| About the Publish or Perish Agency |
“Publish or Perish”. So goes the axiom in academia for educators on tenure track. As a society, whether publishing for education or entertainment, knowledge and creativity will always flourish. It may be in print, and/or online. But how do you get there?
If you are a bus driver, and want to be a doctor, you don’t just walk into a hospital one day and say “I’ve decided to be a doctor. Please give me a white coat and point me to the patients”. There is a process. You go to school and you learn how medicine is practiced. If you have a message and you are looking for an audience you need to understand the publishing process.
Lesson One: As the writer you should focus on your content, creativity and style.
Lesson Two: While you focus on the creative work, let a professional, an insider, manage the business for you.
Lesson Three: Do not pay anyone to "publish" your book. There are a good deal of offerings nowadays to publishing "print on demand" (POD) editions of your writing. There is nothing wrong with this technology. It can help both publisher and author keep books in print for longer periods of time. But writers need to be particularly aware of how POD works. There are a lot of POD services calling themselves independent publishers. They offer agreements to "publish" your book, but they are banking on the business model that you will do the marketing for your book, drive sales to their web site and they will collect most of the fees. You will get a "royalty", which is really only a percentage share of the selling price. POD is still viewed by the general media, and most of the current publishing professionals as a form of self-publishing. Most POD titles sell only a few hundred copies at best. For more information, I recommend that you go to a web site called Writer's Beware http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/ Lesson Four: There are reputable industry professionals that will publish rate schedules and charge for their time to evaluate your work. Look at their references. Be very suspicious of companies that charge excessive fees for editorial services or will claim that they will also represent your work for a fee. The industry standard is that agents work on contingency, but do collect reasonable office expenses (copying, mailing, etc). There are another three hundred, some odd, lessons. And the lessons have exceptions, and the rules are always changing. Welcome to the world of book publishing.
So... How can I help you? Roger S. Williams |
