I met two more authors this week who are unhappy with their pay-to-publish companies and their books aren’t even out, yet! Both of them have my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. And both of them told me that they read my warnings about some of the pay-to-publish companies after they’d signed contracts.
This is not to say that I bad mouth certain pay-to-publish companies or even all of them. But I do issue a strong warning for new authors advising, encouraging, admonishing them to go into a contract with a pay-to-publish company ONLY after they have done the following:
• Study the publishing industry.
• Know all of their options and the possible ramifications of their choices.
• Understand their responsibilities as a published author.
• Have a publishing or literary attorney look over any contracts presented.
As writers, we move into the unknown area of publishing, the first time around, much too quickly and eagerly. We don’t stop to make the shift—the transition—from writer to businesswo/man. We enter into publishing with the heart and expectations of a writer rather than the business sense of a savvy, informed author. We make decisions based on emotions and intuition rather than education and knowledge. And we get ourselves all tangled up in some of the most awful, disappointing, costly, situations.
Do you have a book manuscript almost ready for publication? Then you’ve come to the right place at the right time. Here’s what you need to do next.
Study the publishing industry
Read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book (by Patricia Fry). Order it through Amazon.com or here, http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html. It’s also in many libraries.
Read books by Dan Poynter, Brian Jud, Marilyn/Tom Ross and other long-time professionals. If you are considering a pay-to-publish company DEFINITELY study Mark Levine’s book The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. Levine rates, ranks and exposes 45 of these companies.
Join organizations such as SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) http://www.spawn.org, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN).
Attend writers’ conferences and listen to webinars and teleseminars presented by experts and professionals in the field of publishing. (SPAWN offers free teleseminars for members.)
If you decide to go with a pay-to-publish company or you’re presented a contract through a traditional royalty publisher, have an attorney look over the contract before signing it.
Another way to protect yourself from nightmare situations in publishing is to hire an editor for your book (you’re going to need one, anyway) who knows his/her way around the publishing industry and can educate and guide you.
FYI, I do this sort of work and I have stopped numerous clients from making disastrous and costly mistakes.
Any questions? Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com