@smulawyer I’ll probably say a lot of things you know, so I apologize in advance for not really being helpful, but maybe I can corroborate a few experiences you’ve already had. I’ll just talk about the experience of myself and friends/colleagues. Obviously it depends on the nature of your work and your ambitions.
My own experience comes from the world of academic and small regional presses, which given your profession, I’m sure you are familiar with. As you know, traditionally, you deal directly with a representative of the publisher. There aren’t as many of these as there used to be, since the libraries and bookstores they counted on for regular purchases aren’t buying as much any much anymore. However, those that remain have diverse points of emphasis, from regional interests, specialized fiction/non-fiction, and also on-line only publication, so they might be a possible option if you find the right series–definitely worth researching and writing emails of inquiry, to see if its even worth sending your manuscript. (as, again, you probably already have)
For the larger presses, my colleagues have had the best experience using an agent, and of course if you want to be published by any of the big commercial publishers, an agent is a prerequisite. As you say, acquiring an agent is itself a difficult process, since you need to submit your manuscript to them as well, and they decide whether its worth their time to market it. But once you are over that hurdle, they do the pitch work, and that certainly saves a lot of trouble. It also, I think, is the only way to make any amount of money from your book.
I have two friends who have self-published several books . They had a couple of terrible experiences, where they spent thousands of dollars with very little return and not even very many copies of their books. (this was more than a few years ago–but self-publishing hardcopy you spend $3000-5000 for basically the ego experience of your book on a shelf. It might be worth it for friends and family though.)
They have since moved to Amazon kindle, which is nominally free, to upload your work to their marketplace. I say nominally, because of course any expenses for formatting, editing, proof-reading, marketing you have to pay yourself and then Amazon takes up to 70% of the royalties, depending on sales and pricing.
BUT both of my friends are part of writers groups (poetry and mystery respectively) so they are publishing as part of this community. They set prices low, members of their communities buy each others books, no one makes any money, but they all enjoy the sharing of their work. In that way, its a lot like Dramabeans!
Anyway, good luck and you should already be feeling pretty good about yourself about the accomplishment of completing a manuscript!
Open Thread #763
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily
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