Somewhere in the Middle

I want something that combines the flexibility and speed of self-publishing with the power of a publisher. I mean, traditional publishing was fun while it lasted, but it was so danged slow. I realize I say that as someone who hasn't published anything in awhile. I still have aspirations, y'all. I'd like to pretend I could go faster and pour out a bunch of books. Traditional publishing is just too slow for my tastes. Not to mention that a hearty dose of imposter syndrome convinces me I'll never see another traditional deal again anyway. 

My problem is that I insist on hiring an editor. A good one. I have some bad habits as a writer - I know what I want to say, so what I write makes sense in my head - but it doesn't make sense to anyone else. I need someone objective enough to call me on it every single time. Of course a manuscript is never going to be perfect. Ask me how many typos, missing words, or repeated words I find immediately after a book gets published. I also fully acknowledge that I am not good at book covers. The cover artists I hire always ask for my ideas about covers, then spend the rest of our time telling me why my ideas won't work. This is exactly what I want - someone with far more experience with reader expectations around book covers than I have. It's just -- as a self-publisher who *does* no how to format electronic manuscripts for several different formats -- I've already spent more that $1k of my own cash. I'm also lacking that marketing team to help me focus a 100k word story down to a punchy, pithy sales pitch that helps readers understand at a glance what my stories are about.

As it happens, I've found the perfect for-me compromise. An e-first press. The press used to be called a small press, but Wild Rose Press isn't small. Not anymore. The press releases books across all genres. Their bread and butter is still romance - as it is for so many of us. But they've expanded into so many other markets. I get an editor, a cover artist, someone else handles the formatting, and I get a little much-needed marketing coaching. Are they slower than I could publish myself? Yes. But not by much. If I turn in a book, I'm usually holding a print copy in my hands within 8 months. The great thing is I'm not limited to one line or genre. I can write anything that takes my fancy. I hand it to my editor and she places the story - or tells me straight up that Wild Rose Press can't use the book and I'm free to self-publish it or sub it elsewhere. 

I like the flexibility and the assurance that I have people on my side - who want my books. So far, it's working for me.

The Hybrid Life for Me!

 

ROGUE'S POSSESSION is now out!! 

     

This release dovetails nicely with this week's topic. We're asking, Traditional publishing, self-publishing or a fusion of the two. What works best for you?

This particular book is the second book in the Covenant of Thorns trilogy, which were originally traditionally published ten years ago! Those were my first fantasy romances and I was elated that Carina Press took a chance on my cross-genre novels. I went on to publish ten books in total with them. I've also done three traditionally published series with Kensington and one with St. Martin's Press.

I like trad publishing. Having a team working on my books is a great feeling, as is not having to front the money.

However...

As soon as I could get the rights back on these books, I did, and now I'm self-publishing them. The major reason? I'll make a lot more money selling them myself.

A secondary reason: by controlling the series, I have more options to discount book one, a potent marketing technique trad-pubbing doesn't allow.

A third, but super validating reason? At last I can give these books the covers they deserve!! I love these covers, designed by the incredibly talented Ravven, so much!

So, as you may have concluded, I'm falling in the "fusion of the two" category. Being a hybrid author gives me the best of both worlds. I aim to continue doing it that way. 

All the Options

Happy Beltane or May Day if you celebrate either. I hope you have a few minutes to enjoy the outdoors. At the very least.

Talking about publishing paths is a lot like Max standing outside my boat looking in. As Sinéad O'Connor liked to title an album, I do not want what I haven't got. Most of us come at publishing starry-eyed and with strong opinions about how we want to go. When I started, publishing really only had one option - traditional publishing. Self-publishing was still in its infancy and had the taint of desperation clinging to it. Dawn was beginning to break and there were a few outliers playing around with what might be possible. Shortly after I was first traditionally published, the ground totally shifted under self-publishing, fortunately.

These days, the options are legion.

Traditional
Self-publishing
Small press
Audio
Hybrid
I dunno. Triad?

Your choices are limited only by your wishes. Some of us NEED the validation that traditional publishing represents. Some of us hate playing by traditional publishing's timelines (which are glacial, especially if you're a high out-put author). They're also hard to break into. Generally you need an agent because the slush piles are towering door props. No lie, it took one editor three years to reject a book I'd sold someplace else.

Self-publishing lets you put books out at your pace and you need never suffer a suck-tastic cover again. Self-publishing is limited only by your budget. You get what you pay for in regard to cover work and editing. As mentioned last week, I'm currently priced out of this option.

A small press - or in my case- an e-first press with POD as an option, has trade offs just like the other options. Small presses can be risky. We've all seen presses go under. It's always sad when that happens. BUT. They're far more open minded about working with new authors and with authors who are in the position of having to start over. In my case, they were willing to republish books that had already been published once before just so they could complete the series. That's pretty flexible.

