"Traditional" Publishing and You - A New

My name is V. Alexander and for years I've made money off corporate waste and destruction. My lifelong passion is writing. However, for over ten years, my real world occupation has been buying truckloads of merchandise from various organizations and selling them to a colorful assortment of individuals. My most recent conquest was a 400+ store retail dinosaur that had a date with total annihilation. I got to know this dinosaur well over the past decade, buying overstocks on a regular basis and helping management troubleshoot various issues. This is what qualifies me to write this article, for this particular dinosaur is not alone.
Recently, a woman offered to publish two of my fiction noir-suspense novels, Trouble Is Her Business and Black Market Princess, both the result of years spent in literary purgatory. For a brief, foolish moment, I weighed this awesome offer-as if the established names had presented me with a six figure contract and I'd be letting them down if I chose the small press option. In making the decision whether to go with a small press, or my fictitious big name suitor, I put on my business hat and drew on my experiences as an entrepreneur, which brings us back to the topic of destruction.
As writers, many of us are temperamental, highly driven, and make ourselves crazy reworking scenes until they are perfect, only to rework them yet again. If we were normal, we wouldn't be dedicating years of research and craftsmanship to some abstract endeavor without any tangible reward in sight. And yet, after investing so much of ourselves in our work, the representatives from the "traditional" publishing industry have no qualms about destroying any hope we have of launching a legitimate career. This, of course, stings. However, putting on my business hat, I've seen some things from the other side-factors that play into their decision-making process that have little to do with talent or even common sense.
Reasons Why Rejection May Be Inevitable, Regardless of Talent...
There are two main barriers that even the most talented writers face when approaching traditional publishing.
It's Who You Know. How many times have you heard a publishing professional say you must know someone to break in? Isn't this discrimination? A subtle method for filtering candidates by race, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, education, or social status? The answer is yes-and it makes little difference. This sort of thing happens in every business-especially where there are limited slots and lots of people who want those slots. Somewhere in the world, a fish is being pulverized. Lots of fish, in fact. The statistics on dying fish must be staggering. Fish get killed. Friends and relatives of industry gatekeepers get special treatment. Maybe they're using the Friends of Friends Method, or consulting the Zodiac. Most have a system.
To look at it another way, when you have an oversupply of people who are seeking something that has little or no monetary cost-i.e. a representation agreement or publishing contract-black markets develop. It's not evil; it's just human nature. Personal biases play a very big role in pairing down tens of thousands of candidates. There's no point in getting angry about it. It happens with rent control-it happens in publishing. No villains here.
But there is another way representatives of traditional publishing wield their power that is both destructive and without merit. From their Ivory tower, they shout to the masses of aspiring authors, "If you're not in our circle, you just couldn't cut it!"
This is like telling someone who doesn't win the lottery they couldn't cut it. Recently, Kirkus Reviews, one of the biggest names in book reviewing of all time, closed its doors. Does that mean they couldn't cut it? What about Borders? As of this writing, their stock price was flirting with $1 a share-down from $23 three years ago. I love Borders, but it looks like they're not cutting it either. What about the tens of thousands of people who've recently been laid off from the publishing industry? Were they not talented enough to keep their jobs? Maybe they just didn't buck up enough.
What about the bookstores that are supposed to be doing well? Are those books on the shelves or are they now specializing in handbags, board games, and action figures? Since when do you go to a bookstore to buy a cheap pair of sunglasses at a 600% markup? Surely, Mr. Mega Bookstore, you're not engaging in price wars. You're not set up for that. The other big boxes will kill you,Evisu Jeans!
Let's talk operations. For every book sold, there's a 20-60% probability that book will be returned-and, most likely, it will be in mint condition. Transaction and logistics costs mount as publishers ship remaindered books to distribution centers where they are re-categorized and sold to a third party. The third party, most likely a "used" bookstore chain with a huge warehouse, buys the books for pennies on the dollar and sells them at a tremendous profit. Meanwhile, traditional publishers and their authors eat the cost. I'd love to watch an author's face as she tries to make sense of all the adjustments pertaining to her royalty. I'd love to take her to a "used" book operation's distribution center and explain why they're making so much money.
If traditional publishing were such a great business model, why is the industry begging for a bailout? Why are the writing advice and publishing insider magazines launching vigorous ad campaigns when advertising itself is in a dark pit? Are they embarking on a new multi-stage program designed to boost revenues 60% by next quarter? Or are they desperate?
Even a numerically challenged person like me, who has an MBA, can see there's something wrong here. Traditional publishers, I've seen your story before and it doesn't end well. The desperate dash to incorporate new processes and boost advertising budgets isn't going to work. Your rigged reviews, your exclusive writers clubs, your phony awards ceremonies... Today's readers are simply too busy doing their own thing to pay much attention.
My point, Ms. or Mr. Aspiring Writer, is this. If you've worked hard rewriting something a million times, and you've had it edited a million times... If you've found yourself a literary benchmark by which to gauge your work and your audience, and you know in your heart of hearts there are at least three people in the world who would really like to read your story... I say go for it. Publish it yourself or seek out a small press.
Of course, there's no guarantee of success. When it comes to starting any entrepreneurial venture, there is a 96% failure rate. When and if you do start making money in this business, your margins will probably be so thin only your accountant will know they're there. Reach this stage and you'll be exactly where a lot of new authors who've been inducted into traditional publishing are-only you'll keep more of the money and have more control over your literary destiny. With continued effort, you'll probably get some results-my readers have been nice enough to pay my car insurance on my Honda S2000 and the management fees on all of my investment properties for the year. They're nothing short of awesome.
If you decide to go for it, I wish you the best of luck with your new venture. Don't let New York hold you back. As for what I'm doing, aside from chatting it up with an array of questionable persons at coffee shops, I'll be waiting for a phone call. The speaker, excited over the prospect of a lucrative kickback, will tell me when the next round of traditional publishers' assets will be ready to be liquidated.
5th Step Put the list in an order of priority. Which area of your life needs action most urgently? When would you like to have this achieved by? Set dates for the other areas, being realistic - but being true to you.6th Step What is the first step to achieving your goals? Who can help you? What resources do you need? Where can you get these? What additional learning do you need? Where can you find out about this? When are you going to begin? How important is this goal?7th Step Why are you doing this? What is motivating you? If you do not have a big enough reason 'why,' you will find yourself falling off the wagon. Like many new year resolutions people make, it will be overlooked and your life will be left to chance once more. How do you want to feel when you look back in 10 years and remember the dreams you once had, that you didn't 'bother' to achieve?
Decide how important this is to you, your family. Choose to make it a priority in your life. Many of my clients come to me because they have goals, but they know unless they are accountable or spend time each month focusing on their goals with me, their coach - they will give up on them. And they are serious about changing their lives, using goal setting strategies to get what they want.8th Step Who will you share your goal with? Be careful here. I have found that if we are too free with our excitement about how we're designing our lives - others do not always support us and try to prick our bubble. Sometimes, friends and family like life to be the way it is and that's that. They do not want anything to change. It can be that they do not want to see us start something and then fail.