Two Ways to Publish (and One Way Not to Publish)

By Iola Goulton

Last week I looked at the main options for self-publishing paper books and ebooks. But what do you do if that all sounds too complicated?

There are basically two ways to publish:

1. You can hire people to help you publish your book.
2. Or you can pursue a publishing contract.

What you shouldn't do is sign a contract with a "self-publisher".

1. Hire Help

Savvy self publishing authors do hire people to help, especially editors and cover designers. None of us—not even editors—can edit our own work. Most of us shouldn't attempt designing our own covers unless we have serious graphic design expertise.

There are several other services self published authors often hire external experts for:

• Formatting.
• Writing the book description.
• Website design and maintenance (if you don't have a website, you need to join my March Marketing Challenge: Kick Start Your Author Platform.)
• Uploading files to online retailers.

Publish Like a Boss! has some great advice on being a professional indie publisher. Click here to read my review.

Note that there is one thing no reputable author or publisher ever pays for, and that is book reviews. But that's a big topic, so I'll save it for another post.

2. Go Traditional

I've covered this in previous posts here at ACW:

• Paths to Publishing: Trade Publishing
• Paths to Publishing: Small Press

Large established trade publishers will generally offer an advance and a royalty. Note that the advance is an advance against future royalty payments, so if you're offered a $1,000 advance and you earn $1 in royalty payments for every copy sold, you won't get any royalty payments until the 1,001st copy of your book is sold (no, these are not typical advance or royalty payments. That would be too easy!).

A smaller publisher or a digital-only publisher might offer a royalty-only contract. This means no advance, but it also means you start earning royalty payments from the first book sold.

Don't Sign With a Vanity Press (Please)

A vanity press is not the same as a traditional publisher. Instead of making their money by selling books to readers, they make their money by selling publishing and marketing services to authors. Unfortunately, too many of them prey on Christian authors. Writer Beware says:

Christian writers are more likely to trust a company that self-identifies as Christian ... a perfect honey trap.

There are a few ways to spot a vanity press:

They require you to pay them (not the other way around).

A reputable trade publisher will never ask for money up front. A vanity press will, although they'll never call themselves a vanity press. Instead, they'll call themselves a traditional publisher or trade publisher. Or a co-operative press or a hybrid press or a partnership press.

Those are all terms designed to confuse you, persuade you that they are a legitimate trade publisher. But if they are asking you for money, they are not a trade publisher.

I've discussed vanity presses in several previous posts here at ACW:

• Paths to Publishing: Vanity Presses
• I Wanted To Cry

If any publisher is asking you for money, please read these posts. Because the chances are that they are a vanity press, not a reputable trade publisher.

They require you to purchase hundreds of copies of your book. 

A trade publisher may give you the option of purchasing author copies at a discount e.g. to use in your own promotional efforts, to give as gifts, or to onsell. They will not require you to purchase copies—it's purely an option. Requiring you to purchase copies of your book makes them a vanity press.

They require you to pay for their marketing services.

A reputable trade publisher will require you to undertake some marketing at your own expense. For example, they may require you to have your own website which you develop and maintain. But they won't insist on building your website for a fee. Nor will they insist on you paying for compulsory or optional marketing services (which are usually expensive and of dubious value).

It all comes back to the first rule of publishing:

Money flows from the publisher to the author. Not the other way around.

Anything else is vanity. Please don't allow the desire for validation to blind you to the point of vanity.

If you have any doubts, ask.

Ask me. Ask in the Australasian Christian Writers Facebook group. Or click here to download the 2018 edition of Publishers Specializing in Christian Fiction.

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, and currently works as a freelance editor. When she’s not working, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat. She is currently working on her first novel.

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Understanding Your Options for Self-Publishing

By Iola Goulton

I'm a member of several writing and editing groups. Some are Facebook groups; others are email loops. A lot of the same questions come up over and over. Many of these recurring questions have a similar theme:

• I have just finished writing a novel, and I'm looking for a publisher.
• My client has just finished their memoir and is looking to self-publish.

Sometimes it's a memoir, or a non-fiction book. Sometimes it's an editor enquiring on behalf of a client. But the question is always the same: what publisher do people in the group recommend?

My recommendations are always the same.

If you want to self-publish in print, you have three main options. If you want to self-publish an ebook, there are a few more options.

Print Publishing Options

1. Amazon

2. Ingram Spark

3. A printer

Amazon

Amazon is a Print on Demand (POD) printer, which means they only print a copy of your book when someone has ordered it. They operate two programmes: CreateSpace, and the newer Kindle Direct Publishing. Most authors use CreateSpace, simply because it has been around longer and there have been reports of some teething troubles with Kindle Direct Publishing.

Both programmes operate in a similar manner—you upload your book, choose from several distribution options, and set your price. They then print the book, ship it directly to the buyer, and pay you the profit on the sale.

At the time of writing, Amazon only prints paperbacks.

IngramSpark

IngramSpark has a one-time setup fee, and also charge a fee every time you upload a new version of your book. They are also a POD printer, and operate in a similar way to CreateSpace (in fact, CreateSpace will sometimes outsource their printing to IngramSpark at no cost to you).

IngramSpark has paperback and hardcover options.

A Printer

A printer could be a local printer, or an offshore printer. The local printer is likely to cost more, while the offshore printer will have a higher freight cost. Actual costs will depend on the number of copies you are ordering—the more copies, the cheaper the cost per copy but the bigger your overall cost. Try not to be swayed by the per-unit cost: it's no saving if you end up with hundreds of books you've paid for but can't sell.

