Publishing delays…
The most glaring difference between traditional and self-publishing resides in the delays ubiquitous in the former. As a mongrel (both a traditionally and self-published author), I have the experience to support my opinion: Traditional publishing is painfully slow! Some might argue with me (especially the publishers!), countering with something like, “Well, Steve, there are a lot of books, and each author’s work goes into a long queue.” Yes, that’s true. But if a self-published author isn’t 100% DIY (they should contract out editing, formatting, and cover art at the very least), there are still queues among those offering those services. The difference still remains. It’s due to the bureaucracy involved in traditional publishing.
For a traditional publisher, a book is produced by a committee formed from the publisher’s staff members. Each step in the process is handled by a few people, and the managing editor washes his hands of the process once they start the book through the gantlet, i.e. no one really guides a book through that publishing gantlet. In self-publishing, the author guides the book through to publication. As the most interested party for getting their book published, they can keep on top of things. Traditional means hands off; self- means hands on. And the differences in results are quite significant.
I’ve had traditionally published books take as long as two years after a contract was signed. (Even more if we count the time between submission and contract; for the author, that’s often a long duration too.) I’ve had self-published books take as little as two months between finished MS and publication (which reinforces the point that I should count the time between submission, i.e. finished MS, and contract, for traditional publishing). Traditional moves like a snail crawling in molasses; self-publishing can move at lightning speed.
Another reason for delays is that so many publishers don’t want authors to concurrently submit queries for an MS. When they often say at the same time that authors must give them six months to reply, how many months does this stupid policy add to the process? Agents do this too, only the run-around publishers give them adds to the run-around they give their clients. To avoid these added delays, authors should query small presses who don’t require submissions by agents and allow concurrent queries, but all the delays mentioned above are still there.
So why do authors traditionally publish? It used to be that traditionally published authors received advances for their books, access to bookstores, and publishers’ marketing help. That’s rare nowadays. When I approached my small presses, my main reason was that I was not a 100% DIY self-publisher—I contracted out editing, formatting, and cover art. But don’t let a traditional publisher argue that those costs are substantial. With today’s digital publishing, they aren’t! For a single novel, those costs only run somewhere between $500 and $1000, especially if the publisher has editors on staff. In my case, however, after about thirty books, those upfront costs add up to a considerable investment, so it was attractive to have a small press cover them. Guess what! What I saved I spent on more marketing! Considering the publishing delays I had for those traditionally published books, it makes me shake my head in frustration, to say the least.
Do traditionally published books look more professional? Not really. Some Big Five book covers look like something I could put together with PowerPoint, and by no means am I a graphics artist. Many traditionally published book covers are terrible. And after those thirty-odd books, even my old editing and formatting eyes find errors inide many of the books. The editing errors are startling—that always seems to be a cause for chest-pounding by Big Five publishers and their authors, and there’s no reason for it. The formatting errors are probably because the Big Five have gone digital too, using software packages that take care of 90% of the formatting but fail miserably at the 10% where human hands are needed for fine adjustments.
What about access to bookstores? Don’t traditionally published books have a better chance there? Maybe, but not if they’re POD. Yes, a lot of traditional publishers print books now that are POD—only their contract royalties are traditional…traditionally low.
A bookstore wants to be able to return unsold books. Not even Ingram guarantees that anymore (there’s now a publishing run req). And bookstores, not even big book barns, have enough shelf space for all recent novels, let alone evergreen ones. Books in general are on the endangered species list, print books even more so. And diminishing readership means online and brick-and-mortar bookstores are in danger too. That means those of us who are born storytellers might just become members of a club of dinosaurs, although we haven’t been hit by an asteroid yet. The danger is more subtle…and some of us plod on.
My conclusion? I’ll probably be dead before book publishing and storytelling disappear completely. Younger authors out there have more to worry about, including whether to traditionally publish or self-publish their books. I wish them good luck. It’s a slog!
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Comments are always welcome.
“Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries.” This mystery/suspense/thriller trilogy follows the adventures of ex-USN Master-at-Arms Mary Jo Melendez. InMuddlin’ Through, she leaves the Navy and gets a new job working in security in a company that makes MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”), mechanized warriors for a secret Pentagon project. The MECHs are stolen, and Mary Jo is framed for her sister and brother-in-law’s murders. After some time in prison, she escapes and begins an odyssey to clear her name, but a secret government group is after her; they want her to get the MECHs back. In Silicon Slummin’…and Just Getting’ By, she starts a new life in Silicon Valley, this time as security head for a computer games outfit. Two teams, one US and the other Russian, now want the MECHs, and they think she knows where they are. And she also is pursued by a stalker. An autistic kid helps her. In Goin’ the Extra Mile, she now has Chinese agents after her. They kidnap her family, and she has to go to Beijing to save them.
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” Mason Cooley. Here’s lots of reading entertainment available on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lending and library services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker&Taylor’s, Gardners, etc.). Enjoy!
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
