As someone who has been published with numerous publishers and seen a few of them go down in flames, some spectularly, some with whimpers, there’s one question that always gets me when a publisher fails.
I’m getting my books at, can you recommend a good publisher?
I get it. I really do. When you self-publish, you take on all the risk. You’re getting cover art, paying for editing, maybe paying for formatting…that’s a lot of outlay and it sure is nice to have someone else take care of it. Except, in today’s environment, even after being published with the best digital publishers in the business, both then and now, I have to say…other than taking over that up front risk what do publishers do for you?
In my case, I got a few banners, maybe. There were the author loops where I could connect with other authors, but that’s it. From either side of the desk–author or publisher–there was little that publishers could do for me or as a publisher that I could do for authors.
I will not publish with another publisher. My only exception to this, and it’d have to be a big ass exception, would be if a NY publisher came to me and wanted to publish me. Then, I’d think about it, but I’d also make sure I had someone look over that contract because frankly, the last thing I want is to be tied up in another publisher debacle.
And that’s why I only self publish. I’ve had publishers where if I’d waited literally one more day I wouldn’t have gotten rights back. There have been publishers who have paid late for years and still deny that they’re paying late even though I haven’t seen a royalty check in eighteen months. And publishers who say they’re closing, but then don’t, leaving one to wonder what the hell was going on.
I have enough challenges in my life; I don’t need to deal with publishers who flake out or close or not close or pay or not pay. My books are my Intellectual Property. I don’t want to hand that over to anyone anymore. Not when the industry has evolved to make it so easy for people to self-publish. Why give away 40-60% of your royalties when you don’t have to?
For those who aren’t tech savvy like myself, I understand how daunting it may be to self-publish. And that’s where you bring in good, trusted professionals. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Unscramblet Author Solutions, but really I didn’t write this blog to promote my work. I wrote it in the hopes that it would give you the confidence you need to self-publish too.