Some authors are writing specific content for audio books. I don't know much about it and I'm starting to hear that the shine is off that apple, but it is still an option. I don't do audio because there's not much call for it in my genre. Not a single one of my readers has asked for it .

Hybrid/mix of all the things - well, I suppose that's the most flexible of all, but it is a lot of balls to juggle. It means that you're published either traditionally or via a small press and you self-publish. You are still on the financial line for the books you self-pub, but if you're writing books that don't fit your traditionally published brand, self-publishing those can be a reasonable option. You'd control branding and messaging around the books that way.

The only thing I notice is that I feel a lot like poor Max. The publishing cash looks greener over there.

Living in the Future - and Waiting for the Money to Catch Up

It's morning glory season here in Santa Fe. I love these gorgeous blooms - maybe even more so because they're so temporary.

Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is an open one - whatever's on your mind.

I'ts been interesting doing my podcast, First Cup of Coffee, as I tend to talk about whatever is on my mind. Though I find I have to edit myself more as I'm in the habit of "conversation" being a free zone where I can discuss things more frankly than what I write online, Where Everything Lives Forever. I also keep a list of blog topics, and I'm looking at that and not feeling the spark with any of those.

Right now what's on my mind is finishing THE ARROWS OF THE HEART. This is the next book in my Uncharted Realms series and has been a long time coming. I've bemoaned in other places that I finally got to get back to it this week - after a four-month hiatus. I'd intended to put this book out in May. Now it will be out in September, at best.

All of this is because I had to move up traditional publishing deadlines. Sometimes that's how it goes. I did a lot of work in those four months - but most of the fruit of it won't appear until well into the future.

This is one of the difficulties of being a hybrid author - someone who both self-publishes and publishes with traditional houses - that the external, contractual deadlines take precedence over the self-publishing deadlines. And being hybrid is great for diversifying income - I've been about half and half the last two years - but one truth about traditional publishing is it can take a LONG time for the money to manifest. Yes, there can be advance money, but the royalties often don't come in for a year or more after publication, which can be a year or more after the book is written. With self-publishing, the money starts coming in within a month or two of publication, which is pretty immediately after finishing final edits.

Thus the rub about me not having self-published anything since SHOOTING STAR in March, is that the money from my self-published backlist, while decent, has dwindled a bit. And though I had a book out in June, PRISONER OF THE CROWN, it's traditionally published, so I likely won't see any income from that for a few months.

But all of this is necessary, to keep books in the pipeline. And I can only write so fast. Being a full-time writer is an exercise in planning for a fluctuating income. Very much feast and famine.
The nature of the business!

What She Said

So for my post, can I just link to Jeffe's post and nod vigorously? No? Rats. Okay. Let's come at this another way, then.

Sometimes, mes amis, the world of publishing leaves you very few options. When what you write isn't necessarily the flavor du jour, most trad publishing houses won't look at you cross eyed. If they do, but your sales don't hit a particular benchmark, you may rapidly find yourself unpublished by traditional houses. If that happens, and if you have the self-confidence and spite to pick up your stories, you can go home and learn to become your own publisher.

Or say you've been writing one genre and you want to dip your toes into another - one you aren't necessarily certain you want to immerse yourself into. You write that book and rather than subbing it to agents and editors, you put it up yourself as an experiment. To test the genre waters, so to speak.

Or, maybe, after an eternity of waiting, you recover the rights to a group of stories that were orphaned when your cherished editor left the business (get used to that one, cupcake, it happens on a daily) you finally have the opportunity to finish out the series and relaunch the whole thing at what you consider a much friendlier price point - or with the cover of your dreams. Whatever your entre into DIYing it is.

Just know this. Everything about self-publishing is learnable. Scads of people have been through this wilderness and will gladly point the way. Some people will charge admittance. Many more won't. Author loops are crazy generous with how-to information, software suggestions, cover designer, editor, and copy editor referrals, too. Most of them will discuss the nuanced differences between launching wide versus targeted, too. Here. Let me pass you an aspirin. Author loops are a fire hose. You might need the pain killer.

All of this said, there's no right or wrong answer to the question of going indie or trad or both. There's only what's right for you and your work. If you're a security seeker, go trad. If you're a risk taker and a control freak, go indie. If you see the merits of both, then do all the things. There's really no math to do that will make clear which path is 'best'. It's all judgement call and what sounds like the most fun. Sure. You need a career strategy at some point. Tons of people will coach you through that, too, but as far as I can tell, you end up with a mirror of THEIR strategy rather than one of your own. So you may as well be guided by your own sense of what sounds easy versus hard. If having to format your own book sounds like the third circle of hell because you're a technophobe, you can hire someone to do that work, or you can choose to stick with the trad houses. They'll handle all that fiddly stuff, at the price, however, of having complete control over how your book is presented to the world.

So. Yeah. What Jeffe said. It's all about tradeoffs. You get to choose which ones you'll accept.