Hey folks- new here, but I found this thread, and wanted to clear up misinformation about Briona Glen.
My interest in Briona Glen-- they just published my first novel, A Memory of Grief.
Background: for years I've worked to become a professional writer, and I approach it as a combination of art and craft. I'm very serious about my writing, and have no patience for those who take advantage of writers. With 20 published stories, published poetry, and three complete novels, I've put some time and effort in. I was old-school, and was determined to achieve the Holy Grail of getting accepted and published by one of the mainstream houses.
I had a mystery novel that was vetted by industry pros, and was told that the book was good, well-written, and commercially viable. I diligently followed the traditional path, and had a good query. Despite interest, more than three years went by with no publication, despite having a good product and doing everything right.
Other writers tell of numerous books that were rejected by dozens of publishers and agents, yet when the book finally got out, hit the best-seller list. And 98% of traditionally published books don't sell more than a few thousand copies, making them "failures" in the big trad pub world. So- odds of success are against writers, and the big houses miss a lot of the talent. And what if you get stuck with a crappy cover and no sales push? You have no recourse.
Advances are miniscule for most first books (then subtract 15%), and yes, there are cases where an advance from a publisher can be viewed as a loan, because if a book does not earn out the advance, some contracts allow the publisher to ask for the balance back.
Meanwhile, the revolution was gaining momentum. Ebooks exploded in popularity, and writers were able to make sales in the thousands without traditional publishing houses. People like Joe Konrath, Amanda Hocking, and Debbi Mack were able to succeed with ebooks. And many lesser talents were able to sell respectable numbers. Big pub houses reacted badly- they're still charging too much for ebooks, keeping the sales low.
Hmmm. Even if I suddenly got accepted, the slow pace of the trad pub industry meant it would be at least two more years before publication, if everything went well, which it rarely does. Could be even longer. And my sequels in the series wouldn't get published for even more years, because they'd want to see how #1 sold. So if it didn't take off (unlikely for a mid-list author with no push), the odds were highly against doing anything significant. And few ebook sales, and no control over the process. Not good.
So I figured I could do better, researching what I needed to do to succeed at self-publishing. While I could do the massive extra work involved in self-determination, I knew there were many writers for whom this would be difficult.
Then came Briona Glen, offering the best of both worlds- taking away the cost and risk and "stigma" of self-publishing, while offering quality control, speed-to-market, and authorial control. As a small house, they'd keep overhead and costs low, and work their butts off to promote new writers and help them gain a readership.
They're sincere in wanting to make it work, and in listening to writers. They're in startup mode, and that means they're iterating their process. Check their site out now, and you'll see the difference. No, they're not using Lulu. No, they don't offer advances, so agents don't like them. But they offer huge royalties, and you won't have to wait years to get paid. Yes, they're a good middle ground between all-DIY and big-house trad pub. And yes, they have professional editing and staff- they outsource as needed. By going with them, a starting writer is going to have a chance to do more than they would alone. They have more than one writer as well, it's just that until all the paperwork is done, they can't announce yet- but stay tuned.
They've published my first book as an ebook, while we get the print version out. And they worked a crazy, accelerated schedule to make it coincide with a big anthology signing I had, because they knew it was important.
Then I'll have another book out every 3-4 months for awhile. So I'll have over ten books out in print and ebook format (and some in audio) in the time big-house publishing would have done one. And I get to set the sequence, change genres, choose covers, and release more than one book a year!
So go for whatever method you prefer. Maybe it's not for you, but now writers have options, and that's a good thing. I'm working towards being a full-time professional fiction writer (almost impossible for all but a few under the old paradigm), and I feel Briona Glen can help get me there. Check me out a year from now, and we'll compare sales numbers. And check me out in five years, after I've sold thousands, while some writers who now have a book but are using the old paradigm will still be unpublished.
Thanks for listening.
www.daletphillips.com
