How Much Do You Value Your Writing?
By Jerry D. Simmons | August 27th, 2009 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
After spending countless days, weeks and even months, maybe years laboring over your manuscript, what would be the true value to your writing? For a few thousand dollars would you be willing to sell all rights, ownership and control of that property to a company that you are trusting simply because they are headquartered in New York?
Writers seem to be caught up in the idea that having their writing published by a large recognized company validates their work. If you write to tell your friends and family that you are a published author and you enjoy throwing around big names, then by all means follow your dream. If you are obsessed with writing and your goal is a career as a professional writer, then you better educate yourself about the business.
If you have no aspirations of bestseller lists and money is no object then sign with one of the large heavily advertised “sellers of services and printers of books,” often referred to as a print-on-demand publisher. Although publisher is a misnomer and should be used tongue in cheek, no true publisher would ever price their books according to page count as opposed to the marketplace.
Publishing is about dreams, about telling stories, about sharing experiences. It’s about books and how to publish the right way, according to the marketplace and not some arbitrary concept of paper and printing. There are more options today for publishing than ever before but the fact remains that the market for selling books is static and if you are not in tune to that market, and don’t understand the basics of the business of publishing, your book will most likely languish with the hundreds of thousands of books published each year.
How does an author separate themselves and their writing? How does an author gain the kind of recognition they seek for their work? The answer is to publish professionally, with a reputable company that understands the market. Perception is everything and if you begin your career on the wrong foot, you may never be in step with success.
Tags: Book Publishing, Book Sales, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing
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