Proper publishers don’t need propaganda - by Roz Morris

I just had this email exchange: 'Hi Roz, I'm reviewing for the New York Journal so get your publicist or publisher to send me your books. We don't take self-published.'
Let's pause for some naughty words. 

There.
Frustrating though this is, cherished policies are not updated easily. But the age of enlightenment is being held back by bare-faced misrepresentation from traditional publishing. I've seen two examples in the publishing press in the past month - and it’s time to call them out. 

Misrepresentation #1

The first was a post on the blog of top UK literaryagent Andrew Lownie, where editors list what they're looking for.  Every one of them says they want new work that twists a genre, unique concepts and voices, unforgettable books that defy expectations and break the mould.

Read this and you'd think all the exciting authors get the recognition they deserve. That those who don't are not special enough.

What’s really happening, as I’m sure you’re sick of hearing, is that significant numbers of authors get told: ‘Your novels are excellent, your talent is in no doubt and you tell thoroughly original stories. I've no idea who would publish them.'

Times change. Once, editors were allowed to be more daring. Now they only want 10% daring. The proof? Look along the shelves in your local bookstore. Look at the books making headlines.

The literary establishment - reviewers, journals and awards organisers - is supposed to find the most notable writing, but publishers are turning those books away.

Meanwhile they claim, with a politician’s bushy-tailed gush, they are not. And that’s unacceptable.

Misrepresentation #2

The second whopper was this: a session at the recent Digital Book World Conference called The Evolving Author-Publisher Relationship: How Publishers are Powering—and Empowering—Authors Today (mentioned in Porter Anderson's excellent column Ether For Authors). 

I hope no one paid very much for this session because it must have been over in a nanosecond. In a few very lucky cases publishers are empowering authors (here's an example, for fairness). But the experiences of my author friends who are working with publishers - particularly on ebook editions - paint a rather unempowering picture.  

First is their handling of territories. Territories are important with physical books. But the e can go everywhere. However, UK authors are finding that publishers are declining to market books outside these isles and won’t even discuss terms for doing this - because they haven't done it in the past.

This stay-at-home attitude especially becomes nonsense when they are relying on those authors to build platforms for marketing. 

Where are those platforms? The world wide web. E for everywhere. So an author builds a fanbase who won't see the book supported anywhere.

And royalties. Need I mention royalties? No, because AgentOrange has nailed it on the FutureBook blog - hat tip to Mr Anderson for the alert. Authors I know have gone to big houses with ebook partnership deals - providing a fully formatted book in exchange for marketing heft. The contracts offered seem to treat the author as a bound serf, tugging the forelock, with mean royalties and non-compete clauses.    

By now, Pinocchio’s nose would make a fine alpine horn.  

Publishers can also empower with their wide understanding of all the devices in this baffling e-world. An author friend was dealing with the digital head of a prominent publisher who couldn't understand why a Kindle book wouldn’t be on sale in the ibookstore. Keep taking the tablets, guys.

Look back at that session title: 'Publishers empowering authors today’. I imagine a question from the floor: 'Mr Speaker, which is the device with a K in the name?' 

Perhaps it was a long symposium after all.

So what?

Yeah, it’s a conspiracy. So what? We can just get on with producing good work. But outside of publishing, it's hard to make anyone understand why an author would go it alone - or even turn down a deal. 

It's another reason that the wider literary community regard indies as an untouchable caste. They think a publishing offer is the best thing possible for an author's career, livelihood and body of work, when quite often, publishers are parasites.

The UK press this week carried the story of teenager Beth Reeks, who was spotted by Random House after millions downloaded her serialised novel on Wattpad. With that coverage, she didn’t need a publisher. She could have self-published and been set up for life. What value is Random House offering and what royalty are they paying? If it’s the usual 25% that’s criminal.

What can we do to change minds? Perhaps we need to be more like musicians, and let the book world understand what it's like to be an author today, and what battles writers are really fighting.

Thanks for the pie pics DanTaylor psd    Simon Doggett and bigdrumthump for the drum pic.

Roz Morris is a bestselling ghostwriter and book doctor. She blogs at Nail Your Novel  and has a double life on Twitter; for writing advice follow her as @dirtywhitecandy, for more normal chit-chat try her on @ByRozMorris. Her books are Nail Your Novel: Why Writers Abandon Books And How You Can Draft, Fix and Finish With Confidence, available in print and on Kindle  She also has a novel, My Memories of a Future Life available on Kindle (US and UK) and also in print. You can also listen to or download a free audio of the first 4 chapters right here.