If you could choose any publisher, explain who and why!

For some this may be a trick question, and a loyalty question. I hope that doesn't stop honest answers. But we'll understand that if someone picked you, that you might feel loyal to stay with the team you are on.

So, I'll solve that problem with a second question. If the publisher you have now is suddenly disolved, who would be your second choice?

However, for me, being that I'm a free agent, I have thought about this. I plan to write fiction and non-fiction, and would like different publishers for each. (If I have the luxury)

Who would you pick if you had a blank check and could choose any publishing co. in the world.

I think I'd like HarperCollins because they published some of my all time favorite books.

But you can tell me why you would choose someone else, and I hope you do, because perhaps you'll influence this bumpkin when the time comes to make the choice.

Oh, for me, that really IS the question. It's a foregone conclusion that anything I'll write is automatically rejected by the majors. I'd need to find some small, weird, possibly european publishing house, and God save me if I know who they are.

If I look at my bookshelf I see HarperCollins, ORB, HarperCollins, Voyager (an HC imprint, if you aren't familiar with it), ACE, ROC, Voyager.

I think this means that HarperCollins produce most of the books I like, so they'd probably be the best for me.

If HarperCollins wanted to publish my book, I think I'd be happy with that...:eek

Harper Collins

Have a good look at their new contracts and read what other writers say about how they deal with their new authors. HarperCollins aren't kind if your second book doesn't sell as well as their accountants like. They are also said to be aiming at having no mid-list authors!!!!

Re: Harper Collins

Well, air it out my friends. If young Grasshopper has chosen foolishly, I'd like to know that now.

In fact, I'm hoping to hear the advantages and disadvantages of going with "the Majors". Someday I may have to make a choice, and I'd prefer to be informed.

If there are disadvantages, I'd really want to know about them.

Re: Harper Collins

Seriously, start with the majors. The money is nicer, the sales are nicer, and you're working with really top-flight people.

At pretty much any publisher your second book has to sell better than your first. That's why I say that selling the first book isn't hard. What's hard is selling the third.

Shoot high. You can always work your way down. It's harder to work your way up if you shoot low.

HarperCollins

My first three novels were published by HarperCollins. My experiences with them were great up until they dropped me right after I turned in the final edits on book #3 and while we were negotiating a contract for book #4. At that time, they were undergoing a lot of internal juggling of personnel in the upper echelons and they were also in the process of unloading their mass market paperback authors (of which I was one) in preparation for buying Avon's paperbacks. Most of the paperback authors were either dropped or moved into hardcover. Apparently they didn't feel my books were strong enough to move me to the hardcover division, so I was dropped.

I say apparently because folks there were suddenly very tightlipped and explanations weren't forthcoming. To put it bluntly, my agent and I were both blindsided by the decision and the way it was handled wasn't exactly ethical.

I think the main decision makers involved back then are now gone. And overall my experiences with Harper were very good. They paid on time, they were accessible, and their contract was reasonable. My editor was a gem to work with (she is gone now and is currently working as an agent) and all the other people I dealt with directly were pleasant, helpful, and supportive. But my dealings with them ended 6 years ago so things may have changed.

Beth

I don't know why, but my gut tells me St. Martin's Press. For some reason, they seem to be a publisher I *should* be with. They rejected a manuscript I submitted ages ago but I won't overlook them the next go 'round.

Hey, a girl can dream!

I'd also say St. Martin. I've loved a lot of books they published, and somehow think I could fit in pretty well.

Of course, all is but wishful thinking at this point.

Re: Beth

Beth, if you had three books published by HarperCollins, you are my hero. That in and of itself is more than most people can even dream of.

Rarified air I must say!

I compare the book market to the music industry. Some of the best groups in the world couldn't get on the radio anymore. There's a madness out there. In fact, for some of the once "Best of the Best", there is no marketing at all.

If you aren't flavor of the month, they relaly make it hard for you. I'm not latin, and I'm certainly not a former mousketeer, and I'm too old for a boy band. What's left for people like me?

Well, it's a shame that some of the greats will attempt a comeback, and their music isn't ever heard.

Majors

Nateskate,

I compare the book market to the music industry. Some of the best groups in the world couldn't get on the radio anymore. There's a madness out there. In fact, for some of the once "Best of the Best", there is no marketing at all.

Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the music industry. It's criminal! There are so many brilliant artists out there, still working - touring - and cranking out better and better music every year. Suzanne Vega comes to my mind. She's tagged with this stigma as a "one hit wonder" but she's a frikkin Genius with a capitol "G". She's put out so many brilliant albums since the days of "Luka", but does anybody hear about it? And it's not like this is some uptight music for art-farts only. She's has such a wide range and.... oh don't get me started! :eek

Well, it's a shame that some of the greats will attempt a comeback, and their music isn't ever heard.

Click to expand...

But they are all out there, and they are all still working - that's the important thing. The other small ray of hope is the internet. Personally, I think everybody is blind to the giant opportunity that MP3 piracy presents to the world.

There is obviously a HUGE demand for free music. Not only do teens want to collect it, but struggling film-makers and other artist have a need to incorporate good music into their work. A thriving public domain of choice music would do wonders for American culture. Why can't some of these former "greats" donate a song or two to the public? If every artist donated one song to the public - the Majors would find a fierce competitor that they could no longer ignore.

Sensation Novel?

As for book publishing, as Uncle Jim wisely advises, I will shoot for any and every Major publisher - at least to say I tried.

I look at my bookshelf and I see certain trends among the books, but I don't write like any one book on that shelf, and there is some indestructable gremlin living in my gut, who forces his bizarre influence on everything I do! I can't rid myself of my inherent weirdness!

