So you want to be a published author? Historically, that has been achievable by only a privileged few. Before printing presses came into existence, books were painstakingly generated by professional scribes who usually were employed by royalty or the church. As a result, most published authors were eminent religious figures or associates of a royal family. And there was not much of a market for books, anyway. Because of the labor content, books were extremely expensive.
But in the 13th century, Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type, thus laying the foundation for the modern publishing industry. By the 1800s, the the number of publishers and authors had exploded, and the price of books had dropped to a level that the average person could afford them. This ushered in the golden age of "dime novels" and pulp magazines. Until recently, things remained pretty much the same, with a relatively small number of large publishing houses dominating the market. This is generally known as "traditional publishing."
In the traditional publishing process, a publisher designs, produces, and prints your book, stores several thousand copies in a warehouse, and then attempts to sell enough of them to make a profit. Unfortunately, this approach is risky and expensive. Printers endeavor to keep the presses rolling once they get started, so buyers typically are offered huge incentives to print in large quantities. For example, a particular book might cost $6.00 per copy with a press run of 2000 but only $4.00 in quantities of 5000. To get a favorable price, traditional publishers often overbuy, which explains why you see so many heavily loaded bargain tables in bookstores. In addition, it costs money to warehouse pallets of inventory, and there are interest costs on the invested capital. Add up-front production costs and marketing expenses to the mix, and a traditional publisher who accepts your manuscript could easily invest $25,000 to $50,000 in the project before selling the first book.
Because of the risk, traditional publishers are hesitant about working with authors who aren't already famous or whose books address specialized markets.With marketing dollars increasingly in short supply, they rely more and more on an author's established notoriety, as opposed to their own marketing muscle, to sell books. This makes it tough for a first-time author to get a foot in the door. Make no mistake: it can be of great benefit if one of the New York behemoths accepts your manuscript for publication. But what if that doesn't happen?
A well known and somewhat inglorious alternative has been "subsidy" or "vanity" publishing, terms used to describe a scaled-back version of traditional publishing in which the author pays some or all of the production costs, buys a certain number of copies of his own book, and then stores them in the garage until they are either sold or overwhelmed by mildew. Although this route is often sneered at (particularly by traditional publishers who don't appreciate the competition), it is said to have launched such literary lights as Poe, Byron, Shelly, Dumas, Crane, Hemingway, Kipling, Proust, Sandburg, Shaw, Thoreau, Twain, Whitman, and many others. On the other hand, it has produced thousands of books that are poorly edited, produced without even a basic understanding of page layout and typographical standards, and just plain amateurish and embarrassing.
But there is now a third path. Over the last few years, digital print technology has enabled what is known as "on-demand" printing, through which we can economically print books in quantities as low as a single copy, thus eliminating much of the expense and risk. Add to that the huge prepress cost reductions brought about by digital typesetting and page layout, and it becomes possible to produce and market a top-notch book for a fraction of what it once cost. You can have world-class quality without breaking the bank. Just as cable television has propelled the number of channels to balloon from the original three to hundreds, and as digital music has allowed hundreds of independent music publishers to record thousands of bands that would be of little interest to the big music companies, on-demand printing has opened up book publishing to virtually anyone who wants to participate. One can justifiably celebrate or mourn the decline of traditional publishing, but it is the reality in either case.
In recognition of the above, we now offer a program through which your book can receive the exact same production excellence that we have offered traditional publishers for 20+ years. Since 1988, E&C has produced more than 400 books for major New York and European publishing houses. We now can do the same for you and have your book on the market in as little as three months.
Publishing with E&C provides many benefits, including
General-interest books (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.) may qualify to bear the Susanna Lagoon imprint if they meet traditional editorial standards. This generally means conforming to the Chicago Manual of Style and other accepted references relating to form, grammar, and punctuation. SL books are usually professionally edited, as few authors have sufficient knowledge of typographical and editorial conventions to produce a polished product. Depending on our initial review, we may recommend a light, moderate, or heavy edit. E&C can provide that service, or you can use an outside editor as long as the manuscript is brought up to minimum standards.
For details on SL Books, please click here.
But let's say you are something of a rebel and don't care about traditional standards. You believe your work is a diamond in the rough, and you prefer to keep it that way. No problem. WordShark Press is for literary pioneers who are more interested in avant-garde or experimental expositions. WSP books do not have to meet any particular standards and are not reviewed, edited, or modified except as required for mechanical reasons. We do reserve the right, however, to decline works that are illegal, grossly offensive, or otherwise incompatible with civilized society.
For details on WS Press, please click here.
Scientific and technical books are extremely expensive to produce and are not compatible with the SLB/WSP concept. However, we have placed dozens of technical books with our traditional publisher associates over the years and work with several excellent companies on a regular basis. We will be happy to present yours to appropriate acquisitions editors at no charge.
For information on writing and publishing a technical book, please click here.
