Publishing Confusion

  

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Every day new authors enter the marketplace. Thousands of people who love books have written a manuscript and want to get it published. 

They search for publishers and fill out a form for more information (often at a large self-publisher). Publishing is a confusing industry. I’ve been working with books and authors for decades. There is a great deal of uneducated opinions with incorrect information. In this article, I want to describe some of this confusion with stories and help you learn how to get the right information to make a wise decision. The details matter as you will see from these stories.

A Lack of Understanding

Recently I reconnected with a friend from my college days. She had published a novel with WestBow and called her publisher the self-publishing arm of Zondervan. WestBow is one of a number of Author Solutions imprints. There is a connection between Zondervan and their parent company Thomas Nelson to WestBow. Thomas Nelson and Zondervan send leads or possible authors to publish that WestBow contacts about their services. Behind the scenes these two traditional houses are compensated for providing these leads. 

As an imprint of Author Solutions, WestBow is a self-publisher and their books are not in brick-and-mortar bookstores (with a few rare exceptions). Each year, these Author Solutions imprints publish thousands of books. You can follow the link in the previous paragraph and think about these different imprints. They will tell the author they are located in Bloomington, Indiana which is the headquarters for Author Solutions. I’ve read the bulk of their employees are in the Philippines. I can understand how it confuses authors. I’ve met authors who have bought the various publishing packages and spent over $20,000 to get their books published. This amount will never be recovered which is a tragedy. Also I’ve seen a number of WestBow and other imprints physical books. In general, their covers are lackluster and other details inadequate to sell to readers in my opinion.

Fake Emails

There is an explosion of emails for authors from people claiming to be agents and representing publishers. I’ve written about some of this confusion in this article. Everyday this issue grows in intensity for writers. The automated bots are sending out pitch emails to me about books that are long out of print or I wrote a work-made-for-hire (no royalties or sales incentive) books. For these emails, I block and delete. I encourage you to read the details in this article about writing scams from Jane Friedman. 

Believing the Wrong Information

Last week I was on a podcast talking about distribution and how Morgan James Publishing has a sales team that sells physical books inside brick-and-mortar bookstores. This podcast host said she helped her authors independently publish using IngramSpark and as a result her authors books were not only on Amazon but in other bookstores. If you follow this link and carefully read the information, you learn your book will have “access” to bookstores. Notice they don’t claim your book will be inside those bookstores where a reader can page through the book and buy it. 

I knew the inaccuracy of what the podcast host said but I did not call out this detail during our conversation on her recording. In contrast to access for your book in an online catalog to order (IngramSpark), Morgan James Publishing has an actual human sales team who works with long-established relationships with bookstores to sell physical books inside the bookstore. This team moves books inside physical bookstores and is a radical difference from being “available to order.” 

As I’ve written in other articles, the publishing details matter and are important for every author to learn then make a wise publishing decison. 

How to Clarify Confusion

The best way to clarify the confusion is on several fronts. First, get educated about the details of the publishing options. Check out The Babylon Blueprint for Authors which includes 40 pages comparing traditional, self-publishing and hybrid or independent publishing. Follow this link for the free ebook version.  

Another way is to attend a writer’s conference and get connected to other writers. Ask questions and then listen for their insights. I encourage you to explore the various publishing options. Also understand that you will likely have a learning curve and some of these details you will have to learn the hard way. No matter what path you select, do not give up or quit. Otherwise keep growing and moving ahead. If I can help you in the publishing option process, don’t hesitate to reach out and let’s talk.

How have you handled publishing confusion? Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

The world of publishing is full of confusion and misinformation according to this bestselling author and editor. In this article, read the stories and actions to sort through it.  (ClickToTweet)

New Podcasts:

In these articles, I’ve encouraged you to use PodMatch or some similar tool to book and record podcasts. Last week two more new podcast recordings were launched:

Kim Patton and I spoke about Redeeming the Brutal: The Shack by William P. Young on The Book Therapy Podcast with Kim Patton. Listen at: https://bit.ly/4j02OLh 

Chad Martin and I spoke about Publishing Myths Every Author Need to Hear on the FAFO Podcast. Listen at: https://bit.ly/4A7peB4 or Watch it on YouTube at:https://bit.ly/4emLfmV  

Get This Special Offer

Every type of publishing has its own complexity, and many parts of the process are outside of anything that an author can control. In addition, from speaking with authors, I find many of them have unrealistic expectations about publishing. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. Get my decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.

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