It's not that I'm purposely TRYING to be "different" and "artsy" and every other pompous or rebellious thing. I'm just...

Oh, can't we all just get along?:lol

Anyway, I've studied the subject of "Genre" very intensively, and for all the world I can't escape the fact that I'm writing what was known in the 1800's as a "Sensation Novel".

Please note, I had no idea what a sensation novel was, and have never read one. NONETHELESS I am writing a modern sensation novel right down to the brass tacks of that genre.

Now you tell me... who on earth is going to publish such a thing? I hightly doubt it will be Harper Collins.

My publisher

I am prejudiced, because my publisher is Harper Collins/Avon. I adore my editor and my editor's assistant.

However, I have had the pleasure of working with other editors as well, some of whom are currently at St. Martin's. You'll find that the publishing industry is relatively small and most acquiring editors have worked for more than one publisher.

Bottom line - editors want the best book they can find.
Tomorrow's trend might well be today's "slightly odd" book. My first book was considered very strange, and it was turned down by every publisher in the known universe. Zebra finally bought it and it went on to sell over 200,000 copies. Go figure.

Re: My publisher

Thanks Karen, that's awesome. And I'm honored to have people like you and Jim, and some of these others here on these threads with the rest of us.

I'm humbled being in posts with people who have honestly hit grand slams in the big leagues.

HarperCollins is a monster in my book. And now I see St. Martins coming up again and again, which will draw me to their website eventually.

Re: My publisher

St. Martin's is part of the Holtzbrinck conglomerate. That includes Bedford/St. Martin's, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Henry Holt and Company, Palgrave Macmillan, Picador, St. Martin's Press, Tor Books, W.H. Freeman, Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishing Group and Worth Publishers.

Not to say that those publishing companies aren't independent in their editorial boards and in their lines.

A rejection from Henry Holt just means try Farrar, Straus & Giroux next.

Stick with the majors. Find the right editor on the right day with the right manuscript.

There are worse things than not being published, and being published badly is one of them.

If a manuscript is rejected over and over, consider that it might not be the editors' fault -- maybe the manuscript isn't that great. Write a new, better, different one and start that one on its way.

Thanks James

By the way, I apologize for calling you "Jim" above, instead of James as you are listed. I think I've seen people refer to you both ways, and should ask which you prefer?

Your perspective means a lot to me since you are writing what is up my alley. "Fantasy"

From what I can see, they seem to do a pretty good job with your books, and that's the bottom line in my opinion.

And I'll just say this, I love your writing style in general. Even in your teaching thread, it's your general sense of humor that makes it enjoyable.

Re: Thanks James

Ok, so I aimed low. My problem was, the big guys won't look at you without an agent, and my agent search turned up a big, giant goose egg. I think the problem there was that I write in a pretty specialized market - middle grade fiction - and there aren't too many agents out there that represent that work. At least, not as many as mainstream, adult reader fiction anyway.

I had three small publishers looking at my work, I chose one. I like what they are doing so far. I know the name of my illustrator, my editor and I are getting along marvelously. The editor in chief and I are on a first name basis LOL. Their finished product (I've bought their books) is really beautiful.

This publisher is a bit green, some might say, but if they are going up, then I can go up with them! And, if nothing else, when the time comes I can whip out a published book and send it to an agent. Maybe that'll get me the time of day.

And who would I like?? Hyperion. That or Scholastic. But I have about as much chance of getting in there as I do of sprouting a second head.

I asked this on another thread

Since newbies and their books aren't given preferential treatment, if you think you've got a great book, should you hold it back and try to publish other stories first?

Some people may wonder why I ask, but I have multiple stories I've written, but never tried to publish. And I'd hate to think my best would get burried just because it was my first?

Obviously some would want to go with their best first, and it really is a gamble, because it may take your best to get noticed in the first place.

But ultimately, I want to have movie rights to one particular story, (Just in case)

Re: I asked this on another thread

There are good things and bad things about BIG or SMALL publishers. I had the same discussion with myself when I had to choose between a small IT company or a huge one many years ago. I also compare it to an actor comparing between an indie or a big studio film...

Some people make it big in small things at first (think Vin Diesel in Pitch Black, or Peter Jackson in his little indies such as Heavenly Creature) then go on the bigger things. Some people start off with the big guys immediately and become very successful... then there are all those who fail no matter if they're with the big or small guys...

I think the real issue here is how resourceful YOU are. I think there are many roads to success. Sometimes you hit the jackpot right off the bat. Sometimes you have to start from the bottom...

Re: I asked this on another thread

If you get published by a small house and the book runs it's course and goes out of print. Can a bigger place by the rights later on and re-publish?

Re: I asked this on another thread

Usually, I think, the rights revert back to you if the book is "out of print." At least most contracts would state that. So yes, you'll be able to sell it to another house. They will be buying the re-print rights.

Someone corrects me since I'm probably wrong.

The question is, why would another house want to buy it? I'd say they would want it only if it's a best seller to begin with...

Re: I asked this on another thread

I think some publishers will look at older out of print books of a certain genre.

I'm wondering how many absolutely fantastic books are sitting out of print somewhere because they never were exposed to a large market?

That's why I think its so important to find a right fit off the bat, rather than hoping to resurrect your work if someone doesn't market it well.

Re: I asked this on another thread

>> Usually, I think, the rights revert back to you if the book is "out of print." <<

When a book is taken out of print, the rights don't automatically revert--you (or your agent) have to take steps to make that happen, usually a request in writing, followed by a time period in which the publisher can choose either to reprint or revert.

For most authors, it's not easy to resell OP books.

- Victoria

Re: I asked this on another thread

Well then, I'll write my best, shoot for the top, and hope for the best.