Last week, Michael Hyatt, CEO of prominent Christian publishing house Thomas Nelson, made an announcement on his blog with this post: Should You Consider Self-Publishing?
I encourage you to read the post in full. But to summarize, Thomas Nelson is starting up a self-publishing imprint called Westbow Press.
Now even if you aren’t writing for the Christian market, this is a significant development and should be paid attention to because it’s most likely telling of what’s ahead for the publishing industry at large.
Publishers are strapped for cash and looking for new ways to shore up their businesses. And soon they’re likely going to start looking for cash from the one motivated audience they know they do have—the thousands upon thousands of writers whose queries and manuscripts constantly fill up their inboxes.
I think this may well be just the first of many mainstream publishers who will turn to this business model as their profit margins erode. So publishers, instead of being gatekeepers, will begin actively recruiting writers as customers they can offer their editorial, design and marketing expertise to.
Now you can’t really blame publishers for taking the necessary means to keep their businesses afloat. But the unfortunate part of all this is that it’s going to take a sizable monetary investment for most writers to publish a book. The days of mainstream publishers paying advances and taking on all of the financial risk for publishing a book may be coming to a close.
I’d like your opinions on publishers looking for money in the slush pile. I’ll post a followup and some caveats on this topic tomorrow.
-Maria Schneider
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I think it’s a good development and makes sense – except for the part about giving referrals to agents/editors as affiliates. The problem is that how can you ensure a legit transaction. So the agent says, “We can’t take you at this time, but take a look at this offering from Thomas Nelson.” It’s possible that the words “self-publishing” are never revealed, though that’s what it is. And people might think the venture is closer to traditional publishing because it’s adjacent to it – which it’s not. Given that the packages are pretty exorbitantly expensive, people could be taken for a ride.
@Henry, Yes, the agent referrals is a big potential problem. I plan to address that tomorrow.
If publishers don’t tell me what is worth reading and what is a waste of my time, who will?
@Joseph, That’s the question everyone wants to know the answer to!
I once sent out a manuscript for a children’s book, waited 6 months to hear back that they really liked it but wouldn’t be able to publish it, then got a call a few weeks later from their own self-publishing imprint asking if I’d like to go that route. The worst part was the agent who called me got the title of my book wrong. I felt quite insulted because either they did like the manuscript, but not enough to pay for it themselves, or they were just telling me it had potential to lure me into self-publishing.
I don’t have a problem with people actively choosing to self-publish, but I do have a problem with traditional publishers preying on people who would simply do anything to see their own work in print.
Looking forward to your follow-up post! Thanks!
I agree that this is a “necessary evil” for a lot of the publishing companies, though I don’t necessarily agree with them doing it. The increasing popularity of “self publishing” and “e-books” means that the market that was once captured by the publishers is now “open to all” (in concept) meaning less for the publishers. Many people are now seeing “self publishing” as a viable option, yes its a hard road to walk to success here but if it works… and as the volume decreases for the publishers they will always look to expand their offering or to create a greater contribution from the existing revenue streams. You could always draw comparison with IT (mainstream closed source applications vs open source applications) and see that organizations that embrace and support this new approach can usually make $ out of it. Its a sad fact though that when organizations step outside of their core competency and increase the service offering to clients in most cases they do it badly and it does tend to create monolithic beasts that eventually do a bad job of everything…
Generally speaking, I’d suspect traditional publishers will be able to offer self-publishers a better (ie: more professional) turnkey package than POD companies, and that unethical contracts are somewhat less likely with the former than the latter. At the end of the day, though, it will come down to the quality and value of the services offered, the terms of the contract, and the goals of the author.
That may be true, Guy, but what’s interesting about this partnership is it’s with Author Solutions, which runs AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, etc. which people already think offers too little for too much money, let alone the $1000 minimum and $19000 maximum packages from Thomas Nelson.
It is a smart move to capitalize on this absolutely sure market. If there really is a surge in it in the near future, the costs of the service will drop anyway. I don’t see this as a way of exploitation.
So much of what ends up in the slush pile really just doesn’t fit into the publisher’s profile at the given moment but they are extremely valuable pieces of writing. There is more to such referrals than “liking” a piece of writing enough or “thinking the authors have potential.” I can imagine both practices coexisting peacefully even within publishing house. As for those approaching the POD companies directly: if this is to become widespread, there will be much competition. If there is much competition, there will be all the more striving to create quality writing anyway.
