The original rationale was that the book’s editor would spend at least a few months going back and forth with the writer about the content, the style, the arrangement of chapters, the tone, and so on. (It came out in 1994, from a now-defunct boutique imprint of HarperCollins.)īut even assuming they like the book and want to publish it, this only means they will then begin the one-to-two-year process of bringing it to market. That’s how my first book on the Internet ended up being canceled in 1992, because the publisher was afraid the net would be “over” by 1993 when the book was to be released. If the environment changes, well, they move on. (Or, if I’ve got a great agent, he’ll ask for a “first proceeds” clause which means I only have to pay them back out of the money I make on the book if I take it elsewhere.) In any case, the original advance turns out to have been more of a loan, and the publisher more like a bank making an investment. If they don’t like it, I’m supposed to give the money back.
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If they don’t, they can give me notes about how to make it more publishable-or they can simply decide it’s no good at all and that they don’t want to do it, anymore. Then the publisher has a month or so to decide if they like what I’ve written. (All three have happened to me.) Whatever the case, the book is now submitted to the editor who acquired it, or his assistant, or some other editor who replaced him. Or the publishing house itself may have been bought by another company. His imprint may no longer be there, either. A year later when I turn in the actual book, that editor may no longer be at the publishing house. It means the publishing house, acting like a bank, lends me the capital I need to research and write a book. In the traditional publishing model, I write a proposal over a period of months, submit it to publishers, and-if the ideas manage to match the agenda of an acquiring editor at a big house-I get a deal. Think of it from the author’s perspective. The sooner we all realize this, the better off we’ll all be. Until it utterly reworks its method, gets rid of a majority of its corporate dead weight, releases its publishing houses from the conglomerates that own them, and embraces direct selling models, the publishing industry will remain rather useless to readers and writers alike.Īuthors and readers no longer need Big Publishing to find and engage one another. And publishing a book under its rules can mean the death of ideas within it, as well. In short, the traditional publishing system is nearly dead.
Could I be doing this of sound mind and my own volition? Why would a bestselling author, capable of garnering a six-figure advance on a book, forgo the money, the media, and the mojo associated with a big publishing house?īecause it would make my book twice as expensive for you, half as profitable for me, less purposefully written, and unavailable until about two years from now.
That’s because the questions aren’t about what I wrote, but about how I ended up publishing it: with an independent publisher, for very little money, and through a distribution model that makes it available on only one website. And this is before the book is even out-before anyone has even read the galleys. I’m getting more questions about my latest book than about any other I’ve written. Why I Left My Publisher in Order to Publish a Book
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