I’ve been in business for myself for many years, since my son was small… mostly administrative stuff and light writing, letter and correspondence drafting, design work on flyers and cards, etc… but always part time, kinda a side thing. Did some bookkeeping at home too, to make extra cash.
Of course, I finally gave up on the ‘real world’, and I’ve been doing editing and writing exclusively and full time now for over four years, almost five now.
I have worked with over 17 small publishers – I’d have to count them up to be sure, but that’s a close figure – (independent publishers and three POD pubs, not ‘vanity’ presses, but definitely subsidized publishers who made it very clear they were subsidized).
I’m very particular with whom I will work…
I’ve been burned.
Let me explain how small publishers work with editors when they can’t afford to hire them in-house (which most can’t). I am contacted by the publisher and asked if I am interested in editing a book – they tell me genre, style and length, but that’s all I get at first. I agree or disagree. For example, turned down a horror book that just sounded like it was not my cup of tea.
Then they’ll send me the manuscript or at least samples of the writing so I can look at it and decide if I think it’s worth my time to work on the title. I do a quick crit of the manuscript and say yay or nay. If I agree, the publisher extends me an ‘editing contract’ on the novel. This is usually in the form of a small royalty payment for the life of the book with this publisher.
It’s not a lot of money, mind you, and paid out over 2-5 years, it’s a trickle really every quarter when royalties are paid, but still, when you have lots of books all bringing in that little trickle, it can and does add up. I have several outstanding royalty contracts for editing.
Of course, a handful of small publishers do pay me upfront but they are few and far between.
There are a lot of things I look for in a small publisher to determine if I will work with them and their authors.
I won’t edit for vanity places like Publish America… man, that outfit has taken more writers for a ride, letting them believe they were getting a real publishing contract.. just wow. I really feel that they have deceptive business practices… but they fly right under the ‘legal’ radar. Sad, really. I’m sorry for you if you are a published PA author – I know you will take my words hard, and a few PA writers defend them vehemently, but I have to say it and a cursory search on the internet will show you, PA is a scam, plain and simple (I realize they do pay – but if you knew a ‘real’ royalty contract, you’d understand why I call them a scam.)
I will edit for some POD publishers – but it’s very important to me that they make it perfectly clear that POD publishing is an alternative to self publishing for those who cannot afford to buy large quantities of ISBNs all at once, or what have you. Places like Lulu.com is a POD publisher, but they make it very clear that you are self publishing. Some of these POD publishers DO have talent pools from which you can choose editors IF YOU CHOOSE to have your book professionally edited – think Trafford.
Things I look for – does the writer have to pay to be published? A writer should never have to pay a traditional publisher to be published, period. Does the publisher require the writer to buy a certain number of books? All publishers offer discounted author’s copies to writers, but no legitimate publisher will ever require that a writer purchase a minimum number of books, or any books at all for that matter.
Last year, a company in Midland, TX tried to recruit me to work with them. I live near Midland, so they would have essentially been local to me. The problem is, this company tried really hard to call themselves a traditional publisher, but they charged the writer to publish with them in lieu of editing and formatting services!
I told them exactly what I thought of this… it’s bad ju ju to do this to a writer. And since I’m a writer as well as an editor, I have to know both sides of the coin and will not work with a company who screws over writers – period.
That’s my integrity.
Still, I’ve been burned before.
It happens.
Koboca Publishing was a company I believed in strongly enough to publish a book with them and have done three editing jobs for… I’ve not been paid a single royalty from them, even though several quarters have passed. In fact, I’ve not even received a royalty statement, which is violation of their contract (both for writers and editors). The company is essentially defunct, due to personal goings on between the owners, but that is still no reason for me to not get paid both for my editing and my writing.
LBF Books was a publisher I worked with nearly two years ago now (maybe three). They offered me a contract to edit a romance novel, which I accepted. I enjoyed working with this author. Book printed – they claimed it’s one of the best seller’s they’ve ever had, but I never got paid a penny nor have I seen a royalty statement from them for the past sales.
Now, before you go and jump LBF Books – they are under new ownership now, and the new owner and manager has offered me a NEW contract, since that book is still selling and is going ebook, and she offered me royalties on the ebook too, and within a few hours of contacting her about the non payment, she informed me of the buyout, explained what has taken place since I worked for the other manager/owner, and she had me set up with a royalty statement and everything.
Unfortunately, she’s not legally responsible for paying me royalties from before as per the buyout contract made with the original owner.
I’ll never see that money, I’m afraid and it’s not enough to take it to court, so the old owner gets away with it and I get the shaft.