There are two main types of printing: POD (which is most cost-effective for short print runs e.g. under 100 copies) and offset (which is most cost-effective for large print runs e.g. over 1,000 copies). Offset printing has a lower per-unit cost, but a higher initial outlay because of the minumum number of copies.

I only sugest considering a local printer if you have a local audience who are likely to buy your books in print. Getting a book into print is the easy part. The hard part is sales and distribution, which is why most savvy authors choose CreateSpace or Ingram Spark.

Ebook Publishing Options

If you're looking to publish an ebook, there are a few more options:

1. Publish Exclusively Through KDP Select

2. Go Wide

3. Use a Distributor

4. Use a Combination

KDP Select

You can self-publish exclusively through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select programme. Amazon offer promotional incentives for author/publishers using KDP Select, including free days, Kindle Countdown deals, and membership in (and payment from) their ebook borrowing programme, Kindle Unlimited (referred to as KU).

Amazon has no upfront charges for publishing through KDP Select. They make their money by charging a percentage of the sale price of each book sold. You receive the rest as a "royalty" payment. The royalty at Amazon.com is 70% of sale price for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99, and 35% for books priced higher or lower (the price thresholds vary slightly by country).

So if you sell a book for $2.99, Amazon will pay you a little over $2.00 (this figure will vary depending on where you live, and whether your country of residence has a tax treaty with the US. But those differences are Amazon complying with international taxation laws, not trying to pay you less).

Go Wide

You can publish directly through Amazon Kindle, Google Play, Kobo, iBooks, and other online ebook retailers. Publishing through multiple retailers is often referred to as "going wide", in that you are not restricting your ebook sales to Amazon. Again, there are no upfront costs. Each retailer pays a royalty calculated as a percentage of the sale price of each book sold, and their royalties are broadly similar to Amazon's.

Use a Distributor

You can publish through an online distributor such as Draft2Digital or Smashwords. They have no upfront charges, but charge you a percentage of the royalty they receive from the online retailer. So if you sell a book for $2.99. the distributor will receive about $2.00, and will pay you about $1.80 (depending on their standard contract).

Use a Combination

If you choose to go wide, you can go direct with some stores, and use a distributor for others. For example, the last time I checked, you had to have an Apple computer in order to upload a book to the iBook store. If you're a PC user, you either need to become BFFs with a Mac owner, or use a distributor to upload to iBooks. Other authors find it difficult to upload to Google Play. In both cases, many authors choose to distribute direct to the major stores such as Amazon and Kobo, and use a distributor for the smaller stores, or those they can't access.

Note that most authors publish in print and in ebook format. Fiction authors (especially romance authors) tend to make most of their sales in ebook format, although paper remains a popular choice for children's books, middle grade, and young adult.

But what are your publishing options if that all sounds too complicated? I'll be back to discuss that next week.

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, and currently works as a freelance editor. When she’s not working, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat. She is currently working on her first novel.

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What is Vanity Publishing? (Part Two)

By Iola Goulton

This article continues our series on vanity publishing ... and the alternatives.

Vanity Presses Target Christian Writers

It would be nice to think that publishers operating in the Christian market would all be honest, truthful, looking out for the best interests of everyone ... you know, Christian.

But there are many organisations specifically targeting the Christian market, perhaps because many Christians are so trusting, especially when publishers use language like this:

WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan, understands that an author’s work is more than just a book. It’s a calling. We empower emerging Christian writers to answer their callings and share their messages of faith ...

You should know the people you are choosing as a publishing team. They should be people with extensive publishing experience…people with integrity

Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC, is a Christian-based, family-owned, mainline publishing organization with a mission to discover and market unknown authors.

If you feel God has given you a message to put in print, we hope you let fellow believers help you get it published. We want to be your partner in self-publishing and spreading the Christian message through your book.

Sounds good, doesn't it? But these are all expensive vanity publishers. If you've got thousands of dollars to spare, spending the money with one of these organisations isn't good stewardship. I can suggest some charities who will put your dollar to much better use in sharing the gospel.

Vanity publishing contracts fall into three main categories:

• Paid publishing packages
• Marketing packages
• Book purchase packages

Each of these options miss the one thing a real trade publisher offers: comprehensive editing. They may say they edit their books, but I've read novels from each of the publishers referenced below, and my view is that while some have been competently copyedited or proofread, others have not, and all could have benefited from developmental and line editing.

Paid Publishing Packages

This is the most common form of vanity publishing, and usually takes the approach along the lines that trade publishers turn down a lot of good books (true) and publishing yourself is difficult (partly true), so why not take away the stress by working with a Christian cooperative publisher (which ignores the inconvenient truth that not all of these publishers are owned by Christian organisations).

I have three main issues with these packages:

• They are overpriced. For example, it costs $35 to electronically register copyright with the US Copyright Office. One vanity publisher I looked at charges $199 for this service (Xulon Press), while another charges $249 (XLibris). Other "services" include $499 for "Book Search Optimization", something you can do free for yourself on all major online bookstores (Tim Grahl explains how in his free online course, Hacking Amazon).
• Packages do not include editing or proofreading. Poor quality editing is one of the most frequent issues cited in Amazon reviews (reviewers frequently mix up editing and proofreading, but the point is clear: many books haven't been adequately edited). This means the publishers are actively and knowingly publishing books which aren’t ready to be published. I've discussed this in a previous post: I Wanted to Cry.
• The advertising is misleading regarding distribution. Would-be authors read the website and believe their books will be available for purchase in all the major stores, which isn’t true. They will be available for order in all major stores and online, but that means nothing unless the publisher is making some effort to sell the book to retailers. Without this marketing effort, the distribution is the same as what any self-published author can achieve using CreateSpace.

