#00 Writers Beware
You are merrily writing on your way toward finishing off your beloved project. You have spent months, no years pouring your heart and soul in to the project and now comes the time to get the thing published, but you have nowhere to turn.
Emails, calls and rando?s creep out the woodworks and begin offering you self-publishing deals. On the flip side, traditional publishing houses ignore your desperate pleas to take up your novel. The crippling blow struck by this cold rejection increases your desperation and now you find yourself ready to go to the dark side. Any publisher will do. But you couldn?t be more wrong.
My story and so many others? follows the above-mentioned chilling tale and if you have not yet sold your soul and project to the devil, I pray you hold off a moment to continue reading this blog post. It will be well worth it in the end.
I took up the publishing deal with a so-called reputable publisher before the inception of the project as a gift from my supportive family who only wanted to help me on my journey. They all chipped in and got me the deal and now all I had to do was the hard part which was write the damn thing, right? Wrong. The hard part is not as many would think writing the book, its getting is published and then marketing it.
Take your time finding the right publisher because this will be time well spent and it will help you avoid heartbreak and disappointment later on.
Here are 5 tips for finding the right publisher:
- Research
You can?t avoid this step no matter how much you try. Don?t accept the first deal that lands in your lap even if someone else is paying for it. You want to make sure the publisher is reputable. So how do you do this. Go to their website and write down what they stand for. Give them a call and create a list of questions you can ask them about how their process works end-to-end. If you are not sure what to ask check out my post on questions to ask your publisher. waters.
- Reviews
Go read reviews from other authors telling the tales of their experiences with the publisher. Your community of fellow authors will be your saving grace here. Rely on us to help guide you out of the murky. Create a list of positives and negatives. Many forums are helpful for this. For more information, check out my website where I review various publishers and their processes to make sure you find the right one. The site should be up in the coming weeks.
- Compare
Drawing up a comparison on a single spreadsheet is so helpful for you to understand the various costs of doing business with different self-publishers. Do they expect you to buy books? Do they try to upsell you fundamental missing features in your undersold publishing deal? What is the time until you realise a return on investment? What sort of marketing is involved in the package? How well are they known in the industry? What is their reach? Where do they operate? How well have authors who have gone with this publisher done? Go check out the statistics of their top selling authors. Do the calculations in terms of how much you anticipate they have made and write it all down.
It is unfortunate that you have to fumble around in the dark blind and dumb to find the right publisher to represent your work but trust me not doing the hard work of research, review and comparison has bit me square in the arse and boy does it hurt.
One last thing to mention is don?t let the publishers pressure you into closing the deal too soon before you have had the time to thoroughly vet them. In sales, which I do a lot of, there is a tactic we use to create urgency, for example a limited time promotion where you get certain services at a discounted price. They always come up with these especially if they sense you are close to closing. They will discount and discount and still making a killer profit off of you. Don?t be fooled by time pressures. There is always time and always another deal.
Okay, really the last thing. Be careful of publishers selling packages at full price while there is a promotion running which they don?t tell you about. This just inflates the sales person?s pockets and deflates your bank account. This is precious money you could spent elsewhere and derive more value in doing so. Always negotiate. The sales people have a target and leeway to negotiate. Ask for a discount and tell them you can go with them if they come up with something better. They will. And if they don?t good riddance. Even so always check that what you get is worth it.
I hope this post helps you avoid the same falling unwittingly into the same traps that I have. Watch this space for my author platform coming out designed for authors by authors, there to help you navigate the treacherous waters of a project from idea to bookshelf. It is going to turn this nightmarish industry around. Until then?
?Happy reading, Kryptic Fans!
