As the landscape of the publishing industry continues to shift, the options available to writers become more and more numerous--and confusing. We're going to go out on a limb and say no one choice is right for every writer. And as long as we're out here with the saw in hand, we'd like to add: or for every work. More than one Mercury Retrograde author publishes through multiple channels, and we think that's exactly how it should be. Because every writer must choose the best avenue for his or her work.
When the menu of options for a writer includes self-publishing, independent press, vanity press, and the Big Houses, how is a writer to choose? We suggest your choice should be governed by your needs and desires.
We all have our own reasons for writing and our own goals that we hope will be fulfilled by publishing. Take the time to examine what you want your publishing life to look like and what it is you secretly hope publishing your work will accomplish; the answers to these questions will make it much easier to choose the right channel for you. A writer who must control every aspect of the process should make very different choices from a writer who will not be satisfied unless the public recognizes him or her as a Great Writer. While it's normal to want both of those things, in the end those wishes are more or less incompatible, and as writers we must choose what blend of those goals will best satisfy us.
Self-publishing gives a writer absolute control over his or her work--but a lot of work it is, and no matter how good they are, self-published works usually have difficulty finding their ways into bookstores. That's not a judgment against self-published works, many of which are fantastic. But building relationships with distributors, reviewers, and bookstores takes time--and a catalog deep enough to persuade those customers to take a publisher seriously.
Vanity publishing is very easy, and often just right for the writer who simply wants to see the thing in print and share it with a few people. But if a writer wants respect from the industry, a vanity press is not the way to go. And vanity-published books are all but impossible to get into major stores.
Publishing with a Big House yields respect for the work and the writer--but gives the writer very little control. Big publishers are corporations, and even the editors there are cogs in very large machines. Works published through them have great access to distribution channels and bookstores--for a few weeks, during which they must perform up to publisher and bookseller expectations or find themselves replaced by the next contestants. As marketing and publicity budgets for books that are not self-evident bestsellers continue to shrink, new and midlist authors are increasingly caught in no-win situations. Many are lucky enough to catch instant buzz; many more are pushed aside through no fault of their own, their editors--or anyone. Big publishers are struggling to survive in a market that has changed without them, and they can no longer afford to nurture young artists' careers. The time when artists needed only to be signed by a big house and then be nurtured into greatness by their editors has ended. What has taken its place is a market in which all but those few at the very pinnacle can rely on nothing but their own desire to create.
Surely it comes as no surprise that, given all that, we believe independent press is the way of the future. It is not the right choice for everyone; there are still any number of writers who find working with a big publisher suits their needs. But for writers who tread territories beyond those of instant and obvious commercial appeal, who prefer involvment in the processes of development and publicity, or who simply wants to find a happy medium between absolute control and the elusive dream of the all-access pass which we all once imagined to be the reality of a publishing contract, independent press may turn out to be the right answer.
Independent publishers can offer writers the advantages of established distribution channels, access to bookstores, and relationships with reviewers, all of which make it possible to sell books. Because they operate at smaller scales, independent publishers can afford writers much more collaborative relationships than big houses can--and can allow books much longer runways in which to find their audiences. Every independent publisher has his or her own, personal vision and tastes--which provides writers with a plethora of options and the freedom to create the art they desire rather than restricting themselves to what an agent believes she can sell.
Each independent publisher should be assessed on its own merits; they are all different, and each writer must decide which feel right to him or her. Some are more focused on distribution, on making money for themselves and their partner authors; others are more focused on publishing as an art. Each has its own positive and negative points--and its own tastes.
We hope that, whatever publishing avenue you choose, you will choose an environment that suits your particular personality and artistic sensibility. We believe that, for the vast majority of artists, the right publisher relationship will create an environment that allows him or her to be successful, according to his or her own lights: that the particular percentages or other quantifiable data are ultimately of less import than a writer's relationship with his or her publishing partner. Above all, we wish you a happy and successful publishing life, whatever that means to you.