Vanity publishers offering paid publishing packages and targeting the Christian market include WestBow Press, XLibris, and Xulon Press. WestBow advertise themselves as a division of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan (which is true--they are part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, a subsidiary of NewsCorp, a multinational corporation built by Australian Rupert Murdoch--hardly a "Christian" publisher).

WestBow publishing services are provided by the notorious Author Solutions, but WestBow don’t actively publicise the link (although HarperCollins Christian Publishers don't hide it). I don’t know whether that’s because HCCP promote WestBow as being a Christian publisher (where Author Solutions isn’t), or whether it’s to try and distance themselves from the negative publicity surrounding Author Solutions and their business practices. (If you want to know more about why not to use Author Solutions, see David Gaughran’s blog.)

Marketing Package

Tate Publishing specifically target the Christian market with the promise of free publishing, but the small print states that authors are required to have professional marketing support … which they provide for around $4,000. You won't find this figure on their website any more (well, if you can, please leave a link in the comments), but sites such as Dog Ear Publishing (another vanity press), Absolute Write and Writer Beware make reference to it.

However, there is no information available on what form this marketing or publicity support will take, or what return there will be on the investment. This, to me, is a red flag. No one should be spending that amount of money without a clear indication of what it will buy. But the biggest problem is that publicists do what they think is best … which might not be what is best for your book:

We can hire people to do a lot of the targeted marketing for us, or we can save the money and do it ourselves. By hiring people, I am not talking about hiring a publicist. Publicists charge an arm and a leg and most of them do … one-size-fits-all marketing.

- Discoverability, Kristine Katherine Rusch

I haven’t seen any of the marketing this publisher offers, which suggests they focus on the things many trade publishers focus on: activities are designed to attract book buyers from major book chains.

What I have seen is the Tate Publishing contract, which clearly states the marketing fee ... and which they sent me without even seeing my manuscript. Or asking if I had a manuscript. That is not how real publishers work. Real publishers assess the manuscript for saleability before offering a contract (well, unless you have a solid track record of New York Times bestselling books). That's because real publishers make money by selling books to customers ... not by selling marketing packages to authors.

Tate describe author websites as an "option", which I suspect means "additional fee". I have seen a couple of their author websites, and they are basic at best. These are linked to the main Tate site, so authors don't actually control their site, which means they run the risk of their website becoming an empty shell.

My other issues with this publisher include:

• They claim that they only accept 4% of manuscripts submitted for publication, but I’ve never seen anyone report being rejected by them, or knowing anyone who was rejected.
• I’ve never seen their titles in stores, and while their titles are on Amazon.com, the book pages are often incomplete (e.g. there is no Look Inside activated, or no Kindle version).
• Based on the (few) titles I’ve read, while the interior formatting is excellent and the proofreading good, the cover designs are uninspired and the copyediting sporadic. I suspect the books haven’t been copyedited at all, and any good editing is purely because the author is an above-average writer and self-editor, or has paid for professional editing.
• I don’t see them undertaking the kinds of marketing activities self-published or trade published authors undertake, such as proactively seeking reviews through a reviewer programme, or participating in blog tours. Where I have seen these activities, they have been instigated by the author, not the publisher.

Purchase Requirement

Some publishers offer to publish free, but require authors to purchase a specified number of books This is an attractive offer until you look at the fine print. Deep River Books targets the Christian market, and require authors to purchase a minimum of 1,000 copies for 30% off retail price. Most paperbacks retail for $12.99 or more, so purchasing 1,000 copies will cost a minimum of $9,000 (plus shipping, which will be expensive if you are based outside the USA, and author sales are not counted when calculating royalties).

The scary thing? It will only cost Deep River around $4,000 to have these books printed (The Fine Art of Self-Publishing says most "self-publishers" use LightningSource, which means their printing costs are all broadly the same). Deep River have made their money on the printing alone, which gives them no incentive to promote or market your book.

Creation House use the same idea. They require authors to purchase a "significant quantity of books at a deep discount from the first press run", but I couldn't find information on how many copies or at what discount ... which suggests a lot of copies at a negligible discount.

If you are interested in getting 1,000 physical copies of your book, you will be better off by letting your fingers do the walking (to paraphrase an old Yellow Pages advertisement), and find a local printer to print your copies. This will almost certainly cost less to print, and will eliminate shipping costs. Alternatively, you can get books printed more cheaply in Asia, although you will then have to pay shipping and customs fees. Or you can get your book printed the way the professional self-published authors do: direct with Lightning Source/Ingram Spark.

One Final Warning

There is one more vanity press that authors should be aware of: America Star Books, better known by the previous name, Publish America. They are blacklisted on sites such as Absolute Write, Predators and Editors, and Writer Beware, and have previously targeted Christian authors. Read here for an in-depth explanation of their business practices from a Christian author who is now pleased to be out of their clutches.

What should an author do?

