I retired from my full-time high school and university teaching career in June 2012 after thirty-nine years.
I met with my longtime friend, Jeanne C. Stein, best-selling author of “The Anna Strong Chronicles” and other titles. We began reading and commenting on each other’s writing in the 1980s.
Jeanne is amazing. Her perseverance in making herself is a testament to her determination. I value her advice.
She suggested I start with science fiction.
I did.
While waiting for responses from publishers on one manuscript, I submitted another to what called itself a “co-publisher.” They accepted the manuscript and published it in early 2014.
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| Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash |
1st DOESN’T WORK EXAMPLE.
Not checking on the commitment of whatever publisher you consider for marketing your book.
I now know that “co-publisher” is a synonym for “vanity publisher.” The best description of what that means is a sentence I found in a review of the company after I signed on.
“This is a good place to have print your books if you’re planning on selling them off a table at the back of the auditorium after you give a presentation.”
What I got for my share of the co-publishing was
- A listing on the company web site. There was a debate before the book went to press between using C. R. Downing or Chuck Downing as my author name. We went with C. R. Downing. The book description on the company website STILL has Chuck Downing.
- A one-page “flyer” – it had a name I’ve forgotten – with information about the book. It had a color image of the cover and a variety of described details like size and ISBN. The publisher described it as “golden” and critical for getting books into bookstores for signings or as inventory. I had to print them. One person in one bookstore looked at one. She used the ISBN to find it on Ingram.
That’s the extent of the co-publisher’s help with marketing.
ASIDE: I’ve learned that unless you are an established high-profile author, few if any, publishers will spend much on marketing your book, even if they offer you a contract.
Comments on this example.
At the recommendation of my publicist, Sherry Frazier, I entered Traveler’s HOT L in a book competition. It won the science-fiction category. I bought stickers to put on the covers of the copies I’d purchased from the co-publisher. I sent the PNG file of the sticker to the co-publisher.
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| This is the cover mentioned above AFTER I added the sticker and the tag at the top. What you get when you buy from Amazon is missing both those features. |
The co-publisher
- Still has the wrong author name on Traveler’s HOT L’s page.
- Never took the time to put the PNG winning logo on the cover.
- Never changed the book’s description to include winning the award.
- Sent nothing about the award anywhere but through an in-house memo.
I received a $100 advance from the co-publisher. I’ve received no royalty checks from them as of 03/02/2020.
Next week: I’ll discuss more Advertising that DOESN’T WORK plans.
SEO: book marketing, authors as marketers
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