Early Days
When the worldwide web was still in its infancy publishing was a simple choice between traditional publishing and the scary and rather risky choice of vanity publishing. Time and need have transformed most of the vanity publishing industry into the self-publishing market, which certainly has many advantages. [ https://rlbquill.com/hooray-the-final-draft-is-donenow-what/ ].
Given the advantages of self-publishing by many of the self-publishing companies offering a service for very fair competitive prices, is there even a need or a want for Traditional Publishing? How loud can I shout in the affirmative? Do not ignore this path until you have looked at it very carefully.
What is Traditional publishing?
Traditional programming refers to a “system.” Once having run its course, that system will see your book published. It will also provide you with real money for the work you have done to produce your novel. The beasts standing at the door of traditional publishing blocking your entrance are time and effort. They are the staunch defenders of traditional publishing. If you can reach an accord with both, you are reasonably assured a measure of success. So, before we look at the steps we must take to journey toward the benefits offered by Traditional Publishing, let us examine some of the real benefits of taking this path.
The Real Benefits of Traditional Publishing
YOU GET A REAL PARTNER
As a writer, solitude is your companion. Writing is a lonely occupation. You will often hear it is not necessary to have an agent if you are serious about pursuing traditional publishing. Let me spare you a lot of pain and frustration. If you believe you do not need a literary agent cross the street and pursue self-publishing. If you want the benefits traditional publishing can give you, get the best agent you can find and afford.
A Good Agent Guarantees the QUALITY Of Your Book
The agent represents you and your book to the best publishing houses marketing your genre. The publisher’s editing staff know the book is not only grammatically correct it is tastefully designed. Few if any remarks will have anything to do with writing errors.
If an agent finds more than one or two punctuation errors every hundred pages or so, he will have no interest in representing you. Good Editing is the obligation of the writer; not the agent.
TRADITION AND REPUTATION
Given a choice between Simon & Schuster or One-Click Publishing, which publishing house would you want to publish your book? Both houses are legitimate publishers. As a writer, you see a continuity between yourself and Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, and Aldous Huxley.
As a writer, you share the need for legitimacy and respectability. New, quick-moving, self-publishing firms are not too restrictive as to whom and what they publish. Most self-publishing houses play the probability game. Given seven hundred horribly written, poorly edited books, one might be the next 50 Shades of Grey.
SNOB APPEAL IS OK
There is tremendous power in the name of a long-established and reputable publishing house. When your book carries that logo, you suddenly are a “real writer.” That counts not only to the reader but to the reviewer and most importantly, to the book store. When you are a part of a publishing family, you no longer have to negotiate sales price and quantity of books ordered directly. You are, after all, a “real writer” now, so an employee of the publishing house takes care of all that trivial but necessary work. As a “real writer,” your mind should be free of such grunt work to concentrate on your next project.
As often as this has been called snob appeal, it is a genuine and practical benefit of traditional publishing. Even a successful writer needs to interact with his audience. One of the best ways of doing this is the personal appearance at a book store; especially a franchised book store such as Barnes and Noble. If you are a self-published author, you will have a hard enough time negotiating a block of time with Mrs. Jones of the Jones Book Shoppe three blocks off of Main Street. You will do a lot of negotiating and pleading to push your own book. Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates do not negotiate. They are known as “Pay To See Writers” because their books consistently sell well.
THE MOST ESSENTIAL BENEFIT OF TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING IS MONEY
If a publishing company decides your book is worth publishing you and your agent will enter into a negotiation with the publisher. If you are negotiating for possibly a significant financial success, you might also want to bring a contract attorney with you. As either a new or comparatively unknown writer, one of the items discussed will be money. You want remuneration. You should get it. An agent will get you a decent amount, often called an Advance which is actually an advance against future sales of your book. Don’t worry. If your book flops, you don’t have to pay the advance back. A qualified agent will help you with this process. Do not get greedy. You might want to be a little nice and agree to forfeit part of the advance to cover part of the publicity and advertising expense the publishing company is going to do. You want to establish a reputation as a cooperative author. Expect to get and graciously accept a mid-range advance. If a movie company wants your book, you will be able to recoup anything you have nicely given up to enhance your generous reputation.
The major drawback of Traditional Publishing: Your Time
Remember, you are going to need a skillful agent. The two of you will spend time ensuring your manuscript is ready for serious consideration. There is an excellent chance you will be well into your next book before this one is being reviewed by a publishing house. The rewards, both financial and internal, are monumental.
My next post will deal with publishing under the auspices of the tremendously powerful AMAZON corporation. The post following it will deal with how to get and work with a real Literary Agent.