Trade publish or self-publish. If you want to self-publish,  use freelance contractors (like me) to provide services you need help with (e.g. editing, formatting, cover design). Then publish directly with one of the main distributors:

For paperbacks: CreateSpace or IngramSpark (part of LightningSource). remember how I said vanity presses promised your book would be available for order in bookstores? That's because they are using LightningSource too.

For ebooks: Amazon Kindle and Draft2Digital or Smashwords (both of whom distribute directly to all ebook stores for a small distribution fee). Alternatively, you could distribute through the major ebook stores yourself (e.g. Barnes & Noble/Nook, Kobo and iBookstore).

I'll talk a little more about self-publishing next week. For now, do you have any questions about vanity publishing? 

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more at www.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter

What is Vanity Publishing? (Part One)

By Iola Goulton

Last week I briefly covered the main paths to publishing. This week, I'm covering how to spot a vanity publisher, and looking at the (sometimes) fuzzy area of author services.

The most important maxim to remember in relation to publishing is simple:

Money flows from the publisher to the author

If money is flowing from the author to the publisher, that’s commonly referred to as vanity publishing, and that's one of the first ways you can tell whether a publisher is a vanity press: they claim they are not.

Trade publishers don't need to say this: savvy writers (and readers) know who they are. It's simple to work out: just look at the logos on the spines in your bookshelf, or visit your local bookstore and check out who publishes your favourite books.

In contrast, Tate Publishing state "we are not a vanity press". Deep River describe themselves as a "third way" between traditional publishing and vanity publishing. WestBow Press are a "self-publishing company". America Star Books (previously known as Publish America) "adhere to the traditional publishing concept".

But how is an author to tell the difference?

Follow the money. 

Look at how the publisher is making money. How can you tell this? The easiest way is to look at their advertising to determine what the publisher is selling:

1. The Publisher is Advertising Themselves

Look at the publisher's internet site. Is the home page advertising their books ... or their publishing services? Trade publishers don’t advertise their publishing services because they don’t have to. They already receive more submissions than they can cope with (the source of the dreaded slush pile), and most of the large publishers have a policy of only accepting submissions directly from literary agents with whom they have an established relationship.

For example, compare the home page of Bethany House publishers with Tate Publishing (go ahead. I'll wait until you get back).

Bethany House is attracting readers, by advertising books. Tate is attracting writers, by selling a dream.

Trade publishers do advertise: they advertise to retailers they want to stock their books, and they advertise directly to the consumers they want to buy their books (there are conflicting views on how effective publishers are at marketing to consumers, but those are beyond the scope of this post).

The reason trade publishers don’t advertise themselves is simple: most readers don’t care who published a book. They are simply looking for a story, and are likely to be searching by author, genre or topic, not publisher. The main exception to this rule is Harlequin/Mills&Boon, who have built a hugely successful business in category romance, to the point where a romance reader might not know author names, but will be able to tell you whether they prefer Sexy, Sweet or Intrigue, and why.

While vanity publishers do promote the books they’ve published, it’s usually only on their own website, and the purpose of the advertising is to attract authors, not readers. Because that's where they make their money: from authors, not readers.

2. The Publisher Earns Money from Authors, not Readers

A trade publisher earns money in only one way: by selling books to readers. Individual authors may have multiple income streams (e.g. through book sales, speaking opportunities, professional consulting in their area of expertise), but the publisher only earns money when a book is sold, and they only earn profit on a book when sales have been sufficient to cover all the acquisition and production expenses (e.g. contract negotiations, advance payment to the author, editing, proofreading, cover design, copyright registration, formatting, printing and distribution). It is estimated that around 40% of books from trade publishers lose money, in that sales don’t cover all the direct costs associated with producing that title.

A vanity publisher earns money differently—they earn most of their money by providing services to authors, not by selling books to readers. This is because selling books is hard work, with no guarantee of a financial return.

So vanity publishing is publishers making money directly from authors (in the form of a payment from the author to the publisher) as opposed to making money indirectly from authors (in the form of a payment from the reader to the bookstore, who remits part of this payment to the publisher, who remits part of this payment to the author and/or their literary agent).

Author Services

Some publishers offer author services, and it can be difficult at first to tell whether it is a vanity publisher, or a printer specialising in book printing who has expanded their services into areas like cover design, editing, ebook creation, and distribution. This is especially the case when the publisher offers both traditional publishing and services for authors intending to self-publish.

An author services company may offer some or all of the following services:

• Developmental editing
• Line editing
• Copyediting
• Proofreading
• Cover design
• Interior design
• Interior formatting
• Ebook coversion
• Printing

An author services company may also be able to assist with uploading electronic ebook files to online retail sites such as Amazon and iBooks, and with uploading the files for the paper books to sites such as CreateSpace and IngramSpark (the self-publishing imprint of LightningSource).

Where marketing services are offered, these should be useful (e.g. design of an author website) not aspirational (e.g. pitching to a Hollywood agent). Above all, services should represent good value for money, and authors should remember they can almost always find better value services from freelancers who have less overhead to cover. 

Author Services . . .  or Vanity Press?

There is nothing to say a reputable traditional publisher can't offer self-publishing services: several do. However, the two businesses should be kept completely separate. This means:

• The self-published books should be published under a different imprint (brand) to the trade published books, and the two businesses should operate separately.
• The self-publishing imprint should have a different website to the trade publishing imprint/s.
• Submissions to the self-publishing imprint should be via a different website and email address than submissions to the trade imprint/s.
• The trade imprint/s should not advertise the self-publishing imprint on their main website, or on their social media profiles.

