More Writing Myths

Here we go again with writing myths. I'm picking on Predators and Editors right now. The information posted there once stood tall and true. Now the site endorses a publishing landscape dying at an exponential rate. If you as an author wish to jump on the old bandwagon, do so at your own risk. I'll take the myths and break them down one at a time.

1. The publisher's books rarely sell more than 5,000 books to readers in individual purchases and more often fail to reach that number with most of their books in the double-digits or low triple digits in sales. - No one wants a book to sell 50 copies, but it happens in the small press world. Heck, it happens often in the POD (Print on Demand) world. VERY often. Same with vanity presses. I submit at least two things here for you to think about. 1) If you only sell 50 books, YOU aren't marketing the daggone thing! I know a writer (bless his soul) that has written a cliche-laden piece of crap and has sold thousands of books. The book SUCKS. Sorry folks, but this is a fact. Just because you write a good book DOES NOT MEAN GOOD SALES. Think I'm lying? Making things up? Check it out for yourself. I have. I've read manuscripts that have blown me away and they'll never even get published because the author does not have what it takes to market and promote the book. 2) If you are making $10/book and you ONLY sell 2000 books, are you pissed? For those of you who are math challenged (a notorious writer malady), 2000 book sales at $10/book is $20,000. That'll put cheese on your macaroni as one of my writer friends love to say. If I sold 2000 copies of my book, I'd be a happy camper. How can you make $10/book as an author? That's the subject of another post. You can check out my website and get an overview of co-op publishing or email me. Or wait 'till I get time to go over co-op publishing in a Hub post.
2. The publisher refuses to release even approximate sales figures for its own bestsellers. - I really hate this myth. Everyone wants to base their success on a 'bestseller' scale. What is YOUR success definition? Just getting the book written and published? If so, my friend, you aim far too low. Breaking even on your book? Again, a little low there. Making some money? Now you're talking. Making solid money realizing that the book is something that opens the door to other income? NOW you're thinking like an entrepreneur. I mentioned in another hub that I have a writing friend who, as of five years ago, sold over 40,000 children's books at a gross profit of $12/book. Again, for the math challenged, that's nearly a half-million dollars in cash flow. Yes, that was not net, BUT would you like that kind of money flowing through your bank account? I would. This is not easy folks. You have to work at it. Writing is one of, if not THE, toughest vocation to make money in. But please, don't base your success on inflated,manipulated sales figures that determine a "bestseller". Determine what YOU think a successful book looks like for YOU, and go for it. I'm here to tell you, if you want your book to sell, you'll do what it takes to sell it. Marketing, marketing, marketing. Promotion. Promotion. Promotion. It's not rocket science, but it is work.
3. When confronted with very low or non-existent sales, the publisher refuses to release the book from contract. - This myth applies more to the big publishing houses than we small guys. My mother published a book and used the POD company Infinity. Now she wants me to publish the book. Infinity released the book. No problem. In fact, many small presses don't retain any copyrights, but they DO own the ISBN's. Be aware writers. When my mother went with infinity, the ISBN attached to her book was theirs. She did not own it. Now, once my company re-publishes the book, the ISBN will be owned by ClearView Press Inc. The only real affect this has on things is that all the sales she had with Infinity will not increase. She has to start over with the new ISBN. She only had 100 book sales, so this is no big deal. If you have a book that's sold 8000 copies and you decide to change publishers, that's not so good. Much as I rail against the big dogs, if you sell 10,000 copies of a book, they'll come looking for you. The big houses have the one thing we small guys lack - national clout. (I'd still hold out and try to go national without the big houses myself, because they aren't going to pay you what you're worth - my opinion...)
4. Postings in online forums never seem to include anyone who was rejected. - This is not really a myth, but it can be misconstrued. My publishing company is new and we have not actively sought out authors much - yet. We had to learn the business and figure out just where we fit in this crazy, ever-changing publishing market. We've decided to be an "author friendly" co-op publisher. We have received four manuscripts proposals since we began quietly seeking submissions. We rejected three and the fourth did not follow our guidelines. Let's face it. You can get your book published. Period. If you don't care about professional editing, an eye-catching cover, a well-paginated interior, and a ton of other 'professional' aspects of a well done book, go to Lulu or one of the vanity presses. They'll publish anything. Legit small presses have standards. My company will not publish a poorly edited or written book. Period. We have standards. Back to the myth here. I don't have time to go onto online forums and boast, "Ha ha! I rejected 15 manuscripts today!" (Man seen patting himself on the back...). We don't have time for that folks. The best way to judge a publishing company is to look at what they've published. Look at their submission standards.
