For any who are previously published...
I am not asking for any bashing or endorsements of any company, but in your experience, how do you rate the publishers you have worked with (I am asking for specific personal reasons for a decision I have to make).
Have you stuck with one specific because of their working relationship, or have you moved on to greener pastures with another.
Thnx for any replies....
Hi JT-
My only sales are non-fiction short pieces, so I will defer to my betters if this turns into a rumble.
Friends of mine that are successful novelists tend to show loyalty where loyalty is shown. Publishing has gotten about as competitive as play-off football, so there's often a high dose of backstabbing. But if publishers keep up their end of the bargain: timely work, fair publicity ... basic honesty with the writer, then the writer is likely to stay.
Loyalty to an editor, of course, follows a similar pattern. At its best, it can become quite personal, and the editor will seemingly do anything to help the writer build a career. So, if the editor moves to another publishing house, the writer may have a good reason to follow.
All that said, the buzz that I've heard is that way too many publishers are losing money, way too may editors are overworked and have no time to support their authors, and that way too many authors are being ignored.
There are simply too many new media (mostly internet related, such as this forum) competing for would-be-readers' time.
-- WB
I've only worked with one (book) publisher: Pyr Books.
So far I give them (and editor, Lou Anders) a 10-out-of-10 rating. They have been supportive, attentive, and eager. I couldn't ask for any more.
I'm a debut author, and I have to say, I'm still with my publisher simply because I'm more than satisfied with what they've done for me.
There are a couple factors contributing to that: one, my editor devotes herself entirely to my work and polishing it and making it absolutely the best it can be. All staff and fellow authors continue to communicate daily and professionally.
All in all, WONDERFUL!
I'm currently published with Champagne Books and have no complaints. Think the Absolute Write Water Cooler group has a list of publishers you can check out - so does Preditors & Editors. Not taking anything from this group, though (grins in Hobbit's direction)
Kerry
What publisher are you with?Originally Posted by Pierre_Roustan
You should have an agent to help you with this decision. If you don't have one, but have a property that a publisher's representative has expressed interest in, you should have no trouble getting an agent.
If you have no agent you are likely to cheat yourself. Contracts and publisher-author relations are complex and you need an expert to help you.
Furthermore, publishing houses are not monolithic entities. Each may have several editors. Each may treat you and your property differently. It is naive to ask about a publishing HOUSE, rather than specific editors at any house.
Treating any one house as a monolith is only useful when considering policies that apply to the entire house. And a sympathetic editor (or one who believes you have a profitable future) likely knows ways to get around general policies.
Last edited by Laer Carroll; February 18th, 2010 at 01:39 AM.
I've had three publishers for books: The first took me from novice writer through fourteen novels and two short-story collections. I am grateful for what they did for a newbie and feel I was lucky to start with them. However, what I wanted to do next was not in line with their main interest, nor could they offer the same payment as some others. The second--with whom I'm still publishing--has been amazing and I'm happy to be there. Bigger company, deeper pockets, the benefits and (always there are some) limitations that go with bigger. The sixth novel I've done for them comes out next month, with seventh and eighth on the same contract (7th is with the editor now, 8th is started.) The third publisher, an excellent small press, did a stunning job with a short story collection.
The right publisher for you at the beginning may or may not be the right publisher for you five or ten or fifteen or twenty books in...writers and publishers both change. At Publisher #2, I've had four different editors (and the one I have now was my first editor at Publisher #1. Editors move around.) Smaller publishers may change direction--what they want, how they want it, how they treat writers. They can go bankrupt; they can boom while others fail. Large publishers can change hands in corporate maneuverings and suddenly have more or less budget to play with, or new corporate standards imposed. I'm glad I've had the publishers I've had--but the move from #1 to #2 was necessary in the end. I don't anticipate another move, but if a book tanks, and certainly if two books tank, they could drop me. It happens. As with other parts of the economy, I don't think writers can count on staying with one publisher (or division, or editor) for an entire career, but neither should they be hopping from one to another on a whim, or looking for reasons to jump when things are going well.
Moon, great post.
I was wondering these things; if someone who has traveled the road you have, whether you stuck with one publisher between novels or short stories, or used multiples? All in all, great post again and thank you for the information...
And I screwed up my own numbers...DUH. Clearly I'm getting old and distracted and it was too late at night. It was 15 novels for Publisher #1, and the book coming out for #2 is the seventh, not sixth, novel for #2. (Ego will not let me let it stand two books short.)
But the same take-home lesson: don't switch on a whim, or for anything but a good reason. A good reason doesn't have to mean something wrong with the publisher you're with--they can be just fine, and have treated you well, but they may not want to (or be able to) do what you now want, and someone else can and will.
And sometimes people get dumped (unfairly as well as fairly) because it's a business and numbers count...or because a publisher (usually but not always a smaller publisher or a line within a house that's not pulling its weight) drops out. This always leaves writers stranded and unhappy, and they have to scramble for a place at other houses that may be full up.
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