While it’s acceptable for the self-publishing imprint to say they may offer trade contracts to books submitted for self-publishing, the reverse is not true. Such “bait-and-switch” tactics are not appropriate. If you submit to the trade imprint, they should either accept or reject your manuscript, not offer you a paid vanity alternative.

A traditional publisher advertising their "co-operative publishing" services on their website home page could be merely naive. But they could be an unprofessional vanity press.

My advice: don't take the risk. 

As Christians, we are called to be wise stewards of our time, talents and resources. That means understanding the different publishing models, and not getting caught in the snare of a vanity press.

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more at www.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter

What Are My Publishing Options?

By Iola Goulton

Last week, we looked at a question many authors have: Is My Novel Publishable?

The short answer was, yes. The long answer was, it depends. (Helpful, yes?)

This week, I'm going to run through the main publishing options:

• Trade Publishing
• Small Press Publishing
• Self-Publishing
• Vanity Publishing

Note that while these are all options, only three of them are options worth considering, and the "best" option will depend on your personal aims in writing and publishing. For example, if you want to see your books on sale in your local KMart, you probably need to aim for a trade publishing contract.

Trade Publishing

Trade publishing is the official term for what can also be called traditional publishing, trad publishing, or legacy publishing. 

If you visit your local bookstore or library, most of the books you see on the shelves will have come through these big trade publishers, with names like HarperCollins, Penguin, Random House, or Simon & Schuster. Each publishing house will have a range of imprints, each of which will target a different market. For example Harlequin, Love Inspired, Mills & Boon, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan are all imprints of HarperCollins.

Most trade publishers don't accept direct submissions from new authors, preferring to deal directly with literary agents. Authors are paid through advances and royalties (with a portion of each payment going to their agent). Real trade publishers don't charge you for publishing. If they say there is a fee of any kind ... they're a vanity publisher.

For more information, see Paths to Publishing: Trade Publishing

Small Press Publishing

Small presses are still trade publishers, but they're smaller. You're less likely to see their books on the shelf at your local store, or in your library. Many will accept direct submissions from authors. Few pay advances, but all pay royalties. As with trade publishers, small presses don't charge you for publishing or require any compulsory book purchases. If they do, they're a vanity publisher.

Not all small presses are created equal. Some offer professional editing and cover design that's as good as the biggest trade publishers. Others ... don't. Do your research before you submit. It's a whole lot easier than dealing with problems later.

For more information, see Paths to Publishing: Small Presses

Self-Publishing

With self-publishing, the author wears all the hats:

• Writer
• Publisher
• Marketer

(I've heard it said that publishing is the easiest of the three!)

The essence of self-publishing isn’t that the author does everything themselves, but that they are in control of the process and contract out those parts of the process they can’t do themselves (like editing) or that could be done better by a professional (e.g. cover design).

I'll discuss self-publishing in more detail in the final post in this series.

Vanity Publishing

The most important maxim to remember in relation to publishing is simple:

Money flows from the publisher to the author

If money is flowing from the author to the publisher, that’s commonly referred to as vanity publishing. Not that any publisher ever calls themselves a vanity publisher. Of course not. No, they call themselves a traditional publisher or a hybrid publisher or a cooperative publisher or even a self-publisher.

I'll cover vanity publishing in more detail over the next two weeks, but the key is to look at how the earn their money: from readers, or from authors.

Resources

Meanwhile, here are some resources to help you in examining your publishing options:

• The 2017 Christian Writers Market Guide
• List of Literary Agents who represent Christian authors
• List of 100+ Christian Fiction Publishers (which I've compiled, and I give free to anyone who signs up for my email list)

Any questions?

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more at www.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter

Is My Novel Publishable?

by Iola Goulton

Happy New Year! I hope and pray 2017 is a productive writing and publishing year for all our readers.

And speaking of publishing ... I saw one too many articles on vanity publishing during December, by authors who'd been suckered into shelling out thousands of dollars (or pounds) to a "publisher" who failed to deliver. Although, let's face it: one article about this is still one too many. Anyway, here are the two most recent, in case you missed them:

• Is Austin Macauley a vanity publisher?
• I paid GBP 3,000 for Authorhouse to publish my book (and got 16 "free" copies)

So Australasian Christian Writers are dedicating Mondays in January to reminding our readers what vanity publishing is, and why it's a bad idea (I wanted to say "why it's almost always a bad idea" ... but I couldn't think of an exception. So let's stick with the premise that it is always a bad idea).

Regular readers of this blog may recognise the following post, as it initially appeared on 8 August 2016, and was titled "Is My Novel Publishable?"

Once upon a time, it was difficult to get a novel published, because there were too many authors competing for too few slots with publishing houses so only the best (or most saleable) books got published (in theory. There are always exceptions). 

Then some enterprising people discovered that some authors were actually willing to pay to be published ... and an industry was born. Vanity publishing. And it forever changed the face of publishing by changing the answer to the eternal question:

Is My Manuscript Publishable?

Easy answer: yes.

The advent of ebooks and print on demand (POD) technology means everything is publishable. But, to misquote 1 Corinthians, you might have the ability to self-publish, but that doesn’t make it a good idea. It’s especially not a good idea to self-publish through some “service” aka a vanity press—apart from the quality issues, it’s not good Christian stewardship to spend thousands on something you could organise yourself for a fraction of the cost.