An afterthought: this might also enhance the prestige of POD somewhat and encourage invisible authors. Success stories of the “self-published and picked up by major publisher” kind are becoming increasingly common.
Often there ARE multiple publishing houses interested in a title but they cannot work out an arrangement with the author (due to heavy editing, conflicting or impossible deadlines, etc.). Some authors prefer to oversee the whole process completely on their own. This might be a good venue for them.
I have three problems with this model:
1. As was mentioned above, the ethical conflict if agents are to receive payment for referrals. I thought an agent was to be an author’s advocate in the system. How can they be trusted if their income source is paid by another? Wouldn’t it be tempting for an agent to refuse everything that’s not a sure bet for traditional publishing and rely on referrals for a pseudo-salary?
2. If I’ve understood how this works, the only person taking any financial risk is the writer. How can this be? Are we going to allow publishing to become realized only if one is wealthy? What happened to the interdependence of writer/agent/publisher? I see only one business person here, and they’re hiring consultants.
3. If anyone with enough cash can be published, I think the traditional publishers have only cut their own throats. With so many inferior products flooding the marketplace – and yes, I’d probably put my own work in this category at the present time – there will be even less cash available for the high quality stuff and less time in which to read it. Sorry to be all doom-and-gloomy, but I foresee a self-cannibalizing death spiral for the publishing industry if this is the model they embrace.
Second class medicine and now, second class publishing.
Seriously, is there ANY business where money is not the ultimate turnkey?
Education? Sports? Politics?
Let the traditional publishers burn themselves into the ground. Then the little presses, the entrepreneurs, the Collectives will replace the old forest with new growth. Peace, Linda
As an unpublished writer, I can say that the market is changing right under my feet, just as I’m trying to figure out how it all works. That said, this new model of publishers trying to make their margins off writers (rather than readers) does seem to be counter to good business sense. Writers want readers to read their work and readers want good stuff to read. Publishers connect the two – if they can find better ways to do that (e-readers being one), then everyone prospers.
just my 2 cents
The deception is that West Bow is a self-publishing company. They are really a vanity publishing company. If an author self-publishes, they won’t be paying someone to publish and then receiving a 20% royalty. If West Bow wants to provide legitimate services that assist authors with the self-publishing process for a fee, that would be different.
Many Christian authors will be deceived by this charade because they believe they might have a chance to be picked up by Thomas Nelson.
I believe in capitalism. Create a profit by offering legitimate services, not by deceiving people.
Unless Nelson and the West Bow self-published authors back up this venture with an effective marketing push (not to mention books people actually want to read), it won’t fly very long.
While I am fully in support of self-publishing, in light of the pit of despair that is the publishing industry these days, and I think that self-published authors needs access to good editors and cover artists, etc., but this whole arrangement seems predatory and more than a bit shady to me.
I, as a writer, would never buy into this sort of package. I’m not going to line the pockets of some big publishing house because they turned down my manuscript. If they want me, they can pay me; if I want to self-publish, I’m going to go through an avenue that will pay me, not someone else. Through my involvement in my local creative community, I’ve already found a graphic artist who will help with my cover, a number of free-lance editors and a publicist who are all more than happy to work with me when I am ready to self-publish, and they know me, my needs and my work better than some “book-in-a-box” package that some big-name publisher might offer me – me, who to them is nothing more than a name on a list.
No, thank you!
Underneath the simple venality of this idea might be an undercurrent of desperation.
It’s already happened with music and film where “self-publishing” has become an accepted and sought-after attribute. It’s about time the publishing world catches up.
… I think it’s interesting that Virginia Woolf – one of the most important in influential writers in the earlier part of the 20th century – was self-published her entire career. What do the critics of self-publishing have to say about that?
I agree. It’s not necessarily “second rate publishing” at all.
Self-published writers can define and achieve success on their own terms. Not a small thing. You just have to be careful who you partner with.
If I am understanding correctly, I don’t believe this is about criticizing self-publishing. The point here is the deception that can take place when traditional publishers receive referral fees for pushing mss to self-publishers. The writer is without an advocate and it’s another example of “every man for himself”.
