FIVE NEW THINGS ABOUT THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS

Sandra here.  Just when I thought I was getting my knowledge of the publishing world all together, it up and changes on us.

So to celebrate our  FIVE year birthday, I'm going to share the five NEW things that I've learned this year about what has been happening in our reader/writer world.

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Don't think this post is just for writers.  You readers are impacted by these changes as well.

As was quoted at the Wrangling For Writing Panel discussion in Tucson two weeks ago,  "The good news is there are no longer gate keepers in the publishing world.  The bad news is there are no longer gate keepers in the publishing world."

Yep,  There's some bad news because who likes change?

Really?

We'll discuss the bad news some other post.

I want to focus on the GOOD NEWS.

Its a birthday edition after all.

HAPPY  BIRTHDAY  SEEKERVILLE

1.  First big change I've learned about is the Publishing World is becoming driven by the Internet.  Duh. But it wasn't until I attended the three conferences this year that I actually saw, felt, heard and began to fully realize THE CHANGE.

Traditional publishing is dying away.  This was evidenced in the Publisher spotlights at RWA last July in Anaheim.  The focus in previous years was kind of "this is what we are and if you're good enough to join us this is what we'll do for you."  Now the tone is more  "We know you have many choices, but this is what we can do for you so please submit to us."  The only overcrowded spotlight I saw was Montlake of Amazon Publishing spotlight.

The fact of the matter is, traditional publishers aren't really needed anymore to publish a book.

Anyone can publish a book.

This is good and bad.  You can publish but it is up to you to be sure the book is well edited.

The bad news (mainly for readers) is there are no more gate keepers. If you've ever checked, there are some really poorly written books out there on Amazon.  The traditional publishing houses  made sure a book was well written before sending it out to book stores.  Book store owners stocked books that were well written. Those publishing houses that are embracing the change will continue to make sure a book is well revised and edited before putting it out for sale.  I suspect readers will end up learning the names of Publishing Houses and they will know what type of books that publisher publishes so readers can find the type of book they want.

If you subscribe to a publishing house website and newsletter, you will receive many offers for free ebooks and news about upcoming publications.  Because truthfully, the difficult thing about publishing a book online is getting people to know its there.  When readers start figuring out they just need to follow the publisher who publishes the type of books they like, they will again be able to take advantage of the gate keeping quality a publishing house provides. So readers.  Get to know your publishers.  Pick up the books you really like to read and look inside at the title page and find out who published it.  Look up those Publishers online and subscribe to their news feeds.  You will be amazed at the wonderful information and book deals that will be offered.

The good news is there are no more gate keepers because anyone can publish. You don't have to stick to the strict guidelines of each publishing house.  New genres and sub-genres are popping up.  A book can be any length because it doesn't have to fit on a book shelf or in a ready made packing box.  (Did you know that is why most houses have specific word count? Their books have to be a certain size to fit on the shelf and to fit in the packing boxes.)

Publishers that are embracing the change are able to experiment with different sub-genres because it isn't going to cost them a fortune to experiment.  Publishing online and print-on-demand is so cheap. It costs very little.  Your main expense is the book cover and editing.  Before, when traditional publishing houses published a book, they had to print out thousands of copies and eat the loss if the copies didn't sell.  Now there is not that danger if they want to try something new.

The good news is that many traditional publishers are embracing the changes and are offering so many more choices.  They can afford to take chances on untraditional sub-genres. So many authors who didn't have a chance before with traditional publishers now do because it won't cost the traditional publisher much to take a chance on you.

2.  Second new item is the advent of BOUTIQUE PUBLISHERS. This is definitely a new term I learned last weekend.  A boutique publisher is non-traditional and they are popping up everywhere.

Some boutique publishers help a new author publish their own book.  There is a difference between boutique and vanity publishers.  Vanity publishers require you to pay them to publish your book whether print or online. A boutique publisher only asks for a percentage of sales.  They usually help you find a quality editor and artist for book covers. They can also help you format your manuscript. Some offer websites for marketing.

Many well-known authors are now publishing their own books (mainly back-list but some new) on Amazon.com.  So that author makes a huge profit compared to the measly percentage they received from a traditional publisher.

Many agents are becoming boutique publishers by publishing their client's backlist. Because the author has a name already, the marketing issue isn't as difficult as it is for most authors self-publishing their own work online.

So if you have a backlist, be sure and get those rights.  Also when you sign a contract make sure you have at least 40% royalty on e-book rights.  I'm currently with a publicist  (writerspace.com) and they are going to help me publish my backlist.  Those books I published in the eighties can be put back out there.  I'm excited about it too because some of them won awards.

And that is another wonderful thing about the Internet driven publishing.  Books will be out there longer than the traditional six weeks.  I was crushed when I could no longer find my books on the shelf.  It is really cool that they can get back out there.

3. The third big change is the methods for marketing and publicizing new books.

Before in traditional publishing an author had very little control of how much publicity their book received.  Book sales were mainly driven by the distributors until author name and recognition was established.

