Small/micro presses

the same way

Small presses can be judged the same way larger presses are judged.

Can you find their books in stores?

Do they have a distribution center where they can get the books out?

Uncle Jim's famous question, "Have they published anything you or any of your friends have heard of?"

The reasons for choosing a small press might help us to suggest some presses.

just a thought...

What Allen said, plus the fact that small presses buy fewer books, so they are often much pickier than a larger company.

Read their products. I've run into several who are horribly lax on copyediting & proofing. A writer I met at a signing was wholly unaware of the spelling/grammar errors on page ONE of his book! A friend of mine had the entire plot of her mystery--including the identity of the killer--revealed on the back cover.

Check cover art. Does it look as good as the stuff from the bigger houses? People DO judge a book by its cover, like it or not.

Do a websearch with the name of the house + the words "scam" or "ripoff" included in the search.

How long have they been in business? Do they look stable for the future? Another buddy had her novel tied down in legal proceedings for several years when the small press went belly up. I missed that myself when a small press set to buy my first novel abruptly went bankrupt. (I next took it to the biggest house I could find and they bought it.)

Are they indeed in the big bookstores or do they supply to a very small niche area like gaming & hobby stores? If so, then they have to compete with the big houses for shelf space carrying better known writers.

I have several reprints with a smaller press and got an education on why they do trade size over mass market paperback size. They'd have to sell a LOT of the smaller ones to make the same money as they'd otherwise get from trade size. (That's the short version.) The point being do they print trade or hardcover or will they attempt paperback (which ain't always a good idea)?

Good luck!

The ability to market is, as the other posters said, best shown by whether you can find the book.
Who is it being marketed to? How?

Ask.

As to financial stability.
It's not cheap. But if you're about to settle on a small publisher you could get a Dunn and Bradstreet Report. Here.

Signs of trouble can often be picked up by looking at Preditors & Editors, here, Writer Beware and others depending on genre.

Look for certain things:

- how long as the publisher be in business?
- how many new releases they current have? how many on their back list? is their backlist still selling?
- how many books they publish a year? what is their editorial process and team size?
- do they offer industry discounts to book stores?
- do they offer returns? (for most book stores, the lack of returns is the kiss of death)
- do they get trade reviews?
- have they won any awards for their books?
- do they have a distributor?
- do they pay royalties? do they pay on time?
- do they have a business plan? what are their financials like?
- Look at some of their books: What is the quality like? Are they well produced?
- are their books in stores now? while copies of the books may not be physically in the stores for many reasons, are they actually in the chain's ordering system (Borders and BN both have their own systems) and not just Ingram -- that means the publisher is part of the chain's system

Well if you have done all that, and the press has been going at least 2 years all you can do is tap insiders for information about sudden recent problems.

I find an email to one of their authors can be quite effective. For a start if they are so secretive that author's are discourage from talking, or the talking about specifics--there might be a problem. If they will talk about edits, sales figure etc then you have the whole picture.

J. R. Tomlin said:

But small presses go under every day of the week. How do you know which are stable? How do you tell? And how to you realistically judge their ability to get books into brick and mortar stores? Are there any of them who can actually do that?

Click to expand...

That's why I said to check on how long they've been in business, and how many books they've published, and track records, etc. If the publisher has been around for more than two or three years, have published at least 5-10 books a year during that time frame, and are still selling, that would make them at least more stable than the rest. Of course, there's no guarantee in life -- even big houses can close their doors. But some basic market research and analysis would give you some ideas if the business is here to stay.

Asking their authors is also a good advice. Also, check with the stores and see if they either carry some of their books, or they know the company or they have their books in the system. It's really not difficult to check if their books are or have been in the stores.

I sold my novel to a small literary press. Their advertising budget is limited but they seem to have all the usual means of distribution and I've found the book all over North America in bookstores and libraries - not in big box stores, though. They have a hard time handling large print runs, too, as they're not set up for that, hence the small press. No problem with royalties. They paid out very generously - l0% of the list price of the original print run regardless of whether they sold the books a discount. I enjoyed a great working relationship with them and earned a modest income. Feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions.
Linnea

It helps to cultivate relationships with local booksellers--especially if you have good independent bookstores in your area. They can be good resources in suggesting appropriate small presses, especially if your book might have a strong regional appeal.

Think there is a thread for you!

Thought there was a thread about this very thing! Just found it. Here it is, favorite and profitable small presses, focusing on SF and Fantasy:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42735

Good luck!

Susan