Hi Rod, I couldn't send a PM to you, so I'm having to comment here. If you hit a brick wall, you might want to try my publisher who is moving out of the adult fiction market and more into general fiction. Fiction4all.com - the authors page is here - http://www.fiction4all.com/authors/index.htm - and I've found them reasonable. Doesn't excuse me from all the hard work of publicity, etc. but they're honest (which translates these days to, underdog.) ... however if you're looking for a publisher with more promotional power then perhaps these aren't the ones to choose. Personally, I'm exclusive with them, which has a different set of terms to publishing elsewhere also.
Hello Michelle,
I hope things are well with you.
Thanks for the link to your publisher. I suppose what I'm looking for is the old fashioned way where the publisher has enough stature that the very fact they have taken your book on means that it's got credibility and is going to get reviewed in main stream journals, serious literary magazines and maybe even put forward for literary awards (I can dream).
I don't plan to stop writing but continuing to self-publish seems to have diminishing returns - and there were hardly any returns to begin with.
Percentage of royalties is a bit of a con - would you rather have ten percent of a lot of sales, or seventy percent of just a few sales?
Hi Rod,
I hear what you're saying regarding percentages. I did land with Fiction4All as a result of my previous publisher jacking it in, and they searched for a new publisher who would do right for the authors. It does seem these days, that unless you've got a hit on your hands, even the big guns are changing their contracts to stitch up the authors. At the moment, I'm playing the long game; keep practising until I get a hit, and then the back catalogue should light up. The onus is on me to keep striking matches in the rain storm. I think the turning point is when I stopped doing it for the money, and started the hunt for the story that will light the world; but I have a ball and chain around my ankle because I'm not willing to sell my soul to the god of sensation, in order to get that fire lit.
I understand. I write what I want and then see where it fits. Usually it doesn't. Though I've had the pleasure of the writing and the research I'd really like to make that reader connection. I think every writer does.
I agree, that connection is the holy grail. Too many people are striking North however, and the route is crowded. Time to head South I think... who knows where that road will take me.
I hope things are well with you.
Thanks for the link to your publisher. I suppose what I'm looking for is the old fashioned way where the publisher has enough stature that the very fact they have taken your book on means that it's got credibility and is going to get reviewed in main stream journals, serious literary magazines and maybe even put forward for literary awards (I can dream).
I don't plan to stop writing but continuing to self-publish seems to have diminishing returns - and there were hardly any returns to begin with.
Percentage of royalties is a bit of a con - would you rather have ten percent of a lot of sales, or seventy percent of just a few sales?
I hear what you're saying regarding percentages. I did land with Fiction4All as a result of my previous publisher jacking it in, and they searched for a new publisher who would do right for the authors. It does seem these days, that unless you've got a hit on your hands, even the big guns are changing their contracts to stitch up the authors. At the moment, I'm playing the long game; keep practising until I get a hit, and then the back catalogue should light up. The onus is on me to keep striking matches in the rain storm. I think the turning point is when I stopped doing it for the money, and started the hunt for the story that will light the world; but I have a ball and chain around my ankle because I'm not willing to sell my soul to the god of sensation, in order to get that fire lit.