Now an author, whether traditionally published or self-published needs to do their own marketing. This is good news because an author has complete control of how much or how little publicity they get.  The bad news of course is that it takes a lot of time away from writing to publicize.  It also costs money that the author may or may not have earned yet.

The good news is that with the advent of social media, publicity is much more accessible to the author and often doesn't cost money.  Only time.

Facebook, Goodreads, Google +, Linked In, these are all accessible to all of us.   Blog tours are fun and you Seekerville friends definitely understand the advantage of following blogs. By the way, I'm up for being a guest blogger next month to publicize my new release coming out in December. hint hint hint.

Current of Love
by Sandra Leesmith

There are some precautions one should take in using these social media links which I will address in next month's post, but for the most part, they are a big asset to authors and readers alike.

Readers can utilize author publicity with the social media by subscribing to their newsletters, getting announcements from publishers, and subscribing to publicity sites.

I have signed on with writerspace.com and they offer so many wonderful opportunities for readers by introducing authors, contests with gifts, and announcements of new releases.  I will be featured on October 28th in what they call their Halloween Mash.  You will get a chance to chat online with authors.   I'll also be doing a blog on their post and getting announcements out about my latest publications.  If you want to receive my newsletter and information about me, sign up on my website.  Click on Sandra's October contests.


Julie Lessman's publicist used writerspace.com to announce the debut of Julie's Christmas Novel    Check it out.  Its beautiful.

Light in the Window
by Julie Lessman

4. The fourth big thing about publishing I learned was the importance of reviews.

Before, I always wrote reviews because the authors were my friends and I wanted to show them my support.  But now I have learned that the reviews I write are critical to their placement in Amazon.com which has become the largest distributor of our books.  I had no idea how important reviews were.

I want to thank Vince, Julie, Virginia and Sandy for taking the time to write a review.   You have no idea how much that means to me and to my writing career.  They wrote those on their own. 

I blogged about this last month.  Check out Importance of Reviews for the Reader and the Author more details.

The problem is how do you get people to write a review.  Basically there is no reward in it for them. It does take time--not much time, but still it takes effort.  Paid reviews are frowned upon.  That is why an occasional 1 or 2 star showing up isn't going to hurt you.  It helps Amazon and the public know that your reviews aren't false or paid for. But four and five star reviews are critical to an author's success.

Readers and writers, you need to know that your voice does count.  Your opinion and review can keep your favorite authors in business.

5. The fifth and most important thing I learned is really a life lesson, not just a publishing lesson.

God has a plan and things happen at the perfect time.

Not necessarily what you think is the perfect time.

I was a teacher and in the eighties I needed a break. I was given the break and in that time I published several books.  I was sure becoming an author was God's plan for me.  But no.  Not yet.  The publishing came to a dead halt. He wanted me to finish my teaching.  Which I did.

Then I retired from teaching and thought now is the time for publishing my books.  I wrote many books, honed my craft, met editors and agents.  But still no big movement toward becoming an author.  Hind sight (which is a wonderful thing) has shown me that I had another job to finish before becoming an author.  I was so involved in elder care that I would have been in deep trouble if I'd had contracts to fulfill.  And the sweet thing is, every time a close relative died a book was published.  In a small way. Something I didn't really have to spend too much time on. Kind of like a touch of comfort and reassurance that my plan was still out there.

My last parent passed last June and suddenly the gates have exploded.  Cody the Coyote is set to be published any day now.

Cody the Coyote
The coyote who wanted to be a dog
by Sandy Wardman

And in July, I was notified that my book Current of Love that was contracted by Avalon was now going to be a Montlake Romance by Amazon.com.  And Price of Victory is now in paperback and an ebook. Without the slightest inkling that this would happen I'm all of a sudden plopped in the middle of prime publishing.

This was certainly a God thing because I would never have been able to keep up the pace required for Amazon Publishing before now.  And things are happening way better than I would have ever planned.   So I finally did fully understand that God is and has been and will be in charge all along. my, my, my

Now this of course is my testimony.  Each and every one of you has your own God story. And because God loves diversity, each story is unique and different.  But inspiring just the same.  Don't you love it?

So there you have it.  Five wonderful new things I've learned this year about our crazy but wonderful world of publishing books.

Please comment and share some of the things you have learned or if you have questions I'll try and answer them.  Because its our birthday month I'll be giving away five copies of Price of Victory and the winner's packet will include a surprise Seeker book.  We have been so blessed these past five years with books published, a fun blog and of course the best blessing is all of our Seekerville friends.

We love you.

Happy Birthday to us!  

In our family we celebrate birthdays with pie.  I'm terrible at cakes anyway.  We leave that to Ruthy.  But the pies I bake are to die for.  Learned from my grandma.  So I've spread a table full of homemade pies.  Yep, I was up baking all night.  Since we were in Oregon last month I picked blueberries and blackberries so have pies of each.  This month is hubby's birthday and his favorite pie is sour cherry so have plenty of those.  And what would fall be without apple and pumpkin pies?

So grab some chocolate velvet coffee or a spot of tea and share what things you've learned about the publishing world this year.

Check out our Birthday Prizes