(If you have a burning desire to see no measurable return for an investment of thousands of dollars, then please comment below and I'll offer some suggestions.)

So is my manuscript publishable?

Hard answer: it depends.

On what?

It depends on who you want to publish your novel: a major US publisher, a smaller US publisher, or a local (e.g. Australian) publisher. And attracting that publisher will depend on your book scoring well in three areas:

• Setting
• Genre
• Writing Craft

If you’ve written a novel set in Australia or New Zealand, it’s going to be a tough sell to an American publisher. Not impossible—Narelle Atkins and Kara Isaac have both done it—but not easy.

You’ll need a literary agent to have a shot at any of the big-name US CBA publishers like Bethany House or Thomas Nelson. (Lucy Thompson wrote a post about that here.) You don’t want just any agent—you want an agent with a track record of selling to the major CBA publishers. Michael Hyatt has a list of agents who represent Christian authors, and you can download it from this page.

In order to get signed by an agent, you’ll need to have credibility as a writer. One way to build credibility is to enter and final in major writing contests. (Lucy Thompson wrote a post about that as well, as did Carolyn Miller).

And you’ll probably need to attend a major US Christian writers’ conference such as the upcoming American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Nashville, Tennessee, as major conferences give you the opportunity to meet agents and publishers in person.

Setting

Your novel will also have to have sales potential. Big sales potential.

Major US Publishers

That’s the problem with books set in Australia: major US CBA publishers prefer books set in the US, because that’s what they sell best. They will sometimes diversify and read a historical novel set in England or Scotland, but for the most part, they prefer their fiction to be set in the good old U S of A. Or, at the very least, with an American lead character. For example:

• Close to You, Kara Isaac’s debut novel, capitalised on the US love for all things Lord of the Rings by having an American hero and a Kiwi Lord of the Rings tour guide heroine.
• Mail Order Bride, Lucy Thompson’s debut historical romance, is set in Colorado and utilises the much-loved mail-order bride trope. There may even have been a cowboy.
• The Elusive Miss Ellison, Carolyn Miller’s upcoming debut, is a Regency romance set in England.

Australia

Australian publishers love books by Australian authors with Australian characters and settings. They tend to accept submissions direct from authors (so no literary agent required), and it’s easier to get to meet them in person (the best opportunity for Christian writers is at the Omega Writers’ Conference in October). Personal connections help.

The downside is the Australian market is smaller, which means fewer potential buyers (a fact many Australian authors have lamented on). It also means our small publishers can’t publish every manuscript they see, much as they might like to.

Smaller US Publishers

There are a myriad of smaller Christian publishers, mostly in the US, who may be open to submissions.

If you want a free list of close to 100 publishers who publish Christian fiction, click here to sign up to my mailing list. This list does not constitute an endorsement, and I don’t recommend any specific publishers … although there are a few I recommend people steer clear of (like the publisher which offered me a publishing contract without actually seeing my manuscript. Or the publisher sued for deceptive practices).

Writing Craft

There is also the aspect of writing craft: is your manuscript good enough?

The bigger the publisher, the better your manuscript has to be, for two reasons.

First, there are so many authors fighting for an ever-decreasing number of publishing slots that anything less than excellent isn’t good enough to get the attention of a major publisher. Publishers get so many excellent submissions that they don’t have time for could-be-excellent submissions or almost-excellent submissions or submissions they can’t see a market for.

Second, the quality of editing varies widely between different publishers. I've recently read two books by the same author, but from different publishers. The book from the major publisher is professional, polished, and a pleasure to read. The book from the smaller publisher ... isn't. To the point it's hard to believe the same author wrote both books.

What is saleable?

The most saleable manuscripts are those which fit clearly into a popular genre. With novels aimed at the Christian market, this includes meeting the expectations of CBA readers, and being careful regarding ‘edgy’ content—topics so expansive I could write a book about them (wait. I am).

We’ve discussed some of these issues in previous blog posts here on Australasian Christian Writers:

• Narelle Atkins discussed acceptable content in Christian fiction
• Rel Mollet discussed Crossover fiction
• Narelle and I discussed genre and why it’s important (Genre is so important that in 2017, we're going to dedicate one post a month to the topic.)
• Jeanette gave a useful introduction to the emerging genre of New Adult fiction.

The closer your manuscript aligns with a popular and established genre, the easier it’s going to be to sell to a publisher. But what if you don’t fit a popular genre (e.g. Christian Science Fiction, or New Adult)?

This is when you might consider self-publishing. 

But if you pursue self-publishing, pursue excellence as well. Don’t self-publish as a shortcut, to fulfil your publishing dream. Instead, write something good enough to win a major contest or to attract the attention of your ideal agent, be published by your dream publisher, and choose to self-publish because that’s what you believe God has set out as your path.

To go back to the original question. Yes, your novel is publishable. It’s not there yet in terms of the writing craft, but it is publishable. Your challenge is to work out how you want it to be published, and do the work necessary to achieve that.

Do you have any questions? Leave a comment below.

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more at www.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
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Don't be a Chump

By Iola Goulton

Marketing guru Seth Godin recently published a blog post titled Chump (Don’t get played). He’s talking about the Bernie Madoff scandal, and how Madoff stole twenty billion dollars from people who Godin says should have known better.

Godin probably didn't intend the post to be a lesson for writers. But it is.

