What has been your experience with publishers?
I have been published once--and I have felt like I've been carrying an allbatros around my neck ever since. Their nature in the beginning was vague; but now their true nature shines through; their idea of Santa Clause for Christmas is to "allow" their authors to purchase their books at 40% off, with a two-for-one added bonus; the catch is, you have to purchase 20 books before the added bonus is affective, and each book averages $20. Furthermore, they are having an auction--the highest bidder gets their book advertised on the back page of "5000" other books; showing once again that talent doesn't mean squat, it's the money that Publish America is after, so stay away for them!!
Abysmal. It's not the rejection letters, I have no problem with that. It's not the scammers, though there sure are alot of them.
It's the total lack of professionalism from the 'real' publishers. On five separate occasions I've had publishers contact me to say they're interested. Two by letter, one by e-mail, one with a phone call, the other with a handshake. Typically they ask me to write more, write a summary, do some level of additional work, and I don't have a problem with that.
On EVERY occasion however, the publisher eventually decided simply to not talk to me anymore. No rejection letter, no "we changed our mind" phone call, no nothing. Just simply ignore me from that point onward, forcing me to waste a month or more on pointless phone calls, letters and e-mails.
I don't get why magazine publishers uniformly treat me with professionalism, either hiring me or not, but book publishers do this jerk-around procedure. Honest, a rejection letter is more than fair enough.
Most of my writing to date has been freelance writing for various companies. I either submit the work or post it to a blog as instructed by the client.
I have numerous projects in the works. I will be submitting my work to publishers in the near future, I hope.
Impossible. Therefore, I started my own publishing company: Pearl River Publishing. The web site is www.pearlriverpublishing.net. We are set up to help beginning authors. We help them get their book from manuscript form to final printed (paper or electronic) version.
We also help them market their books. This is something that is not done by virtually any publisher, but we like to try.
For the decade or so that I published poetry I found editors and publishers were like people in general; some I liked more than others.
I went with PublishAmerica with my first book. I was thrilled having them until other distributors wanted to look at my book. They won't work with them. I had two International Military Distributors because of my dad's military status. Lost it.
They went up on price with the authors books and I don't believe my paperback book is worth the new price.
I'd just had personal disagreements on how they worked with me and they do nothing to promote. All traditional publishers and self-publishing get your books online with B&N and Amazon so they aren't doing anything special for me. Plus, I'm in a seven year contract and can't change to another publisher. I won't be returning to this publisher. It's too bad, because an author, put out no money with them. But, let me say, authors spend a mint on buying their own books.
I'm going to try an agent in a few months because of the platform I have developed since my book was published. I have a background with speaking and teach workshops. I've grown a lot in two years.   | | |
Some good and some bad. My biggest problem so far is communication. I know they are busy people, but a lot of times they hard to get a reply from when you have a problem or a question. Sometimes when you E-mail them, they simply ignore you.
UGH!
I've had very good experiences with publishers. I view writing as a business and don't let my feelings get hurt by rejection. What writer do you know that couldn't wallpaper a room with rejection letters?
You wouldn't ask a plumber to work on your pipes for free, and you wouldn't ask him to work on spec, and you wouldn't ask him to work for a free piece of the pipe he fixed. You certainly wouldn't ask him to work in exchange for the publicity; that's why he's in the phone book. So why do publishers think it's okay for writers to work for "exposure" or "love"? Don't be a wuss; get paid for your work, and not just in copies!
That doesn't mean publishers are bad people. I know a very nice publisher. Maybe more than one. Thinking.
Publishing is a racket that I wish I'd have gotten into. It's very selective, and most don't have the time of day for anyone aside from King, Koontz, etc. It's sad things are that way, but they are.
They are people and as such, some are good and some aren't. The key to finding a publisher is to keep at the task and not give up. I've been lucky most of the time, except once when a publisher went out of business while my manuscript was at the printers.
I've had every experience you can imagine.
Been cheated by two publishers--one went to jail, other fled the country.
Had two publishers die.
I've had some wonderful publishers, and two great ones right now: Mundania Press and Oak Tree Publishing.
There is such a sea of publishers out there, I think the best advice would be to find out from someone who has already dealt with them, before you lock yourself down to one particular publisher. It's hard to know who's reputable and who's not. I was fortunate, in that, I received advise from a well known Publicist on which way to go. I think you should research publishers as extensively as you would do research for a book you were going to write.
I wish publishers were not necessary. |
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