A Change of Direction
Dealing with the changing publishing industry
A lot of challenges face authors and publishers. And we all have to change to deal with them to our best advantage. In my case, it means moving away from the small publisher with whom I have worked since February, 2024. As grateful as I am to them for the seven books published so far, our continued association is untenable. Even so, I wish them all the best.
I bring this up only because you won’t be seeing more of my books being published right away, even though one is ready to go right now and I have a ton more. Tough decisions ahead.
Publishers needing to tighten things up is understandable. Amazon and other booksellers keep the lion’s share of that purchase price. Draft 2 Digital takes a bite. And the publisher splits with the author a pre-agreed percentage of the dribble the royalties. With so much AI slop now being added in the mix, sales of our human written books are being suppressed due to sheer volume—diamonds hidden among the rhinestones. How do Amazon, D2D, and other such sites deal with this? Squeeze the publisher and the author more. We are the end of the line. Authors spend hours, days, weeks, months, or even years on a work of fiction and pretty much get treated like vassals, growing crops for the owner of the estate. Publishers are often just as poorly regarded by sites like Amazon unless they are one of the big outfits such as Penguin/Random House or Hachette.
Self-publishing and selling direct is certainly an option, one that many of you have done. Makes sense for you, actually, since you often have to do all the marketing when dealing with a small publisher (or even a big one) and don’t split the dribble of royalties coming from those booksellers and D2D. My guess is that, like me, you have been beating your head against the marketing wall, garnering a pittance along the way while Amazon, D2D, and others soak in that lion’s share. Or else you are spending money on promotions through BookBub and ads on Amazon or elsewhere, cajoling people into interviewing you on their podcast, begging readers to post a review of your book on Goodreads, Amazon, BookBub, and others sites, and otherwise seeking a spot in the limelight, a way to stand out in that pile polluted by AI slop, with or without success.
That said, my preference is still for finding another publisher.
As I weather this change in direction, I wish you all continued success and will keep up my efforts to share your work. Every little bit helps.
And if you will share this post, that little bit will help me as well as being most exceedingly appreciated.
My books will still be available from these sites and more:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | Apple Books
Have you looked at book.by? I pushing out a new book and am trying them in addition to D2D and KDP. However, you are a known entity and should have a following that would make it a good match. So far, I know author copies are a bit cheaper and they only ask a modest annual fee.
I'm new and don't know a lot about the business. I've been spammed by so many pay to play 'publishers' that it makes me sick. Just as sick as only getting pennies for my effort while others feast. Best Wishes to you!
I lost my first publisher, so I understand the situation. Fortunately, another one took me on. Keep looking. I wish you the very best.