get their money back. But I have already said that my imaginary author doesn’t have much business acumen, so this can’t work. It’s in vain. Vanity.
Very occasionally, an author makes a good profit from a ‘self-publishing package’ book. Those who do are usually local history writers supplying, for example, National Trust shops. They probably do have a flare for marketing and business – or have picked it up along the way. Generally, having seen one book succeed that way, such authors ‘go it alone’ the second time, dump the ‘package’ company and use their own ISBNs. Thus a true self-published author is born. It’s worked. Not in vain, not vanity.
Small press is something else. It’s like mainstream publishing but smaller. Advances are small or non-existent. Royalties, as a percentage, are equal to or greater than those offered by mainstream publishers. Where margins allow it, small presses give a larger percentage to compensate the author for the fact that the book will probably sell in hundreds rather than thousands or millions. Sales and marketing reach is probably smaller and the final outcome for the author might be smaller – not necessarily though. You don’t get to hear about the legions of mainstream published authors whose books go nowhere and earn nothing, but they are the majority. If you’re mainstream published and your publisher just doesn’t get around to marketing your book, it’s all been in vain. Not your fault, but still vanity.
I’m a small press publisher. I expect my authors to help me market and promote the books. Usually, all I’m asking is time and sweat but I’m not above sharing the cost of anything if the author wants to do something I can’t afford, and I believe it will work. I can’t afford to put posters in the changing rooms in groovy national stores, I can’t afford adverts on railway station hoardings. There have been times when I couldn’t afford a box of bookmarks. Some people say this makes me a vanity publisher. When they do, I point to the fact that mainstream publishers don’t do any of those things for most of their authors and they most definitely DO pressure authors to run events and promotions.
Seven years down the line, I have finally decided to be boringly normal and have made a deal with a distributor but I still have difficulty persuading some shops that our books are ‘real’. I have an author on my books who also has titles high on the sales sheets of a mainstream publisher. When we do events, and I see the different treatment and level of promotion shops give her mainstream titles and the way they react to ours, I feel like throwing a tantrum. The books are by the same author, edited and produced with the same care, and similarly priced. When her readers get their hands on them, they like them all but small press and self-published titles will never reach as many readers as the mainstream ones do if shops won’t give them the same exposure. This is largely because people who haven’t looked closely confuse small press and self-published with unedited, ‘vanity’ titles and assume they are inferior.
Sometimes I feel as if it’s all in vain. Heck! Does that make me a vanity publisher? No – because I’m stubborn and I never give up on a good book. If I’m still breathing, I’m still working to get that book read and get some reward to the author… Also, I can’t afford to give up. Big, corporate houses can publish ten titles to test the water and go with the one that works. Small presses need to get their money back on every title. So who has most ‘all in vain’ titles on their lists?
I think ‘vanity publishing’ is probably the most troublesome phrase in the whole of the English language, followed in second place by ‘self-publishing company’. Here’s my recommended path through the maze. Remember these key points:
If you contract your work to a publisher or ‘self-publishing service’ or worse, if you pay someone to handle your book without getting any form of contract, ask yourself first what you are getting in return, and second, how that company is earning their money. If they are paid by authors, they will thrive, even if the books don’t sell. By contrast, reputable publishers often don’t make much money but you can see them out there seriously trying to make the books make money.
Mainstream and small press publishers often appear to be mean and nasty. It’s because the way to find the good book is often to puncture a lot of would-be writers’ dreams by saying ‘no, this isn’t a good book’ or ‘possibly, but I want these 500 changes’ or even ‘argh, help, help, no I can’t read your novel right now, my overdraft’s blown my reading pile over!’
Commercial companies are there to make a profit. They may also have artistic and literary interests but they are there to make a profit. In publishing, the easiest way to make a profit is to take money from rich dreamers who want to see a book with their name on it. If you get the feeling a publisher is being all chummy and seducing you, ask yourself whether they are lusting after your wallet rather than your book.
Man, that’s a long-ass title for this post, eh? And pretty much says exactly what needs to be said. Except for the fact that the mag is being edited by the excellent Allen Ashley (who fact-fans will remember was the editor of the fantastic Where are we Going? anthology, published by Eibnovale Press earlier this year.)
paintthistownred 