Have a story you're burning to share? This deck sets out options for publishing, from traditional to do-it-yourself. You can read more details on my blog at: http://rlstedman.com/what-does-a-publisher-do/

1. Your Story, Your Way:
Options for Publishing
Rachel Stedman

2. Structure of Talk
• History of publishing
• Current state of book publishing
• What does a publisher do?
– Models of publishing
• Commercial and legal stuff
• How to get published
• What’s best for you?

3. Disclaimer
I am not a publisher, an expert in the publishing
industry or a lawyer. All information offered here
is my opinion.
You should do your own due diligence -
everyone’s circumstances are different.

4. What is Publishing?
• To prepare and issue a piece of work
• The sharing of work
• Can include
– Journals
– Blog
– Books
– Newspapers
• Can be virtual or physical

5. Traditional Publishing
• Physical work = labour intensive
• Involved laying out of print on page
• Investment in paper and plant
• Shipping
• Stores and supply chains

6. 1800 Publishing Models
• Serialized stories
– Dickens
– Arthur Conan Doyle
• Writers paid to publish
– Virginia Woolf
– Mark Twain
– Emily Dickinson
– Jane Austen

7. 1900s Publishing Models
• Venture capital/micro finance
• An advance is offered to authors in exchange
for the RIGHTS to sell the work
• Plus the author receives royalties (a %) of
sales

8. Along Came the Computer
• Changes to print process
• Changes to supply chain
• AND…
• Changes to the format
• Books could become digital

9. Along Came AMAZON
• The kindle
• Kindle direct publishing (KDP)
• And everything changed…

10. Present Day: Traditional Publishers
• 5 houses, headquartered in NYC
• Penguin Random
• HarperCollins
• Hachette
• Macmillian
• Simon and Schuster
• Have imprints: Mills and
Boon/Tor/Picador/Doubleday
• All have a global presence.
• Some have NZ subsidaries

11. Online
• PLUS We have many online retailors

12. Where Publishers Place Their Books
• Bookstores
– Print (softcover/hardback)
• Direct to large customers
• Online Retailors
– Print books
– ebooks + audio
• Subscription
• Free fiction

13. NOW: Types of Book Publishers
• Traditional large house
– Print
– e-only
• Niche publishers and small press
• Assisted self-publishing
• Author-as-publisher (independent)
• ….?

14. What Does a Publisher Do?

15. Agents As Entry
• Most large houses will only look at work
presented by literary agent
• This does vary, so check
• An agent is a broker, a negotiator, an editor
and sometimes a coach
• Generally paid for by a % of books sold
• I don’t have an agent
• Although lots of people rave about them

17. Large House Publishing
• Full service: you don’t have to do anything
– Or so you think…
• More cachet from large house publishing
– Awards
– Bookstores
– Residencies
• Very hard to get a contract
• READ your contract

18. Financial Model- Large Houses
• Usually the house takes 85 – 90% of sales
price (this can vary)
• Usual advance in NZ is around $2K.
• Paid off over sales of the book
• The writer does not get paid royalties until the
advance is repaid
• This takes (usually) around 2 years

19. Small Press
• Low overheads – may be owner/manager
• May service niche industries
– E.g. science fiction/car enthusiasts/textbooks
• Can be precarious
– May be gobbled up by larger publishers
– Close without warning
• Can be very collegial
• Generally full-service
• They may
– Not pay an advance
– Take a high cut of royalties
• A good option because they
– Save you doing a lot of work yourself
– Provide a good intro into a trad model
• If you get a contract, make sure you get your rights back if they go insolvent

20. Assisted Publishing
• Pay for service
• You pay for small runs
• Quality can vary
• Do your homework
• They can be very expensive
• They can be rip-off merchants

21. Do-it-yourself
• Independent (‘indie’) or self-publishing
• A lot of work
• Royalties at 30 - 75%
• PLUS You own all the rights
• Relatively low status
• You MUST enjoy computers

23. Other Models
• Crowd-sourced (e.g. kickstarter)
• Commissioned work
– Educational texts
– Non-fiction
– Columns and articles
• Social media

24. Commercial Stuff

25. A Matter of Rights
• Copyright ©
– Automatic right generated from the development of an original
work
– Lasts for 50 years after the author‘s death (USA is 70 years)
– The copyright sits with the creator
• Design and trademarks are different rights.
– Usually owned by publisher
• The publisher gains a licence from the Copyright holder to
publish their copyrighted work
– Rights can be varied: digital, print, audio, film, radio, screenplays
– Rights can be geographical: World, Asia, Europe, Australia/NZ,
Space

26. Earnings
http://authorearnings.com/report/may-2016-report/

27. How to Get Published

28. How To Get Published
• Write
• Write for free
• Training – do a course/night class/degree
• Develop networks
• Go to conferences
• Submit to competitions
• Keep writing
• Submit to agents/publishers
– Or publish your own

29. Submission Guide
• Check out the instructions
– Publishers/ Agent’s website
– Find out who’s looking
• Writers Digest (US)
• Writers and Artists Yearbook (UK)
• Follow agents on twitter
• Go to conferences
• Enter competitions
• Be strategic
• Be patient

30. Or…
• Be famous
• Have an audience

31. What’s best?
• It depends…

32. Resources
• Websites:
– NZSA: http://authors.org.nz
– SFWA Writer Beware: http://www.sfwa.org/other-
resources/for-authors/writer-beware/
– Writers and Artists Yearbook:
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk
– Writers Digest: http://www.writersdigest.com
– RWNZ: https://www.romancewriters.co.nz
• Podcasts:
– The Creative Penn:https://www.thecreativepenn.com
– SPA girls: http://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com

33. Questions?
• You can read the text of this talk on my
website:
– www.rlstedman.com/blog/
Credits:
Images: Pixabay
Music: www.Bensound.com