Godin says:

To pull off a significant deception, you generally need two things: A deceiver and a crowd of people open to being deceived.

Unfortunately, writers are open to being deceived. And I think Christian writers are especially susceptible. I think there are several reasons for this:

• Christians want to encourage other Christians, so will give encouraging feedback when a friend shows them a manuscript.
• Christians don’t want to bring other Christians down, so are reluctant to give critical feedback even when a manuscript has clear issues.
• Christians expect other Christians to encourage them, so may not believe critical feedback that contradicts the positive feedback they have already received.
• Christians trust other Christians, whether they have shown themselves worthy of trust or not.

And that leads to the second part of Godin’s argument:

Once those are present, the deceiver brings out the big lie.

Sadly, there are people and businesses who target these good Christians, these people who are always ready to think the best of others. This leaves a ready market of Christians ready to hear the big lie.

In publishing, this lie is often delivered by a “Christian” vanity press. Because there is a never-ending market of writers:

• Ready to believe their book is good enough to be published, because the publisher says so.
• Ready to believe it’s normal to pay a publisher, because the publisher says so.
• Ready to believe their books will be available in all the major bookstores, because the publisher says so.

As with all good lies, there is an element of truth in the message the vanity presses are preaching.

• Yes, it’s hard to get a contract with a major publisher.
• Yes, the major publishers turn down a lot of good books (and publish a lot of rubbish).
• Yes, authors have to actively market themselves and their book.

And this is where vanity presses come in. Godin says:

people are open to looking for shortcuts and a new reality, even if no shortcuts are available

As with many things in life, there are no shortcuts in writing and publishing. Sure, print-on-demand technology and the introduction of ereaders and smartphones and tablet computers have made it easier than ever for authors to self-publish (for example, I’m currently reviewing a book written by four pre-teens as a summer project). Amazon and Kobo and iBooks make distribution easy.

Or authors can hold out for a traditional publisher—but that takes time and money, in the form of entering contests and going to conferences to attract the attention of influential agents and editors. For many writers, it’s a seemingly endless cycle of rejection and frustration.

And that frustration can lead us into making bad decisions.

Frustration in the face of the way things are makes us open to the big lie. Frustration and fear and anger can suspend our ability to ask difficult questions, to listen to thoughtful critics, to do our homework.

To be a chump (not merely the victim) is to be open to the big lie. Not merely open to it, eager to buy into it.

And I suspect this is why many people get caught in the clutches of vanity presses.

Because they are eager to get out of the cycle of rejection and frustration and eager to buy into any alternative.

Especially when that alternative tickles their ears, confirming how difficult it is to get a book accepted by a major press but that’s okay because they have an alternative, a third way. Yes, it involves a small investment on the part of the author, but that’s normal. And then your book will be published and available in book stores and you’ll be a real author.

They’ll even tell you how to respond to the naysayers, horrible people like me who say they are nothing more than a vanity press. Because they’re not. They’re a hybrid publisher, a co-publisher, a subsidy publisher, a traditional publisher, a royalty-paying publisher. They’ll convince you black is white, and you’ll believe them.

Don’t be sucked in by the promises of the vanity presses. As Godin says:

We're not chumps. Not if we don't choose to be.

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more at www.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter

Paths to Publishing 4: Vanity Publishing and Author Services

By Iola Goulton

The most important maxim to remember in relation to publishing is simple:

Money flows from the publisher to the author

If money is flowing from the author to the publisher, that’s commonly referred to as vanity publishing, and that's one of the first ways you can tell whether a publisher is a vanity press: they claim they are not. Instead, they say they are a co-operative publisher, a partner publisher, a subsidy publisher, a hybrid publisher, a self-publisher or even a traditional royalty-paying publisher, appropriating the language of legitimate publishing in order to squeeze money from the uninformed.

The key way to distinguish a genuine publisher from a vanity press is to consider how the publisher makes money. A trade publisher (large, small or micropress) or a self-published author make their money the same way: by selling books to readers.

A vanity publisher makes money differently: by selling paid publishing and marketing packages to hopeful authors.

These publishing packages vary in cost and quality, but start at $999 and go up into the thousands. Packages don’t routinely include editing, even when it is obviously needed. The author is encouraged to pay extra for marketing opportunities, which can be anything from blog tour to expensive print advertising at prices that would make your eyes waters (and which can be double the price of working directly with the newspaper or magazine).

The most common vanity publishing business model is pay-to-publish, which I discussed in a previous post (click here to read the post). Other vanity publishing models offered by vanity presses include: publishing “free”, but requiring most authors to purchase a marketing package (costing approximately $4,000), or publishing “free” but requiring authors to purchase a minimum of 1,000 copies of the published book (an estimated minimum cost of $10,000). In both cases, this is more than enough to cover the direct production costs (click here to read more).

It would be nice to think that publishers operating in the Christian market would be better than this, that they would be honest, truthful, looking out for the best interests of everyone ... you know, Christian. But there are many vanity presses specifically targeting the Christian market, perhaps because Christians tend to trust other people who say they are Christians.

Author Services

Some publishers offer author services, and it can be difficult at first to tell whether it is a vanity publisher, or a printer specialising in book printing who has expanded their services into areas like cover design, editing, ebook creation, and distribution. This is especially the case when the publisher offers both traditional publishing and services for authors intending to self-publish.