Hello all,
Thought I’d weigh in here as a successful self-publisher in a “traditional” sense, meaning I’m doing it the old-fashioned way: hiring creative resources to professionally produce the book, doing offset print runs of 5000-7500 copies and handling all my marketing myself. My “Well-Fed” titles (three in “The Well-Fed Writer” series and “The Well-Fed Self-Publisher” have provided me a full-time living for seven-plus years. Not bragging – just offering up what’s possible…
I’m not too bullish on Hyatt’s move here. As Henry Baum pointed out above in his comment, Author Solutions is basically a big POD conglomerate, swallowing up the major players. And the POD model was never very good to begin with.
But people need to understand a few things… Many on this board DO get that POD publishing bears zero resemblance to traditional publishing (through a publishing house), but some still think that going POD means you’re “published.” As someone pointed out, POD is little more than digital vanity publishing. And paying someone to load your book up on their server and print one now and then isn’t “publishing.”
And incidentally, little trivia fact: the only reason POD companies can call themselves “publishers” when in fact they’re simply digital printers is because THEY hold your ISBN# (another minus to the POD model), and as such, are the “Publisher of Record.”
You have to understand that the business models for the two are polar opposites. The traditional publisher, given that they’ll only make money if and when they have a commercially successful book, must be incredibly selective. And they are (as many on this board have unhappily discovered).
By contrast, the POD “publisher,” who because they’re making their money upfront, by definition, has every incentive to sign up anyone they can. They may posture about how “screening” and “selectivity,” but when every signup will yield another, say, $500+, you know what’ll happen.
Add to that little or no editorial assistance (unless you’re paying extra for it), and POD is synonymous with “no-barrier publishing.” As such, POD books get no respect in the larger publishing world, and related media. When a journalist gets a release about a POD book, and sees the logo of one of the POD companies on it, it’ll go into the trash. Not fair perhaps, given that there are no doubt some excellent books that see the light of day only through POD, but the reality nonetheless.
That said, POD has its place. If indeed, your goal is simply to be able to call yourself an author and create a book to be available to friends and family, POD is not a bad way to go. That said, DON’T buy the BS hype you’ll get from the POD companies that they’ll market you and get your work out there (for an extra charge, of course). It’s usually little more than expensive window dressing. The idea that a few cookie-cutter press releases sent out to journalists who already get too many constitutes a “comprehensive marketing campaign” is a joke.
For those who can’t find a publisher and don’t want to go the hype-filled POD route, but don’t have a lot of money (self-publishing as I do it will entail a relatively sizable investment, but can pay handsomely), I’d suggest going the digital printing route (firms like Publishers Graphics and Fidlar Doubleday, a.k.a. short-run printers).
It’s the same technology as POD, but minus the hype. You give them print-ready files (meaning you’ll have to find some creative resources to design your cover, lay out the book, edit it, etc), and then they simply print however many copies you want. Up to about 500, at which point, it makes more sense to print offset…
Sure, with POD, they’ll design your cover and lay it out, but I promise you, it’ll be template-driven stuff that has no character, and looks every bit self-published. And if you want to deviate from that M.O., it’s going to cost you.
Understand that the whole publishing world has changed dramatically. Don’t glorify the traditional publisher as being the answer to your dreams. My book, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher (a detailed how-to on how I successfully SP’d my two original “Well-Fed Writer” titles), resonated not only with a ton of authors who couldn’t land a publisher, but plenty who HAD on previous books, and had such a miserable experience they decided to do it themselves.
The traditional publishing reality today for all but the superstars is this: “Come to us not only with a great book, but also a plan for marketing that book.” I’ve heard the words “criminally” and “scandalously little” used to describe the amount of marketing support the typical author gets from a publishing company. And that’s after giving up control of the creative process and timetable (it’ll take 18-24 months for your book to be produced by a traditional publisher; more like six if you do it yourself); giving up the rights and most of the profits. Great deal. But, most of that is the way it’s always been…
Again, if have a few bucks, you can always conventionally SP, especially if you are writing “non-fiction how-to” (my genre) – arguably, the easiest genre to self-publish. If so, check out my book for a decent blueprint on how to go about it.
