Whether Big House or Small Press

I’m taking yesterday’s topic of borrowing and lending to another level today. Those who’ve worked their way into the publishing business in the past few years, depending on the preconceptions of what it means to be a writer, have learned the new definition. They’ve also learned about the new work ethic of writers.

Today’s Writers

Writers shamelessly promote their work, and the work of others, everywhere they can because their careers’ futures depend on that promotion. Also, the big publishing houses today simply don’t have the promotion budgets they had in the past.

Other writers encourage us to guest blog on their sites, whether for self-promotion to a new audience or for a new book recently released. Guest blogging can also be used to promote a new voice/viewpoint about a specific topic being discussed. Either way, both the borrower of the audience and the lender of said viewers come away with something needed.

For the first time in centuries, writers are taking charge of their own livelihoods in the business. Many independent-thinking writers, who created their own presses, have turned their backs on the major publishing houses. They no longer consider it wrong to go without an agent. These career-oriented writers have changed the face of the industry in the past decade.

Small presses, POD’s and eBooks are making profits harder to come by for the big boys right now.

Future Possibilities

Whether I give information out for free, or I receive such information for free is irrelevant to the overall picture. The reason I can say that is because, in some respects, it’s beginning to look like the industry will soon be owned by the writers themselves.

Blogs and newsletters written by and for writers are created every day. They cover all the genres, and they take no prisoners. Whatever a writer wants to know is out there. Surfing and search engines make it impossible to overlook much that’s available.

When you consider that writers, editors, bloggers, along with magazines are ranking websites, newsletters, etc. on a regular basis, the built-in watchdogs guarantee that a careful user is safer from publishing scams than they used to be.

As encouragement, universities across the country are making free writing courses available by the dozen. Paid courses are also easily found and evaluated as to viability to the particular writer and skill set desired. And if a writer is determined, she can take an MFA degree online, or as a low-residency program from numerous colleges across the nation.

Advertising and promotion is easy to come by. Small, writer-controlled, publishing houses are moving in to entice new writers and secure established ones. A combo house—one which publishes both eBooks and POD simultaneously can take a well-written manuscript and turn it out to the public in a matter of only a few weeks/months instead of one to two years as happens with the big publishers. The lead time depends on the editing necessary for the manuscript and the dedication of the publishing staff.

Many of these same small presses use talented editors, promotion—including trailers and online, and help with marketing after the release of the book.

Building Publishing’s Future

Whether the new face of publishing comes at the expense of the major houses around the world isn’t the question. We should be asking if we want to rid ourselves of those big houses.

Yes, today’s average writer with a big publisher has to create her own marketing plan. That’s now considered part of the proposal package that’s submitted by the writer with the manuscript. That plan must be as broad and potentially profit-generating as one of the publishers’ marketing reps could put together. (At least, that’s how I’ve read one publisher’s guidelines wish list.)

Many readers want to see a recognized brand name on the book jacket, too. If a book isn’t signed, so to speak, by Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, or some other New York publisher, it could be overlooked or rejected by the potential reader as coming from a vanity press. The reputation of vanity presses hasn’t helped self-publishing’s image any in the past.

Recently, POD’s and small presses have pushed those that stroke someone’s vanity into the background. With the advent of eBooks and readers that fit into a pocket, good books are available and very affordable. The convenience and pricing will keep eBooks’ numbers climbing, especially with the downturn in the economy. Many of those book buyers who used to pay $20+ for a hardback book may have moved to where they can get better value for their money.

Today’s economy and personal financial woes could easily revolutionize the current big boys of the industry and force them to embrace those offerings from POD’s and eBooks. In fact, as a result of editors reading eBook offerings already available, the big houses have found new writers, writers that sell. That’s an encouraging sign.

If a person writes well, has a good story to tell, and wants to find an acceptable press, the dream is doable. That’s always been part of the publishing rules. With small presses, the author might not expect to reap as much in potential sales. Then again, there are those who’ve made millions publishing POD’s and eBooks. Marketing makes the difference.

Next time, we’ll dive into marketing. Tell me how you see today’s writing environment and the shifting sands of writers’ lives.

To Post or Not To Post

If you’ve missed this report in the news feeds, here it is. It seems that the powers that be are contemplating a complete closure of the postal system. Yes, folks, the USPS is under scrutiny for more than paltry stamps.

The projected deficit for the agency for 2011 is between $9-11 Billion. Somehow, I don’t think adding another two cents to the cost of a stamp is going to offset that figure. Use of snail mail is down significantly with the increasing use of FAX and the internet. More businesses are doing business online. One of the few props to the system now is bulk mail (better known as JUNK MAIL.) And we all just love getting junk mail, don’t we?

Hundreds of little postal stations have already been put on the chopping block, leaving tiny communities across the country without a nearby Post Office. Many larger stations have gone to a reduced number of delivery days to defray costs.