So yeah, it happens, no matter how much I check out a publisher, I do sometimes get burned, and I’m pretty experienced in this industry – so I can see how easy it is for those who are less experienced to be burned and/or taken for a ride.
It’s funny, because I do edit for so many small publishers, I have sometimes seen manuscripts come into more than one publisher from the same author, and both publishers would send me a file for an assessment. I have to laugh really, because this publishing and writing industry really is a small world, and I don’t think writers truly realize or know how these small publishers work. Plus, you’d be surprised how many authors say they haven’t submitted their manuscript to anyone but XYZ publisher and I’m sitting her reading the same manuscript sent to me to edit from two different publishers.
Anyway, I’m mostly talking out of my ear here, but one of the publishers I’ve been editing for got a bit of a raking over the coals recently. Upon reading the responses, it occurs to me that many if not most writers really have no clue what goes on behind the scenes in the publishing world.
First, any author is going to be expected to promote and market their own work as much as if not more so than the publishing company. This is true even of the big publishers like Random House. Some publishers even require marketing plans (particularly true of non-fiction how-to or instructional books) submitted along with the books (yes, even the big wigs!) Name recognition and such is important too… in fact, even more important that the writing, apparently.
Secondly, most small publishers do not offer advances. Period. Some offer small advances, some offer mid-sized advances, but most small publishers don’t offer advances. But let’s say one does – advances are really nothing more than a loan against royalties. So… the kiss of death for a writer or their book is that they will not ‘make up their advance’ in sales. Do this with a big publisher and a big advance, and your likelihood of ever getting published again unless you’re famous is slim to none.
So a small publisher bypasses that problem and just doesn’t offer an advance. Additionally, some authors may not want advances, since advances truly are ‘loans against royalties’ and they prefer to know they are going to get royalties from day one.
My take on it as a writer is this – if you can’t get a sizable advance, don’t take one at all. Four or five hundred bucks isn’t worth messing with, but a couple of thousand may be for someone who really needs the money. I’ve published two books without an advance, one book with a $1600 advance and one with a $7000 advance. That’s my choice there.
Another thing – not all small publishers have automatic shelf placement with bookstores. In fact, MOST don’t. If you want to know if a publisher is legit, check to see if they have distribution other than online venues – here’s some things to ask: Do you have wholesale pricing through major book distributors? Do you accept full returns? Do you have laminate covers?(bookstores usually won’t buy laminate)
Yet, even if all these things happen – that’s no guarantee your book will make it onto shelves in major national retail bookstores. Small publishers can usually get all the online venues, but bricks and mortar are hard to acquire on every book. Each book is evaluated individually by the major retail chains, and the publisher has a slew of paperwork to submit it to the chains purchasing department to try to convince them to order the book through XYZ distributor. Small publishers who don’t have auto-placement yet have to do this with every stinking book. Many small pubs will never receive auto-placement. Some authors names that are known to bookstores will automatically get shelf placement, regardless of with whom they publish too – so never underestimate the power of the author’s background too.
There’s a reason I stay out of the publishing industry – too much paperwork. Plus, I hate to promote and market, and that’s a huge part of a publisher’s job.
But I have learned a lot about publishing over the years working as an editor with these small publishers, and for that I am grateful. It has helped me see the real for the shpiel and feel more comfortable submitting my own writing to publishers out there today, when POD printing has allowed just about anyone who wants to to open a ‘publishing company’.
I’m proud of the publishers for which I edit. I don’t throw their names around for several reasons – not the least of which is to protect the publisher. I have an editing COMPANY where I freelance my services. I don’t ever want there to be an issue where someone thinks I am affiliated with or working for any particular publisher and that my editing services are rolled into or tied into a specific publisher.
They are not. Never have been. Never will be. Instead, I contract each new editing job with a publisher individually. I have no “standing contracts” with any small publisher. Instead, each new book that they receive, they send me the specs on it and I offer them a quote for it, and they in turn offer me a contract for that one book. I have been asked by a couple of publishers if I wanted a full-time ’staff’ position.
Perhaps several years ago when I was first starting out, that would have been appealing, but as it is now, I’m just too busy and my business is doing too good to give that up to work exclusively with one publisher, and if I did work with just one publisher, I would have to give up the other contracts to avoid a conflict of interest.
I like what I do and I love working with small publishers, though my favorite contracts are with the writers… I love working with the writers. I get excited each time that a writer I have edited gets published. I live and thrive on their enthusiasm and excitement. They are what reminds me of why I started working in this industry in the first place.
Anyway, just some nonsensical ramblings that were rattling around in my head this morning. Hope all is well with everyone!
Love and stuff,
Michy
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