An author services company may offer some or all of the following services:

• Developmental editing
• Line editing
• Copyediting
• Proofreading
• Cover design
• Interior design
• Interior formatting
• Ebook coversion
• Printing

An author services company may also be able to assist with uploading electronic ebook files to online retail sites such as Amazon and iBooks, and with uploading the files for the paper books to sites such as CreateSpace and IngramSpark (the self-publishing imprint of LightningSource).

Where marketing services are offered, these should be useful (e.g. design of an author website) not aspirational (e.g. pitching to a Hollywood agent). Above all, services should represent good value for money, and authors should remember they can almost always find better value services from freelancers who have less overhead to cover.

Author Services . . .  or Vanity Press?

There is nothing to say a reputable traditional publisher can't offer self-publishing services: several do. However, the two businesses should be kept completely separate. This means:

• The self-published books should be published under a different imprint (brand) to the trade published books, and the two businesses should operate separately.
• The self-publishing imprint should have a different website to the trade publishing imprint/s.
• Submissions to the self-publishing imprint should be via a different website and email address than submissions to the trade imprint/s.
• The trade imprint/s should not advertise the self-publishing imprint on their main website, or on their social media profiles.

While it’s acceptable for the self-publishing imprint to say they may offer trade contracts to books submitted for self-publishing, the reverse is not true. Such “bait-and-switch” tactics are not appropriate. If you submit to the trade imprint, they should either accept or reject your manuscript, not offer you a paid vanity alternative.

A traditional publisher advertising their "co-operative publishing" services on their website home page could be merely naive. But they could be an unprofessional vanity press.

My advice: don't take the risk. 

As Christians, we are called to be wise stewards of our time, talents and resources. That means understanding the different publishing models, and not getting caught in the snare of a vanity press.

This is the final article in this series. If you’d like to know more about any of the topics raised over the last four weeks, please leave a comment below.

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website (www.christianediting.co.nz), or follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christianediting), Twitter (@IolaGoulton) or Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/iolasreads).

Paths to Publishing 2: Small Presses

By Iola Goulton

Last week I talked about traditional publishing, focusing on large publishers.

Small presses and micropresses follow the same business principles as the major presses in that they take on the full financial responsibility for publishing and distributing the book, and pay royalties. They do not ask authors to pay for publishing or marketing, and do not require that authors buy a set number of books.

However, small presses are often newer publishers and there are some differences:

• They are more likely to be owned by individuals rather than multinational corporations, which means the person you are dealing with has an actual stake in the business. As an added bonus, the owner is unlikely to change jobs mid-project, leaving your book without an editorial champion.
  
• They will have a smaller team, and the owner may well be the acquisitions editor, the structural editor, the line editor, the copy editor, the proofreader, the formatter, the cover designer, and the sales and marketing department. This has advantages and disadvantages: it means the person you’re dealing with is the one with the power to make decisions, but it may mean the publisher becomes stretched too thin, or are undertaking roles they aren’t suited for.
  
• They are less likely to pay advances. However, they often pay higher royalties than the major publishers, especially for digital sales (although it can be argued a higher royalty rate is only useful if the book is selling).
  
• They may offer digital-only or digital-first contracts, so only books with a high enough ebook sales record will get printed and distributed. Alternatively, they may sell paperback copies through a print-on-demand service such as LightningSource rather than printing and distributing stock.
  
• They may not distribute to bookstores, partly because of the cost: books are distributed to bookstores on a sale-or-return basis, and a small business may not have the financial backing to make in-store sales financially viable.

Advantages of a Small Press

The big advantage of a small press or micropress is that most accept unsolicited submissions from unagented writers. However, just because you can submit doesn’t mean you should. I find many small presses produce books with bad writing, amateur covers, insufficient editing, and little or no marketing support.

Here are some suggestions of what to look for before submitting to a small press:

• A good small press will operate in a niche (e.g. Christian romance): they can’t be all things to all people, and they don’t try. 

• Cover art will be professional, and reflect the specific genre. While their cover art won’t reach the standard of the best Big Five publishers, it will be as good as the cover art of the best indie publishers. Readers do judge books by their covers, and many of the small presses (unfortunately) feature cover art best described as average. 

• The writing and the editing need to be excellent. I often find the copyediting is solid, in that there are few or no typographical errors, but there are fundamental writing issues (e.g. headhopping, or telling not showing). Mistakes like these show the publisher or their editors lack an understanding of the essentials of good fiction. Small presses who produce excellent non-fiction may well be lacking in the necessary skills to produce excellent fiction—and vice-versa. 

• Books are available in major online stores (although they may not be available in physical bookstores, especially if the small press utilises a digital-first or digital-only model to control costs). 

• Prices are competitive for both ebooks and paperbacks. Readers are unlikely to pay more than USD 5.99 for a full-length novel (80,000–90,000 words) from an unknown author or publisher.

Once you are confident the small press has the high standards your book deserves, make sure your book shines. To employ a cliché, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and you don’t want to waste that chance on a manuscript that has issues you didn’t fix because you didn’t know they were issues.

There are an increasing number of small presses and micropresses publishing Christian fiction. To receive a current list, click here and sign up to my monthly newsletter.

Next week I’ll be looking at self-publishing and hybrid authors (authors who trade publish and self-publish). Meanwhile, what questions do you have about small presses? What advice do you have to share?

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website (www.christianediting.co.nz), or follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christianediting), Twitter (@IolaGoulton) or Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/iolasreads).