5. Acceptances usually take place in less than a month. Even less than a week is not unusual. - Ok. This one has my cockles in an uproar! (What's a cockle?...) Really, this pisses me off. Just because the traditional houses can't get their fannies in gear for a couple years on a manuscript and I'm going to be singled out as a shyster just because I can make a call on a book within a couple weeks? Puhleeeasee! I don't have a crap-load of manuscripts coming at me. If I did, I know writers. I'd be hitting the delete key on their queries because they did not adhere to the submission guidelines. Yes, I'd like a backlog of books to publish, but just because I don't right now does not make me shady. If I run across the right author with the right manuscript with - most importantly - a TARGETED MARKET WITH A WORKABLE ACTION PLAN TO REACH SAID MARKET, why would I hesitate? Why would I sit around and let someone else snatch this author up? As a businessman I'd be a fool. Before the days of digital technology, I understand this warning to writers had merit. Now it's as full of it as my uncles eighty-year-old outhouse. There are good small presses out there folks. Please research small presses as an alternative to years of frustration with the big dogs. And if you are blessed by a nod from a traditional publisher, you'll suffer the "I'm only making twenty-five cents per book" disorder. Yes, big publishers have a strong national and regional reach, but they aren't putting any big bucks into marketing your book as a newbie, count on it. You'll have to do that yourself! Then you'll see where making $10/book with small sales is a helluva lot more valuable than twenty-five cents per book with larger sales numbers. Remember, YOU have to market either way. Think about it....
6. Last one for today (I feel my blood pressure rising...: The publisher has a no return policy on its products. - Tell me. Why do I want to take books back as a publisher? Why? My job is to produce a quality, professional product. If the author does not get out and market their book, why should I pay? Also, I have a no-return policy with the bookstores. This keeps me out of most of the biggies like Barnes and Nobles, BooksaMillion, etc. So why do I do this? A number of reasons. 1) Bookstores will order thousands of books because they "think" they can sell them. When they don't, they send them back to the publisher, often damaged. I'm a small business owner. I can't afford that. 2) A bigger, better reason. Brick and mortar bookstores only account for about 12% of all books sold and that number is declining rapidly. Why do I even want to be there with their insane demands on their cut (usually 55% of the cover price - that should be illegal)? I'm in their online stores. I'm in www.barnesandnoble.com. I'm in www.booksamillion.com. Online is where well over half of all books are sold. Why should I as a publisher take a hit on returns along with the highway robbery of their discount (55%) demands? I shouldn't and I won't. There's a better way.

Writers, I know I preach this all the time, but someone has to say it. Learn the business of writing. It's taken me ten years to get where I am. I began my learning curve examination after nearly dying on an operating table November 2, 1999. It took me eight years to write and publish my first book. It took me less than a year to do the second. A third is on the way, hopefully in January 2010 as long as we get all the contracts signed in the next week or so (it's a collaboration among four writers - the Rogues Gallery Writers). You cannot learn this stuff overnight. This business isn't for everyone. My personal estimation is that if everyone trying to become a writer KNEW what it took to be successful, over 90% would give up immediately with at least 5-7% on the fence. I mean it. This is a tough business. We all pursue it though, because we have to. Educate yourself. I am blown away by the literally hundreds of people who have helped and taught me how to get where I am. I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but I'm a helluva lot closer than I was.

Get busy. Learn the business side of writing. Network, network, network. Progressive writer's groups. In the hallways of writer's conferences WHILE the seminars are going on, pick the brains of presenters that are taking a break between their presentations. You'll be shocked at how much you can learn in the hallways of conferences. More than you'll ever learn in those 45 minute seminars, I guarantee you. I'm outta here.