Publishing: Expectation vs Reality

Publishing: Expectation vs Reality

When I used to dream about being a writer, I admit I conjured up visions of myself tucked in a little corner of an imaginary library at my home. Stacks of books lined the wall-to-wall shelves, with books also stacked on the floor in haphazard piles of brilliance ready to help the brilliance ooze out of my brilliantly creative mind. There would of course be a library ladder that moved from row to row of my magnificent books with different levels to climb for each subject that had been coded, filed and placed in the correct location. The smell of leather and ink would mix with the smell of lavender from the open door that led to an outdoor garden patio where I could take my writing outside if I so chose.

People would be hanging on my every move ready for me to release my next book. Lines would wrap around the blocks of quaint, cozy bookstores where children with cherub little faces, holding a balloon in one hand and a wish in the other waiting for my book to be placed in their hands. Mommies and Daddies, Grandparents and teachers ready to buy their little ones my splendid books. I even imaged a line of stuffed toys that accompanied each of my beautiful books. Each looking as precious as Winnie the Poo but also as curious as Peter Rabbit.

But

Wait, I just woke up out of my author dream and realized that I’ve decided to be an independent author. Why did I do that you ask? There are 5 major publishing houses in the biz plus. They are nicknamed…. The Big 5. They are Penguin Random House, Harchette Livre, Harper Collins, Macmillan Publishers and Simon Schuster. When I wrote my first children’s book,

Excuse Me Sir, Do You Bark English?

I knew it was a wonderful book. I was not afraid of the big, bad, Big 5 and I was not afraid to meet with them. I knew though that they had the power to tell me no, and “Nobody puts Baby in the corner!”. Yes, I’m the baby of my family.

When I wrote my first book, going independent was relatively new. Now it seems that every Tom, Dick and Jane Austen is going independent. I think it is great! I love that we are all getting the chance to get our books out into the hands of readers. Think of all the books that are available because of so many newbies like me are getting brave enough to enter the market. To me this is like only allowing Target, Walmart, Costco, Sam’s and…. Ok I’m out, being able to sell us our household goods, garden goods, clothing or whatever we need. All the mom-and-pop shops to be told, sorry, but you’ve been rejected. When we were living in the Netherlands, the mom-and-pop shops ran the country. The country stood by the small business owners and really discouraged big business to come in and take away their sales. I’ve been gone for five years but I know some places were already coming. McDonalds is there but when we were there you could not get a chocolate shake. That was reserved for the Fry Shops.

My point, there’s room enough for all of us on the bookshelves. Is it difficult to be an independent publisher? Yes! But I own it all, from the idea forming in my head till the child holds the book in his or her hands.

Word on the street is that the average author who goes traditional publishing makes between 1-3 dollars per book sold. It a lot of cases it may be less or it could be a tad more. But unless you are a smash hit like J.K. Rowling, you need to be selling thousands and thousands of books in order for it to replace your day job. Where does all the other money that you paid for the book for go? Here’s a breakdown of what I’ve learned.

Cuts Typical of Publishing

• The Retailer gets 40%
• The Publisher gets 30%
• Distributers get 10%
• Printer gets 10 %
• Author gets 10%
• If it’s a children’s picture book it’s 5% because you have to share with the illustrator.

So basically, if you’ve written your own book and go the tradition route, you the author, get the short end of the stick. That is my own opinion. A lot of authors I’ve talked to who have gone the traditional route or even through Amazon or such like this route because they can then sit back and relax and let others carry the load. I should warn you though that I’ve also been told that even traditional authors have to market their own books. I’m sure the companies push their books in front of others, but the real work still relies on the author to help sell his or her own book. I have also heard horror stories of independent authors who had their books picked up by companies such as Costco. Purchasing 5,000 books from the author. Then a few short weeks to months later wanting to return the unsold books back to the author who then must purchase them back. This was told on a Facebook group I am in. The sad part was that the author had already spent the money on something else because she was so excited for the big sale. Seller beware. There is always the chance that people will return the book. I’ll stop here for today but there are a lot of discussions to learn from to make sure you are choosing the right path for you as a writer/author.