For a similar but more strident perspective on POD, check out publishing industry veteran Ron Pramschufer’s publishingbasics.com site, go to the Archives, then August 2009, and look up an article entitled, “Is there a good reason why someone should NOT self-publish their book?” And check out one by me in the September 2009 archives: “The #1 Most Powerful Book Marketing Strategy of Them All.” Hype-y title, yes, but it’ll make more sense once you read it.
Ron’s a good guy, very experienced and knowledgeable, and truly interested in helping authors succeed. And he has little respect, patience or kind words for POD. Which is sort of the point. It’s people like Ron, and of course, me, who are trying to get authors to understand that “self-publishing” doesn’t mean POD. Or at the very least, doesn’t JUST mean POD. There’s a whole universe of authors self-publishing as I’m doing (and as Ron talks about), and we’re no more interested in POD than the man in the moon.
I know, not exactly good news, but as they say, it is what it is.
Peter Bowerman
P.S. Didn’t mean to write another book here! Guess I got out of hand…
Thanks for chiming in Peter. I’d like to offer you a guest post spot here based on this comment if you’re interested. Let me know. I have your books btw. :)
@Peter, Freedbird, no that’s not me. I was the editor of Writer’s Digest, which is why I have your books.
Oops – never mind…;) And sure, be happy to do a guest post some time… Let me know the parameters…
PB
I’ve read this post and the subsequent comments with great interest. I’ve recently gone the POD route and it was the most liberating experience of my writing life.
I live in a geographic location that doesn’t provide me an affordable opportunity to self publish without POD. There is only one printer in existence here who can and will do this sort of work for a writer and their rates are so outrageously high it is a completely foolish route to take. POD does what I need it to do. It prints my books for me and the only publisher mentioned on any page within is me.
If anything, the variety of publishing options will allow good writers to be read and if they are diligent in relation to marketing of their work, they will be financially successful as well. It’s freeing to control the growth of your own readership rather than relying on a foot dragging publisher who bases their level of enthusiasm for your work on what is trendy, rather than what has creative merit. For example, I don’t feel we need one more young adult or middle reader novel about vampires or wizards. Currently, I’m doing my own marketing for a fantasy series for middle readers and I’m doing it on a limited budget. Without POD, I would be dead in the water, which would be a tragedy because the story is original and could at some point be an animators dream.
Maria, this blog is absolutely brilliant and I’m going to keep returning because I feel there will be a great deal of information for me to glean from you and your readers/commenters. I’m putting you on my blog roll as well.
Hi Val,
Glad you’re happy with your decision and hope don’t end up disappointed.
One thing I had to point out: It’s a rare “actual-books-printing” self-publisher who uses a printer in his or her own town. I’m in Atlanta, and my printer is in Ohio. That vast distance is typical, I’d wager, of 99% of publishers, and it makes sense if you think about it: How many actual book printers are there in this country vs. cities? Huge disparity. I’m not surprised your local printer was so expensive. Most of the so-called “printers” in Atlanta would also be prohibitively so.
So, POD isn’t your only choice, but if it works for you where you are now, great. But, YOU need to be that person in charge of your marketing. Don’t let them sell you on picking up some pieces of it. It’ll be both too much and too little: too much cost for what they deliver and too little impact to make much of a difference. All the best.
PB
Hi Peter,
I hear what you are saying and I agree with much of the sentiments you express. I have gone the no frills route with POD. I payed for nothing and they take their cut for printing it with each sale. I’m in Canada and living on an island therefore it’s paramount for me to be pragmatic about how much money I can invest in my work. To send my book to a printer in another province would require a trip across the country that would be even more expensive than the printer here. I would take a huge loss on each book, no matter which printed I chose. At this point in time I must choose between paying my rent or paying a printer. A sad but factual truth for many writers.
Thanks so much for responding to my comment Peter, it gives me more feedback and that is valuable to me.
Sounds like you’ve given it a lot of thought, Val, so go for it. Also note, as another FYI, that I’ve used the same printer in Ohio for close to 10 years and have yet to darken their doorway. Met my rep at a few publishing shows we both attended, but have never paid them a visit. Even when they’re printing your book, all proofing is done by email or mail.
If your book takes off like you want to, at some point, doing an offset run WILL make sense. ALSO note that I have my printer do fulfillment as well, meaning they store my books at their warehouse, so I only have them send me a case or two or three every now and again. So just know that these days, geography, for the most part, is a non-issue. All the best!
PB