The reports of the past few months about the state of the USPS have left me with a question or two of my own. If you’ve been around this blog often, you already knew there were questions coming, didn’t you? This time, though, the questions are strictly for the publishing industry/

Let’s assume for the sake of argument that the USPS does, indeed, end operations. Where does that leave today’s publishing industry?

Many publishers, both for magazines and books, do not accept electronic submissions, and I can understand that. On the publisher’s side there is the cost of downloading a book manuscript to hard copy, sent by a writer that isn’t already on the payroll. That slush pile will get awfully slim. The publisher will have decide whether getting potential blockbusters from an electronic slush pile outweighs the cost of making hard copies.

Granted, many of those same publishers have already begun using electronic ARCs for reviewers to their new releases as a way to make the bottom line healthier. As a part-time reviewer, I see both sides of the equation on this decision. I love having the “real” book in my hands when I read. At the same time, I don’t have to wait for the delivery of my copy of a book to get out a quicker review. The ARC becomes available immediately; I download, and begin reading that same day. I even get notices when to look over the entrees for choice.

Many authors  have received electronic contracts for a few years now. Email and faxing have made this practice painless and cost-effective for both parties.

Magazine publishers may have a much harder decision to make than mere slush piles, however. While many print magazines accept only electronic submissions, others continue with only postal submissions or they accept both. Without the USPS those magazines that prefer hardcopy will find none in the mailbox. They will either have to hire IT people to create a new online system of submission for them, expect writers to send manuscripts via UPS or some other carrier, or stop publishing altogether if they don’t have a team of in-house writers.

Add to those considerations that print magazines rely on USPS for delivery of their issues to subscribers. Without postal delivery print magazines couldn’t arrive fresh and glossy for a subscriber’s squeal of delight and perusal. Online magazines would be the only option, unless they all went to quarterly or less frequent issuance and delivered by UPS. Somehow, I’m not fond of that scenario, either.

Personally, I won’t believe that the industry is ignoring this situation. Technology and how we use it are changing faster than many can keep up. Just because books have been around for centuries or more doesn’t mean that the process of writing and manufacturing them has remained static. I also don’t know that I’d want to be privy to some of those publishing house board meetings while they’re discussing this issue. Not a pretty sight, I’d imagine.

The USPS is reportedly praying that the federal government will bail them out. Given that the PO hasn’t operated in the black in my lifetime and things don’t look much rosier for the future of snail mail vs. the internet, I can’t believe the government will sink more money in the postal Titanic any time soon; especially with our economy in the tank. Then again, if those hundreds of thousands of postal workers hit the unemployment lines, we have to ask if the country is any better off.

You see the dilemma, I’m sure. The problem for the publishing industry centers on reading the tea leaves to decide how long we will continue to prop up the USPS vs. the cost of revamping how publishers do business with writers, illustrators, agents, etc.

Now it’s your turn to study the runes. What can you foresee on both sides of this economic coin? How will closure of the USPS affect you, other than your use of Holiday Cards, Birthday Cards, etc.? Let me know what you see as a possible outcome. Think about all those industries that rely on USPS being there and working each day.

Until then, a bientot,

Claudsy

Cursive, Speed, and Loss

I know, I’ve been away again for a few days. What can I say. Sometimes I have a life off the computer. Not often, but sometimes.

Today I want to begin by talking about a different kind of writing, not just putting together those nifty little stories that get sent through the airwaves to editors around the world, but in a way it does include those.

In recent weeks I’ve re-involved myself in using snail mail for something other than paying bills. And yes, I still use snail mail for bills. Somehow I just don’t trust the net to safeguard something as vital as my bank account. Call me old-fashioned if you must, but remember one thing. Hackers don’t just deal in viruses. Just saying…

Regardless, I have been communicating with other people by something called real mail, a little thing invented centuries ago by those who wanted to say something, ask something, what-have-you, to a person some great distance away. Of course, during those times, months would pass before a response arrived–if the person was very lucky.

Can you imagine that? Even as late as the 1950’s Americans waited up to two weeks to get a response from a creditor, to hear about a death in the family, whether the latest grandchild had come into the world whole and healthy. Telephones, you say? If you were lucky enough to have one in your home and could pay for it, I suppose that would work, provided that the other party also had a phone, could pay for it, and could get your number.

Now, back to real mail. My sister and I were talking about taking up pen and paper and actually writing another person. A cousin had asked an incredible question. “Do you ever wonder why they taught us cursive in school?” And she was correct in asking the question.

I used to have beautiful hand-writing. No more. Why? Because I so seldom have to use it for anything anymore. Typing has become my normal communication skill because of the net.

Then someone else piped in. A writer friend of mine asked much the same question, only hers went something like this: “Do you ever wonder if anyone will be able to write long-hand within a few years?”

Well, actually, I have wondered that very thing. No one’s been able to read doctors’ hand-writing for scores of years. It’s become a tired joke, in fact. But think about this. For the doctors that still do hand-written ‘scripts, how many of those ‘scripts get filled wrong because the pharmacist couldn’t read them properly? Could really be important to know the answer to that question. A study has been done, in fact, to answer it.

I began writing personal notes and letters and sending them to people I care about, using real stamps and writing my address on those envelopes rather than using address labels. And yes, I know how convenient those labels are, but I just moved, you know? The freebies haven’t caught up to my new location yet.

It’s amazing how delighted people are to get real mail and not just bills, junk mail and flyers. I admit that, I too, enjoy the sensation of slitting open the intriguing envelope to see what wonders it holds, always looking at the upper left-hand corner to see who was so terribly thoughtful as to send me something in the mail.

In recent years the only time most people see a hand-written anything is at Christmas, an occasional b-day card, or an anniversary card. People don’t communicate anymore with each other on the intimate levels of tangible friendship and care.

The net has taken away something vital to personal well-being that few recognize, I think. Speed has become so common in communications now that we’ve lost touch with each other in a more visceral way. And we’ve lost touch with ourselves, too.

We no longer take the time to really ponder what we do feel about anything critical with more than an instant’s thought. Years ago we created for ourselves, in this country at least, a disposable society. Fast food ended the real necessity for families to eat at their own dinner tables. Drive-thrus became the norm to the point of wedding chapels with drive-up windows. Now there’s a recipe for future bliss. In and out in three minutes, that will be thirty dollars, please.

Instant gratification has replaced thoughtful consideration and personal satisfaction. The corporate world has so generously fostered the mentality that has brought us to this juncture in our society and everything is done in overdrive.

Now you’re going to ask, what does this have to do with writing? It has everything to do with it. Watch TV or gone to the movies lately? How many really original things have you seen? Where are comparable movies to Sohpie’s Choice or The Piano Diary? Where are TV programs that make a person think and put together his/her own opinion? I’m talking network here, okay?

Sequels of so-so films and TV programs are the norm now, followed closely by sad remakes of earlier classic films or programs, followed by remakes of ones from other countries.

And why is that? One reason is that writers who have original ideas aren’t taken seriously much of the time because those in charge of the monetary flow want only what’s made big bucks in the past. So you get five years of vampires, werewolves, zombies, V, and the like. Mainstream writing has a bad enough problem with it, but the children’s genre suffers badly, too.

It’s not the publishers’ fault really. They are trying to keep their heads above water financially so that they can still put books out into the market. Readers aren’t really to blame either. So long as the feeding frenzie continues in any form surrounding a given book topic and gimmick, the reader moves with it. After all, readers talk to each other, discuss the merits of this or that and what each thinks will happen when the story continues.

The writer who wants to be published finds him/herself in the crosshairs. Go too far away from what’s popular at this moment and risk having no publisher take a chance on your work. Go too close to regurging what’s popular and have publishers back off because they don’t want copies of what’s out there on the shelves already.

So the writer does lots of research to look into what might be the next big trend, regardless of whether it’s a personal preference or not. Like I said, crosshairs. The writer begins panning for gold, looking for nuggets in the publishing streams around the world, hoping against the odds that a few flecks of glittering brilliance will deposit themselves in the writer’s mental gold pan.

At that point time becomes the factor to deal with. Speed again takes hold of the process so that the writer doesn’t get left behind in what could be a lucrative trend in the market.

Oh, I know this is an oversimplification. I get it. But the meat of the problem remains. We’ve run away from those things that stood for quality in order to create quantity. Anyone with a new cell phone today or digital camera can make films and spread them around the world on Youtube and become famous as a result. Anyone with a blog such as this one can write almost anything they want and see it published instantly.

This is our world today and probably for the future as well. I can’t help but wonder, however, how much more we’re willing to give up as a society for the sake of instant gratification and speed of communication. We’ve come very close to losing the ability to write long-hand. We’ve pretty much chalked off snail mail as being irrelevant. We’ve turned our bank accounts over to those who operate the internet along with our credit cards. We’ve even taken to using cell phones to call people sitting in the same room, building, etc.

When you stop long enough to ponder this new reality, what does your mental picture look like? Tell me what more you think we’ll lose from all this. I’m curious to know. And this is the only address I have for you, so I can’t even use snail mail to reply.

Personally, I intend to revisit some of the older ways of doing things for a little while. Speed is all very well, but it can get you killed, too. For my own sake I need to slow down a bit, ponder more carefully my choices, and proceed on a path I’ve mapped out for myself with my own hand.

Talk to you soon.

A bientot,

Claudsy